….and the influence of delusion upon the world

The dangers of viewing everything in simplistic, black-and-white terms

Showing respect in the Covid debate

Counting the other costs of the pandemic

Together with a prophetic message for today for you to consider

What is God trying to say to his people?

Putting fear in its rightful place

Paul Luckraft reviews ‘In Holy Fear’ by Alistair Petrie (2015, CHI Books).

What is the 'fear of the Lord' and what connection does it have to the prophetic ministry? Edmund Heddle unpacks this important topic.

People in every age need to be reminded that the God revealed in the Bible is "a great and awesome God" (Deut 7:21; Neh 1:5; Dan 9:4). He is God of unlimited power and inexplicable mystery; frightening to face and of 'awful purity'. He holds the keys of life and death, and exercises absolute authority over the destiny and life-span of every one of us.

No wonder John fell at his feet as dead when he was confronted by such majesty (Rev 1:17-18). While it is true that the Bible reveals God as a loving father who cares for his children, he has a name which must be hallowed (Matt 6:9).

The Fear of God

It is part of the prophet's task to tell God's people that they must respond to such a God with respect and reverence; in Bible language they must 'fear God'. But what does this mean? As in English so in both Hebrew and Greek the same word for 'fear' has to express widely different emotions.

At one end of the scale it expresses worship and is often qualified by such adjectives as godly, reverential and filial (the fear appropriate to describe a son's respect for and obedience to his father). At the other end it creates an impression of despair, and is qualified by words like servile, craven, or morbid.

The fear spoken of by the prophets and other writers of the Bible is of the former type. It is a reverence for God's holy character and a dread of offending him and his command¬ments which expresses itself in watchfulness, obedience and constant prayer. This is the fear which the prophets seek to encourage in God's people.

The fear of the Lord is a reverence for God's holy character and a dread of offending him, expressing itself in watchfulness, obedience and constant prayer.

Godly Fear is a Divine Gift

On the day Jerusalem was surrounded by an invading army, Jeremiah bought a piece of land as a testimony to his belief that it would one day come back into the possession of God's people (Jer 32:1-41). Following the prophet's obedience, the Lord made this promise: "I will give them singleness of heart and action, so that they will always fear me for their own good and the good of their children after them" (Jer 32:39).

Godly fear that is a gift from God results in all kinds of goodness being received, and should prompt us to use the prayer in Psalm 86:11 "Give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name".

Two Kinds of Fear Contrasted

Isaiah distinguishes two kinds of fear as he warns God's people at a time of national anxiety: "Do not fear what they fear, and do not dread it. The Lord Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy, he is the one you are to fear, he is the one you are to dread" (Is 8:12-13).

The nation was scared at the approach and power of the enemy, but the prophet told the Lord's people they were not to share that fear. Instead, he tells them to fear the Lord Almighty, who would himself be their sanctuary. One fear is full of anxiety and dread, whereas the other is trustful, peaceful and certain of deliverance. In the words of a well-known hymn, "Fear him, ye saints, and you will then have nothing else to fear".

Worldly fear involves anxiety and dread, but the right fear of God is trustful, peaceful and certain of deliverance.

Learning to Fear from the Scriptures

Each king of Israel was instructed, upon his accession to the throne, "to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law...He is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God" (Deut 17:18-19). The sacred writings can help us to gain a right understanding of the God we worship and of the reverence which must ever be at the heart of that worship.

In his last words David declares what a blessing it is when rulers do rule in the fear of God. "The God of Israel spoke, the Rock of Israel said to me, 'When one rules over men in righteousness, when he rules in the fear of God, he is like the light of morning at sunrise on a cloudless morning'" (2 Sam 23:3-4).

All Israel, without exception, were required to attend the public reading of the law at the end of every seven¬ year period so that the ordinary people, like their king, might adopt a similar attitude to God:

At the end of every seven years...when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God...you shall read this law before them in their hearing. Assemble the people men, women and children, and the aliens living in your towns, so that they can listen and learn to fear the Lord your God...Their children, who do not know this law, must hear it and learn to fear the Lord your God. (Deut 31:10-13)

When today's children seem to lack any sense of respect for God and his name, is it because they do not hear what God's law has to say nor understand the disastrous penalties of failing to observe it?

When today's children seem to lack any sense of respect for God and his name, is it because they do not hear what God's law has to say nor understand the disastrous penalties of failing to observe it?

In the time of Samuel, when he reproved the people for wanting to have a king, God sent thunder and rain with the result that all the people stood in awe of the Lord (1 Sam 12:17-18). The New Testament also provides us with examples in which mighty works of Jesus caused the people of his time to manifest awe and fear. When Jesus told a paralysed man to get up, take up his mat and go home, the crowd were amazed. "They were filled with awe" (Luke 5:24-26). When Jesus brought back to life the son of the widow of Nain the gospel sums up the reaction of the crowd thus: "They were all filled with awe and praised God" (Luke 7:16).

Similar things are still happening today, as the PWM Team discovered in Indonesia and China. In those countries God is revered and worshipped in a way that is often sadly absent in the West.

Fearing God is Qualification for Service

When Jehoshaphat king of Judah appointed judges in each of the fortified cities of his kingdom, he gave them instructions to judge each man carefully. His injunction reveals that it would be their fear of God that would save them from injustice, partiality and bribery (2 Chron 19:6-7).

In the early days of Israel's history Moses' father-in-law reproved him for overwork, and recommended that a number of assistants be appointed. His words reveal the essential qualification of office-holding to be the fear of God: "Select capable men from all the people - men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain - and appoint them" (Ex 18:21).

In the Old Testament, fear of the Lord was considered a key qualification for leadership.

When Nehemiah discovered that certain men were charging their fellow countrymen interest, he reproved them with these words: "What you are doing is not right. Shouldn't you walk in the fear of our God to avoid the reproach of our Gentile enemies?" (Neh 5:9). Nehemiah went on to explain that former governors had levied heavy burdens on the people, but that his fear of God prevented him from doing as they had done. "Out of reverence for God I did not act like that" (Neh 5:15).

A Different Attitude to Others

The fear of God prevents our being thoughtless or unkind to the less fortunate. "Do not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block in front of the blind, but fear your God" (Lev 19:14). The fear of God will prompt us to respect our elders. "Rise in the presence of the aged, show respect for the elderly, and revere your God" (Lev 19:32).

In their purchase of land they were required to obey this instruction: "Do not rule over them ruthlessly, but fear your God" (Lev 25:43) and "Do not take advantage of each other, but fear your God" (Lev 25:17).

Old Testament Prophets and the Fear of God

• Moses in a Psalm attributed to him asks God the question, "Which of us can fear you as he should?" (Ps 90:11, Living Bible).
• Through Jeremiah, God reproved the people for failing to fear him as they ought to have done: "'Should you not fear me?' declares the Lord. 'Should you not tremble in my presence?'" (Jer 5:22).
• Isaiah shows the tremendous blessings that are available, to which the fear of God is the key: "He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure" (Is 33:6).
• Zephaniah speaks in God's name to Jerusalem saying, "Surely you will fear me and accept correction", but is saddened that "they were still eager to act corruptly in all they did" (Zeph 3:7).
• In contrast Haggai is able to report that the people of his time "obeyed the voice of the Lord their God and the message of the prophet" and "feared the Lord" (Hagg 1:12).
• Malachi warns that judgment is near for those who persist in evil-doing and who "do not fear me" (Mal 3:5), but in contrast promises that "for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in his wings" (Mal 4:2).

The Old Testament prophets ranging over many centuries agree that it is those who fear and reverence the Lord who will receive his blessings both in this life and in the glorious future to which they bear testimony.

The Old Testament prophets agree that it is those who fear and reverence the Lord who will receive his blessings, both in this life and in heaven.

People who Feared the Lord

Scripture contains the stories of a number of men who 'feared the Lord'. Obadiah, who hid a hundred of the Lord's prophets during a time of great persecution, is said to have "revered the Lord greatly" (1 Kings 18:3 RSV). Job "was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil" (Job 1:1). Hezekiah is referred to as one who feared the Lord and sought his favour (Jer 26:19). Nehemiah put his brother Hanani in charge of Jerusalem "because he was a man of integrity and feared God more than most men do" (Neh 7:2). The Lord himself commended Levi and said of him, "He revered me and stood in awe of my name" (Mal 2:5).

There are 'God-fearers' in the New Testament, but they were a special class of people, attending the synagogues and worshipping God but not accepting all the demands of the Jewish law, for example circumcision. Among these was the Roman centurion Cornelius, who became a Christian disciple as the result of Peter's ministry in Caesarea (Acts 10:1-2). The Messiah as foretold by Isaiah would receive the sevenfold blessing of the Spirit, the culminating clause of which states that "he will delight in the fear of the Lord" (Is 11:3).

God's Desire – a People Who Fear Him

"Oh that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and keep all my commands always, so that it might go well with them and their children for ever" (Deut 5:29). "And now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul" (Deut 10:12). This desire became gloriously possible after the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. "The church...was strengthened and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it grew in numbers, living in the fear of the Lord" (Acts 9:31).

One of the rare names of God in the Old Testament is the 'Fear of Isaac' (Gen 31:42). Could we substitute our name for that of Isaac and honestly claim that we at all times deeply reverence our God and tremble to grieve him, that we do fear him as the prophets of the Scripture say we should?

Can we honestly claim that we at all times deeply reverence our God and tremble to grieve him, that we do fear him as the prophets of the Scripture say we should?

First published in Prophecy Today, Vol 4 No 6, November/December 1988.