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The Fear of God, why is it as necessary
today under the New Covenant as it was under the Old Covenant centuries
ago?
The Revd Dr Peter Toon
petertoon@msn.com
If you desire to love God both now and tomorrow, then it is impossible to
do so unless you first fear him, and then continue to fear him, even as
you love him!
Let us begin our reflection at the beginning – conversion to Jesus Christ.
In response to the Gospel (the Good News from the Father concerning his
Son, the Lord Jesus Christ) we are commanded to repent of sin, to believe
the promises of God the Father, to be baptized, and follow the Lord Jesus
Christ wherever he leads. In so doing, we are by grace through the merits
of the Lord Jesus Christ, born from above and adopted by the Father as his
children, in order to live in spiritual union with him, and in fellowship
with fellow disciples in the household of God. As his children, we are to
love him with all our being and to love our neighbors as ourselves.
Where then does “the fear of God” fit into this account of regeneration
and conversion?
First of all, we need to recall that we who hear the Gospel of God hear it
as Good News from not any kind of Deity, but from our Creator and our
Judge. He is the One, true and living God, who chooses also by the
promises of the Gospel through Jesus Christ to become our Redeemer and
Savior. Then, secondly, we need to bear in mind most seriously the
identity and character of this LORD God. In his existence and being the
LORD is more than eternal and infinite, more than majestically
transcendent and glorious, more than supremely holy and pure, and more
than exceedingly righteous and just. He is completely and totally above
and beyond us in his pure glory. There is no comparison between his
existence and being and ours. In fact, there is no comparison between his
existence and being and that of the most glorious of the angel hierarchy
of heaven. Before him, we are as nothing, for we are so weak and small and
he is so almighty and great. (See Isaiah’s vision in chapter 6.)
Thus merely to think of his amazing greatness and majesty is to be humbled
of mind; merely to contemplate him is to tremble with much amazement;
merely to be aware of falling short of his perfection is to collapse
prostrate and in great sorrow and pain before his Majesty; and merely to
meditate upon the multitude of his attributes and perfections is to be
filled with overwhelming awe. Then, also, to recognize that he is the
Judge of all and that in his judgment he takes into account all human
thoughts, attitudes and deeds is surely to be before him in great, awful
dread.
So the Gospel itself, and the background teaching and doctrine concerning
the nature and character of God that it is built upon and presupposes,
creates “fear of the Lord;” and “the fear of the Lord is the beginning not
only of wisdom [to hear the Gospel fully and see in it the wisdom of God]”
but also of “knowledge” [of God and of ourselves before him so that we can
repent and believe].
How can a soul truly be repentant for sin and for offending his Creator
unless there is the fear of the Lord in his heart and mind? How can a soul
truly believe the promises of the Gospel unto salvation, unless he is
filled with awe and reverence before the very LORD God who makes the
promises? How can a soul truly love the LORD our God with all his being,
unless he is at least dimly aware of who God really is, and unless, before
his majestic holiness and glorious righteousness, he is filled with
awesome dread?
In the soul that is born from above of the Holy Ghost, and that looks to
the Father through the Son for salvation and life, there must be both fear
of the LORD and love of the LORD. For the love which God expects and
deserves as LORD is holy, pure, love and adoration, and such is only
possible when the soul trembles in awe, reverence, amazement, dread and
fear before the LORD. Certainly the angelic host in heaven is continuously
filled with both the fear and the love of the Lord God, the Holy Trinity.
And, the Lord Jesus Christ, our great High Priest, in his sacred manhood,
as our Representative and as the New Adam, offers worship to the Father
with holy fear and pure love.
Perhaps – and I do say perhaps – many of the claimed conversions and
experiences of new birth and conversion today are not really the same as
those which the Acts of the Apostles describes and which the Epistles
provide doctrinal descriptions of. That is, the claimed “personal
relationship” with God made by so many today is a different kind of
experience and commitment. The reason for making this tentative and
alarming observation is simple. It is that the “fear of the Lord” seems to
be absent from, or minimal within, much modern evangelism and worship,
which often not only are “dumbed-down” but also lacking in holy awe and
reverence! Without the presence of fear in the soul, the quality of the
believing, trusting and obeying as well as worshipping and celebrating
will be minimized.
One way to begin to restore “the fear of the Lord” is surely to spend more
time describing the very LORD God, whose Gospel is proclaimed, and doing
so in such a way as to create the possibility for awe, reverence, dread
and fear of him in all present. Another is to conduct “worship services”
as unto not only the God who is LOVE but also the God, who in his majestic
transcendence commands and deserves our FEAR.
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