Fear the Lord
- Toby Whitehouse
- Jul 28, 2024
- 4 min read
Throughout recent history we’ve seen and heard the phrase, “Fear the Lord”, usually with an inference of finality or as if to say, “or else”. Old western movies, would show the old country preacher waving a Bible in the air, saying “Fear the Lord and repent of your sins!”.
Deuteronomy 10:20 (NASB) "You shall fear the LORD your God; you shall serve Him and cling to Him, and you shall swear by His name.
I’ve often wondered why a loving God would want us to fear him. As if the same fear we would’ve experienced as a child fearing a spanking, fear of heights, fearing a ride on a roller coaster, or even the fear someone might feel when hearing spooky noises in a dark house. It has been said many times from pulpits and Bible studies that believers should fear the Lord. This kind of fear of God is a reverence for who he is, what he has done for man and deep respect for the Creator.
Matthew 10:28 (NASB) "Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
But as I dig deeper into God’s Word, I’ve not only become more knowledgeable, but it also brings more awareness of our relationship with the Lord.
Matthew 6:33 (NASB) "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Imagine back in school when you might have been picked last for a team. Think about that feeling of being left out of a conversation or a workplace joke that several people were in on but left you out.
I never got it until now, but I don’t fear what might be done to me, I deserve whatever is coming to me, as I’m a sinner, no doubt. I fear what will be done without me, that the Lord will collect his children and God forbid, I’m not among them. This is one time a person wants to be chosen for this eternal team.
Matthew 12:30 (NASB) "He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters.
2 Corinthians 5:10 (NASB) For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
Now imagine, all the things you’ve read and heard about from the Bible and the second coming of Christ. In the early part of the second coming timeframe, Jesus will collect his chosen and remove them from harm’s way. Those not getting picked, will have to endure what is referred to as the tribulation, leading up to the revealing of the antichrist, through the Lord’s actual return.
Revelation 3:10 (NASB) 'Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.
Matthew 24:36 (NASB) "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.
We should be in fear, if we haven’t repented of being a sinner and praying for forgiveness and grace from the Father. Repent doesn’t mean saying I’m sorry and then doing it again tomorrow (whatever IT is). Repent means to ask for forgiveness and working within yourself to remove this sinful act from your life. Meaningful repentance, prayer, baptism and believing that Jesus is the Christ and the Son of the One True Living God. Then and only then can we hope to be chosen for team Jesus.
Ezekiel 18:32 (NASB) "For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies," declares the Lord GOD. "Therefore, repent and live."
Luke 13:5 (NASB) "I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish."
Once upon a time I feared what is viewed as the end of the world, the apocalypse, or more specifically the return of Christ and all of the horrors imagined from reading the Bible’s end times references of the New Testament, especially Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and the book of Revelation.
Matthew 24:21-22 (NASB) "For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. "Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.
The only thing I see now that a baptized and repentant Christian should fear is whether we are truly worthy of being called a child of God, a member of Christ’s Church.
Mark 13:5-8 (NASB) And Jesus began to say to them, "See to it that no one misleads you. "Many will come in My name, saying, 'I am He!' and will mislead many. "When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be frightened; those things must take place; but that is not yet the end. "For nation will rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will also be famines. These things are merely the beginning of birth pangs.
Matthew 7:21-23 (NASB) "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. "Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.'
Matthew 7:24-27 (NASB) "Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. "And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. "Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. "The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell--and great was its fall."
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