Zealous is a super-positive word that accurately describes God. Zealous is a word that implies passion, enthusiasm, devotion, and dedication for something or someone. If you have zeal, you are willing, energized, and motivated for that thing or person and that is the real picture of God’s zeal.
It is important to understand why God is so zealous for us. One of God’s names is Qanna and it is translated zealous, jealous, or envy. [Ex 34:14] “Do not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a Jealous God.” Zealous and jealous are sometimes used interchangeably with a similar meaning in translation.
That God is zealous and jealous is best shown in the marriage relationship. God says when He created marriage, the two will become one flesh. When a man and a woman make a marriage commitment, they are making a covenant before God that they will be faithful through all circumstances of life and will not redirect their love to anyone else.
Zeal can be described as God’s jealous love. In scripture, God is depicted as Israel's husband. God is like a jealous lover who is unwilling to abandon or give up His redeemed people. His passion and zeal is for them to be in covenant relationship with Him. As in a marriage relationship, God is wanting all our praise for Himself and no one else. He makes a commitment to be zealous and all out for our good and we in turn decide to be 100% devoted to Him and to love Him with all of our heart, mind, strength and soul.
God made a covenant with His people in love. Because Israel turned to other gods, God said they had for all intentions committed adultery against Him. God was so displeased with the Israelite’s over their unfaithfulness that He sent His people into captivity for 70 years. We don’t often like to think that God hates sin as much as He does and that it angers Him; but the bible doesn’t hide this jealous attribute of God.
We much prefer to hear the verses when God’s is no longer angry and merciful. God forgives after we have repented of our unfaithfulness and then with continued zeal works to restore the relationship. In [Zec 8:1,7] “I am very jealous for Zion; I am burning with jealousy for her…I will bring them back to live in Jerusalem; they will be my people, and I will be faithful and righteous to them as their God.” God always keeps His part of the covenant. And God has a right because of His faithfulness, to want us to be faithful to Him in return. There is no sin in His righteous jealousy.
God is zealous and deeply cares that you think of Him rightly. So, let’s ask our series theme statement in a form of a question: What comes into your mind when you think about God? Deep in your heart, what do you believe God to be like? Tozer says that once we know what a person thinks about God, then, “we might predict with certainty the spiritual future of that man (or woman).” Your answer is of immense importance. Your answer to this question will show whether your view corresponds to the true being of God.
Some may quote the Apostle’s Creed stating that is what they believe about God. But that can be just a religious statement that doesn’t dig down into the specific beliefs about God. We need to find out what God says in scripture about Himself and compare our thoughts against that. It could be difficult to find out that our knowledge is inaccurate and that we have believed God wrongly for so many years. How elevated is your view of God? Do you have a high opinion of Him? Is your view a view that God would consider is worthy of Him? Is it a view that causes you to live your life in a certain way?
What you believe about God truly is the most important thing about you. Since God has taken so much effort to reveal all of His wonderful attributes about Himself through the word, through creation, through Jesus and in our hearts, shouldn’t we work with zeal to make sure we know Him rightly?
