Every true and honest Bible student readily confesses that the Bible identifies the Jewish people as the people of God. Unfortunately, the Jews repeatedly provoked the Lord to jealousy. In judgment for their indiscretions, the Lord promised to move the Jewish people to jealousy as He showed His favour unto a people “which are not a people.” According to the apostle Paul, this was fulfilled when the Lord turned to the Gentiles offering them salvation through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 10:19; Romans 11:11). This jealousy was not to be permanent. One day the Lord will again turn back to the Jewish people after the Rapture of the church.
The Bible consistently identifies the Lord as a jealous God. As the Creator, He deserves man’s undivided allegiance. As the most High God, He is worthy of man’s unadulterated worship. It is often in this vein that the Bible speaks of God’s jealousy. He warned Israel not to make or bow down to any graven images (Exodus 20:4-5; Deuteronomy 5:8-9; Psalm 78:58) because He was a jealous God and would have no choice but to judge such infidelity. The same was true of any false god (Deuteronomy 32:16) or sin (1 Kings 14:22) which man allowed to come between him and his Creator. God is perfectly just in His jealousy since man was created for God’s pleasure (Revelation 4:11).
Historically, the word jealous is connected to the word zeal rather than to envy. Unfortunately, the world has perverted man’s understanding of jealousy by likening it to a detestable sin. The Bible student recognizes that jealousy cannot always be sinful because God says that He is a jealous God (Nahum 1:2) and God does not sin. A scriptural study proves that jealousy can be righteous, or it can be wicked depending upon the intent of the one in whom this jealousy originates. In a very basic sense, jealousy is the unwillingness to share or allow anything to rival the object of one’s desire. Since man has sinful desires, jealously is often viewed as sinful and can lead to other sinful practices. In the Lord’s case, His righteous desire to be man’s only true and living God drives Him to just judgment and godly jealousy.
The world contains far too many wicked people possessing no concern for God, the Bible, and eternity. Sometimes those who know the Lord as Saviour lose hope concerning others coming to a saving knowledge of Christ. Bible-believing Christians must always keep in mind that as long as a man remains breathing there is hope for his redemption. Isaiah told the Lord, “For the grave cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth” (Isaiah 38:18). Once death occurs, all hope ceases. The individual’s destination and/or his reward are settled. Yet, up until that point in time, there is hope for salvation, hope for growth, and hope for spiritual change.
Once confronted by the presence of the Holy One, man’s personal viewpoint always becomes increasingly realistic. By all standards, Job was a good man, yet the presence of God caused him to abhor himself “and repent in dust and ashes.” Conviction always magnifies the greatness of God and reminds man of his own vile nature. Ezra’s conviction was described as heaviness (Ezra 9:5) which caused him to rend his garment. That conviction humbled Ezra to the point where he said, “I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God: for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens” (Ezra 9:6).
Without the truth, there can be no true biblical conviction. By definition, conviction is the work of God that convinces an individual concerning the validity of truth and accountability for truth. The Spirit of God takes the law of God and writes it upon men’s hearts. That truth works upon a man’s conscience to accuse or excuse one’s thoughts. Either way, this work is very much the work of conviction. On one hand, a man develops the conviction that Jesus is the only way to get his sins forgiven. On the other hand, a man sees himself as sinful with no hope. In the end, conviction demands a holy God and a holy truth in order to forgive sin. Both elements working together bring true biblical heartfelt conviction.
Believing that one man can cause true biblical conviction upon another man serves as one of the greatest misconceptions concerning conviction. Obviously, one man can proclaim the truth to another, but only the Spirit of God can open that other man’s heart to convince him of the truth being conveyed (Acts 16:14). Even when the scriptures reveal that Apollos convinced the people that Jesus was Christ, the Bible student understands that he did so only through the help of the Holy Ghost (Acts 18:28). Apollos was merely the instrument. Thus, man is only responsible for giving the truth and doing so in a scriptural fashion. God then takes that word and makes it effectual in the hearers’ hearts.
It is very important that the saint recognize that he is blameless in Christ at this very moment in time because of Christ’s sacrifice upon the cross. Yet, the Bible warns of one’s condition when the Lord Jesus Christ returns for His own. Thankfully, the scriptures also clearly address this event. According to 1 Corinthians 1:8, the Lord Jesus Christ “shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The same truth is expressed in 1 Thessalonians 3:13 when the Bible says that the Lord desires to stablish the believers’ “hearts unblameable in holiness before God . . . at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints.” How is this accomplished? 1 Thessalonians 5:23 offers the answer when it mentions being “preserved blameless.” This preservation is not through man’s efforts but only through the work of Christ. He preserves the Christian positionally blameless.
Unscriptural authority undermines God’s true authority. Unfortunately, many well-meaning Christians have determined that their own experiences or feelings hijack God’s authority. Authority, however, is only proper when it is within the God-given boundaries established by God’s word. One example is the authority to teach and lead men. According to scripture, this authority is not given to women (1 Timothy 2:12), and when a woman seeks to commandeer this authority, she does so apart from the Lord’s leading. The same holds true when children try to lead the home, or when others seek authority that the Lord never intended for them.
The world often accuses faithful believers of being arrogant or simply narrow-minded because of the believer’s unwavering certainty concerning the things he believes. Although there are times when believers reveal an unchristian arrogance, the godly believer is simply certain of his beliefs because he is certain of the authority substantiating those beliefs. According to Titus 2:15, the believer canand should “speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority.” Why? Because the Bible is the word of the God that has all authority and it offers to the believer that level of authority. It is not, therefore, arrogance which causes a godly believer to be unwilling to waver on what he believes, but faith in the written word and words of his God.
