Fear of God

 “I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do.  But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell.  Yes, I tell you, fear him!  Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies?  And not one of them is forgotten before God.  Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.” 

Luke 12:4-7 (ESV)

A friend of mine, a cowboy of sorts with a giant belt buckle proclaiming him the Grand National Rodeo roping champion, once said, “I’m not afraid of any man, only horses and women.” Who or what are you afraid of?  Spiders?  Snakes?  Horrific illnesses? War?  Pandemic? Horses?  Women?

Where does God place on your list?

Two events recently caused me to consider whether I fear God and, moreover, whether we should fear God.  They caused me to stop and consider my worldview God’s place in it.  Do I fear Him?  My initial reaction was “no, not to the extent I should,” and I suspected that I had become desensitized to His awesomeness.  Had I become enamored with the concept of relationship with Him, perhaps overly so, without really thinking of Him in terms of respect, awe, or fear?

The first happening was my stumbling upon, once again, the passage set forth above.  Jesus had just warned about religious leaders’ hypocrisy, and He urges His listeners to proclaim widely the truth they heard from Him without fearing reprisal from religious leaders. Proclaim it from the rooftops! (see Luke 12:3).  We know from the Gospel According to John that people at the time feared religious leaders and avoided confrontation with them.  Here are a few passages from John:

Yet for fear of the Jews no one spoke openly of him.  John 7:13

(His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.) John 9:22

Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue….  John 12:42

On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”  John 20:19

Jesus knows His audience fears religious leaders, and just after encouraging them to proclaim from the rooftops what they whispered in the dark, He says,

“I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do.  But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him!  Luke 12:4-5

Jesus tells the crowd to fear God more than they fear the men who controlled society.  Jesus instructs His listeners to fear God because this life is so short, and eternity is infinitely long.  He urges them to live their lives focusing on eternity.  Fearing God is foundational to that perspective.

I ponder whether I revere God as I should, whether I hold Him with the awe, reverence and fear He deserves.  I know He is all powerful, that He created all matter in the universe by speaking it into being, that He breathes the breath of life, that He has power and authority over everything, that He decides whether I am allotted another breath.  I know all that.  It is firmly imprinted in my mind, but do I tremble before Him?

God instructed Moses to gather His people so they would hear God’s holy word and learn to fear Him (see Deuteronomy 4:9-14).  Later, God explains to Moses that He wants His people to fear Him and obey His instruction so that they might live good lives (see Deuteronomy 5:28-33).  Fearing God is connected to hearing and following His holy word, and as a result, living a good life.

However, God’s holy word shows many examples of His chosen people losing their fear of God, stopping their worship of God, and fearing and worshiping other gods (see 2 Kings 17:7-18 for one example).  God, who declares Himself to be jealous (see Exodus 20:5), was not happy about that.  In fact, Scripture says, “Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them out of his sight.  None was left but the tribe of Judah only” (2 Kings 17:18).

Awe, reverence, fear of God leads to true worship, and Scripture uses the description of fearing God as very similar to, if not synonymous with, righteousness (see Job 1:1).

The psalmists declare that God is to be feared and He blesses those who fear Him, saying,

Clap your hands, all peoples!
    Shout to God with loud songs of joy!
For the Lord, the Most High, is to be feared,
    a great king over all the earth.  Psalm 47:1-2

Did you notice that shouting to God songs of joy is related to fearing Him?  Fear is foundational to worship and worship produces joy.

Let me hear what God the Lord will speak, for he will speak peace to his people, to his saints; but let them not turn back to folly. Surely his salvation is near to those who fear him, that glory may dwell in our land.  Psalm 85:8-9

Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in his ways! You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands; you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you.  Psalm 128:1-2

Many more psalms declare that we are to fear God and fear is connected to blessing.  Similarly, prophets repeatedly urge God’s people to fear Him, to keep their focus on Him, and to avoid being dragged into worldly fear.  God urges us to maintain an eternal perspective and allow Him to be the foundation of our earthly existence.  Through the prophet Isaiah we read,

For the Lord spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me, and warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying:  “Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread.  But the Lord of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.  And he will become a sanctuary and a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.  And many shall stumble on it. They shall fall and be broken; they shall be snared and taken.”  Isaiah 8:11-15

Through Isaiah, Jeremiah and Malachi we see that fearing God is foundational to faith, moral standards, our interactions with one another, our worship and our handling of God’s holy word.  Scripture says we should fear God above all else.  Fearing God is a characteristic of righteousness and holiness.  Fearing other gods, or people, or other elements of God’s creation is a characteristic of separation from God, which is evil.

To eliminate any thoughts you might be thinking that fearing God is such an Old Testament concept, and it doesn’t apply under New Testament notions of love, grace and mercy, let’s consider the final book of the Bible.  When John sees his long-time friend, traveling companion, mentor and teacher, Jesus in all His heavenly glory, how does John respond?  Does he run up to Jesus and give him a hug?  Shake His hand?  Pat Him on the back?  No.  John writes, 

When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades. Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this.  Revelation 1:17-19

Confronted with Jesus in His heavenly glory, John did not have to think about how to act, his immediate response was fear.  He fell to the ground in fearful worship.  If God’s holy word repeatedly instructs us to fear God, why did Jesus say, “Fear not”?  Jesus urged John to get control of himself, to get his act together, as if to say, “Get up, I have work for you to do. Snap out of it.”  Jesus was not saying to eliminate all awe and reverence, Jesus was merely asking John to direct his fear, awe and reverence into productive avenues because Jesus had work for him to do.

Later in Revelation John sees heavenly beings singing,

Who will not fear, O Lord,
    and glorify your name?
For you alone are holy.
    All nations will come
    and worship you,
for your righteous acts have been revealed.”  Revelation 15:4

After that John writes,

After this I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, crying out,

“Hallelujah!
Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for his judgments are true and just;
for he has judged the great prostitute
who corrupted the earth with her immorality,
and has avenged on her the blood of his servants.”

Once more they cried out,

“Hallelujah!
The smoke from her goes up forever and ever.”

And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who was seated on the throne, saying, “Amen. Hallelujah!”  And from the throne came a voice saying,

“Praise our God,
    all you his servants,
you who fear him,
    small and great.”  Revelation 19:1-5

The final verse suggests that His servants fear Him, equating “you his servants” with “you who fear him.”  If we are His servants, we fear Him.  And if we do not fear Him, well, who is it that we serve?

As I cook dinner, I often listen to a strange variety of sermons, podcasts, and clips from news programs on YouTube. As I pondered fear of God, the second event occurred.  YouTube directed to me an interview of one of the Catholic church’s exorcists, Father Chad Ripperger, who serves in Denver, Colorado.  Father Ripperger responded to a question about fear. The interviewer asked whether he was ever afraid during exorcisms.  Here is my transcription of Father Ripperger’s answer:

People say, “Have you ever been afraid” and I say, “Two times.  The first time, which was, thinking to myself, I hope I don’t do anything stupid, because it’s your first time in the driver’s seat.  The second time though was one time this one demon would not obey, so I just turned to God the Father mentally said, “Punish him in a way he’s never been punished before.”  And there was a full-blown preternatural manifestation right there, and the demon was just screaming.  And so, what happens is, the fear wasn’t in relationship to the demons because they are not to be feared, they are on a short leash.  Its… what I was looking at is the severity of God’s punishment for those who disobey him and don’t… that reject him.  So that’s what I looked at.  If that doesn’t strike the fear of God within you then nothing will, right?  I was literally looking at … this is what Hell looks like.  So there was that fear.  But in relationship with the demons, an experienced exorcist doesn’t have any fear.  Cautious.  You have to be cautious, careful, but you don’t, there’s no fear because they can only do what Christ permits, so you know they are restricted, and so you know, as long as, as long as I stay under Christ’s protection, which is basically staying in the lane the church is saying to stay in, you’re not going to suffer any.”  Father Chad Ripperger interviewed on the Chris Stefanick Show, “Exorcisms: What Catholics need to know with Fr. Chad Ripperger.”  https://youtu.be/feifSF7Ivxw.

He is not afraid of demons, but he was reminded in a terrifyingly awesome way that we should be terrified, trembling, in totally awe of God.

So I ask again, who or what are you afraid of?  Where does God place on your list?  Where should He place?

May you know Him.  May you dwell in Him.  May you serve Him according to His holy will.  Amen.