This past week at .NET we started a study by Francis Chan called “Basic”. Right out of the gate the study asked an often overlooked question, why should we fear God?
It seems like the common answer, which would have been mine prior to this study, is that to fear God would mean, reverence, respect or honor towards God because of who He is. In other words we should honor His majesty.
So what does Jeremiah 5:22 mean? It says “Should you not fear me?" declares the Lord. "Should you not tremble in my presence?" Tremble??
The Old Testament was written in Hebrew. So it is important to understand the actual words that were used. For example the English word “fear” used in Jonah 1:16 and Psalms 90:11 was the Hebrew word yirah. Words like yare (used in Mal 3:16) and pachad (found in Job 3:25a, Ps 119:120) all meant terror, or dread, normally translated simply as fear. There are other words in Hebrew text that meant respect, reverence, or honor, such as kabad Exodus 20:12. Understand that the original text used very appropriate words to express what was meant. In Greek fear or terror is phobo as seen in Matt 28:4 and 1 Pet 2:17. Where reverence or honor is timao like in 1 Peter 2:17. Even with this distinction in both Hebrew and Greek, some people still try to say that the word “fear” merely means reverence.
With all of the scriptures seeming to agree that we should indeed fear the Lord, why do so many Christ followers not accept it? Why do we try to "explain away" the fear of God? Because we fear so many other things in stead of the one thing that really matters. God is the only thing in all of existence that we truly should fear. Don’t get me wrong, most of us would agree that the world can be a scary place to live in and Satan is a pretty scary dude. In fact, Hollywood has made an entire industry out of him. I would go so far as to say that fear is one of his greatest weapons. Horror movies, anxieties, worries, nightmares, phobias, panic attacks, demons, etc. Satan wants us to fear him rather than properly fearing God. But the Bible says this “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell." Matt 10:28
So despite what many believe about honor, reverence and the fear of God, I am convinced that scripture is very clear about the actual fear of God. Fear is fear. And fear has its place. The Bible also says………..
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and they who live by it grow in understanding... Psalms 111:10
The first step to wisdom is the fear of the Lord, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. Proverbs 9:10
So if the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, then the end is love. Love is our hope, our goal, and our ultimate destiny as believers. If we are obedient to Him then we can get close to it in this life. But none of us are without sin or perfect in love.
The Bible says that “Love will come to its perfection in us when we can face the day of Judgment without fear; because even in this world we become as He is. In love there can be no fear, but fear is driven out by perfect love: because to fear is to expect punishment, and anyone who is afraid is still imperfect in love”. 1 John 4:17-18
So be encouraged, love will conquer all. But in the mean time fear the Lord and love each other.
Blessings, dave
Published on: Sep 16, 2011
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