(taken from an earlier devotion in July 2008)
Jesus said “Don’t be afraid of those who want to kill you. They can only kill your body; they cannot touch your soul. Fear only God, who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” (Mt. 10:28)
“Dear friends, don’t be afraid of those who want to kill you. They can only kill the body; they cannot do any more to you. But I’ll tell you whom to fear. Fear God, who has the power to kill people and then throw them into hell (Luke 12:4-5).
“Fear him” is balanced by “Fear not.” The fear of God is here made a way of overcoming the fear of man. It is a fear rather of what might have been than of what is; it is a fear of what would come were we not in Christ. Without such fear there can be no true love; for love of the Savior is proportioned to one’s horror of that from which man has been saved. (J. Gresham Machen)
I believe that many people do not understand the eternal truth that God has blessed us through fearing Him. Present day Christian theology would have us focus mainly on the love of God. However, “Genuine love for God begins with fear and respect for Him!” He is the Creator of All Things, our consistent provider (Jehovah Jireh), the Holy One, God created and provides for our existence and allows us to live within the bounty of His goodness. He wove us into being before we could conceive thought. All good and perfect things that our senses recognize and experience are from Him. Yet, the world would have us believe that we made Him up as an answer to our unexplained questions about our spiritual destiny. The world does not know Him and will not acknowledge Him because it can not define, describe, envision, or contain the Creator of the Universe.
The fear of God is the compass to obedience and is His purpose for our lives.
Job feared God and shunned evil (1:8) and God called him blameless and upright.
To fear God is to hate evil (Pr. 8:13) and avoid evil (Pr. 16:6).
His people need to fear His awesomeness in order to have direction and eternal purpose for their lives.
On the contrary, those who live selfish, prideful lives have their own sense of direction and purpose. They compromise eternal truth for comfort and fantasy. Satan is the master of deception. He is the prince of the world. Yet, even His demons know God and fear Him.
“There is no fear of God before the eyes of the sinful wicked…” (Ps. 36:1).
Only through the fear of the Lord will we live upright and come to salvation – this is the blessing.
Here are some Old Testament passages about the desirable things that come to those who fear God:
* The Lord confides in those who fear him (Ps. 25:14);
* God’s great goodness is stored up for those who fear Him (Ps. 31:19);
* His eyes are on those who fear him (Ps. 33:18);
* The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and He delivers them (Ps. 34:7);
* His saints are to fear Him—those who fear Him lack nothing (Ps. 34:9);
* Salvation is near those who fear God (Ps. 85:9);
* God has love for those who fear him as high as the heavens are above the earth (Ps. 103:11);
* His love is with those who fear him (Ps. 103:17);
* The Lord has compassion on those who fear him (Ps. 103:13);
* God provides food for those who fear him (Ps. 111:5);
* He will bless those who fear him (Ps. 115:13);
* God fulfills the desires of those who fear him; He hears their cry and saves them (Ps. 145:19);
* He delights in those who fear him (Ps. 147:11);
* His mercy extends to those who fear Him (Lk. 1:50).
* The fear of God adds length to life (Pr. 10:27), is a fountain of life (Pr. 14:27), leads to life (Pr. 19:23), and brings wealth, honor and life when coupled with humility (Pr. 22:4);
* The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Pr. 9:10; Mic. 6:9) and knowledge (Pr. 1:7), and is the key to the treasure of salvation, wisdom and knowledge (Is. 33:6);
(Gen 22:9) When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. {10} Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. {11} But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. {12} “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”
Obedience to the point of sacrificing what you love most is God’s recognition and acceptance of our fear for Him. God will bless us and our family if we are willing to make this sacrifice as proof of our love for Him. His blessed grace has spared us from the same test of faith as Abraham. We all deserve death and hell. But, God loves us so much that He made His own Son the sacrifice for our iniquities.
As a child of fallen man, we have a natural fear of death. But, give thanks and praise for our Lord’s suffering, crucifixion, and resurrection, Jesus made us a child of God. No longer are we to live in fear of physical death, but we are to live in joyful anticipation for His return and our reunion with God. There are no righteous, only the flesh that is born with an evil nature. Only Jesus, our Savior, our Lord, our God was able to make the love sacrifice necessary for our salvation. Only the Lamb of God was worthy!
1 Corinthians 15:51-57 But let me tell you a wonderful secret God has revealed to us. Not all of us will die, but we will all be transformed. It will happen in a moment, in the blinking of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, the Christians who have died will be raised with transformed bodies. And then we who are living will be transformed so that we will never die. For our perishable earthly bodies must be transformed into heavenly bodies that will never die. When this happens – when our perishable earthly bodies have been transformed into heavenly bodies that will never die – then at last the Scriptures will come true: “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. How we thank God, who gives us victory over sin and death through Jesus Christ our Lord!
“Everyday I will praise Him!” (Ps. 145)
