                    [Times Square Church Pulpit Series]

                           The Jealousy of God!

               The Jealousy of God Portrayed in Three Scenes

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By David Wilkerson
January 1, 1986
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                                 Scene One

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          "Now this took place that what was spoken through the
          prophet might be fulfilled, saying, Say to the daughter
          of Zion, Behold your King is coming to you, gentle, and
          mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a
          beast of burden. And the disciples went and did just as
          Jesus had directed them, and brought the donkey and the
          colt, and laid on them their garments, on which He sat.
          And most of the multitude spread their garments in the
          road, and others were cutting branches from the trees,
          and spreading them in the road. And the multitudes
          going before Him, and those who followed after were
          crying out, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David;
          blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord;
          hosanna in the highest! And when He had entered
          Jerusalem, all the city was stirred, saying, Who is
          this? And the multitudes were saying, This is the
          prophet Jesus, from Nazareth in Galilee. And Jesus
          entered the temple and cast out all those who were
          buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the
          tables of the moneychangers and the seats of those who
          were selling doves. And he said to them, It is written,
          My house shall be called a house of prayer; but you are
          making it a robbers' den. And the blind and the lame
          came to Him in the temple, and He healed them. But when
          the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful
          things that He had done, and the children who were
          crying out in the temple and saying, Hosanna to the Son
          of God, they became indignant" (Matthew 21:2-15 NAS).

          I see the disciples bringing a donkey to Jesus, with
          its little colt following close behind. The disciples
          lay their garments on the donkey, then Jesus mounts the
          donkey and heads for Jerusalem. His eyes are set toward
          the temple. Look at the multitudes, casting down on the
          streets their garments and branches, making a makeshift
          royal carpet.

          You can almost hear the shouting getting louder as the
          crowd grows: "Hosanna! Hosanna! To the King! Blessed is
          He who comes in the name of the Lord!"

          He enters the city and the visitors fall in with the
          crowd, saying, "Who is this Man? Is He not the miracle
          worker? Is this not the One who raised Lazarus? Can He
          not open blind eyes and deaf ears; and can He not make
          cripples whole? By His mere touch, hemorrhages are
          healed!"

          But look at His face! He does not even once stop to
          touch a blind eye or a deaf ear! He is performing no
          sign, no wonder; the sick reach out to touch Him, but
          it seems He doesn't see them! He does not even glance
          at the children He so loves! There is not a word of
          kindness to the passing widows so near to His heart!

          Jesus is pre-occupied! He does not look to the right
          nor to the left. Why is He so serious? Why the angry
          look? Why the furrowed brow? He is on a mission, an
          appointment in His Father's house! The donkey stops at
          the temple stairs and Jesus dismounts. He walks through
          the crowd - silent and determined. Isaiah said of Him,
          "Behold your King is coming to you - gentle - and
          riding on a donkey" (Isaiah 62:11).

          But today He is not gentle. A fire blazes in His eyes -
          the holy jealousy of a jealous God is upon Him! "For
          the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God"
          (Deuteronomy 4:24 NAS).

          Jesus strides into the temple, and something in Him
          erupts! To the undiscerning eye, it looked like a
          religious revival - the bustling crowds were there. It
          was a scene of feverish religious activity. The
          prosperous multitudes were flocking to the tables -
          they were buying and selling. The baskets were bulging
          with money; the ministers of the temple were exuberant;
          never had God been so popular - never had religion been
          more acceptable.

          Look again at Jesus - the zeal of God's house literally
          consuming Him! He stands there, weaving loose cords
          into a whip. In his prophetic eye, the prophet Isaiah
          witnessed this scene years before. Isaiah said of this
          moment, "And He put on righteousness like a
          breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on His head; and
          He put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and
          wrapped Himself with zeal as a mantle. According to
          their deeds, so He will repay... for He will come like
          a rushing stream, which the wind of the Lord drives"
          (Isaiah 59:17-19 NAS).

          The word zeal here in Hebrew means the jealousy of God!
          The jealousy of His Holy Father consumed Him. He wore
          that divine jealousy as a mantle; He was clothed with
          it.

          Into that robber's den Jesus comes - like a rushing
          stream, driven by the wind of God! What a commotion!
          The whip cracks - the tables are overturned - the doves
          are squawking - the lambs are loosed from their pens -
          the oxen trample over the money boxes - the merchants
          run in fear! All they see is what looks like a madman
          going berserk.

          "Out! Out! Enough! This is My Father's house! This is a
          house of prayer! You robbers! Thieves! You are turning
          this house into a den of thieves! Get out! Don't come
          back!"

          That whip does not stop cracking until the last sheep
          is gone, the last ox, the last dove, all the merchants,
          and all the religious thugs!

          When Jesus cleansed the temple, He again reached out to
          the needy! "And the blind and the lame came to Him in
          the temple, and he healed them" (Matthew 21:l4 NAS)

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                                 Scene Two

                         -------------------------

          "While Israel remained at Shittim, the people began to
          play the harlot with the daughters of Moab. For they
          invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and
          the people ate and bowed down to their gods. So Israel
          joined themselves to Baal of Peor, and the Lord was
          angry against Israel. And the Lord said to Moses, Take
          all the leaders of the people and execute them in broad
          daylight before the Lord, so that the fierce anger of
          the Lord may turn away from Israel. So Moses said to
          the judges of Israel, Each of you slay his men who have
          joined themselves to Baal of Peor. Then behold, one of
          the sons of Israel came and brought to his relatives a
          Midianite woman, in the sight of Moses and in the sight
          of all the congregation of the sons of Israel, while
          they were weeping at the doorway of the tent meeting.
          When Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the
          priest, saw it, he arose from the midst of the
          congregation, and took a spear in his hand; and he went
          after the man of Israel into the tent, and pierced both
          of them through, the man of Israel and the woman,
          through the body. So the plague on the sons of Israel
          was checked. And those who died by the plague were
          24,000.

          "Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Phinehas the son
          of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned
          away My wrath from the sons of Israel, in that he was
          jealous with My jealousy among them, so that I did not
          destroy the sons of Israel in My jealousy. Therefore
          say, Behold, I give him My covenant of peace; and it
          shall be for him and his descendants after him a
          covenant of a perpetual priesthood, because he was
          jealous for his God, and made atonement for the sons of
          Israel.

          Now the name of the slain man of Israel who was slain
          with the Midianite woman, was Zimri the son of Salu, a
          leader of a father's household among the Simeonites.
          And the name of the Midianite woman who was slain was
          Cozbi the daughter of Zur, who was head of the people
          of a father's household in Midian. Then the Lord spoke
          to Moses, saying, Be hostile to the Midianites and
          strike them; for they have been hostile to you with
          their tricks, with which they have deceived you in the
          affair of Peor, and in the affair of Cozbi, the
          daughter of the leader of Midian, their sister who was
          slain on the day of the plague because of Peor"
          (Numbers 25 NAS).

          "Israel is camped at Shittim in the plains of Moab,
          beyond the Jordan and just opposite Jericho. Balak is
          king of the Moabites. They were the descendants of Lot,
          the man of God who pitched his tent toward Sodom. The
          Moabites were frightened by Israel. They had seen and
          heard of all the miracles their God has performed for
          them. They hired the prophet Balaam to curse them. He
          said, "This horde of Israelites will lick up all that
          is around us, as the ox licks up the grass of the
          field" (Numbers 22:4 NAS). "Curse this people for me,
          for they are too mighty for me... drive them out... for
          we know that he whom you bless is blessed... he whom
          you curse is cursed" (Numbers 22:6 NAS).

          Balaam instead blesses Israel, "A scepter shall rise
          from Israel, and shall crush through the forehead of
          Moab" (Numbers 24:17 NAS). "And Balaam arose and
          departed and returned to his place." But before he
          returned home, he gave to Balak and the Moabites THE
          SECRET to defeating Israel.

          What the Moabites could not do with their armies, they
          did with their prostitutes and wicked women. John said
          to the church at Pergamum, "1 have a few things against
          you, because you have there some who hold the teaching
          of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block
          before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to
          idols, and to commit acts of immorality" (Revelation
          2:14 NAS).

          Peter describes the spirit and ways of Balaam. He
          warned some will "...forsake the right way, going
          astray, having followed the way of Balaam... who loved
          the wages of sin" (2 Peter 2:15 NAS).

          Israel began to follow the way of Balaam by indulging
          the flesh in corrupt desire. They were daring,
          self-willed, and without knowledge, reviling the holy!
          They reveled in the daylight with eyes full of
          adultery. They never ceased from sin and enticing
          unstable souls. Their hearts were trained in greed,
          speaking out arrogant words of vanity. They were
          sensuous; they promised others freedom, while they
          themselves were slaves of corruption. They come to your
          feasts, worshipping among you, but they are springs
          without water. They will end up destroyed.

          Moab invited God's people to the sacrifice of their
          gods, and the backslidden seed of Lot infiltrated the
          church in the wilderness. "And the people ate and bowed
          down to their gods. So Israel joined themselves to Baal
          of Peor, and the Lord was angry against Israel"
          (Numbers 25:2-3 NAS).

          They are the same people of God who were living on
          miracle manna. They had just drunk water from the Rock!
          They had seen God's awesome judgment on the house of
          Korah; the ground literally opened and swallowed them
          up.

          Now they are engulfed in a spirit of seduction. There
          was a time when Israel hated Moab and all it stood for.
          Parents once warned their children; teachers and
          leaders cried out against the immorality of the
          Moabites and the Midianites.

          Now they are joined! The walls of separation are gone!
          Compromise spread like cancer through the camp. They
          mixed with the world - and God called it harlotry! They
          incorporated the wicked ways of Moab into their
          worship. They turned to adultery, to prostitution,
          divorce, and wickedness of all kinds.

          Who is to blame for the ruin in God's house? Who does
          God hold accountable? Shepherds! Leaders! "And the Lord
          said to Moses, Take all the leaders of the people and
          execute them in broad daylight before the Lord, so that
          the fierce anger of the Lord may turn away from Israel"
          (Numbers 25:4 NAS). "So Moses said to the judges of
          Israel, Each of you slay his men who have joined
          themselves to Baal of Peor" (verse 5).

          Sin was raging in the camp; thousands were dying by the
          plague; and not a voice was raised! The shepherds had
          become cowards! Leaders were afraid to call sin by its
          name! No one appeared to be jealous for God's holiness.
          God's people were seduced; they were under Satanic
          dominion; and no one came against it "clothed with the
          zeal of God... like a holy stream, driven by the wind
          of God!"

          God said, "Away with the coward shepherds! Away with
          those who wink at sin! Away with those watchmen who
          refuse to blow the trumpet in Zion. They anger Me!"

          Thank God for the remnant, the few who wept over the
          ruin and corruption in the camp! "Then behold, one of
          the sons of Israel came and brought to his relatives a
          Midianite woman, in the sight of Moses and in the sight
          of all the congregation" (verse 6). His name was Zimri
          - her name was Cozbi. What is the meaning of this? It
          is the world being brought right in the front door! It
          is brazen compromise! Anything goes now! No thunder
          from the pulpit; no cry; no trumpet call! Moral values
          are gone!

          Thank God, out of the holy remnant came a man of God
          wrapped in God's mantle of jealousy! His name was
          Phinehas! "When Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of
          Aaron the priest, saw it, he arose from the midst of
          the congregation, and took a spear in his hand: and he
          went after the man of Israel in the tent, and pierced
          both of them through, the man of Israel and the woman,
          through the body. So the plague on the sons of Israel
          was checked" (verse 7, 8). Phinehas was consumed with
          the holy jealousy of God. "Then the Lord spoke to
          Moses, saying, "Phinehas... has turned away my wrath
          from the sons of Israel, in that HE WAS JEALOUS WITH MY
          JEALOUSY among them, so that I did not destroy the sons
          of Israel in My jealousy Therefore say, Behold, 1 give
          him My covenant of peace; and it shall be for him and
          his descendants after him, a covenant of a perpetual
          priesthood, because he was jealous for his God, and
          made atonement for the sons of Israel" (verse l0-13).

          All the congregation saw this wickedness - all the
          leaders saw it. Why did no one else move with God's
          jealousy? They were too busy analyzing the crime.
          "Let's not judge him! Judge not that ye be not judged!"
          "We don't know his heart; maybe he really loves God!
          Let every man look into his own heart." "Don't judge
          another man's servant! Maybe Zimri is trying to win her
          to Judaism. Don't judge his motives." "Maybe he doesn't
          know any better He's immature. Let the Holy Spirit deal
          with him."

          Paul said to the Corinthians, "Behold what earnestness
          godly sorrow has produced in you; what vindication of
          yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing,
          what zeal [godly jealousy], what avenging of wrong" (2
          Corinthians 7:11 NAS).

          One man consumed with the holy jealousy of God steps
          out of the silent masses: "Enough! This has gone too
          far! I'm going to do something about it!" The majority
          of God's people want nothing to do with God's holy
          judgment against sin in their midst.

          Just before Phinehas defended God's holiness, God's
          people had watched in horror as the earth opened up and
          swallowed Korah and his house. Then fire fell and
          consumed 250 Levites who had rebelled against Moses'
          authority "But on the next day all the congregation
          grumbled against Moses and Aaron, saying, You are the
          ones who have caused the death of the Lord's people"
          (Numbers 16:41 NAS). They were saying, "No more talk of
          judgment! You are bringing despair, turmoil, and
          sadness. You are too strict, too judgmental. Let up!
          You have hurt some of God's chosen people! Who are you
          to judge others?" They had no concern for God's
          holiness! They were more concerned about people than
          the honor of God! Their hearts did not burn with the
          jealousy of a holy God!

          God wanted all Israel to know this: "Phinehas appeased
          My anger! His hatred of sin - his jealousy for My name
          - that is why I have not broken forth in judgment upon
          all of you!"

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                                Scene Three

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          Scene three is the perpetual priesthood of Phinehas.
          God made an everlasting covenant with Phinehas, to all
          his descendants after him. It was a covenant of a
          perpetual priesthood! This meant that until Christ sets
          up His eternal kingdom, there will always be a remnant
          having the spirit and zeal of Phinehas upon them.

          God's cry is this: "Who will stand up for Me against
          evil doers? Who will take his stand for Me against
          those who do wickedness?" (Psalm 94:l6, NAS).

          Let me tell you where God's people are today, the very
          same place Israel was - joined to idols, committing
          adultery with the world! God's people are being
          seduced, blinded, carried away by lust. Millions of
          Spirit-filled Christians bow down to the idol of TV.
          Some of you hoped I would not get on this subject, but
          God put His spear in my hand. I feel His holy jealousy,
          and I am coming like Phinehas into your tent; that
          idolatry needs to die!

          You know what God said: "Set no wicked thing before
          your eyes!" "Thou shalt not bring an abomination into
          thy house... you shall hate it... it is cursed... lest
          you become a curse like it" (Deuteronomy 7:28 NAS). "Do
          not sit in the seat of the scoffer." "Shun the very
          appearance of evil." "Walk within your house with
          integrity... set no worthless thing before your eyes...
          let it not fasten its grip on you" (Psalm 101:2-4 NAS).

          Listen to the excuses: "I don't see it that way."
          "Don't judge!" "There is a lot of good in it!" Where
          are the descendants of Phinehas, that perpetual
          priesthood? Since when is it honorable for God's people
          to sit and watch Satan's immorality being paraded -
          murder, adultery, rape, promiscuous sex, cheating, wife
          swapping? If it is not an idol - why is all the
          furniture facing it?

          "Rolling Stone" magazine just published a dictionary on
          rock and roll; it is called the bible on the subject.
          Their definition: "Rock and roll is a blues euphemism
          meaning sexual intercourse - period!" Now the music of
          sexual intercourse is taking over our youth. It is
          invading our churches. Punk rock has come along and no
          one cares! Who cries out against it?

          Preachers mock me; evangelists laugh at me - simply
          because God's holy jealousy burns in me and I am
          crying, blowing a trumpet, saying, "This is not God!
          This is stinking flesh! This is polluting the table of
          the Lord! Drinking from Satan's cup!"

          David the psalmist wrote a psalm about backsliding
          Israel and about Phinehas. It is a powerful warning we
          need to hear. He said, "They joined themselves to
          Baal-Peor, and ate sacrifices offered to the dead. They
          provoked Him to anger with their deeds; and the plague
          broke out among them" (Psalm 106:28,29 NAS).

          I say we have angered God by our idolatry, wasted time,
          and eating food offered to dead and wicked idols! I say
          that the plague has broken out among us! What is the
          horrible divorce rate - if not a plague'? What is the
          backsliding of our children, the breaking up of homes,
          and adultery everywhere you turn - if not a plague?

          We have choreographed dancing in churches now. We have
          a facade of prosperity - a facade of "all is well." We
          shut our ears to all that is negative; we just don't
          want to talk about sin! "Talk about miracles! Talk
          about God's blessings! Talk about the great restoration
          taking place!" And so on.

          But God is still a jealous God! When sin is judged,
          when the Phinehases arise to defend God's holiness,
          when the compromise is exposed and put away - then God
          will come in His presence. The plague will be stayed -
          God's presence will come - then you dance! You won't
          have to choreograph your dancing. God's Spirit will
          break forth; it will be spontaneous - real! When the
          Spirit of Phinehas comes upon God's people, the church
          will discern between light and darkness, bitter and
          sweet, the holy and the unholy! There will be a
          difference!

          What about it, friends? Where do you stand? God is
          raising up prophets and watchmen. The trumpet of God is
          sounding. Will you kill the prophets? With slander? By
          laughing at them? By ignoring them? Will you call on
          God and become consumed with His holy jealousy? Will
          you stand up against sin? In your own life? In your
          home? In your church?

          David said, "Then Phinehas stood up and interposed; and
          so the plague was stayed. And it was reckoned to him
          for righteousness, to all generations forever" (Psalm
          106:30-31 NAS).

          What an incredible statement! We know Abraham's faith
          was counted to him as righteousness. But now so is the
          jealousy of God in the heart of Phinehas. "To all
          generations - forever!" That includes today!

          Ezekiel saw a vision of a man clothed in linen with a
          marker in his hand. God commanded him, "Go through the
          midst of the city, even through the midst of Jerusalem,
          and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and
          groan over all abominations which are being committed
          in its midst" (Ezekiel 9:4 NAS). "Utterly slay... but
          do not touch any man on whom is the mark;... start from
          My sanctuary... with the elders" (Ezekiel 9:6 NAS). God
          is right now marking those who are filled with His
          jealousy!

          Who is the true man, the true woman of God? Who truly
          speaks for God? Who has the unshakeable truth? Who can
          be trusted? Jeremiah answers that: "Among the
          prophets... I have seen a horrible thing: the
          committing of adultery and walking in falsehood; and
          they strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one
          has turned back from their wickedness.... In the last
          days you will clearly understand it. I did not send
          these prophets, but they ran. I did not speak to them,
          but they prophesied. But if they had stood in My
          council, then they would have announced My words to My
          people, and would have turned them back from their evil
          way and from the evil of their deeds" (Jeremiah 23:14,
          20-22 NAS).

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                                Conclusion

                         -------------------------

          God's Word cannot fail! The perpetual priesthood of
          Phinehas is arising. Right now, this message is
          touching a responsive chord in the hearts of all who
          have God's jealousy in them. Watchmen, do you tremble
          at God's Word?

          "On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have appointed watchmen;
          all day and all night they will never keep silent. You
          who remind the Lord, take no rest for yourselves....
          until He establishes and makes Jerusalem a praise in
          the earth" (Isaiah 62:6-7 NAS).

          "And the Lord has sent to you all His servants the
          prophets again and again, but you have not listened nor
          inclined your ear to hear, saying, Turn now everyone
          from his evil way and from the evil of your deeds, and
          dwell on the land which the Lord has given to you and
          your forefathers forever and ever; and do not go after
          other gods to serve them and to worship them, and do
          not provoke Me to anger with the work of your hands,
          and I will do you no harm" (Jeremiah 25:4-6 NAS).

          "His watchmen are blind, all of them know nothing. All
          of them are dumb dogs unable to bark, dreamers lying
          down, who love to slumber; and the dogs are greedy,
          they are not satisfied. And they are shepherds who have
          no understanding; they have all turned to their own
          way, each one to his unjust gain, to the last one"
          (Isaiah 56:10-11 NAS).

          "The righteous man perishes, and no man takes it to
          heart; and devout men are taken away, while no one
          understands" (Isaiah 57:1 NAS).

          "And the word of the Lord came to me saying, Son of
          man, speak to the sons of your people, and say to them,
          If I bring a sword upon a land, and the people of the
          land take one man from among them and make him their
          watchman; and he sees the sword coming upon the land,
          and he blows on the trumpet and warns the people, then
          he who hears the sound of the trumpet and does not take
          warning, and a sword comes and takes him away, his
          blood will be on his own head. He heard the sound of
          the trumpet, but did not take warning; his blood will
          be on himself. But had he taken warning, he would have
          delivered his life. But if the watchman sees the sword
          coming and does not blow the trumpet, and the people
          are not warned, and a sword comes and takes a person
          from them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his
          blood I will require from the watchman's hand. Now as
          for you, son of man, I have appointed you a watchman
          for the house of Israel; so you will hear a message
          from My mouth, and give them warning from Me" (Ezekiel
          33:1-7 NAS).

          ---
          Used with permission granted by World Challenge, P. O.
          Box 260, Lindale, TX 75771 USA.

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