The LORD Whose Name is Jealous

Introduction

Tonight we are continuing to learn more about the God we worship by looking at the names of God.

So far we’ve looked at the name Yahweh, it describes God is the great I AM, the creator of the universe.

Last week we discovered that he is El Elyon, or God most high, God above all possible and alleged gods that could and have been imagined by humankind throughout history.

Tonight we will take a look at a descriptive name of God, but one that God chooses to describe himself and links it closely to his name.

This morning we discussed God as the Father who suffers. And during that study we identified that it is because of God’s great love for his people that he places himself in the potential for great suffering. That if he was in not in fact love itself, that his apathy to our faithfulness to him could relieve himself from suffering.

Coming off of our study this morning, it is not surprising to learn that God’s great love for us drives the importance behind the name we will study tonight. The name tonight is

Yahweh Qanna, or the LORD who is Jealous.

It is within this framework of divine love that God’s Jealousy exists and surpasses our human understanding of jealousy.

Lets read

Joshua 24:14–28 ESV

“Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Then the people answered, “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods, for it is the Lord our God who brought us and our fathers up from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, and who did those great signs in our sight and preserved us in all the way that we went, and among all the peoples through whom we passed. And the Lord drove out before us all the peoples, the Amorites who lived in the land. Therefore we also will serve the Lord, for he is our God.” But Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the Lord, for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions or your sins. If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you harm and consume you, after having done you good.” And the people said to Joshua, “No, but we will serve the Lord.” Then Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the Lord, to serve him.” And they said, “We are witnesses.” He said, “Then put away the foreign gods that are among you, and incline your heart to the Lord, the God of Israel.” And the people said to Joshua, “The Lord our God we will serve, and his voice we will obey.” So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and put in place statutes and rules for them at Shechem. And Joshua wrote these words in the Book of the Law of God. And he took a large stone and set it up there under the terebinth that was by the sanctuary of the Lord. And Joshua said to all the people, “Behold, this stone shall be a witness against us, for it has heard all the words of the Lord that he spoke to us. Therefore it shall be a witness against you, lest you deal falsely with your God.” So Joshua sent the people away, every man to his inheritance.

Yahweh Qanna makes covenants

Six times in the OT the LORD is specifically called Jealous. In every instance that he is called Jealous it is in the context of making a covenant.

As we discussed this morning and in weeks prior, God is a God of Covenants.

Covenant with Noah

Covenant with all creation as remembered in the rainbow

Covenant with Abram

Covenant with Moses and the Hebrews

New Covenant:

Jeremiah 31:31 ESV

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah,

That covenant which God enacted is described in

Ephesians 5:31–32 ESV

“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.

Once again the covenant language that God chooses to use is that of a marriage relationship.

Do spouses have the right to be Jealous?

Humanly speaking, the answer depends. Is the jealousy warranted?

There are relationships where a persons own insecurities make them completely lock down the other person. They want to know where they are and who they are with constantly, there is no room for trust in such a relationship, as the one spouse hounds the other endlessly.

Such jealousy is wrong and it is unhealthy.

In the case of God, He had every reason to be Jealous because they had sown their desire to serve other Gods.

Joshua 24:14 ESV

“Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord.

Remember how quickly they settled back into idolatry with the Golden calf, and here, a generation later they are still having to be reminded to not worship idols.

As we discovered this morning, God enters into a covenant relationship with us because HE wants us. He is seeking out that relationship with us! I often times wonder why the all mighty God should care for me, but I can’t question the fact that he does.

And if we agree to enter into that covenant relationship with him, then when we leave it for anything else, whether money, or fame, or popularity, or safety, or idols, we give him cause to be jealous.

He is a jealous God for the same reason he suffers, Because he has chosen to be intimately involved with us, he opens himself up to jealousy and suffering when we reject Him or His ways.

And because he is perfect, He deserves our faithfulness.

Yahweh Qanna deserves faithfulness

Throughout scripture, God is continually reminding his people that he is worthy of their faithfulness.

Since Yahweh is the one who initiates Covenant, we know that he has taken the initiative to be there for us.

He was there for Abram

He was there for Jacob

He was there for Moses

And he continues to be there for us. Even though we have shown him time and time again that we are the ones that abandon HIM.

WHICH IS CRAZY!

Unlike

The perfect God, creator of the universe, the father of steadfast love and mercy and grace, the father of orphans and widows, the father that loves us so much that he allows himself to suffer on our behalf, WE TURN OUR BACKS ON HIM TIME AND TIME AGAIN AND YET HE IS STILL THERE.

He, beyond any doubt deserves our faithfulness.

God, as our husband through his covenant, Never, ever breaks his side of what he said he will do. There is never a reason that is acceptable to be unfaithful to God because he never gives us a reason to be unfaithful.

God gives us everything that we have in this life. The food, the clothes, the buildings, it all came from God. Sure men may have put it together, but God gave us all the elements and abilities to do so.

In fact the opposite is true.

He is worthy and deserves our undivided faithfulness.

Yahweh Qanna is a Consuming Fire

- Read

The people claim to desire to be faithful to God.

Joshua calls them out on their history, their inability to remain faithful has been seen throughout the previous generation, so he essentially says, YEAH RIGHT!

You won’t serve God because you are inconsistent!

Remember when Caleb and Joshua told the people that they could overtake the inhabitants of the land but the people believed the report of the spies and were afraid? You can bet at this moment in time Joshua remembered!

And so he issues them this Warning which is still true for us today!

God is patient, God is slow to anger, God is merciful and gracious

But there is coming a time when those who are unfaithful to Him will be punished or consumed by fire.

Jer end of 9 -

2 Thessalonians tells us that there is a day coming when God’s vengeance will be inflicted in flaming fire upon those who know not God and on those who do not obey the gospel of christ.

But that day does not have to drive us to fear our jealous God.

Those consumed on that day will be undergoing that based on their choice. They are offered a saving relationship with God through Christ, the same as we are, yet they refuse it and instead chase after temporary pleasure and forsake His grace.

God has provided his

Conclusion

Jealousy in our human relationships can become a poison in our veins. That is because jealousy crosses into envy and envy to anger almost faster than a blink of an eye. In fact, I’m not always sure how to tell the difference in my own emotions.

However, Yahweh is Holy. His jealousy exists within his nature of steadfast love and faithfulness. His jealousy is contained within his rightful claim on all of creation.

B

He is jealous for the same reason that he allows himself to suffer, and that is LOVE.

His love drives him to desire a covenant relationship with us, an opportunity that everyone on earth should be absolutely jumping each other to obtain. Can you imagine if everyone truly understood the greatness of God and the offer he has extended to us through His son Jesus Christ, people would be lined up out the door to be baptized and establishments that sell human vice would be shut down due to lack of business!

But that is not where we are as a people.

As the righteous judge of the universe He understands all too well what fate awaits those who are outside of his convent relationship and for those who are unfaithful to him. Just as we talked about this morning out of the book of Jeremiah, the steadfast love of God aches with his knowledge that destruction befalls the disobedient.

It is this love that drives God’s jealousy. It’s his perfect understanding of the free gift of Grace that he has extended to us and His providential plan to allow us to read about it through the love letter that is his inspired word.

We are told that when we commit to God through believing the Gospel, confessing Christ as our savior and lord before men, repenting and living a life of repentance, and being baptized, immersed in water for the remission of sins and maintaining our faith through obedience to his word, we practice that perfect love that casts out the fear of his retribution that is stored up for the disobedient.

Are you living in that covenant relationship with God tonight? Have you accepted Yahweh Qanna’s free gift of grace?

If not, and you would like to become a child of God today, we invite you to come now.