Continuing on the series from the last blog, fear, fear of God. We looked at examples of the OT of people experiencing fear in the presence of God. There were examples of them being terrified that they had seen God. There was something inherent about God that caused them to fear. The command, “not to fear” always preceded, God somehow choose to reveal Himself in a way that caused them to tremble, and fear for their lives, and yet in such a way that they did not die. Their worldview told them that they should die. It seems clear from Scriptures that God allows them to think that, and allows them to have that view of Him.
New Testament:
What does this have to do with the NT? Don’t we live in a new covenant of love and peace and hope? Surely this real fear has nothing to do with our relationship with God now, can we not still call Him friend? I would like to spend this service really exploring fear of God within the New Testament.
Angels:
I find it really interesting that characters in the New Testament are terrified of angels. In nearly every case, when angels appear to people they have to be reminded not to fear them.
Zacharias is visited by an angel in Luke 1:11-13, “And an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the altar of incense.” Pause there for a second, what sorts of stories do you suppose is going through Zacharias’s mind? Think Nadab and Abihu, and other stories of people being consumed in fire. “Zacharias was troubled when he saw the angel, and fear gripped him. But the angel said to him, ‘Do not be afraid, Zacharias…’”
Mary is also commanded not to fear when she receives news of the child she is to bear, Luke 1:30
The shepherds in the fields, Luke 2:9-10, “And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid…” and then tells them of Jesus being born.
Roman centurions saw the “angel of the Lord” who announced that Jesus was alive and rolled away the tomb, Matthew 28:2-4, “And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it. And his appearance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. The guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men.” When the women show up, the angel tells them not to fear.
To be fair, there are a couple of occasions where an angel made an appearance and there was no fear recorded. Twice one showed up to release Peter from prison (Acts 5 and Acts 12), and to give direction to Phillip Acts 8. My theory about this is because there was urgency, and the angel had probably veiled himself from Peter to help to release him from prison. If you notice in Acts 12:11, “When Peter came to himself, he said, ‘Now I know for sure that the Lord has sent forth His angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.’” Notice “Peter came to himself” there was something about the way he was woken up and led that he did not even realize what was going on.
John in his vision in the Revelation 19:9-10, “Then he (referring to an angel) said to me, ‘Write, “Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the lamb.”‘ And he said to me, ‘These are true words of God.’ Then I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, ‘Do not do that; I am a fellow servant of yours and your brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus; worship God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.’” It seems to me that it was the announcement that the angel was carrying the true word of God that caused John to fall down to worship. What a curious act.
Jesus
Reaction from Demons:
Jesus at the Gadarenes in Matthew 8:29 (Cf. Mark 5:6-7; Luke 8:28 ) say to Jesus, “What business do we have with each other, Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?” Mark 1:23-24, “Just then there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, saying, ‘What business do we have with each other, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are-the Holy One of God!’”
Even after Jesus “left” in Acts 19:13-17, we have this story where these exorcists tried to use Jesus’ name for their advantage, the demons knew there was something wrong with their motives, and they were beat up. After this incident the writer of Acts writes in verse 17, “This became known to all, both Jews and Greeks, who lived in Ephesus; and fear fell upon them all and the name of the Lord Jesus was being magnified.”
From Others
When Jesus raised the dead son of a widow Luke 7:14-16, “And He came up and touched the coffin; and the bearers came to a halt. And He said, ‘Young man, I say to you, arise!’ The dead man sat up and began to speak. And Jesus gave him back to his mother. Fear gripped them all, and they began glorifying God, saying, ‘A great prophet has arisen among us!’ and, ‘God has visited His people!’”
Roman centurions: the one present at Jesus’ death, Matthew 27:54 (Cf. Mark 15:39; Luke 23:47), “Now the centurion, and those who were with him keeping guard over Jesus, when they saw the earthquake and the things that were happening, became very frightened and said, ‘Truly this was the Son of God!’” The ones at His tomb, Matthew 28:2-4, “And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it. And his appearance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. The guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men.”
Reaction from Disciples and His followers:
Jesus walking on water Matthew 14:25-33 (Cf. Mark 6:45-52; John 6:16-21), although that was born out of the fact that a figure was walking on the water, I would imagine that I would be rather frightened to see someone walking towards me on water. In a similar story, when Jesus calms the sea with His words, Mark 4:40-41 (Cf. Luke 8:22-25), “And He said to them, ‘Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?’ They became very much afraid and said to one another, ‘Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?’”
The transfiguration, Matthew 17:1-13 (Cf. Mark 9:2-13, Luke 9:28-36), particularly verses 5-6, “While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud said, ‘This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!’ When the disciples heard this, they fell face down to the ground and were terrified.”
Theological Considerations:
Looking at the reaction from people in regards to angels who have spent time in God’s presence indicates that there is something in just the very presence that requires a commandment to “fear not”. This is outside of realizing what God is capable of, who He is, there is something about His very nature that translates to those who spend time with Him. I believe that this would be the fact that they are in God’s glory, and they carry God’s glory with them, as Gabriel at least gives reference to the fact that he came directly from the throne of God to deliver the message Luke 1:19.
Remember too, that after Moses came from being directly with God, that he shone to the point that he had to hide himself because the people were too afraid of him. John’s reaction to the announcement that the angel was carrying the “true words of God” really lends an almost scary precedent to our handling of the Scripture which we contend to be the divinely inspired Word of God.
Judging from the reaction of the demons, I have a couple of heavy conclusions. It is not something that is easy to say, I believe it hurts God’s heart, and should hurt our hearts as well. We somehow have come to this “Little Nicky” idea of hell. As though somehow even demons are capable of grace, or the devil reigns in hell, or demons will be the tormentors. This is not what those passages tell me, I believe that these ideas of hell are heresy.
We are not to use Jesus’ name lightly. There seems to be this idea in the story of the seven sons of Sceva that they understand the attitude behind those that invoke the name of Jesus. (Changed from sermon) They were not walking with the Holy Spirit therefore, the demonic realm was able to understand that these sons of Sceva did not have the authority granted from invoking the name of Jesus.
I think we can conclude that, the demonic world is petrified of what is to come. I certainly do not believe that their motto is, “Better to reign in hell than serve in heav’n.” (John Milton) They are not yet “in hell”, hell is a judgment yet to come that the demonic realm is completely fearful of. As such, what does this do for your understanding of hell?
I think we can also conclude that Jesus is going to be the judge. Consider John the Baptists words, “…He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather his wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” (Matthew 3:11b-12). Continually when you look at Jesus’ own parables, and His own claims, He asserts that He will be judge. Revelation talks a great deal about Jesus executing judgment, throughout the gospels you can read about how Jesus is going to judge. If looking into Jesus as judge in Revelation is something that you want to explore, Chuck Swindol did an excellent series on Revelation.
I want to state here, that this is not Jesus’ desire, He does not desire this end for anyone, and neither do I. It is simply the fact of the matter. Consider Matthew 23:37, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling.” (Cf. Luke 13:34)
Hear also the heart of God, Ezekiel 33:11, “‘Say to them, “As I live!” declares the Lord GOD, “I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live turn back, turn back from your evil ways! Why then will you die, O house of Israel?”‘” and Jeremiah 9:23-25, “Thus says the LORD, ‘Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,’ declares the LORD. ‘Behold, the days are coming,’ declares the LORD, ‘that I will punish all who are circumcised and yet uncircumcised…’”
The God we serve is a compassionate and loving God, who desires to give life and life abundantly but make no mistake, this does not mean that He won’t execute judgment. I believe Scriptures are very incredibly clear, if God says something will happen, and that He will do something, He will follow through with it.
As for the fear that was shown through the disciples and His followers, I believe that we can use this as a call to take very seriously the life and path you have chosen. This God we follow is God that by very nature causes us to tremble and fear. His closest friends, when the identity of who Jesus actually was and is, caused them to fear for their lives.
Practical Application:
I struggle with this portion. I struggle with it because I don’t practice it. I like the theory, I love the theology behind it, I love what it represents and talks about. I love searching the Scriptures about the what’s and who’s, but not the why’s.
So here we go, the only entity on this earth that is worth our fear is God, before future plans, money, people, ideology, governments, perceived and actual fear. The only thing in this universe that can actually do anything to us that is significant, is God. That’s why throughout Scriptures, in the wisdom literature, and in the prophets, it tries to stress that “the fear of the LORD the beginning of wisdom”. It should be the starting point of the recognition that God rules controls and is a part of everything. Imagine this God that says in Job, that He told the oceans where to go, this far and no further, placed the stars in the sky, called and formed the world by His very voice, wants and desires to be in relationship with us.
The fear of God should make us seriously consider our faith. This is not a movement or something we are a part of because it makes us feel better. It is something that we are a part of because it motivates us to make change. It motivates us to serve God with everything that we can. It gives us a tangible and real reason to devote ourselves to God.
It should motivate us to rely on God to remove our sins, and make us take into serious consideration how we worship and approach God. Imagine how motivated we would be to check our hearts attitude, our minds thought patterns during worship of Him, both during musical worship, in fellowship, in teaching times, and any other times in our lives we seek to glorify God.
It allows us take think seriously the commands of Scripture. It will begin to change your speech patters, thought patterns, even your joking. If we lived in the fear of God, think of the verse in Ephesians 5:4, “and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks.” I will admit failure in this area.
Lastly, it gives us the freedom and boldness to stand and live for Him. If the only fear you have in your life is placed in God, what does this embolden you to do?