The title of my message tonight
is Our Jealous Savior and the Law of Jealousies. Our text will
be Zechariah chapter 8 and verse 2. In the first chapter of Zechariah,
in verse 14, the prophet of God tells us, The angel of the Lord
that communed with me said unto me, Cry thou saying, thus saith
the Lord of hosts, I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with
a great jealousy. And because of his great jealousy
for his people, the Lord God destroys the enemies of his people. He says, therefore, thus saith
the Lord, I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies. My house shall
be built in it, saith the Lord of hosts. and a line shall be
stretched forth upon Jerusalem. Cry yet, saying, Thus saith the
Lord of hosts, My cities, through prosperity, shall yet spread
abroad, and the Lord shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose
Jerusalem. Now let's look at our text, Zechariah
8 verse 2. Here the Lord Jesus again asserts
that his jealousy for his chosen makes their salvation absolutely
certain. Thus saith the Lord of Hosts,
I was jealous for Zion with great jealousy, and I was jealous for
her with great fury. Now let's look for a moment first
at our Savior's jealousy, his great jealousy for his church.
the bride he espoused unto himself from eternity in everlasting
love and tender mercy. You will recall in the Song of
Solomon the prayer of God's church, Set me as a seal upon thine heart,
as a seal upon thine arm, for love is strong as death, jealousy
is cruel as the grave, The coals thereof are coals of fire, which
hath the most vehement flame." The word that's translated jealous
in our text is the same word that's translated zealous throughout
the Old Testament. Jealousy is zealousness. Where there is no jealousy, no
burning zeal, there is no love. The Lord's love for us is that
which inspires his jealousy for Zion and for Jerusalem, his jealousy
for his people. If I do not zealously do my utmost
for a person, I do not love that person. If I do not zealously
do my utmost for a person, I do not love that person. Love necessitates
this jealous zeal for the one that is loved. So it is with
our Savior, who is a consuming fire. He says, who would set
the briars and thorns as enemies of his people against me in battle? I would go through them and I
would burn them together." He declares that he's jealous for
his church with great fury. Great fury against those who
would pull her away from him. And yet he declares to the object
of his love that those for whom he is jealous, that fury is not
in me. Solomon wrote in Proverbs 6,
jealousy is the rage of a man. Hold your hands here in Zachariah
and turn to 2 Corinthians 11 for a moment. Jealousy is the
rage of a man. The rage of a man against any
and all who would steal the heart of the wife he loves. Here in
2 Corinthians 11, the Apostle Paul speaks as God's messenger. He says, Jealous over you, verse
2, with godly jealousy. I'm not jealous for you like
a man who's jealous because of an insecure relationship. I'm
jealous for you. Jealous over you with a godly
jealousy. For I have espoused you to one
husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. And then he tells us the reason
for his jealousy. But I fear, lest by any means,
as the serpent beguiled Eve, even through his subtlety, so
your minds should be corrupted, turned from, pulled away from,
the simplicity, the singleness that is in Christ. got the jealousy. Paul was concerned,
zealous, and jealous over the church of God even as Christ
himself, lest any should pull the heart of his people away
from Christ alone as the object of love, affection, trust, and
hope. You remember In the beginning
our Savior loved us merely because He loved us. And so He will bestow
upon His chosen all good things merely because He will. Merely because He loves us. And He declares the zeal, that
is, the tender love, the free grace, the burning jealousy of
the Lord of hosts will do this. for his word's sake, that is,
for Christ's sake, and according to his own heart, the Lord God
has done and will do great things for the salvation of his people.
Let me tell you three things that are characteristic of jealousy.
They're not surprising to you, I'm sure. They might be a little
surprising to learn that God declares, God our Savior declares,
that he is jealous for us. Jealous for his people. Jealous for our hearts. Jealous for our affections. First,
jealousy causes a man to be watchful. quick-sighted. Even the slightest
glance of one who desires his wife's affection enrages the
heart of a loving man. And so it is with our Savior,
who is jealous for our hearts. The slightest indignity done
to his spouse, his The slightest attempt of another to draw away
her heart from him is met with the utmost fury. Turn to Ezekiel
25, let me show you. If Edom jeers at his prophet,
watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?
If Ammon only claps his hands at God's Israel, If he stops
his steed, or if he merely rejoices in his heart because Christ's
bride is hurt, he will suffer for his insolence. Ezekiel 25,
verse 6. Thus saith the Lord God, because
thou hast clapped thine hands, and stamped with thy feet, and
rejoiced in heart with all thy despite against the land of Israel. Behold, therefore, I will stretch
out mine hand upon thee, and will deliver thee for a spoil
to the heathen. And I will cut thee off from
the people, and I will cause thee to perish out of the countries.
I will also destroy thee, and thou shalt know that I am the
Lord. Then will the Lord be jealous
for his land, and pity his people. Here's the second thing. Jealousy
makes a man watchful, quick-sighted. And secondly, jealousy is merciless. Merciless. It's violent. Cruel as the grave, Solomon tells
us. It is a burning as a fire in
a man's heart. In fact, the word translated
jealous in Zechariah 8.2 is in Psalm 78 translated fiery thunderbolts. It is in Deuteronomy 32 translated
a burning fever. Jealousy then puts a man in a
fit of outrage. It makes him burn for revenge. Now while those things are all
evil in men, and I'll show you that in just a little bit. They
are gloriously just and righteous in our blessed husband, the Lord
Jesus. He will spit in the face of any
Miriam who even mutters against his Moses. What then will he
do to those who would steal the heart of his bride? What an indictment
against the religion of this age. What an indictment of judgment. Here's a third thing. Look at
Proverbs chapter 6. Jealousy is utterly implacable. It cannot be reconciled. Proverbs
6 verse 34. Jealousy is the rage of a man. And yet God describes himself
like this, in a rage. In a rage. Not against you, his
people, but for you. In a rage! For his people and
against all who would harm them. Jealousy is the rage of a man. Therefore he will not spare in
the day of vengeance. He will not regard any ransom,
neither will he rest content, though thou givest him many gifts."
You recall that Balak was willing to give anything to have his
way with Israel. Haman, we are told, was willing
to pay 10,000 talents of silver into the king's treasury to have
the Jews destroyed. And King Ahasuerus was willing
to comply with Haman's desire. Esther said, we are sold, I and
my people, to be destroyed, to be slain and to perish. That's
what Haman and Ahasuerus had plotted for. But you will also
recall that Haman was hanged on his own gallows, and the children
of Israel not only preserved, but exalted as the result of
his scheming and his plans. For thus saith the Lord of Hosts,
and read this in Zechariah 2 verse 8, Thus saith the Lord of Hosts,
After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled
you. After the glory The glory of
his jealousy, the glory of his jealous love, the glory of his
name and his honor for which he is jealous, hath he sent me
unto the nations which spoiled you. For he that toucheth you,
toucheth the apple of his eye. Our mighty Phidias will gird
his sword upon his thigh and execute his great fury, the great
fury of his wrath, upon any who dare oppose his beloved. He will smite his enemies in
the hinder parts and put them to a perpetual shame and a reproach
forever. And so he deals with all who
in any way oppose his beloved. That's the blessed security and
protection with which he encamps round about his people. Now,
turn to Numbers chapter 5, if you will. Numbers chapter 5. And I want us to stay here for
a little bit. So jealous is God our Savior
for us that he established a law in Israel specifically called
the law of jealousies. He did so to show us how he who
hateth putting away keeps his beloved from leaving him even
when she is enticed both from within and from without to do
so. Numbers chapter 5 verse 11. And the Lord spake unto Moses,
saying, speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them,
If any man's wife go aside, and commit a trespass against him,
and a man lie with her carnally, and be hid from the eyes of her
husband, and be kept close, and she be defiled, and there be
no witness against her, neither she be taken with the man. And the spirit of jealousy come
upon him. and he is jealous of his wife,
and she be defiled. Or, if the spirit of jealousy
come upon him, and he be jealous of his wife, and she be not defiled.
Then shall the man bring his wife unto the priest, and he
shall bring her offering for her, the tenth part of an ephah
of barley meal. He shall pour no oil upon it,
nor put frankincense thereon. For it is an offering of jealousy,
an offering of memorial, bringing iniquity to remembrance. The priest shall bring her near
and set her before the Lord. And the priest shall take holy
water in an earthen vessel. And of the dust that is in the
floor of the tabernacle, the priest shall take and put it
into the water. And the priest shall set the
woman before the Lord and uncover the woman's head. take away her
veil, and put the offering of a memorial in her hands, which
is the jealousy offering. And the priest shall have in
his hand the bitter water that causeth the curse, and the priest
shall charge her by an oath, and say unto the woman, If no
man hath lain with thee, And if thou hast not gone aside to
uncleanness with another instead of thy husband, be thou free
from this bitter water that causeth the curse. But if thou hast gone
aside to another instead of thy husband, and if thou be defiled,
and some man have lain with thee beside thy husband, then the
priest shall charge the woman with an oath of cursing, and
the priest shall say unto the woman, The Lord make thee a curse
and an oath among thy people, when the Lord doth make thy thigh
to rot and thy belly to swell. And this water that causeth the
curse shall go into thy bowels to make thy belly to swell and
thy thigh to rot. And the woman shall say, Amen,
Amen. And the priest shall write these
curses in a book, and he shall blot them out with the bitter
water. And he shall cause the woman
to drink the bitter water that causeth the curse. And the water
that causeth the curse shall enter into her and become bitter. Then the priest shall take the
jealousy offering out of the woman's hand, and shall wave
the offering before the Lord, and offer it upon the altar.
And the priest shall take a handful of the offering, even the memorial
thereof, and burn it upon the altar. And afterward shall cause
the woman to drink the water. And when he hath made her to
drink the water, then it shall come to pass that if she be defiled
and have done trespass against her husband, that the water that
causeth the curse shall enter into her and become bitter, and
her belly shall swell, and her thighs shall rot. And the woman
shall be a curse among her people. Verse 28. And if the woman be
not defiled, but be clean, then shall she be free, and shall
conceive seed. This is the law of jealousy. when a wife goeth aside to another
instead of her husband, and is defiled, or when the spirit of
jealousy cometh upon him, and he be jealous over his wife,
and shall set the woman before the Lord, and the priest shall
execute upon her all this law, then shall the man be guiltless
from iniquity, and this woman shall bear her iniquity." If
the wife was seen speaking with another, or spending what appeared
to be too much time with another, in the mind and eyes of her husband,
she could be brought before the priest and given a test. The
test was designed for only one thing, to prove guilt or innocence. We should not fail to observe
that the test was available only to the husband. That's strange, isn't it? Nowhere
is a test given for the woman to test the husband's fidelity. No test existed if the wife suspected
her husband of being an adulterer. The burden of proof or innocence
was totally upon the woman. Now, we're not told anywhere
in the scriptures that a doctor was more prevalent among wives
than it was among husbands in Israel, but that may very well
have been the case. You see, Hebrew women, as is
indicated throughout the Old Testament, looked upon barrenness
as a terrible curse and reproach, a shameful thing. A thing that
indicated God's disapproval, as we have it in verse 28. There
we are told that if a wife was proved innocent, she would conceive. And it was suggested by a good
many of the ancient Jewish writers, that adultery was more prevalent
among the wise, simply because they thought that the multiplicity
of lovers would increase the probability of them conceiving
a child and bearing a child. If they were able to conceive
and bear children, then people would look upon them as being
blessed of God. And that's real important to
all of us. We all like for other people. to look upon us and give a nod
of approval and say, there, Don York is blessed of God. Oh, God
must really smile on him. We crave it. And the notion that
by taking a multiplicity of lovers, commonly among the Israelite
women, might tend to stir a little jealousy in a man, especially
if all his other wives were barren. if a woman's husband became suspicious
of her, suspicious of her fidelity, if he was jealous for her. God ordains this that appears
to be a very strange law, specifically for the jealous husband's use.
It wasn't necessary that she be caught in the act of adultery,
or even that she be guilty of it. The only thing necessary
was that she has given her husband some reason to suspect infidelity. Some indication that she may
not be indeed faithful to him. And so the husband, if he has
in his mind a suspicion of infidelity, takes her to the priest and the
law is executed upon her. Now this test did not involve
a trial at court. In that case, we're told in Leviticus
20, if a woman were caught in the act of adultery, it's beyond
dispute. If somehow, some way, she is
actually obviously guilty, he brings her before the court in
Israel, and the man with whom she is engaged, and both are
to be put to death. Not here. Not here. Here, if
the woman is found guilty, death is not involved. Here, if the
woman is found guilty, her belly swells and her thigh rots, but
she is not put to death. There is no punishment executed
upon her except a punishment arranged by miraculous providence,
causing her, in the drinking of the water and the sensation
of guilt as she does so, to have her belly swell and her thigh
to rot. If a man was suspicious of his
wife, we're told in verse 15 that he must bring an offering
to the priest. The offering was to be supplied
by the suspicious husband, but it was her offering. This offering
was unique. It was to be the tenth part of
an effa of barley. That's the same as an omer, about
three and a half quarts of dry measure, what we would look at
as a half a bushel. The offering was to be carried
in an earthen vessel. And all the while this woman
stands before the priest as she holds out this tenth of a bushel. Now that doesn't seem like much
until you're standing holding it just like this, in a clay
pot. Not a plastic bucket or a bushel
basket, in an earthen vessel. All the while the priest is charging
her with an oath. All the while the priest is going
about the various aspects of the ceremony, she stands with
this offering of meal, a tenth of a bushel in a clay pot held
out in her hands. Seems to be deliberately intended
to be a very heavy, heavy thing. And she holds it out? Probably. I'm just guessing. Probably.
The intent was, the design was, that it might force her to acknowledge
guilt. And so she holds it out. Everything
about the offering is significant. It was not an offering that was
designated to expiate, atone for, remove, or transfer sin. The amount of barley meal was
exactly the same as the daily portion of manna given to the
children of Israel as they went through the wilderness. And it
is the same measure as the meal offering, or the meat offering,
that was required before God. But unlike the meal offering,
this offering had no fine flour mixed with it, no oil, no frankincense. God specifically says, don't
put any fine flour in this meat. this barley meal. Don't put any
oil in this meal. Don't put any sweet-smelling
frankincense in this meal. All of those things pointed to
the righteousness of Christ, the work of God's Spirit, and
the sweet savor of his free grace through the blood of Christ.
Fine flour was the food of the priest. Barley was the food for
horses and oxen. The earthen vessel was a vessel
of dishonor, a common vessel, used only for a time and then
discarded as the useless, insignificant thing it was. Every element of
the offering is designed to cause the woman to do just one thing,
to remember her sin, to remember her iniquity, to remember her
guilt. This was a jealousy offering,
and it showed the effects of suspicion. The woman was suspected
of a common, beastly, dishonorable act of adultery. A common, beastly,
dishonorable act. And the offering was provided
by her husband. But it was her offering. Now,
the priest then, would take the water, water from the brazen
labor at the door of the tabernacle, and he would get some dirt off
the floor of the tabernacle and mix it with the water and pronounce
the curse upon the woman, as we read in verses 19 through
22. The ramifications of the curse
were contingent upon her being proved either guilty or innocence. She drank the same mixture, but
it proved either guilt or innocence. The curse was then declared to
the woman, and she was required by law to agree to it. It wasn't a matter of saying,
is this alright with you? She was required by God's law to
say amen. Amen. Thereby acknowledging that
she understood what was going on. She understood what would
happen if she were found guilty. And she agreed to the rightness
of it. She was saying that when she
drank the bitter water, if it became bitter in her stomach,
and caused her stomach to swell, and she became ill and began
to corrupt, then she was guilty as charged. and must be shunned
the rest of her days. And then the priest would get
a piece of parchment, and I don't have any idea what they used
in those days to write on the parchment, but by some form of
ink, he would take the parchment and the water mixed with the
dirt, and he would write out the indictment. He'd write it
out. And then he'd take this water
and blot out the indictment. and he would take the scrapings
of the ink off the parchment and mix it with the water and
the dirt in the earthen vessel. The brew that was in the earthen
vessel was water, dirt from the floor of the tabernacle, and
the blottings or the scrapings of the parchment of her indictment.
And this strange concoction was designed just to reveal guilt
or innocence in the matter of adultery, in the matter of her
heart going a-whoring after another. It searched her from within. It searched her from within and
made manifest guilt or innocence. Now, because the mixture had
nothing toxic or poisonous in it, It could only discern what
was inside the woman by a miraculous work of God, and it ought always
to be viewed as such. Paul told us, as we saw in 1
Corinthians 10 this morning, that these things happened in
Israel, and this law was given to Israel to be typical, typical
of gospel matters. In this gospel age, God judges
the secrets of all hearts by Jesus Christ through the preaching
of the gospel. And as is all the law, the book
of Numbers and this law given of jealousies is about God's
church, the church of Christ, and her relationship with her
Savior. What's it all about? Let me show
you three or four things. First, only the wife could be
suspected. No laws given concerning the
possibility of infidelity to the husband. Had God intended
for us to look upon this as a matter relating to natural affairs,
the natural affairs of the natural heart, whether of the wife or
the husband, there would have been no need for a test. For
these things proceed out of the heart of man. The slightest knowledge
of our own depravity and corruption of heart convince us of our guilt
and never of our innocence in such matters. The law in its
entirety is spiritual. It's all about Christ. The law in its entirety is spiritual. It is all about Christ. It finds its end, its fulfillment,
its purpose in Jesus Christ the Lord, all together. You mean,
Brother Don, the law has no other purpose? No other purpose. You
mean the law signified nothing else? Nothing else. You mean
the law was totally to teach us spiritual things? You got
it. That's what it's for. That's
the whole purpose of the law. The husband was not suspected
in this law. I don't mean to suggest husbands
were never suspected or guilty. I'm sure they were suspected
and I know they were guilty. But in this law, the husband
was not suspected and could not be suspected because the husband
points to the fact that Christ our husband is without sin. He,
whose name is faithful and true, is an ever-faithful husband. He never lies. He cannot lie. And he loves us unconditionally.
He will never leave his bride, nor forsake her. He is with her
always. He is the same yesterday, today,
and forever. And he loves her with an everlasting
love, living to intercede for her. If a possibility of suspicion,
if any hint of unfaithfulness exists, it can only be with the
bride, not with Christ, our husband. It can never be laid at his door.
Now here's the second thing. Christ is jealous for his glory,
which is his church. He is zealous and jealous for
Zion, his bride, for Jerusalem, his wife. Because of his jealousy
for us, he will countenance no rival to our affection for him. He won't allow it. He won't allow
it. The emotion of jealousy has to
do with entitlement. Brother Tim James, preaching
up to Alma a few years ago, made that statement that struck me.
That's exactly it. The emotion of jealousy has to
do with entitlement. Now with men, on the human level,
we get jealous because we believe we are singularly entitled to
the affection of one for whom we have affection. We believe
we are singularly entitled to be loved by one that we love,
and that's utterly foolish. The fact is, even the slightest
understanding of our depravity, of our unworthiness, should dispel
such notions of entitlement. Human jealousy is utterly groundless,
and it is cruel. as all of you by experience know. It's groundless, and it is as
cruel as it is groundless. No human being is worthy, much
less entitled, to be jealous. Christ, on the other hand, has
both the claim and the right to unconditional affection. to the unconditional allegiance
of absolute love and fidelity from those he loves, he's entitled. He says, give me your heart. And he has a right to it. He
has a right to it. He's the only one who has an
absolute right to my heart. an absolute right, an absolute
entitlement to my affection. And he's the only one who deserves
it. He has a right to be jealous.
Now here's the third thing. We must acknowledge that we often
dare I not say constantly. Give our Savior, our completely
devoted husband, a reason for jealousy. The believer loves Christ genuinely,
no question about that. If any man love not the Lord
Jesus Christ, let him be anathema maranatha, let him be damned,
the Lord's coming. He's entitled to that love. We
say with Peter, every believer can say with Peter, honestly,
honestly, Lord, thou knowest all things. Thou knowest that
I love thee. We don't talk much about it because
we're ashamed. We love him because he first
loved us. Philip Doddridge, I think it
was Doddridge who wrote this hymn, he wrote, Do not I love
thee, O my Lord, behold my heart and see, and turn each odious
idol out that dares to rival thee. Yes, we love him. but we're ashamed of our love
for him because we love him who loved
us and gave himself for us with such base, corrupt, contemptible
love that we often go a whoring after
others. It has always been true of this
church And it is true of his church now, and it will be true
of his church tomorrow. We often go a-whoring after others,
prone to wonder, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I
love. Here's my heart. Oh, take and
seal it. Seal it for thy courts above. the cares of the world often get in the way of our unquestionable
love for Christ. Our minds are often fixed upon
other things, our hearts carried away to other things. Sometimes
God's church struggles with schisms, like the church of Corinth. Sometimes
She allows the presence of false teachings, like the Church at
Pergamos. Sometimes His Church, His true people, tolerate the
doctrine of Balaam, and even the doctrine of Nicolaitans. And we often become proud, self-sufficient, and leave our first love like
the church that led to sin. We give him plenty of reason
for suspicion. Therefore, this is the fourth
thing, we have to be tested. We must be proved. We must be
tried. We must be searched from within. We must be made to drink the
water mixed with dust, and the blottings of the accusation. How will the inner thoughts of
my heart and yours be discovered? Now remember, there were three
elements in this earthen vessel. The dust representing death. From dust thou art, to dust thou
shalt return. Throughout the scriptures, the
water represents the Word of God coming to us by the Spirit,
the Gospel coming to us by the Spirit of God. And the indictment
represents the law. The dust and the indictment are
in the water. The Gospel of Christ sets forth. The death of Christ is our substitute,
the substitute for sinners condemned by the law. And the Gospel is
the drink. of God's church, the food of
God's church. And by it, death and the curse
are swallowed up. It's the gospel that searches
the inward man. For God requires truth. To the
one guilty of unfaithfulness, he drinks and the gospel searches
him out and finds and discloses his unfaithfulness. You remember
in the Song of Solomon how that's exactly portrayed? This woman,
when she came before the priest, first thing he did was take her
veil away. Unmask her. That's my aim every time I preach
the gospel. I want to unmask your soul to
you. To you. I'm not interested in
unmasking it to anybody else. Not even to me. I want to unmask
your soul to you. You remember when the bride speaks
in the Song of Solomon, she says, I rose and sought my beloved.
I went about the streets, and I searched for him in the city,
and the watchman caught me, and they took away my veil. They
exposed to me that the whole matter why my beloved had withdrawn
himself was in me, altogether in me. And thus the preaching
of the gospel exposes our guilt. The drink of death searches out
the faithful as well and gives him freedom to bring forth fruit
unto God. We're tried by the word, by the
gospel. and we must be tried constantly. The word of God is quick and
powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing
asunder of the soul and spirit and the joints and marrow, and
is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. The offering that was brought
was barley, the food of beasts. That's a suitable thing. This
woman comes before God with nothing of value, casting everything
before Him. The barley pictures the gospel
in that it also is food for beasts. Because Christ Jesus came into
this world for the saving of beasts like us. To save sinners
of whom I am chief. And when the church is tried,
she's always found innocent. Though our guilt is exposed.
And our hearts are made then to cling ever more steadfastly
to him who loves us. The mixture of the gospel blots
out the indictment of the law and declares to believing sinners
not guilty.