The Fear of the Lord

I was still in my teens, but I vividly remember the preacher’s words. “When the Bible speaks of the fear of the Lord, it doesn’t mean to be afraid of God, but to respect him. We must never be afraid of God because he loves us.” The preacher had a point and there was palpable relief felt in the congregation upon his declaration. It sounded like God’s love somehow canceled out any fear of God which might trouble us.

But I continued to wonder, how does the softening of fear into “respect” square with the well-known verse in Proverbs 1:7, “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, something which fools despise”? The question remained. What does it mean to “fear the Lord” especially when failing to fear the Lord is to be a fool who lacks knowledge?

I figured I would settle the critical point by doing a bit of research (one of my very first efforts at biblical studies). A commentary on Proverbs told me that the “fear” (yirāh) of the Lord means exactly what I thought it did–to be afraid, terrified, or in awe. There was no justification for understanding “fear” as mere respect, however important it was not to overlook God’s love for sinners. I discovered the word “fear” appears frequently throughout the Old Testament, often connected to wisdom as its source. Wisdom, in turn, is found in knowing who God is–witnessing his awesome power, coming to grips with his holy and righteous judgments, as well as understanding that God brings all things unto the ends for which he has appointed them. In this sense, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. That is what the author of Proverbs was getting at. Fools, on the other hand, ignore God who reveals himself as a “consuming fire” through his word and in his deeds (Hebrews 12:29). If wisdom arises from fear of the Lord, the height of foolishness is to pretend that God who is all-powerful, holy, and sovereign, does not reveal himself and grant us wisdom.

The fear of God is not a mere abstract theological speculation resulting from observing natural phenomenal like lightening or earthquakes. From the time of Abraham until Israel’s Exodus from Egypt and the Conquest of Canaan, God’s people repeatedly witnessed God’s presence with them through his supernatural power over nature. This is especially the case in the way in which God brings judgment upon his enemies–the fate of the elite Egyptian chariot units in the waters of the Red Sea comes to mind. The people of Israel also witnessed God’s awesome presence with his people as they made their way from Egypt into the promised land of Canaan (i.e., the pillar of fire by night and the cloud by day). Joshua recounts how the people of Jericho were terrified once they became aware that YHWH was leading his people (Israel) toward them (Joshua 2:10-11). YHWH is to be feared because of who he is.

But how do we resolve the apparent discrepancy between a God who is to be feared, and one whom the Scriptures also tell us “is love” (1 John 4:8)? What the preacher of my childhood completely missed was the fact that we need not weaken the force of the biblical affirmation that God is to be feared in order to preserve the fact that God is love. There is a biblical way to solve the conundrum which preserves both biblical points–God is to be feared and he is love. The solution is a proper understanding of the biblical covenants and a bloody cross.

God is to be feared because we have all rebelled against him. We are all guilty before him because of our sins–guilt for Adam’s sin imputed to us, as well as guilty for our actual sins (Genesis 3). After our first parents sinned in Eden, they were terrified by YHWH’s approach. The reason for their terror? God is perfectly and absolutely holy. Adam and Eve were once innocent. But the guilty rebels were soon cast from Eden, unable to enjoy God’s presence and terrified of his wrath. From that moment until now, God is to be feared, because he is holy, we are sinners, and all human sin must be punished.

Yet the Scriptures also teach that God was present with his people immediately after Adam’s fall. God’s presence was one of the blessings of the gracious covenant God promised to Adam (Genesis 3:15), and then later ratified his through call of Abraham (Genesis 12). Abraham was told that he would be the father of a great nation with countless descendants who would become as numerous as the stars in heaven (Genesis 15). This people (Israel) would become a great nation, possessing the land of promise between the Nile and the Euphrates rivers. All the members of this covenant are beneficiaries of God’s gracious promise to save his people from the guilt of their sin–alleviating their fear that those judgments which God’s people had witnessed fall upon his enemies, would also fall upon them.

Abraham’s children later sojourned in Egypt, only to find themselves generations later, slaves of Pharaoh. Upon Israel’s exodus from Egypt and entrance into the Sinai wilderness, God directed his people to the foot of Mount Sinai where he made an additional covenant with them (the Sinai covenant). Reflecting elements of YHWH’s original covenant with Adam (the requirement of perfect obedience to his law) as well as his gracious covenant with Abraham (God reckons his people righteous through faith in his covenant promise)–the Sinai covenant promised Israel blessings for obedience to his commandments, as well as threatened curses for disobedience.

This brief synopsis reminds us that the story of redemption is that of an all-powerful, holy, and sovereign God who is to be feared, who graciously calls a people for his own in whom the promises made to Abraham will be fulfilled. Assembled on the plains of Moab and about to enter the promised land of Canaan (Deuteronomy 28:1-14), we read of a remarkable scene in which the people of Israel are reminded by Moses of the blessings promised them through obedience to YHWH’s covenant, as well as threats of what will happen if the people of Israel cease to fear God, no longer trust in his gracious promise to deliver them from their sins, and instead, seek the false gods of their soon to be Canaanite neighbors.

Under the terms of this covenant there are material blessings promised (long life, material prosperity, protection from enemies) as well as spiritual blessings. The material blessings of Canaan are tangible pictures of invisible spiritual realities of which we cannot yet conceive–eternal life in the presence of God. The Psalmist can say of God’s people under the terms of this covenant, “Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in his commandments! His offspring will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed” (Psalm 112:1–2). Those who fear God acknowledge that he is all-powerful, holy, and sovereign, yet also believe his promise to deliver them from his wrath (through trust in a coming Messiah) will be blessed. Fear, properly understood, points to God’s promise, which is a manifestation of his love.

With the coming of Jesus Christ, God’s people can properly understand how a sure and certain knowledge arises from the fear of God. As Christians who are members of the new covenant (foretold by Jeremiah to supersede the old covenant–Jeremiah 31:31-34) we know our inability to obey his commandments once condemned us. Now these same commandments are written upon our hearts. There is a full and final forgiveness of sin. We, who once were God’s enemies, are now his friends (Romans 5:1-10). With grateful hearts, we now desire to obey God’s commandments, because we have received the blessings promised to us when we came to trust in Christ. There are promises of a long life (Proverbs 10:27; Ephesians 6:2-3), answered prayer (James 5:16), peace with civil authorities (Romans 13:1-7), and even deliverance from heresy and Satanic deception (1 John 2:18-25).

God’s commandments reflect his intrinsic holiness. Our inability to obey his commands reminds us of why the Holy God is to be feared. We know the biblical record. We have read of God pouring out his wrath and fury upon his enemies in the days of Noah (the flood) and in the plagues sent upon Egypt. We have read of a final judgment yet to come (Revelation 6:12-17). But we also read of God pouring out his wrath upon Jesus Christ, sparing us from the wrath which is to come. In this moment, Paul tells us, the love and justice of God meet (Romans 3:21-29).

At the foot of the cross of Jesus Christ we find the answers to our original questions about the “fear of the Lord.” Yes, God is to be feared–not just respected–even by a Christian who trusts in Jesus Christ. God is holy, righteous, and powerful. But we are sinful, we deserve his wrath, and we are weak and frail. Were it not for the cross, we too would be consumed by the wrath of God and receive all the threatened curses. The very thought of life apart from Christ’s cross stirs fear, terror, and awe. Since God is love, he took our sins upon his son, thereby immediately removing them from us as far as the east is from the west. While we fear God because of who he is, we need never fear his approach because his wrath and anger toward us have been turned aside at Calvary.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Knowing that Jesus was punished for my sins in my place reminds me both that God is to be feared (he takes sin seriously) and yet is love (of which the cross is the sign). Now that my sins are washed away, I can obey God, knowing that he is pleased with my pitiful efforts because they are accepted in the person of his son. Through faith in Jesus, all of God’s promised blessings become mine. Yes, I fear the Lord and seek forgiveness of my sins. Yet the cross of Jesus Christ reminds me that God’s love casts out fear (1 John 4:18).

If the preacher had been clear about this, he would have spared me much grief. But in the end, it was a very good thing I wrestled with the the fear of the Lord and gained some knowledge.