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Commentary on "Jealousy"
Day 6: Thursday, March 3, 2011 - Jealousy Toward Jesus
Overview
In today’s lesson we are looking at the cause of the jealousy expressed by the Hebrew religious leaders that was directed towards Jesus during his ministry here on earth.
It is suggested that we read the first eleven chapters of Matthew which is an excellent idea. However, we will confine ourselves to chapter four where Jesus is tempted by the devil, since the root cause of all misguided jealousy is revealed by what the devil is asking Jesus to do.
Observations
Notice; in verse one, that the Spirit led Jesus in to the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. This means this whole incident was planned and orchestrated by God. The devil was never the one in control. The devil’s temptation was an action of his but was simple foolishness since God cannot be tempted, that is, fall in sin, James 1:13.
Since the devil is the prince of this world (John 14:30, Eph. 6:12) he had full authority to offer Jesus “the kingdoms of the world”, Matt. 4:8-9, if Jesus would only fall down and worship him. Jesus responds in the next verse by telling the devil to “be gone” and reminds him that you “shall worship the Lord your God” and no one else, Ex. 20:4-5.
God is a holy jealous God who desires our worship. Satan is a sinful being whose jealously is founded upon his desire to be worshiped in place of God. Having been rejected, the devil turns to his subjects who ‘act out’ his evil motivated jealousy towards Jesus.
Summary
- The devil offered his whole kingdom if only Jesus would worship him. The paradox here is that the devil was able to offer Jesus what was really his by right. The devil certainly was jealous but we need to understand that as soon as his evil desire was exposed for what it was Jesus commanded him to leave.
- God’s holy jealousy demands that we worship him and him only because he is our Creator and the one who truly loves us and died for us when we were yet sinners.
- The Pharisees who were jealous of Jesus exposed their root sin of being in the kingdom of the devil instead of the kingdom of God.
- The bottom line for each of us is that we are all in the one kingdom or the other. Whose jealousy are you more afraid of, God’s or the devil’s?
Copyright 2011 BibleStudiesForAdventists.com. All rights reserved. Revised February 16, 2011. This website is published by Life Assurance Ministries, Glendale, Arizona, USA, the publisher of Proclamation! Magazine. Contact email: BibleStudiesForAdventists@gmail.com.
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