In God’s light we see that God is Jealous over us to Love Him Supremely as His Wife

The dealing with a wife over whom her husband is jealous in Num. 5:11-31 typifies Christ’s jealousy over His believers and the church; we have a jealous God, and God is jealous whenever we love anything or anyone in place of Him.

This portion in Num. 5 is very particular, and if such a procedure would be done today, many may not agree with it; however, this portion has a deep spiritual significance, for our God is a jealous God – He is jealous over us, His wife.

In the light of the entire revelation in the Bible, our appreciation and response to the Lord’s jealousy will determine whether we can be formed as the true fighting army of the Lord.

In Rev. 19 we see that the Lord Jesus as the Son of Man will return, and He will be the Bridegroom on a white horse; He will be accompanied by His chaste bride, His newly wed bride, to fight against the enemy and destroy him.

The Lord’s army is all feminine; we as believers in Christ are, on one hand, the many sons of God, but on the other, we are part of the bride of Christ, the wife of Christ.

Therefore, on one hand we need to enjoy and grow in the Lord’s life to be matured as full sons of God, and on the other, we need to give ourselves to love the Lord and enjoy Him, being a chaste virgin for Him as His beloved bride.

Our God is a jealous God, and His name is jealousy; He has redeemed us and brought us to Himself, He has courted us, and He betrothed us to Himself through regeneration, and He wants us to be His chaste bride, His wife that loves Him uniquely.

Jealousy is one of the most intense emotions there is, causing people even to kill or do extreme things because of it; therefore, human jealous many times is sinful and leads to sin.

However, God’s jealousy is not sinful, for there’s no sin in Him; He is jealous over the ones that are His, and He is vigil in guarding His possession. Should anything or anyone come in and draw our heart from the Lord, becoming a substitute for our Husband, the Lord’s jealousy kicks in.

We want to see something related to the holy and righteous jealousy of the divine being, God Himself. Jehovah was jealous over Israel, His wife in the Old Testament, and the Lord is jealous over the church, His wife in the age of grace.

God is jealous over His people. We need to touch this attribute of God, be touched by the feeling of His jealousy, and even we ourselves be filled, in a positive way, filled with the jealousy of Christ.

God is Jealous over us, the Church as His Wife, whenever we Love Anything or Anyone in place of Him

Christ’s fighting army is composed of the overcomers, those who are a fighting wife to match Christ (see Rev. 19:7-9, 11-16); in order for us to be part of the Lord’s fighting army, we must be chaste toward Him (2 Cor. 11:2-3).

The army that the Lord has is characterised not by power, might, or strength, but chastity; God is not looking for the big, bold, and powerful, but the pure, the chaste, the single ones, those who are undefiled but faithful to Him.

The fighting army of God is composed of those who have no other one in their heart but their husband, those who have no other interest but their husband.

As the Lord is calling us to be formed into a fighting army, there is one thing He has to do in us in the way of dealing – He has to expose all the substitutes for Christ, all His rivals, His replacements, that is, our idols and other gods that we have in us.

The first thing we need to know is that God is God – He is our God, we can’t worship anyone or anything else. In the Old Testament we see that God was jealous over His people when they went after other gods.

Our seeking and pursuing of anything other than Christ is spiritual adultery in the eyes of God (see James 4:4).

Any kind of unfaithfulness, any kind of other seeking, any mixture of seeking the Lord and something or someone else, any loving the Lord and loving something else – all this is spiritual adultery in the Lord’s eyes.

And those who commit spiritual adultery will be judged and cursed by God (1 Cor. 16:22), and they will not be able to fight for God.

Humanly speaking, jealousy is usually regarded as a negative thing, but it is one of God’s attributes (Exo. 20:5; 34:14); it is actually the first attribute of God revealed in the Ten Commandments.

The jealousy of God is like the jealousy of a husband over his wife (2 Cor. 11:2-3). He would not let His wife be touched, go off after another one, or have her heart ruined by having something for anyone but Himself. This is why He wants to make His home in our heart.

The most jealous one in the universe is God; His name is Jealous (see Exo. 34:14).

He wants us to love Him uniquely, singly, and wholly; He commands us to love Him, He draws us to Himself, He loves us, He courts us, and His unique commandment – which is both an old and a new commandment – is to love God.

God is jealous whenever we love anything or anyone in place of Him. We need to bring this to the Lord and open to Him under His light, searching our heart in His presence, allowing the Lord to envelop us not only with His love but also His jealous.

When His jealousy comes, we are constrained by His mighty love, and this love is like a strong tide pressing on its way. He constrains us with His love, His love pressures us, and there’s a jealous element there.

God is jealous over us – He doesn’t want only 90% of our love but our whole heart. We need to be exposed by His light and see where we went astray, where we are unfaithful, and where we compromise.

The Lord will not tolerate compromise or a partial love; we need to have no one else in sight but Him. As a jealous Husband, God wants us to serve Him and Him alone (Matt. 6:24).

Knowing that our God is jealous, we should let His jealousy become ours, so that we would care only for Him and allow no one and nothing replace Him (Exo. 20:5; 2 Cor. 11:2-3).

We need to love the Lord the whole way, with every part of our being, with every fiber of our being; this will protect us and prepare us to be part of the bride, the fighting army, above all else.

Lord Jesus, we love You! You loved us first, Lord, and we cannot but love You. Constrain us with Your love that we would give our all to You. May the mighty tide of Your love flow in and sweep us away, causing us to leaven anyone and anything else that would catch our gaze and draw our heart. Dear Lord Jesus, may we know that our God is jealous over us, the church as His bride, and may we allow His jealous become ours so that we would care only for Him and allow no one and nothing to replace Him!

In His Jealousy over us, God will Remove all Replacements and Hindrances until He is our unique Lord and God

In Song of Songs see that love is as strong as death, jealousy is as cruel as Sheol; its flashes are the flashes of fire, a flame of Jehovah (S.S. 8:6).

Death is one of the strongest power there is; when death calls, you don’t negotiate or ask for it to wait – when it takes you, it takes you forever. In a poetic form, here we see that the Lord’s love is likened in its strength to death, so powerful that it takes us away forever.

And the Lord’s jealousy is as strong as Sheol; Sheol is a place under the earth that holds all those who are dead, a prison of some sorts, from which no one can escape.

The Lord’s jealousy is so strong that no one can escape it; God is jealous over us, for He wants our love for Him to be pure, our mind to be single, and our entire being to be focused on Him.

All the seekers of the Lord Jesus have been captured by His love, and this love is as strong as death. With His jealousy there is also flashing fire; our God is a jealous God and a consuming God (Deut. 4:24).

The consuming God and the jealous God go together, that is, His consuming fire and His jealousy. From the beginning of time, God has been a jealous God (Exo. 20:5); nothing can withstand His jealousy – He will destroy all His enemies (30:14).

God is jealous over us, and He will remove all hindrances and replacements until He becomes our unique Lord, the God of all, the unchallenged King (1 Cor. 14:25-28; Psa. 45:11; Rev. 19:16).

He wants to be our unique Husband, our unchallenged Husband. The apostle Paul told the saints in Corinth that he was jealous over them with a jealousy of God, for he had betrothed them to one husband to present them as a pure virgin to Christ (see 2 Cor. 11:2-3).

There are so many things that can be a replacement to Christ; anything outside of God can become a replacement of God in our life. Even our work for God and in God’s name can be a replacement for Christ, becoming “our husband”, the one we love even more than the Lord.

Even in writing this blog post, in considering my own life and experience, I need to repent and tell the Lord to rekindle my love for Him and to constrain me with His love; I want that nothing and no one – not even good and spiritual and scriptural things – would replace God as my husband.

May the Lord recover us, His people to being clean, pure, chaste, and single in this adulterous and mixed world and generation.

May we treasure and maintain our chastity and purity toward our husband, Christ.

May we allow Him to constrain us with His love and jealousy, and may His jealousy become our jealousy over our fellow believers, that we may help them love the Lord absolutely in purity and chastity!

Then, the Lord will have a way to gain us and many others to be part of His virgin, chaste, and pure bride, and He will have a way to come back.

Lord Jesus, shine on us and expose anything or anyone that replaces You in our being. Constrain us by Your love and jealousy until we reject and put aside anything else but You! Oh Lord, remove all hindrances until You become our unique Lord, the God of all, the unchallenged King, and our unique and unchallenged Husband. Amen, Lord Jesus, may we be preserved in our chastity and purity toward You until we see Your face. May we be filled with Your jealousy over those who belong to You, that we may pray for them to return to You and love You supremely! Amen, Lord Jesus, gain Your virgin, chaste, beloved bride, who is also Your overcoming army!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Minoru Chen for this week, and portions from, The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 428 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallisation-Study of Numbers (1), week 4, The Lord’s Jealousy over the Church as His Wife.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # Thy mighty love, O God, constraineth me, / As some strong tide it presseth on its way, / Seeking a channel in my self-bound soul, / Yearning to sweep all barriers away. (Hymns #431)
  # The love of Christ is now constraining me / That I would love and love Him utterly. / His mighty love has touched me deep within / To consecrate my life and all to Him. (Song on, The love of Christ is now constraining me)
  # Set me, Lord Jesus, / As seal on Thine heart; / Jealousy’s cruel as Sheol, / And love’s strong as death, / Jealousy’s cruel as Sheol, / And love’s strong as death. / Much water cannot / Quench love, nor do floods drown it. / All man could give for love is contemned. (Hymns #1154)