Our Jealous God

Written by: Bill Gothard

One of the marvelous rewards of keeping Christ’s commands is that He will make Himself known to us. (See John 14:21.) This was the lifelong goal of the Apostle Paul: “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection” (Philippians 3:10). Peter explained that it is through the knowledge of God that we receive grace, peace, Godliness, and life. (See II Peter 1:2–4.)

I gained a deeper understanding of Who God is on September 3, 2002. That day, I realized for the first time that the Holy Spirit watches the “eyes” of my heart, looking for evidences of delight in the attractions of the world, just as a wife watches the eyes of her husband when an attractive woman walks into the room.

If I turn away from competing affections and love the Lord with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength, God will bless me beyond anything I could imagine, even as I Corinthians 2:9 states, “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” I always thought this verse referred only to the glories of heaven; however, the context explains that the Holy Spirit reveals these things to us now so that “we might know the things that are freely given to us of God” (I Corinthians 2:12).

The Basis of God’s Jealousy

God is jealous because He has established a covenant relationship with every believer through the death, burial, and resurrection of His Son—the Lord Jesus Christ. In this covenant relationship, it is His goal to demonstrate to the entire world the marvelous things that He will do for believers who fully love Him.

God established a parallel covenant with the nation of Israel. He promised that if they would honor this covenant with Him by loving Him with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength, He would make them healthier, wealthier, and wiser than any other nation in the world. However, if they delighted in any other god, He would curse them above all nations on the earth.

I was aware of these Old Testament promises and warnings and of the jealous nature of God. However, I assumed they related only to His relationship with Israel, and that somehow in the New Testament He had become a benevolent God Who overlooks all of our straying affections.
As I thought about this, the words of Scripture spoke with powerful authority, “I am the LORD, I change not” (Malachi 3:6). God is just as loving in the Old Testament as He is in the New Testament. And He is just as jealous in the New Testament as He was in the Old Testament.

This explains the words of James 4:1–4: “From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?… Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.”

During those powerful moments of interaction with God and His truth, I realized that I am in covenant with the Lord and that in this relationship there can be no toleration of a competing affection. Either I focus my total love upon Him and experience His marvelous blessings, or I entertain various competing affections and experience painful discipline from Him.

I realized that in my own strength I could not love Him as I ought, so I asked Him for the grace that I needed to love Him with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength.

Since that day, I have experienced an outpouring of His blessings in every area of my life and ministry. The joy of what He is doing is beyond anything I have ever experienced before. It is my desire to share this message with as many others as possible; therefore, I have written a book titled Our Jealous God. It is available in bookstores. I would urge you to get a copy and learn how you can receive the unimagined blessings of loving God!