The fear of the Lord

I would like to start this message in a different way than usual and first of all I will give some of the many Scriptures that refer to the fear of the Lord and the promises of God that are connected to it. Please read carefully:

Source

Psalm 34: 9
"Fear Jehovah, you His saints, for there is nothing lacking in those who fear Him."

Psalm 34: 7
"The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and defends them."

Psalms 112 1-2
"Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, and delights greatly in his commandments. His offspring will be powerful on earth; The generation of the upright will be blessed. "

Psalm 25:12
"Who is the man who fears Jehovah? He will teach him the path he has to choose. "

Psalm 25:14
"The intimate communion of the Lord is with those who fear him, and to them he will make known his covenant."

Psalm 31:19
"How great is your kindness, which you have guarded for those who fear you, that you have shown to those who wait for you, before the children of men!"

Psalm 33:18
"Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his mercy,"

Psalm 85: 9
"Surely his salvation is near to those who fear him, That the glory may dwell in our land."

Psalm 103: 11
"For as the height of the heavens above the earth, He magnified his mercy on those who fear him."

Psalm 103: 13
"As the father has compassion on his children, the Lord has compassion on those who fear him."

Psalm 103: 17
"But the mercy of the Lord is from eternity and even eternity upon those who fear him, and his righteousness upon the children of the children;"

Psalm 111: 4-5
"He has made his wonders memorable; Certainly and merciful and Jehovah. He has given food to those who fear him; He will always remember their pact."

Psalm 115: 13
He will bless those who fear Jehovah, small and great.

Psalm 128: 1-4
"Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in his ways. When you eat the work of your hands, Blessed are you, and it will be well with you. Your wife will be like a vine that bears fruit on the sides of your house; Your children like olive plants around your table. Behold, thus shall the man that fears the LORD be blessed. "

Psalm 145: 19
"He will fulfill the desire of those who fear him; He also will hear their cry and saves them."

Proverbs 10:27
"The fear of Jehovah will increase the days"

Proverbs 14:26
"In the fear of Jehovah is strong trust; And hope will have their children. "

Proverbs 14:27
"The fear of Jehovah is a source of life to depart from the bonds of death"

Proverbs 15:33
"The fear of Jehovah is the teaching of wisdom; And humility precedes honor. "

Proverbs 16: 6
"With mercy and truth sin is corrected, and with the fear of the Lord men turn from evil."

Proverbs 19:23
"The fear of the Lord is for life, and with him man will live full of rest; It will not be visited badly. "

Proverbs 22: 4
"Riches, honor and life Are the compensation of the humility and fear of Jehovah."

Proverbs 23:17
"Before persevere in the fear of Jehovah all the time"

Ecclesiastes 8: 12-13
"Even if the sinner does evil a hundred times, and prolongs his days, yet I also know that those who fear God, who fear before his presence, will do well; and that the wicked will not do well, neither will the days be prolonged to him, that they are like a shadow; because he does not fear before the presence of God. "

Ecclesiastes 12:13
"The end of all the speech heard is this: Fear God, and keep his commandments; because this is the whole of man. "

I think it is obvious from all of the above that we are dealing here with a very important issue. What is the fear of the Lord that all those who have it are subject to as many promises as we read? What does "fear of the Lord" mean? Does it mean having fear or terror in the idea that we have of God? Could it be that this "fear of the Lord" issue is no longer valid today because we are now children of God? Also, does case 1 of John not tell us that in love there is no fear? Could it then be that this "fear of the Lord" is something only of the Old Testament? The purpose of this message is to clarify those questions.

1. The fear of the Lord: it is not only simple respect but also not terror.

Depending on someone's history, there are those who understand the fear of the Lord as a kind of terror, to be afraid of God. Others understand it as a simple respect, as for example the respect they give to their colleagues or ... they do not understand at all because they consider it irrelevant to the present era of grace. I do not think any of these opinions are correct. Starting with simple respect: the respect that may exist between equals is not the same as with the Most High. In a kingdom, a subject does not respect the king in the same way that he respects his companions. Even if he has all the confidence before the throne, like us, through the blood of Christ we have before the throne of God, even if he is a son of the King, as we are through faith, he remains a subject before us. the king. And like every King, not to mention the King of Kings, he owes deep respect. In other words, the fact that we are sons of the King does not cancel the fear, the deep respect due to the King, the Most High, nor does it make it a simple respect, like respect between equals.

On the other hand, the son of a king would in no way approach the king in the same way that a stranger would approach him. A son would not approach the king with terror but with confidence, knowing that with whom he is speaking is his loving Father. At the same time and as we said before, the son would also approach him with deep respect recognizing that he is not being approached by a colleague but by his Father, who in turn is the Most High, the Lord of Lords and King of Kings. In other words, the fact that we are children of the King also means that the fear of the Lord should not be understood as a terror, like being afraid, of the King. Rather, it should be understood as a very deep and the highest respect that is owed by children to the most loving Father, who in turn is the Creator of all, the Most High.

Having clarified the above, we will see some passages that demonstrate the majesty of God and that are associated with the Fear of God. I use these passages as an indication of the majesty and kingship of God and not to say that Christians should be afraid, terror of God. As we already said, and as we will see later, fearing God does not mean being afraid of him. It seems to me that in our era, where Jesus Christ built a bridge over the empty space between God and man, to fear God means to approach him in both ways, as Father (with confidence and without fear) and as the Most High (with the deeper respect). Going back to the passages we mentioned, let's start with Jeremiah 10: 6-7:

Jeremiah 10: 6-7
"There is none like you, O LORD; you are great, and your name is great in power. Who will not fear you, O King of the nations? "

Revelation 15: 4
"Who will not fear you, O Lord, and glorify your name?"

and Jeremiah 5: 22-24
"You will not fear me? says the LORD. Will you not be afraid before me, that I have put sand for an end to the sea, by eternal ordination which will not break? Storms will rise, but they will not prevail; their waves will roar, but they will not pass it. Nevertheless, this people has a false and rebellious heart; they separated and left. And they did not say in their heart, Let us now fear Jehovah our God, who gives rain early and late in his season, and keeps us in the appointed times of the harvest.

Psalm 33: 6-9
"By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth: he gathers the waters of the sea as a heap: he lays the depths in storehouses: let all the earth fear the LORD; he all the inhabitants of the world, because he said, and it was done, he commanded, and it was.

GOD MADE US AND ALL THE UNIVERSE, EVERYTHING, WHAT IS VISIBLE OR INVISIBLE, WAS MADE BY HIS OWN HAND. He is our Father and our Lord. He is the Most High. Knowledge of the Scriptures without fear, deep respect for the majesty of God is only intellectual knowledge which will surely produce pride (1 Corinthians 8: 1). As Proverbs tells us:

Proverbs 2: 1-5
"My son, if you receive my words, and keep my commandments within you, making your ear listen to wisdom; If you incline your heart to prudence, if you cry out to understanding, and to prudence you give your voice; If you seek her as silver, And search her as for treasures, Then you will understand the fear of the Lord, And find the knowledge of God. "

Only if the Word of God is stored in us, only if it becomes part of our heart will we understand the fear of the Lord. If for which we do not have deep respect for the Most High, then any knowledge of Scripture we may have is only intellectual knowledge, which, unless we store it in our heart instead of the head, will not bear fruit and will eventually lead to pride.

1. Confidence and fear of the Lord in the New Testament
   An opinion that some, implicitly or explicitly, hold about the fear of the Lord is that it has somehow ceased with the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. But I do not think that is correct. Here I present some passages of the New Testament that speak about the fear of God:

Acts 9:31
"Then the churches had peace throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria; and they were edified, walking IN THE FEAR OF THE LORD, and they were strengthened by the Holy Spirit. "

1 Peter 2:17
"Honor everyone. Love the brothers. FEAR GOD. Honor the king. "

2 Corinthians 7: 1
"Therefore, beloved, since we have such promises, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God."

Colossians 3:22
"Servants, obey in all things your earthly masters, not serving the eye, as those who want to please men, but with a sincere heart, FEARING GOD."

Cornelius, the first Gentile to whom the gospel was preached, was a man fearing God. As in Acts 10: 1-2 it says:

Acts 10: 1-2
"There was in Caesarea a man named Cornelius, a centurion of the company called the Italian, pious and FEARFUL OF GOD with all his house, and who gave many alms to the people, and prayed to God always."

and as Peter said in Acts 10: 34-35 or:
"Then Peter, opening his mouth, said: I truly understand that God does not respect people, BUT THAT IN EVERY NATION HE ENJOYS HIM THAT FEARS HIM AND DOES JUSTICE."

As we see, the fear of the Lord is also present in the New Testament. At the same time I think - and I have already mentioned - that there is a vast difference between Old and New Testament. This is due to the fact that a very different relationship with God is now available, due to the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. This different relationship should also be taken into consideration when trying to understand what it means to fear God. Using the aforementioned example, there is a vast difference between a citizen of a kingdom who are only outside and citizens who are children of the King. The outsiders and the children do not approach the king in the same way. The outsiders approach the king perhaps with terror because of His majesty and because of the lack of any relationship with Him. But that does not apply to the children. The children approach the Father with confidence, without being afraid of him, as children who approach their loving Father. This is also how the Scripture tells us to approach the throne:

Hebrews 4: 14-16
"Therefore, having a great high priest who pierced the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold our profession. Because we do not have a high priest who can not sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who was tempted in everything according to our likeness, but without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, in order to obtain mercy and find grace for the opportune help. "

We come to the throne of grace confidently. That is not for us but for the Lord Jesus Christ, who laid the bridge over the ravine between us and God and made it possible for those who believe that He is the Son of God to be a child of God (1 John 5: 1). . Also in 1 John 4: 17-19:

1 John 4: 17-19
"In love there is no fear, but perfect love casts out fear; because fear carries punishment in itself. Whence he who fears, has not been perfected in love. We love him, because he loved us first. "

If we love God we will not be afraid of Him because love and hate do not go together. At the same time I repeat that this does not mean that it is right to approach God in the same way as to approach peers, with perhaps some simple respect and without realizing the Height of the One they are approaching. But again, this is not a terror nor is it for us to be afraid of Him. If it is terror, then we do not really love Him as we should, since in love there is no fear. Rather, as we said: to fear God means to approach both the Father (with confidence and without fear) and the Most High (with the deepest respect).

1. Fear God: do His will

Moving forward with the above, I really do not know how someone walks in the will of God if he does not fear Him and how someone fears God if He does not do His will. Fearing God means doing His will. It means taking the step of faith in what God has told us, even if we do not understand how everything will work and we have not seen the whole image. Those who fear the Lord will want to do His will. Whatever the Father says has the greatest meaning for them, and it is not negotiable since it came from the mouth of the Father. Fear of the Lord, deep respect for Him and His will as well as obedience and His will go hand in hand. Because imagine disobedient children. Would you think that they respect their father? Maybe they approach their father to get things, but they do not really love him or respect him. If they loved him they would treasure His will in their hearts and they would do it. Unfortunately there are some Christians who are like this: they go to God only when they are in great need and the rest of the time they live like the world. Obviously that has to change. Instead of approaching God in that way we should deepen our relationship, seeking first His kingdom and His righteousness and everything else will be added to us (Matthew 6:33). As Philippians 2: 5-11 says about our example: the Lord Jesus Christ:

Philippians 2: 5-11

"Let there be in you this feeling that was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not esteem being equal to God as a thing to cling to, but he emptied himself, taking the form of a servant , made similar to men; and being in the condition of a man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, and death on a cross. Wherefore God also exalted him to the utmost, and gave him a name that is above every name, that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow down to those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the Earth; and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord, to the glory of God the Father. "

Let the same mind be in us, says the Scripture, which was in the Lord Jesus Christ. What was that mind? It was the mind of obedience, even death. It was the mind of "not my will, but yours" (Luke 22:42).

What I want to say with the above is that we can not say that we fear the Lord if we do not do His will. In fact, it is the same as loving the Lord. What did you say:

John 14: 23-24
"He who loves me will keep my word; and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make our home with him. He who does not love me does not keep my words; and the word that you have heard is not mine, but the Father who sent me. "

We can not say that we love the Lord if we do not do what He says. Similarly, I believe that we can not say that we fear the Lord if we do not do what we know is His will.

To conclude this section, fear of the Lord also means obedience to the Lord. It means to treasure the Lord and His will no matter what. It means in one sentence: greatly esteem God and His will.

1. Conclusion
   We begin this article by demonstrating the source of blessing that is the fear of the Lord. It is difficult to find another topic in Scripture that contains so many promises: long life, prosperity, liberation and many others that accompany those who fear Him.

Then we try to define the fear of the Lord by making it clear that it is not a simple respect, like respecting equals, or means having fear of God or terror of Him. Rather, to fear of the Lord is to have the deep respect that is due to Him. Father, to GOD, to the LORD, to the CREATOR OF EVERYTHING.

Finally, we clarify that there is no fear of God without doing His will. In other words, anyone who fears God also does His will and anyone who does not fear Him, but wants to satisfy His flesh, does not do it or does it when He wants, depending on the circumstances.

Closing this article, we will listen carefully to this Ecclesiastes instruction:

Ecclesiastes 12: 13-14
"The end of all speech heard is this: Fear God, and keep his commandments; because this is the whole of man. "