“My soul be thou humbled before the Lord and tremble at his name!”
The jealousy of God made Charles Spurgeon tremble with awe. However, it was an awe which needed careful clarification. Speaking in human terms Spurgeon remarked that “jealousy in man is usually exercised in an evil manner,” but also that jealousy “is not in itself necessarily sinful.”
In Spurgeon’s time, some identified jealousy with a man being “cautious for his honour.” But, with respect to God Spurgeon saw jealousy as “that tender regard which God has for His own Deity, honour, and supremacy.” In such a case, Spurgeon saw “jealous” as “akin to that noble word ‘zealous.’”
In the first section of his sermon, Spurgeon declared that the “Lord is exceedingly jealous of his deity.” Here Spurgeon noted that the text was “coupled with the command – ‘Thou shalt worship no other God.’” Thus, the law “thundered from Sinai…received force from the divine jealousy.”
In Spurgeon’s view, since God is truly God “he cannot endure that any creature of his own hands…should be thrust into his throne, and made to wear his crown.” While other “False gods patiently endure the existence of other false gods” such was not the case with God. Because God is the only “living and true God” all others must be rejected. Thus, “Dagon must fall,” “Bel must be broken,” and “Ashtaroth must be consumed with fire.”
Spurgeon found the Lord’s patience remarkable. Indeed, he exclaimed, “Oh! it is a marvel that God hath not dashed the world to pieces with thunderbolts.” But, the primary idols of Spurgeon’s day were not wood and stone, but rather the “idols in your heart.” Whether it was “custom,” “fashion,” “business,” pleasure,” “ambition,” or “honour” each could be made into an idol, a “secret thing” which “souls lust after.”
In the second section of his sermon, Spurgeon explained how “The Lord is jealous of his sovereignty.” He began by noting “He that made heaven and earth has a right to rule his creatures as he wills.” Since God’s right to rule was rooted in his creating and ordering of the universe, Spurgeon said, “Every time we sin, we do as much say, ‘I do not acknowledge God to be my sovereign; I will do as I please.’”
Furthermore, he also asserted that “Sin is a deliberate treason against the majesty of God.” As a result “self-righteousness is equally guilty of treason.” As sin said, “I will not keep God’s law,” self-righteousness said, “I will not be saved in God’s way.” Furthermore, because self-righteousness said, “I will enter heaven by my own way,” Spurgeon remarked that “Self-righteousness is in itself the very height and crowning-point of rebellion against God.”
In the third section of his sermon, Spurgeon reminded his hearers that “The Lord is jealous of his glory.” Indeed, God’s glory was rooted in his character and expressed in his every action. On the one hand “there is such a store of everything that is holy, and good, and lovely in God, that he must be glorious,” but also, “the actions which flow from his character…are glorious too.”
In contemplating the glory of God and the self-righteousness of man, Spurgeon believed that “one of the hardest struggles of the Christian life is to learn this sentence – ‘Not unto us, not unto us, but unto thy name be glory.’” Thus, Christians had to learn “to walk humbly before the Lord.”
In the fourth and final section of his sermon, Spurgeon declared that “The Lord is jealous over his own people.” Here Spurgeon articulated that the relationship believers enjoyed with Christ was one of “marriage covenant.” Because the connection of Christ to his people was so deep “God’s jealousy was peculiarly liable to take fire.”
In short, “the Lord Jesus Christ…is very jealous of your love.” The fierceness and goodness of Christ’s love led Surgeon to cry, “Oh for a fire to burn up all my wandering loves. O for a seal to stamp the name of my Beloved indelibly upon my heart!”
Why you should take up and read:
For Charles Spurgeon the love of God in Christ was incomparable. But this love was also a jealous love, one which would brook no infidelity. Spurgeon’s cry “for a fire to burn up all my wandering loves” captured the passionate longing for holy communion with Jesus that Spurgeon craved. For those wanting to savour the fierce goodness and jealous love of God please take up and read.
Here is the Link to the Sermon of the Week: https://www.spurgeon.org/resource-library/sermons/a-jealous-god#flipbook/
Phillip Ort serves at the Director of The Spurgeon Library at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City where he is also pursuing a Master of Divinity degree.
