Acts 9:31
But how does one develop the proper fear of the Lord without going to the extreme of earlier generations...? Developing the fear of the Lord comes through the Word of God! Just as “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Ro 10:17), the same can be said for the “fear of the Lord”! Notice Deu 31:10-13, where the children of Israel were told to gather every seven years to read and hear the Word... (“And Moses commanded them, "At the end of every seven years, at the set time in the year of release, at the Feast of Booths, when all Israel comes to appear before the LORD your God at the place that he will choose, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing. Assemble the people, men, women, and little ones, and the sojourner within your towns, that they may hear and learn to fear the LORD your God, and be careful to do all the words of this law, and that their children, who have not known it, may hear and learn to fear the LORD your God, as long as you live in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess."’). The purpose? “...that they may learn to fear the Lord”! As one reads the Word of God, they should gain a healthy degree of the “fear of the Lord”. Consider the words of Paul in Ro 2:4-11 “Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed. He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. For God shows no partiality.” Or how about the words of Peter in 2 Pe 3:7-14 “But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace.”
The Word of God, properly used, maintains a proper balance. To avoid extremes, we must read all of God’s Word. Some read only those portions that will reveal God’s love and mercy, and have no “fear of the Lord”. Others emphasize the “fire, hell and brimstone” passages, and know nothing of God’s everlasting lovingkindness. One develops an attitude of permissiveness that belittles God’s holiness and justice. The other develops a psychosis of terror that forgets God’s grace and compassion. Even in the passages noted above, the context of each speaks much of God’s grace and forgiveness for those who will repent! So we must be careful how we use the Word of God, but use it we must!
The Psalmist said...
“God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all [them that are] about him.” (Psa 89:7)
Why do we need to fear the Lord? To be sure we “work out our salvation with fear and trembling”! The warning is necessary, for as it is written in Hebrews:
“Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left [us] of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard [it].” (He 4:1-2)
Again...“Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.” (Hebrews 4:11)
With the proper fear of the Lord, we will “work out our salvation”, we will “labor...to enter into that [heavenly] rest”!
“Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” (2 Co 7:1)
Are you “perfecting holiness in the fear of God”?
