Angry God of the Old Testament?

“1 And the word of the Lord of hosts came, saying, 2 ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: I am jealous for Zion with great jealousy, and I am jealous for her with great wrath. 3 Thus says the Lord: I have returned to Zion and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, and Jerusalem shall be called the faithful city, and the mountain of the Lord of hosts, the holy mountain. 4 Thus says the Lord of hosts: Old men and old women shall again sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each with staff in hand because of great age. 5 And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in its streets. 6 Thus says the Lord of hosts: If it is marvelous in the sight of the remnant of this people in those days, should it also be marvelous in my sight, declares the Lord of hosts? 7 Thus says the Lord of hosts: Behold, I will save my people from the east country and from the west country, 8 and I will bring them to dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God, in faithfulness and in righteousness.’” - Zechariah 8:1-8 (ESV)

So often we hear of people talking about the God of the Old Testament as angry.  There certainly are plenty of verses in the Old Testament which mention God’s wrath (verse 2 being one of them) because of sin, but I’m afraid this aspect of God does not give us the whole picture of God.  In fact, it’s but one side of who God is.  There are many other aspects to God’s nature and revelation in the Old Testament.  This text, along with many others, reveals another aspect of God: his jealousy.

Though we tend to think of jealousy as a negative thing (i.e. someone else has something we want), there are legitimate manifestations of it.  For example, a wife should be jealous if her husband commits adultery.  Because of their love for one another expressed in covenant, his affections are not to be given to another.  This is a fair parallel to God and Israel.  He has chosen her and called her His own; she is His.  He has been faithful to her.  She has been unfaithful to Him, whoring after other gods/idols, and He is jealous for her affections.  This is not a negative thing.  In fact, if God were not jealous, something would be terribly wrong with his love for her.

God’s jealousy for His bride helps us better understand His wrath.  Just as a husband would be angry at his wife’s infidelity, so God hates sin and is storing up wrath toward those who are unfaithful to Him. 

God’s goal is revealed at the end of verse 8, “they shall be my people, and I will be their God, in faithfulness and in righteousness” (ESV).  God calls us to be His people, to make Him our God, and to do so in faithfulness and righteousness.  Making Him our God involves more external activities such as going to church, reading the Bible, or singing some songs to Him.  Those can be done in the flesh.  No, making Him our God is a matter of the heart.  It is being faithful to Him as a bride is faithful to her husband and inviting Him to rule our hearts which leads to righteous living.  Just as a loving wife desires to please her husband, so should we desire to please God in the way we live.

Texts like this give us a deep and robust understanding of God’s love, a love that doesn’t simply hate sin, but also redeems us from sin (see Zechariah 3:4 which points to Christ’s imputed righteousness in 2 Corinthians 5:21) and jealously calls us into an intimate loving relationship with Him.  With the Spirit’s help, may we likewise hate our sin and cling tightly to this Lover of our souls, and may this love for Him produce the fruits of faithfulness and righteousness in our lives.