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God's Jealousy / My Idol Self

"Every man blames the devil for his sins, but the great devil, the house-devil of every man, the house-devil that eateth and lieth in every man's bosom, is that idol that killeth all, himself. Oh! blessed are they who can deny themselves, and put Christ in the room of themselves! O sweet word: 'I live no more, but Christ liveth in me!' " - Samuel Rutherford

Nahum 1:2 - The Prophet Nahum announced - "God is jealous..."

What a profound and striking statement!

Of what is He jealous?

Isaiah 42:8 - The Prophet Isaiah offers the only explanation - "I am the LORD: that is My name: and My glory will I not give to another, neither My praise to graven images."

In other words, He is jealous of His glory!

Jehovah is the one true God Who gives life and purpose to all. Hence, He is worthy of all glory, honor, and praise. Never, ever should any glory - owing to the display of phenomenal wisdom, skill, or power - be ascribed to man or any idol. The LORD alone deserves all the praise.

Exodus 34:14 - Because He is LORD, He also has the name of "Jealous" for He is a "jealous God" - "For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God."

Matthew Henry offers this comment on this particular verse - "Thou shalt worship no other gods, not give divine honour to any creature, or any name whatsoever, the creature of fancy. A good reason is annexed. It is at thy peril if thou do: For the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God, as tender in the matters of His worship as the husband is of the honour of the marriage-bed. Jealousy is called the rage of a man...but it is God's holy and just displeasure. Those cannot worship God aright who do not worship Him alone."

Exodus 20:3-5 gives us the command - "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing...Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God..."

Deuteronomy 4:23-24 reiterates - "Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the LORD your God, which He made with you, and make you a graven image, or the likeness of any thing...For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God."

Deuteronomy 6:14-15 adds - "Ye shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the people which are round about you; (For the LORD thy God is a jealous God among you) lest the anger of the LORD thy God be kindled against thee, and destroy thee from off the face of the earth."

We are commanded in the Scriptures to have no other gods before the Lord. That means that we are not to make any images to represent God, to bow down before statutes in prayer, or to look to another(even in the name of prayer) for salvation, healing, deliverance, or help. To do so is to commit gross idolatry and to be in total violation to the Word of God.

At salvation, we were brought into a covenant with the LORD God through the Blood of Jesus, renouncing any and all idols in our lives and surrendering our complete allegiance to the Lord Jesus Christ. He has become our all-in-all. We need no other.

If we break covenant, as the children of Israel did so many times, then we set ourselves up to meet with the fire of our God - the consuming fire of His wrath and Holy Anger.

The Scriptures describe the action of forsaking the Lord for idols as provoking or moving Him to jealousy.
Deuteronomy 32:16 says of the Israelites - "They provoked Him to jealousy with strange gods, with abominations provoked they Him to anger."
Psalm 78:58 adds - "For they provoked Him to anger with their high places, and moved Him to jealousy with their graven images."

Zephaniah 1:18 - The Scriptures even teach that God can be so provoked to the point of destroying an entire nation of idolaters. The Prophet Zephaniah prophesied of Ninevah's destruction "by the fire of His jealousy" - "Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD's wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of His jealousy: for He shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land."

We can certainly see that God hates Idolatry! Nothing offends Him or provokes or moves Him to anger more than this Sin which is an abominable affront to His Glory and Honor as the One and Only True God.

God calls for our entire affection and adoration. He will, in no way, endure any rivals in our hearts as any husband would not dare to accept the affections that are due him from his wife to be given to another.

In 1 Corinthians 10:22, the Apostle Paul asked a very pertinent question to the Corinthian Church - "Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? are we stronger than He?"

As the present-day Church, we need to ask ourselves the same question.

We may not think that we are idolaters because we do not bow before statutes or invoke the dead for our blessings. We may not have any physical "high places" per se so we feel that we are exempt from this accusation.

However, as long as we place anything or anyone before the Lord, we are considered to be idolaters.

Arthur Wallis, a renowned preacher and writer, made this statement - "An idol may be defined as any person or thing that has usurped in the heart the place of pre-eminence that belongs to the Lord."

This can include the inordinate affection toward friends, family, money, jobs, property or possessions, honor, reputation, position, education, ministry, etc. These things in themselves are not evil; they become evil when they take the place of God in our lives.

But even before all these aforementioned items, we must admit that, day after day and moment by moment, we are faced with the biggest idol of all.
On numerous occasions, in all honesty, we would have to admit that we have placed this particular idol before the Lord Jesus, provoking and moving Him to jealousy with it.
At one time or another, we had constructed "high places" where we bowed down, adored, and worshiped this rival of God in our hearts.

What is this Idol?

It is none other than Self.

And the only possible way to remove it from our lives is to initially see it for what it is - a despicable idol - an overbearing and domineering rival for God's affections. We must then silence its pleadings and destroy its "high places" in our hearts. This is the only way that we will escape the fires of His jealousy for He will have no other gods before Him.

John Gregory Mantle, in his book entitled Beyond Humiliation, made this thought-provoking comment about it - "Such an idol is self, who pleads and promises that 'if we will but let it stand, it has pleasures, gifts, and treasures to enrich us at command.' This hateful idol will spend years in intriguing to escape from the hand of God. Not in listening to its pleadings, however, but in delivering the idol to utter destruction, shall we find our true wealth and pleasure, for jewels of priceless worth await those who have learned the secret of losing their life for Christ's sake that they may find it."

Again, in another place in his book, he said this about Self - "This ubiquitous idol Self is, then, to be fought against, and pursued through all the intricacies of our being, with bitter, unrelenting hate. Self is the very citadel of Satan in the heart; it is the great stronghold of the enemy; it is the most subtle, the most stubborn, the most tenacious foe with which the Holy Spirit has to contend in our nature. 'Self,' says William Law, 'is not only the seat and habitation, but the very life of sin; the works of the devil are all wrought in self; it is his peculiar workshop; and therefore Christ is not come as a Saviour from sin, as a destroyer of the works of the devil in any of us, but so far as self is beaten down and overcome in us. Christ's life is not, cannot be, within us, but so far as the spirit of the world, self-love, self-esteem, and self-seeking are renounced and driven out of us."

Samuel Rutherford called it the "great devil," the "house-devil," and the "idol that killeth all."

He then exclaimed - "Oh! blessed are they who can deny themselves, and put Christ in the room of themselves! O sweet word: 'I live no more, but Christ liveth in me!' "

There are no sweeter words - "I live no more, but Christ liveth in me!"

May the Holy Spirit work such a sanctifying work in each one of us whereby we are all able to say the same in humble worship before our Lord and King!

He is so worthy of all of the Glory!
No one can be compared to our God.
There is none like Him!

May God Bless His Word.
Connie

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