| The FISHERS Magazine (Issue 193)
The Old Testament asserts that the “fear of the LORD” is a crucial truth to grasp, a critical tenet by which to live our lives. Israel, the covenant people of God, was continually admonished to fear Yahweh their God. However, it appears that many Christians today are perplexed by what this means and what it entails. A rather frequent explanation of what it means to “fear God” rushes to apologise for (and dismiss) the implication that one should be terrified of God. Terms like “reverential awe”, “deep respect” or “high regard” are used. These are less offensive to our modern sensibilities, but are they biblically accurate? When the apostle John on Patmos saw the resurrected Christ, he “fell at His feet like a dead man” (Rev 1:17). John’s favorite way of identifying himself in his gospel was by the intimate phrase, “the disciple whom Jesus loved”. Yet, despite being deeply convinced that the Lord loved him, John still fell at the Lord’s feet like a dead man. To John, “reverence”, “respect” and “regard” would seem helplessly weak to explain the motivation for his instinctive reaction to the risen Lord when He appeared. Many have an intuitive notion of “fearing God” that proves difficult to delineate. Yet, if we find it difficult to articulate what it means to “fear God”, how can we check the accuracy of our own understanding? And if “fearing God” is so difficult to define, how can we still claim to be doing it? Does it not frighten us that we actually do not fear God? Thankfully, the Old Testament is both clear and concrete when it comes to describing the “fear of the LORD” and prescribing how believers should fear the LORD. Let us examine the inerrant and inspired evidence. Why it is Crucial to Fear God? Solomon makes a firm, unqualified statement, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge” (Prov 1:7). On one hand, knowledge, as the revelation of God, brings life and blessing. On the other hand, Paul writes, “We know that we all possess knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up” (1 Cor 8:1). The accumulation of knowledge (even biblical knowledge) has the potential to fill a person up so that he appears larger than life, but is really only full of air. That kind of knowledge is useless for life and godliness. The critical factor differentiating whether knowledge brings life or attracts judgment is whether that knowledge originates with the fear of God. In similar vein, without the fear of the LORD, we do not even begin to have true wisdom (Ps 111:10). Are you wise? Are you one that considers yourself wise? If there is no fear of God in you, whatever you call wisdom, whatever the wisdom that abides in you, that is not true wisdom. Listen to Paul as he interrogates those who are worldly wise, “Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?” If yours is a wisdom that is devoid of the fear of God, then by your own yardstick, God is thoroughly pleased to save sinners from eternal judgment by the “foolishness of the message preached” (1 Cor 1:21). You need to turn your measure of wisdom around, for long ago, God had already defined true wisdom in simple, stark terms, “The fear of the Lord – that is wisdom” (Job 28:28). The Psalms make it abundantly clear that great blessing accrues from the fear of the LORD. Without exception, “Blessed are all who fear the LORD” (Ps 128:1); this psalm goes on to spell out the prosperity and progeny associated with fearing the LORD. Psalm 112:1 exclaims, “How blessed is the man who fears the LORD,” emphasising the great extent to which God will bless those who have a fear of Him. And such blessing is contingent only upon the fear of God in the heart of the man, it is blind to his socio-economic status, “He will bless those who fear the LORD, the small together with the great” (Ps 115:13). The fear of God brings true knowledge, genuine wisdom and spiritual blessing How Does One Fear God? 1. One Must First be Forgiven The fear of the LORD begins with the forgiveness of sins and the reconciliation of the sinner to his Holy God. Fully aware of his guilt, the psalmist cries out to God, “Lord, hear my voice! Let Your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications. If You, LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with You, that you may be feared” (Ps 130:2-4). The psalmist fully understood that the ultimate objective of God granting a sinner salvation is that the sinner should fear God. One is saved for the purpose of fearing God; if one is not born again, it is impossible to fear God. Meditating on the reality that our sins have been forgiven leads us to a fear of God. 2. One Must Delight in the Word of the LORD 3. One Must Trust in the LORD In Psalm 115:9-11, Israel, her priests, and all who fear the LORD are adjured to trust in the LORD. Earlier, the psalm asserts the existence of God (v. 2), extols the sovereignty of God (v. 3), castigates the utter futility of worshipping idols (vv. 4-7), and exhorts Israel not to place their trust in those idols because the end result of idolaters is that they will become like their idols (v. 8). Instead of trusting in idols, we are to trust in God. This, too, is an integral component of how we should fear God. It is not appropriate in Christian circles for those who profess Christ to bow before idols of metal, stone or wood. However, I fear that many Christians make it a habit of regularly bowing before the idols of their heart. They put their trust in anything and everything except God. Most of all, they put their trust in themselves – their abilities, their intelligence, their relationships, et cetera. The one who fears God takes no pride in self-sufficiency, he has no wish to be self-sufficient, he makes no pretence to self-sufficiency. He gladly owns his reliance upon God, upon the sovereign God who “is in the heavens; (Who) does whatever He pleases” (Ps 115:3). Trusting in God is our only reasonable response to the fact that God is all-wise and all-loving. At the end of his sermon, Solomon the Preacher draws out the main point of his teaching with these words, “The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil” (Eccl 12:13-14). Fearing God is equivalent to keeping His commandments; and this instruction applies to everyone. To fear God is to remember that God will judge every act with divine wisdom and insight, searching our motivations and intentions underlying those acts. Since we will be judged in this way, should we not fear Him? There are many who claim to love the Word of God, yet do not obey the Word of God. But the Word of God is authoritative – once heard, it must be obeyed. Hence, James urges, “But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves” (Jas 1:22). Those who fear God are those who keep His precepts (Ps 119:63). One must go beyond delighting in the Word of God to actually obeying it. 5. One Must Hate Evil To fear God is to sincerely and consistently hate sin and wickedness. Proverb 8:13a cannot make it any more clear, “The fear of the LORD is to hate evil”. It then goes on to spell out what this evil is, “Pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverted mouth, I hate” (Prov 8:13b); this encompasses evil thoughts, evil deeds and evil speech. God is holy; with Him there is not even a hint of evil. The Lord Jesus was described not as one who “did no sin” nor as one who “thought no sin” but as one who even “knew no sin” (2 Cor 5:21). Those who follow Him and fear Him must similarly hate and shun evil. 6. One Must Hope in the LORD “The LORD favours those who fear Him, those who wait for His lovingkindness” (Ps 147:11). To fear God attracts favour from God. To fear God is to steadfastly hope in God, content to wait for His perfect timing, refusing to take any action on our own accord to hasten the fruition of what we ourselves selfishly want. To fear God is to be patient, knowing that what we are awaiting is His lovingkindness – the loyal, unchanging, unwavering, love of God. Hope is simply faith in the future tense. Not to hope in God is not to have faith in God. Not to hope in God is to not fear God. And this hope translates into personal sanctification and holy living; 1 John 3:3, “And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.” Concluding Remarks To be a Christian is to fear God. Will you not be a ‘coward’ for Christ today?
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