Our nation is on the cusp of being torn apart at the seams because of lies, deceit, corruption, and a host of other maladies, all of which flow from a fountainhead of selfishness, selfish ambition, and a lust for power. There is an outright growing evil that is resident within our politics and in our public discourse. There is an ever-growing wickedness that is in our culture. All of these things are the logical consequences of a people who have lost their fear of God. Simply put, there is no fear of God in the eyes of this people anymore!
The Psalmist David, contemplating the character and the deeds of the wicked declared, “An oracle within my heart concerning the transgression of the wicked: There is no fear of God before his eyes.” (Ps.36:1). The Hebrew word for fear in this verse is Pachad, and it most literally means terror or dread, it signifies a terrifying dread. David says of the wicked that there is no terror of God before the eyes of the wicked, no dread of God within their hearts!
Whatever happened to the fear of God?
It’s not fashionable to talk about the fear of God anymore, but I do think we had better get back to talking about it! And not only just talking about it, but preaching about it as well! A healthy fear of God is all but gone from most people today, and sadly you don't even hear about it from most of today's preachers. I do not think that there is hardly anyone in today’s church anymore, and much less in society as a whole who has a proper understanding of the fear and terror of the Lord! It’s not popular to talk about it and we don’t want to hear about it! It upsets our religious sensibilities! It conflicts with the picture we have made up in our own minds of a mushy-gushy squeezable God. We love talking about that God! But lets not talk about a dreadful and terrifying Almighty God! Yes, we would much rather fantasize about a squeezable cuddly God! Sorry, but here’s the reality check: that squishy-mushy, pliable and bendable god is a god we have created in the image and likeness of our own emotional sensibilities. Now, before I proceed further, so as not to be misunderstood nor misconstrued, let me be clear. It is both good and right to declare the goodness, mercies, and loving kindness of our God! It is important to proclaim those wonderful aspects of God’s nature and character! Unfortunately, however, we’ve done it all too often at the expense of upholding a healthy fear of God! This is a generation that knows nothing of the fear of Almighty God! There is no terror, no dread, no fear of God before their eyes! This generation fears neither a Holy God nor an eternal Hell! They think nothing of living in the pursuit of selfish ambition, excess, sensuality, selfishness, and debauchery! They have given themselves over to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life! Now, it’s rather easy to shrug it off and say what do you expect from the world! But why should the world think about having the fear of God, when they don’t even see it in professing Christians? Much of the church is living just as carelessly and frivolously as the world is!
So, I’ll ask the question once again! Whatever happened to a good old-fashioned fear of God?
I’ll tell you what happened! It got watered down by milk toast preaching! It got redefined by people pleasing pulpits! Most of the preaching of today downplays the biblical meaning of the fear of God and replaces it with euphemisms such as “respect”, “reverence”, or “honor”, however, the biblical language throughout the scriptures paints a different picture! The biblical record shows that the meaning and idea of the words are much stronger than what we’ve reduced them down to. All of us are familiar with the story of Job. The Bible tells us that Job was a man “…who feared God and shunned evil…” (Job 1:1) The Hebrew word in this verse is Yare and actually does mean to be fearfully reverential. It was this reverential fear that led Job to “shun evil.” As it is written in the book of Proverbs, “…by the fear (yir’ah) of the Lord one departs from evil.” (Proverbs 16:6). Here the Hebrew word is Yirah, which comes from Yare and literally means dread and terror. In other words a true “reverence” includes a dread and terror. In chapter 23 of the book of Job, Job cries out; "..He stands alone, and who can oppose Him? He does whatever He pleases. He carries out His decree against me, and many such plans He still has in store. That is why I am terrified before him; when I think of all this, I fear (pachad) Him. God has made my heart faint; the Almighty has terrified me." (Job 23:13-16)
I am convinced, especially as I look around both inside and outside of the church, that we’ve made a seriously grave mistake watering down a healthy fear of God by using more palatable words like ‘respect’ and ‘reverence’ only. No, my friends the fear of God means much more than that; it is to know the terror of the Lord!
"Just wait till your father get's home!"
I remember when I was a little boy, of course I revered my father, I respected my father, but when I did bad my mother would say, “wait till your father comes home!” And oh boy! The fear and dread of my father would fall upon me! Yes! I had a respect for my father, but I had an even healthier fear of him! When my mother said those words, “Wait till your father comes home!”, I knew it was time to hide! Now, don't get me wrong! Our Father, God, surely doesn't want us to run and hide from Him. I'm simply trying to get us to understand that the fear of God implies a whole lot more than that watered-down version that is peddled about so much today. Nevertheless, having said that, mark my words! The days are indeed coming when, as Isaiah said, that the wicked will indeed, “Enter into the rock, and hide in the dust, from the terror of the Lord And from the glory of His majesty! (Isaiah 2:10)
The glory of His Majesty is both awesomely beautiful and terrifying at the same time!
Have you ever watched a fierce and mighty storm approaching? A destructive whirlwind? An awesome tornado with flashes of lightning and terrifying power! Have you ever been captivated and mesmerized by its awesome beauty and power? For a moment you’re frozen by the sight of it, there’s a certain paralyzing beauty to it, yet, at the same time you understand its terrible fierceness! Then! The reality of the situation hits you and you run for shelter with fear gripping your heart and soul! And rightly so!
OUR GOD IS A CONSUMING FIRE! The Church today needs to regain a holy dread and fear of an all consuming Holy God! We need to have more than merely a courteous and polite respect for Him! We ought to have a Holy Dread of Him! If you don’t have the fear of God in you, perhaps it’s because you haven’t properly assessed who He is! You haven’t properly evaluated all of who and what he is, in all of his glory, and all of his power, and all of his beauty, and in all of the fierceness of His righteous judgement and wrath! But my friend, make no mistake about it, “…it is a fearful (phoberos = terrifying) thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” (Hebrews 10:30–31) Regarding the wicked, there is no fear of God before their eyes! But what of the church? Maybe we need to have a few Ananias and Sapphira kind of incidents to bring us back to the knowledge of the terror of the Lord in the church! They thought they could trifle with God! They thought they could put on the religious charade! And God struck them down dead! And remember, that incident wasn’t Old Testament, that was in New Testament times! It was in the early church days! And then what happened? “So great fear came upon all the church and upon all who heard these things.”. (Acts 5:11). So then, what ever happened to a good old fashioned healthy fear of God! We have become a people and a nation that has completely lost any measure of the fear of God! And tragically there is only one place where we can lay the blame for this situation and that is squarely at the feet of the contemporary pulpit. If the pulpit won’t preach the fear of God anymore how do we expect the people to have the fear of God? If the people don’t have the fear of God anymore how can we expect our politician’s and leaders to have the fear of God? As the psalmist lamented! “Because they do not fear God, therefore they do not change!” (Psalm 55:19) If we want to see change in our land I suggest we start with a returning to the fear of God! When there is no fear of God, where there is no proper understanding of what the fear of God truly means; then the logical conclusion is …there is no fear of judgment… there is no fear of punishment…there is no fear of hell… there is no fear of eternal damnation…you can cast off all restraint living as you please, blindly believing there will be no consequences. Yes folks, there’s a whole logical sequence of things that break down once you’ve lost a healthy sense of the fear of God!
Paul wrote, “Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off.” (Romans 11:22). We need to have an understanding of both the goodness and the severity of the Lord! Let’s take John the beloved disciple for instance. The one who laid his head in Jesus’s bosom at the last supper. The one that the Scripture declares was the disciple whom Jesus loved. The one that Jesus said was a son of thunder! Yet, when John saw Him on the island of Patmos in all of His beauty, in all of His splendor, and in all of His glory, John fell down at His feet like a dead man!
Paul said he would proclaim both the goodness and severity of God. Why? Because, “....Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men...” (2 Corinthians 5:11). I think it’s high past time that we start persuading men regarding the fear of the Lord once again! But! Bro. Andy it’s the kindness of God that leads to repentance! True! However, it is the fear of God that turns one to righteousness! As it is written, “In mercy and truth Atonement is provided for iniquity; And by the fear (yir’ah) of the Lord one departs from evil.” (Proverbs 16:6). It’s the fear of the Lord that brings the knowledge of right and wrong, the knowledge of holiness and righteousness, the knowledge of good and evil. (Read through the Book of Proverbs!). And finally, there’s one more glorious thing to having a healthy fear of the Lord! “The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, To turn one away from the snares of death.” (Proverbs 14:27)
The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life!
In my own personal experience, the fear of the Lord literally was a fountain of life! To turn one away from the snares of death. There was a season in my life which was a very dark time. Like the Psalmist David himself said, “…the throes of death were upon me…” (Ps.55:4)
I was severely pressed down in the oppression of depression. I found myself in a place of being suicidal. Now it’s not my intention here to debate over the question whether or not if someone commits suicide do they go to hell, that’s been a hotly debated issue since time immemorial. Let me just state that for me personally, I happen to believe that suicide is a one-way ticket to hell. And, in my suicidal state of mind at that time, it was the abject fear of the Lord, it was the dread of his judgment, along with the fear of eternal separation from Him that kept me from actually attempting it! In my own personal experience the fear of the Lord literally was a fountain of life! Eventually, through His goodness and mercy He broke off the chains of depression and despondency that had bound me! And thank God! He renewed me into the joy of his salvation!
Let me ask you Saint and Sinner alike; do you fear God? Do you have the fear of God as a healthy virtue in your life? Do you have any idea of what it’s going to be like to stand in the presence of his perfect holiness, purity, and power? To stand before his righteous and perfect judgment? I need to tell you that the only thing that is able to make you stand in the presence of that Holy God is the blood of Jesus Christ! If you think that you can enter into the presence of a terrifyingly Holy God without the blood of Jesus Christ having washed you clean from all your sin and wickedness, you are egregiously mistaken! Without Him, everything you are will be consumed to nothing and cast out of his holy presence! Knowing therefore, the terror of the Lord, I plead with you! Let the fear of God drive you to the cross of Jesus Christ! For that is your only place of refuge in the coming storm! For, “The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, to turn one away from the snares of death.”
His grace is still amazing to me!
Andy White
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