Since 2018, I have been choosing not resolutions, but a Word of the Year. This year I am choosing two words, because they go together: Fear God.
For Advent, I had been doing a study and blog series on Revelation. What most impressed me, as I read and tried to tie the second advent of Christ to the first, was this verse:
“Fear God and give Him glory" (Revelation 14:7a NIV)
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| Fear of God? |
Then I saw another angel flying in midair, with an eternal Gospel
(good news) to tell to the inhabitants of the earth, to every race and
tribe and language and people.
And he cried with a mighty voice:
Revere God and give Him
glory (honor and praise in worship), for the hour of His judgment has
arrived. Fall down before Him; pay Him homage and adoration and worship
Him Who created heaven and earth, the sea and the springs (fountains) of
water.
(Revelation 14:6-7 AMPC)
The word fear can also be translated revere. I'm not sure what that means either, but it is something for all the earth to do. It is about the judgment of the earth by the One who created it.
Indeed, most of Revelation talks about the judgment of God and fearful things: disease, war, famine, thunder, lightening, earth quakes, the heavens falling, and the earth itself ripping apart. I can not read past that and say, "well, not my Jesus." I need to look it in the face and ask:
- What does it mean to fear and revere God?
- Why must I fear God?
- How do I fear God?
So I took out my big heavy exhaustive concordance and started at the beginning, at Genesis. Needless to say, I am not done. But this is what I have found so far.
Adam first feared God after he sinned. He was afraid and he hid (Genesis
3:9-10). But God had been looking for Adam. Fear does not separate us
from God. Sin does. Sin makes us ashamed and want to hid.
I found it interesting that the animals of the earth did not fear men until after the flood (see Genesis 9:2). Even though men were not living together in peace after the fall, at least the animals lived in peace with man. But not after Noah came out of the ark. When the Bible talks about fear of God, though, this is not the same kind of fear. This was terror and dread. This was fear of being slaughtered, not because of any wrong doing on the animal's part.
Fear of God is mentioned again in Genesis 20:11. Abraham had journeyed to the south and was afraid of the people because they did not fear God. In this case, the word means fear/revere, not dread.
People who fear God can be trusted, will be upright, good people who will not murder, or lie, or swindle you. This thread continued as I read. To fear God is a comfort other to others (Genesis 42:18). Those people can be trusted with leadership and responsibility (Genesis 31, Exodus 18:21).
Fear of God leads to obedience to Him, being fair and kind to others. Fear of God brings us closer to Him, not further away, as we saw with Moses (Exodus 20:20). We should fear God's wrath, plus the consequence of life in the world He designed and created, when we do wrong.
God repeatedly tell us to fear Him alone, to revere Him alone (Exodus 14:13). This is hard because we live in a physical world: we see, we hear, we touch the things around us. We cannot see God, except when we purposefully look for Him in creation and in His word. It is so much easier to fear our circumstances, the opinion of other people and what they can do to us. God repeatedly promises to make other nations fear Israel as they obey Him (Deut 2:25). God promises to fight for them (Duet 3:22).
Because it is hard, we are to learn to fear God:
... the Lord said to me, ‘Gather the people to Me, and I will let them hear My words, that they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children.’ (Duet 4:10)
Oh, that they had such a heart in them that they would fear Me and always keep all My commandments, that it might be well with them and with their children forever! (Duet 5:29)
Before the Ten Commandments are given, the chosen people of God were instructed to learn to fear God. How?
- Gather,
- Hear God's word,
- Teach their children
And why? For their good, not just individually but for their ancestors and as a community. God's plan to bring peace, Shalom, was for all the community to fear Him. And for those who did not, there was swift and severe punishment.
“If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and who, when they have chastened him, will not heed them, then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city, to the gate of his city.
And they shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.’ Then all the men of his city shall stone him to death with stones; so you shall put away the evil from among you, and all Israel shall hear and fear." (Duet 21:18-21)
This is shocking, because this is instructions to parents to bring their own son to the death penalty. This is how important it was for the whole community to be of one mind when it comes to fearing God. At the end of the age, this is what God will do. He will take His own children and cast them out of life in His kingdom because they are stubborn, rebellious and their god is their belly. This is the pathway to the Shalom community. Permitting evil will allow it to spread and hurt those who revere God.
God already sent His Son. He made a way for them, but they have refused it. God will not force them to obedience. But He will cast them out.
What does it mean to revere God?
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| Revere our awesome God in humility |
Reverence is adoring respect mixed with awe for God who is excellent, sacred, powerful and completely good. It results in humility, worship, pure conduct, dedication, amazement, a desire to honor and to be close, connected.
God gives us a choice (Joshua 24) to fear and revere Him, or not. God is not interested in just outward action; He wants our hearts. Through Joshua, God tells us to serve Him in sincerity and truth (Joshua 24:14). God wants an undivided heart.
We are to worship Him alone. Because there are so many things to worship and adore.
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| Adoring the musicians or worshiping God? |
This photo is a great example. From the looks of the people raising their hands, they are excited and adoring something, but what? Are they at a concert and adoring the musicians? Or are they at a worship service praising and adoring God?
Who are we standing up and cheering?
God wants a loyal heart, one that can survive temptations in our culture and also hardship. Struggles teach us to fear God, as we see with Job (Job1:9). Do we fear God because it is convenient? Because God has answered all our prayers swiftly with a yes? Can we still trust Him when seems to be saying Wait or No? Will we still worship Him when we suffer? Can we obey God when His commandments cause pain? Are we like Job who shuns evil because it is wrong and God alone is good?
All these are difficult questions to consider. Does the New Testament tell us only to believe and be saved? Or must there be more to it?
You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! (James 2:19)
What about what Paul said here?
They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” (Acts 16:31)
Let's try another translation:
Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ [give yourself up to Him, take yourself out of your own keeping and entrust yourself into His keeping] and you will be saved (Acts 16:31 AMPC)
It is more than merely affirming Jesus is the Son of God and showing up to church on Sundays.
I will keep exploring this. Stay tuned.
Beloved, please help me see this aspect of You more clearly and allow it to change my life to be more pleasing to You.
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