09/12/2025 – “God is jealous.” Nahum 1:2 (Bible commentary below)/ “…Conversion involves a “metanoia” (the New Testament word for repentance)…”
“Your Lord is very jealous of your love, O believer. Did he choose you? He cannot bear that you should choose another. Did he buy you with his own blood? He cannot endure that you should think that you are your own, or that you belong to this world. He loved you with such a love that he would not stop in heaven without you; he would sooner die than you should perish, and he cannot endure that anything should stand between your heart’s love and himself. He is very jealous of your trust. He will not permit you to trust in an arm of flesh. He cannot bear that you should hew out broken cisterns, when the overflowing fountain is always free to you. When we lean upon him, he is glad, but when we transfer our dependence to another, when we rely upon our own wisdom, or the wisdom of a friend–worst of all, when we trust in any works of our own, he is displeased, and will chasten us that he may bring us to himself. He is also very jealous of our company. There should be no one with whom we converse so much as with Jesus. To abide in him only, this is true love; but to commune with the world, to find sufficient solace in our carnal comforts, to prefer even the society of our fellow Christians to secret intercourse with him, this is grievous to our jealous Lord. He would fain have us abide in him, and enjoy constant fellowship with himself; and many of the trials which he sends us are for the purpose of weaning our hearts from the creature, and fixing them more closely upon himself. Let this jealousy which would keep us near to Christ be also a comfort to us, for if he loves us so much as to care thus about our love we may be sure that he will suffer nothing to harm us, and will protect us from all our enemies. Oh that we may have grace this day to keep our hearts in sacred chastity for our Beloved alone, with sacred jealousy shutting our eyes to all the fascinations of the world!”
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“Soli Deo Gloria”
Here is the footnote to Nahum 1: 2-6 in “The Apologetics Study Bible” , “God’s vengeance”:
“Even Christians who are firmly convinced of the authority and inspiration of the Scriptures tend to minimize, or explain away, descriptions of the wrath and the vengeance of God such as Nahum presented here. While it may not be appropriate to use such passages when first approaching people with a view to persuading them of the truth of the Bible, eventually there comes a time when we cannot avoid the question of how God’s wrath and vengeance are related to His love. Pursuing these connections requires thought, courage, and a willingness to come to know God as He is and not as we might wish Him to be. Conversion to the faith of Christ is not simply a matter of ‘asking Jesus to come into your heart.’ It involves a metanoia (the NT word for repentance), which means, literally, a ‘change of mind.’ In other words, becoming a believer involves adopting a new worldview, or perspective on reality. The modern Western world view has blurred distinctions between right and wrong, and within such perspective there is no place for the wrath and judgement of God. But when one’s perspective changes, and it becomes evident that God is a moral force to be reckoned with, then it becomes equally apparent that serious consequences ensue for those who attempt to live without regard for His plan for human life (see Romans 1: 16-32).”
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Soli Deo Gloria!