Malachi 3:13 “You have spoken arrogantly against me,” says the Lord. “Yet you ask, ‘What have we said against you?’ 14 You have said, ‘It is futile to serve God. What do we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the Lord Almighty? 15 But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly evildoers prosper, and even when they put God to the test, they get away with it.’” 16 Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in His presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored His name. 17 “On the day when I act,” says the Lord Almighty, “they will be my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as a father has compassion and spares his son who serves him. 18 And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.
We must not become weary of doing what is right, even though it is usually a seemingly thankless task in this world that is led by the forces of evil. Yes, we can often see the wicked prospering all around us in this brief life, but we must have the faith to trust that God sees and will remember those who fear Him and honor Him and His name. We must Fear God enough to avoid taking the easy route that so many people take to their eternal destruction. I often can’t see hardly any others around me who fear God, even in the churches.
Psalm 36:1 The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes.
However, the passage above from Malachi 3 tells me that I should not only fear God, but that I should honor God’s name.
Exodus 34:14 For thou shalt worship no other god: for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God:
Let me define a couple words:
Envy = Wanting that which belongs, or is due, to others.
Jealousy = Wanting that which belongs, or is due, to you.
Covetousness and envy are bad. Jealousy is an enduring character trait of God, and Jealous is God’s name. Often times the words “envy” and “jealousy” get used almost interchangeably, even in some Bible translations, and some people will blur the definitions, which leads to confusion, and insults that name of God.
James 4:5 Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: “He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us”?
We belong to God. He not only made us, but, He has also redeemed us again, from our waywardness, at the precious price of Christ’s lifeblood. And God jealously desire’s His own spirit to posses us. Let’s not tempt the Lord God, whose holy name is Jealous, by envying too long the temporal blessings that He so mercifully gives to the doomed, those unfaithful vessels, storing up His wrath, foreordained to destruction. Instead let us honor God’s name and delight that the lover of our soul, Jealous, has eternal rest and resplendent reward and joy and good company, including His own presence, prepared for those of us who are truly redeemed. And let us be thankful that we have been counted worthy to suffer for our Father as His faithful sons and daughters, just as Christ also suffered, so that we could be joint heirs with Christ of our Father’s bountiful heavenly kingdom and His unspoiled world to come.
Brilliant. The distinction between envy and jealousy is very helpful.
Religion today is almost ALL apostasy and scriptures in many religions do not nor are not obeyed by the church “discipline.” It is clearly stated that if you obey and serve God you WILL be persecuted and scriptures also identify being “fearful” is a sin. There are two big lies today in religion. The worst is “there is more than one way to salvation.” LIE! Scripture clearly says there is but ONE WAY and that is by Jesus Christ the Son of the living God. Religion which is man made and therefore errant will be the single largest factor that does and will condemn more people to hell than any other singular cause.
It is clearly stated that if you obey and serve God you WILL be persecuted and scriptures also identify being “fearful” is a sin.
The irony is that by being fearful, those who would call themselves Christians are displaying their absolute lack of faith and trust in the Lord, and are thus condemning themselves. We see clearly that the vast majority of those who call themselves Christians today are PARALYZED by fear. The prevailing Covidiocy is but the most recent example. A more longstanding example is the fear of feminism, which has corrupted church doctrine, destroyed church discipline, destroyed Christian families, and is, above all, the SOURCE of the modern church’s ungodly fear of everything.
Often times the words “envy” and “jealousy” get used almost interchangeably, even in some Bible translations
And an example is James 4:5, which you quote above with the word “jealously”. In the NIV, the same verses uses envy to describe God the Spirit’s actions:
Or do you think Scripture says without
reason that the spirit he caused to live in
us envies intensely?
JPF,
The KJV says:
James 4:5 Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?
I think BGR uses that verse as a referenced instance for one of the 13 different Hebrew and Greek words that all translate as some form of the King James English word “lust”.
After looking up the Greek words in Strong’s Greek dictionary it seems that God is really angered when we are too unfaithful to have His Spirit in us. And no doubt He is not too happy with those who despise and reject His son’s lifeblood that was shed to ransom us from sin. As for the Greek word used for Jealousy/envy there, Strong’s says it can mean both. But the Hebrew word(Strong’s 7067) קַנָּ֣א used in Exodus 34:14, as God’s name, only means “Jealous”.
The irony is that by being fearful, those who would call themselves Christians are displaying their absolute lack of faith and trust in the Lord, and are thus condemning themselves.
i’m so grateful, though, that God knows our humanity – for all have sinned, and we continue to sin. and He set the example of forgiving seventy times seven.
i’m guessing most of us struggle with some form of fear since “Do not fear” is mentioned around a hundred times in the bible – i certainly do. it’s a continuous struggle for me in certain areas, and it amazes me the grace and mercy God lavishes on me in these areas. i’m not justifying sin, nor saying sin isn’t costly … just stating that we are not immediately perfect and that we have to work out our salvation – it’s a process, becoming holy as He is holy. we all have our struggles and areas that challenge us. and this journey in the christian life truly is a journey, each of us at a different place. i forget that, sometimes.
i think it’s our heart that matters … as David was a man after God’s own heart, and even though his sin was great, so also was his repentance, and his consequences. which he accepted. and continued to turn to His God. i love that when Nathan pointed out his sin, he immediately took full ownership of it and fully repented. he was not a perfect man, yet he was still a man after God’s own heart.
excellent post, Sharkly.
Just to for the sake of clarification, I think the “fear of the Lord” that is spoken about throughout the Bible, is not a persistent mistranslation. I think fearing God is the beginning of wisdom. And the word “fear” really means fear.
Matthew 10:28 Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Instead, fear the one who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
I despise those hirelings who say that the word that has been correctly translated as “fear” for 500 years, must now mean something else, because they now want to preach about some inoffensive and harmless god who only makes suggestions, and demands nothing of us.
Context is all important for hermeneutics. Fearing God? We are not supposed to fear Him as in being afraid of Him. The better referential synonym is “respect” Him. True believers should respect and love Him, not fear Him. It is those who are workers of iniquity who should fear His wrath and punishments.
He is not a bully, nor tyrant nor malicious vindictive Entity.
I do however know His character traits of wrath and hate but it is solely directed at workers of iniquity as in “God hates the workers of iniquity.” Read Revelation and the battle of Armageddon. He has the right to be wrathful, angry and punitive.
I fear one thing about God and as time goes on and I see how unworthy I am, (There is none righteous, no not one) and the vile sins committed by workers of iniquity, I know I will be on my face before Him. I continually ask myself what am I doing to fight the good temporal fight? We are to oppose sin, not wink at it as most fake religions are doing. MOST RELIGIONS TODAY ARE APOSTATE AND OF THE ENEMY. The vile sin of aborticide is the greatest sin in existence today. Homosexuality, a sin against nature, murder by euthanasia, pornography, etc are all a stench in the nostrils of God. God inputs a spirit at conception and there is nobody with the ability to do this and as sure as bloody hell, NOBODY has the right to murder/kill anyone or determine the time of death for anyone except God Himself. (save in cases of self defense as approved of scripturally.)
Let God be true and every man a liar.
Sharkly,
I’ve been praying for you and your family situation. Has anything been resolved?
LR,
No, nothing has been resolved yet.
I just put up another post at my other site:
https://whitewatercommunitychurch.wordpress.com/2020/07/23/there-are-no-longer-whores-only-verbally-abusive-men-s/