Sid: There is something about what we have been talking about all this week I’m interviewing SJ Hill on his newest book “Burning Desire” subtitled “The Story of God’s Jealous Love For You” that there has been such an outpouring of God’s love in the Spirit Realm those that can touch into the Spirit know that God’s Spirit is all over this subject. And SJ I mean we just don’t have the time to bring out all the wonderful truths you have that will literally cause people to rethink their traditional beliefs and their understanding of the Bible. But I want you to explain your teaching from Ezekiel 16 of the judgments of God.
SJ: Well, as I said I think that back in our first broadcast we’ll never understand the judgment of God the stuff we read about in the older covenant without seeing God as the husband of Israel. You know it’s in Isaiah 54, it’s in Jeremiah Chapter 2; one of my favorite passages is Ezekiel chapter 16 because in this one chapter we have both the revelation of God as a Father and God as a husband. And I love the poetry, the symbolism, the art of storytelling that Ezekiel used to paint this incredible picture of God’s love for a nation who came to be called His wife. In Ezekiel 16 He compares Israel’s beginnings to a baby girl who had been abandoned by both her father and her mother. You talk about the height of rejection, this woman squats in an open field, she gives birth to this little baby girl; the father is nowhere to be found and the mother doesn’t even have the decency to cut off the babies navel cord, doesn’t even clean off the afterbirth, she just leaves the baby to be exposed to the elements. And I love this language in verse 6 of Ezekiel 16 “God says, when I pass by you and saw you struggling in your own blood I said to you in your blood live, yes I said to you in your blood live; and I made you thrive like I planted a field and you grew, you matured and became very beautiful.” And it’s very obvious by the language that God is revealing Himself to this infant nation as a tender caring Father but then the language changes in the last part of verse 7 He goes on to say “Your breasts were formed, your hair grew but you were naked and barren; when I passed by you again and looked upon you indeed your time was a time of love; so I sprayed my wing over you, covered your nakedness. ‘Yes I swore and oath to you and entered into a covenant with you and you became Mine says the Lord God.’” and as we have been saying all week this covenant what we call the Older Covenant, the Renewed Covenant these were covenants of marriage. This is all about a marriage, this is all about intimacy, it’s all about relationship. And as you read down through Ezekiel 16 the passion, the tenderness, the intensity of emotion is clearly expressed in these verses; in fact if we have the time I’d just like to highlight verse 9 because I think that this is just so incredible concerning what God did not only for the Jewish people but for all of us who were in sin. It says in verse 9 that “God washed her in water after He entered into a Covenant with her and He covered Her nakedness, He washed her in water and He thoroughly washed off her blood and anointed her with oil.” Now the Older Covenant the scriptures tell us that all our righteousness is as filthy rags; actually the Hebrew says “All our righteousness is as menstrual rags.” So what we have here in verse 9 is a picture of this beautiful God stooping down and in grace and mercy covering our shame, covering our sins, our uncleanness washing us with His blood. And then as you continue to read He clothes us with His perfections, He clothes us with His beauty. So you can feel the passion and the sacred romance as you read through this. I wish I could stop there but you know as you stop reading at first 15 God says “You trusted in your own beauty, you played the harlot because of your fame, you poured out your harlotry on everyone passing by who would have it.” Without reading anymore of these verses than without reading you know any more of these verses, shortly after the betrothal period Israel started having wandering eyes and she started giving herself extravagantly to the God’s of the other nations. And I’d put it this way, because a lot of guys still have a hard time getting this bridal stuff. You know even though I say this is just language that God is using to try and convey the deepest passions of His heart. It’s still for us guys, it’s still hard for us guy to get this because you know in one sense we’ve never been brides. But I kind of put it this way, you know how would you like to fall in love with a young woman, she just sends you off into la-la land. And over time you fall in love with her and you propose to her and she accepts and you set a date for your wedding. And you get married you go off on your honeymoon you don’t want to come back for obvious reasons but you have to. And then one day while you’re at work somehow you discover that she’s opened up your bedroom for anybody who would have her. You know how would that make you feel?
Sid: You’d be totally crushed.
SJ: Absolutely I was in the state of Washington a few years ago and a guy in the back of the church yelled out murder.
Sid: (laughing)
SJ: Were not advocating murder obviously but you know the rest of the guys were just kind of looking at me where is this turkey coming from? But at least for that guy I got an honest response, I mean the gambit of emotions that you would feel as a husband would be unbelievable and we’re not just talking about a one night stand that would be bad enough but were talking about repeated adultery; repeated affairs. Then Sid to make matters worse the language of Ezekiel 16 clearly suggests that Israel took the gifts that her husband gave her to make herself more attractive to the gods of the other nations. Now my whole point is this, what husband would be cool with that? I mean how could he even call himself a husband; how could he even say that he had any moral character if he just winked at that or just said “Well, whatever.” You know when we understand that God was the husband of a nation who became to be called Israel and He gave himself completely to her; He gave Himself completely to her He entered into a covenant relationship with her. And when He said I AM that I AM He’s saying I will be whatever you need me to be at any given moment in time. And she basically flipped Him off and took His gifts and went after other lovers. How is God supposed to respond? But you know I said all of that to say this you’ll never understand the judgments of God or the anger of God without understanding what I’ve just said. God sent His friends the prophets to call an adulterous wife back to Himself, period. He did everything He could, He judged everything that was hindering their love relationship. You know in Deuteronomy 28 he said “You know that because you did not serve me with cheerfulness and gladness of heart you’ll end up serving your enemies.” And again looking at the older covenant through a Greek western worldview we think “Well, here we go God’s hard core again.” But in reality what He’s saying is this “Israel My wife, your being seduced by other lovers; you’re ending up in bed with them and if you continue to go that route you’re going to be ultimately destroyed because you didn’t find your primary satisfaction and happiness in Me you will end up serving the very ones that you think will give you the greatest pleasure.” I mean I’ll say it again, I really believe that God’s been given a bad rap; God is not hard to get along with but He is a jealous lover; He will not tolerate rivals He will aggressively go after everything that will try and steal our hearts away from Him. And so I’m glad Sid you’ve given me an opportunity to share this because I feel the favor of God more when I talk about God’s jealousy then probably any other subject that I teach on because I really believe that God wants us as human beings to understand what burns in His heart. That He will aggressively judge anything that will steal us away from Him and that’s really what James 4 is all about. You know I think its verse 5 that says “And doesn’t the scriptures say the Spirit that dwells within us yearns jealously for us.” When I talk about jealousy I’m not talking about some human fickle emotion rooted in insecurity; I’m talking about a pure passion that God experiences in His being. It’s a consuming fire of love; He can’t get enough of us and when He sees demons trying to use little trinkets and chump change to steal our heats away from us. When He sees the enemy lying to us trying to get us to find our ultimate pleasure and satisfaction in the things of this world. As a jealous lover He will aggressively go after that and we have a generation that knows nothing about that. So I’m just really honored to be able to share this with the listening audience so that they understand again that God’s primary emotion is love. That yes He get righteously indignant but it doesn’t last its temporary and the whole purpose of judgment is to awaken people out of being seduced by His arch enemy. And to bring us to the place of repentance so that we can be restored to a place of intimacy…
Sid: SJ my heart’s desire and the heart’s desire of everyone that I believe the Spirit of God has had tune us in is to develop more than their first love; getting more than their first love back. That wasn’t even enough.
SJ: Yes, exactly.
Tags: its supernatural, Sid Roth