The Fear of God

So, I'm talking about Proverbs 9 verse 10 which says, This is a bit of a daunting topic for me to cover because when I first was assigned the verse, I really thought about the fear of the Lord and I didn't really know how to define it or how to think about it or how to incorporate it into my own Christian walk in a good way. I think when we think of the gospel, we do remember and even feel the rightness of God's judgment But nevertheless, the core of the gospel is that in light of the rightness of God's judgment, we are reconciled and united to God through Jesus Christ. It is the love of God that dominates our normal conception of the gospel. So where is the place for fear in a gospel story like this? And that's the confusion, the oddity of fearing God sometimes when we think of it. I think if we want to take a look at the context of this verse in Proverbs 9, there's a desire to attain wisdom. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And this whole chapter actually is a speech given by Lady Wisdom. And in Proverbs 9, all the way to verse 10, she is inviting people to come and dine with her, actually, and to obtain life through her. And so I'm going to go ahead and read the first few verses. It says, wisdom has built her house. She has hewn out her seven pillars. She has slaughtered her meat. She has mixed her wine. She has also furnished her table. She has sent out her maidens. She cries out from the highest places of the city. Whoever is simple, let him turn in here. As for him who lacks understanding, she says to him, come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed. So there's a welcoming nature to the wisdom that is being sought. And then there's also a life that is promised by wisdom. She says in verse six, forsake foolishness and live and go in the way of understanding. So, when it comes to the fear of God as the beginning of wisdom in this verse, there are different ways that people have gone about interpreting this or understanding this idea of fear, and I will go ahead and do my best to think about it with you guys. Please, though, on your own, as you feel led, go ahead and do your own word studies and do your own study. But this is how I've understood it. So first of all, one of the interpretations, one of the ways you can understand the fear of God is like Martin Luther. For him, if wisdom is the gospel, then the fear of the Lord is the law. He speaks of the fear of God as a knowledge of God's wrath. That makes some sense just because of the semantics of the word to fear. But I just want to bring in a few verses and think about that. Psalm 103, 11 says, for as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward those who fear him. So there's also mercy for those who fear. And Psalm 31, 19, oh, how great is your goodness, which you have laid up for those who fear you. which you have prepared for those who trust in you. Psalm 85, nine, surely his salvation is near to those who fear him. Psalm 86, 11, David prays to God for helping him, David prays to God for help in fearing God better, saying, unite my heart to fear your name. So for Luther, the fear of God is essentially a knowledge of God's wrath against sin, and thus the image of fear with trembling fits well. Nevertheless, there are still passages, as we just saw, in the scriptures that make this approach to the fear of God uncomfortable. Perhaps it is not the whole picture. I was also looking in other places for definitions of the fear of God, and one place I was looking was the Dictionary of Biblical Imagery, and it had an entry on the fear of God. It also had an entry on fear as a separate entry. And it says, the fear of God is distinct from the terror of him, encompassing and building on attitudes of awe and reverence. It is the proper and elemental response of a person to God. So for them, reverence and awe are the key words. And I think this is also a thing that we often hear here and there about the fear of God. We try to explain the oddity of it by saying, well, yeah, it's just reverence. We say fear is not fear, it's just reverence and there's some sort of like translational difficulty going on. And so we go our merry ways. But I'm going to read a few more verses here. Just keep in mind, though, that I did look at the Hebrew words and make sure that we're dealing with the same, in terms of the original, the same word here when it comes to fear, or the verb, the noun, or the adjective. And so Deuteronomy, it says, And he shall say to them, hear, O Israel, today you are on the verge of battle with your enemies. Do not let your heart faint, nor be afraid, there's the word that we're talking about, and do not tremble or be terrified because of them. Well, I don't feel like reverence quite fits in that context. And maybe there's two different Maybe there's two different meanings that can go with this word, but let's just continue to look at the scriptures and see how the word is used. So then again in Deuteronomy 13, it says, And you shall stone him with stones until he dies, because he sought to entice you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. So all Israel shall hear and fear, and not again do such wickedness as this among you. And then just an example from Moses is when he was caught for killing an Egyptian, the Bible says that he feared and said, surely this thing is known. All of these instances don't quite fit with the idea of reverence and awe. Even, yeah, so. Again, looking at, just seeing how the Bible uses the Hebrew word for fear, people in the Bible fear God, including God and his judgment of sin. They fear forces of nature, they fear death and calamity, they fear warfare and defeat and battle, and more than that as well. So, there seems to be something missing when we say that fear of God is just reverence, and that's all. That really, fear of God is a mistranslation, and that we should instead be saying reverence of God. There also, on the other hand, seems to be something missing when we say that the fear of God is simply that being afraid of God, is simply that, being afraid of God. That somehow, we as Christians are supposed to be going about our lives terribly afraid of the God who has loved us to the uttermost. So let's read the verse again. It says here, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. So there's two parts to the verse, and they're parallel here. So notice that paired with the fear of the Lord is the knowledge of the Holy One. That is, the fear of God involves some knowledge of God, especially knowledge of Him in His holiness. God, as the Holy One, Thinking of God as the Holy One brings out the fact that God is God and we are not. There is an emphasis here in His holiness, His otherness, His transcendence, and His uniqueness. What comes out in other parts of Scripture is also His sovereignty and power in judgment as well as in all things. So if you, this is now switching over to a New Testament verse, but Luke 12 says, and I say to you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that have no more that they can do, but I will show you whom you should fear. Fear him who, after he has killed, has power to cast into hell. Yes, I say to you, fear him. So consider this. If we are to know the Holy One, to know that God is God and we are not, that He will judge the living and the dead, that woe and well-being proceed from the Lord, and that all the powers that exist are subservient to His sovereignty, then it is incumbent upon us to be on God's side, to be for Him and not against Him. This then, as far as I understand it, is the fear of the Lord. That we would all be absolutely confident that he who would love life and see good days, let him refrain from So just to repeat, I was trying to make the point that It is incumbent on us in this understanding of the fear of God just that we are on God's side and not against him. So again, let's take a look at the context. I'm gonna go ahead and read verses four through six again. says, whoever is simple, let him turn in here. Again, this is wisdom talking. As for him who lacks understanding, she says to him, come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed. Forsake foolishness and live and go in the way of understanding. So remember that this talk of the fear of God, of the Lord, is in the context of a welcoming invitation to come and a promise of life to those who do. Now, if the only thing we knew of God is that he is holy and in his righteousness judges sin, then we would fear and tremble and have no hope. But God is not a God with only one attribute. He is also merciful God. God sent his own son to live a perfect life, to take upon himself our sins, to die by the judgment of God in our place, to rise again from the dead and thus to defeat death and to promise life. In this, God is merciful and all of this is an overflow of his rich love toward us. So, this makes sense of a verse like Psalm 130 verse 4, there is forgiveness with you that you may be feared. So, the fear of God is an invitation As best as I can understand it, the fear of God is not only a recognition of the necessity of being on his side, but also an invitation to come. He is the one, yes, who has the power and right to condemn, but he is also the one who has lovingly provided the way to be reconciled to him and to receive his gracious forgiveness. Here is the one who can forgive. Here is the one who can protect you. Here is the one who can provide for all of your needs, whether spiritual, physical, financial, situational, or whatever it may be. This is the God who owns the world, who created you and me, and to be on his side is a great security and comfort and joy. At the same time, there is no doubt that if you were not on his side, you would not simply be fending for yourself, but you would have God against you. So this does make sense of the motivation that the fear of God has, so this makes sense of the motivation that the fear of God has in pushing us toward following him. Proverbs 16.6 says, by the fear of the Lord, one departs from evil. It also makes sense, yeah, there's just more verses that bring, together his, I'll just go ahead and read the verses I wrote down. So verse, Psalm 31, 19. Oh, how great is your goodness, which you have laid up for those who fear you, which you have prepared for those who trust in you in the presence of the sons of men. Psalm 33, 18. Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his mercy. Psalm 34, eight and nine. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who trusts in him. Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints. There is no want to those who fear him. And personal favorite, Psalm 118, six through nine, the Lord is on my side. I will not fear. What can man do to me? The Lord is for me among those who help me. Therefore, I shall see my desire on those who hate me. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes. So how do we approach God? David gave a little, in one of his Psalms, said, but as for me, I will come into your house in the multitude of your mercy. And then the next line, in fear of you, I will worship toward your holy temple. There's also the fool who says, the fool has said in his heart, there is no God. They are corrupt. They have done abominable works. There is none who does good. So you can see, you can live before God and knowing that you know, believing that he, to believe that God is God and we are not, you can live before him in that truth, and then approach him in his mercy, or you can deny in your heart the existence of God, and so not fear him for who he is. I just, yeah, I think that's probably all I got. I will pray for us. Father, thank you for just your mercy toward us. I thank you for the confidence that we have that if we are with you in Jesus Christ, that there is nothing to fear. that you protect us, you love us, you help us, and that we can trust in you for all of our needs. In your name I pray, amen.