Life Lesson: Fearing God

In this age of godlessness where many people don't care for anything concerning God, where they are drugged by the blind philosophy of modernism, and where the worldly-wise follow their dead conscience, there is a need for an anti-testimony against this age of godlessness. To know God and to fear Him reverentially is the remedy. All children of God must learn to fear God; all the young ones must learn to fear God at their young age. This is not merely a salvation but also a protection from the attacks of the enemy and a preservation from the influence of the sinful world.

The message on "Fearing God" in the training has thrown a lot of light on its intrinsic significance. Excerpts from the message are quoted verbatim: 

Fearing the Lord is to have a reverential, relational, openness, and obedience to the Lord. This is the first principle to be a proper human being; fearing the Lord, revering Him, fearing to offend God or losing His presence or missing the Lord's smile. It is aslo to fear our self in a positive way; not to express our self, but to express God only.

Proverbs 1:7a says, “The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of knowledge.” In 2 Corinthians 5:9 Paul says that “we are determined…to gain the honor of being well pleasing to Him.” To fear the Lord is not only fleeing from sins but also, and even more, rejecting the self; not merely to fear that we have sinned or that we are worldly but to fear that what we are doing is out of ourselves, not out of the Lord (Matt. 16:24; 2 Cor. 4:5). In 2 Corinthians 4:5 Paul says, “We do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’ sake.” Therefore, fearing God will honor God and will deny the self.

Example of Not Fearing the Lord

The first case involves Nadab and Abihu in Leviticus 10. As they were serving with Aaron, Nadab and Abihu “presented strange fire before Jehovah” (v. 1). Strange fire is a fire that is strange to God. It is strange because is it not the fire from heaven that burned on the altar of burnt offering. According to Leviticus 6:12 and 13, the first duty of the priests when they arose was to make sure that the fire on the altar of burnt offering was kept burning. God charged the priests to keep the fire burning on the altar continually (v. 13). Nadab and Abihu did not offer the fire from the altar. Instead, they offered their human-manufactured fire, which is strange fire. Strange fire signifies natural enthusiasm, natural affection, natural strength, and natural ability. I would emphasize that we should be on fire for the Lord. Revelation 3 makes clear that the Lord does not want us to be lukewarm, as were the Laodiceans (v. 16). He wants us to “be burning in spirit” (Rom. 12:11). However, we should be burning in our spirit, not in our soul-life. This is an important matter. 

The second case of not fearing the Lord is with Miriam in Numbers 12:1-10. Miriam and Aaron said, “Has Jehovah indeed spoken only through Moses? Has He not also spoken through us?” (v. 2). But God replied otherwise. Concerning Moses, He said to them, “With him I speak face to face, even openly, and not in riddles; And he beholds the form of Jehovah. Why then were you not afraid to speak against My servant, against Moses?” (v. 8). When Miriam rebelled against God’s deputy authority, she rebelled directly against God’s throne. This is very serious. 

The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding; knowledge, wisdom, and understanding come from God; if we fear Him, revere Him, these will be our possessions (Prov. 1:1, 7; 2:4-5; 3:5-10; 8:13; 9:10; 10:27; 14:2, 26-27; 15:16, 33a; 16:6; 19:23). We fear the Lord by obedience and submission to Him. Ephesians 5:21 says, “Being subject to one another in the fear of Christ.” Many times we stop after being subject to one another; we do not emphasize in the fear of Christ. But the words in the fear of Christ are the most important part of verse 21. We have to be subject to one another in the fear of Christ. Practically, this means that we are in fear of offending Him as the Head. If we do not subject ourselves to the brothers, we will offend Christ as the Head because all the members are organically related to the Head. 

Fearing the Lord is a way to lengthen life (Prov. 10:27); God loves, saves, protects, blesses, and provides for those who fear Him (Psa. 103:11, 13, 17; 85:9; 60:4; Prov. 14:26-27; Psa. 115:12-13; 34:9; 111:5). We all should have a proper fear of God because we believers in Christ will all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; at that time Christ will judge His believers at His coming back, not concerning their eternal salvation but concerning their dispensational reward (2 Cor. 5:10; 1 Cor. 4:4-5; 3:13-15; Rom. 14:10).  

Acts 9:31 says, "So then the church throughout the whole of Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace, being built up; and going on in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it was multiplied." The holy fear of the Lord is actually a source of joy. Psalm 2:11 says, “Serve Jehovah with fear, And rejoice with trembling.” Our Lord was fully under God’s restriction; hence, He could reign for God; if we can be restricted by God and thus deal with ourselves, we will be able to reign for God. We need to be under God’s restriction in order to reign for God. 

This healthy speaking of the Lord is the need of the hour. May the Lord grace me to learn this lesson thoroughly well and that I may fear Him reverentially, trust in Him and honor Him all the days of my life.