The Fear of the Lord

This morning we are continuing in Proverbs 1 with verse 7:

 7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge;   fools despise wisdom and instruction.

We’re only doing one verse this morning because the topic of this verse is quite large – the fear of the Lord. This proverb has two parts. First, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge and second, fools despise wisdom and instruction. The two parts are just inverses of each other, though. The first statement is positive, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. The second is negative, the one who lacks real knowledge, the fool, despise wisdom and instruction – which are both outworkings of the fear of the Lord, as we see in Proverbs 15:33 and Job 28:28.

33 The fear of the LORD is instruction in wisdom,   and humility comes before honor.

28And he said to man, 'Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom,   and to turn away from evil is understanding.'"

The fear of the Lord is wisdom and instruction. So, to restate, the verse, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise the fear of the Lord.” Thus, the one topic we are dealing with this morning is the fear of the Lord. In a quick count, I found over seventy direct references to the fear of the Lord in the Bible. In particular, these references are concentrated in four books of the Bible: Deuteronomy, Psalms, Proverbs and Isaiah, although references are made to the fear of the Lord in many other books. Just looking at where the references are concentrated tells us something about the significance of the topic this morning and its pervasiveness. Deuteronomy is a book dealing with the Covenant of God and urging the covenant members to keep faith with the covenant. Psalms is a book of songs meant for worshiping God. Proverbs is a book that imparts practical wisdom for how to walk the life that God wills. Isaiah is a book that underlines both the judgment and mercy of God toward sinners. So we see that the fear of the Lord is central to all of life. The fear of the Lord is necessary for proper understanding and application of the covenant of God. The fear of the Lord is necessary for the proper worship of God. The fear of the Lord is necessary to walk as God would have us to and the fear of the Lord is necessary to appreciate the judgment of God and to turn us to seek mercy.

Since this is such an important topic and since Proverbs 1:7 is one of the most notable references to it, we are going to limit ourselves to dwelling only on the Fear of the Lord this morning. As we can see from the number of references, the fear of the Lord is a wide ranging topic with many stones to turn over. I can’t possibly turn over every stone this morning, in fact, I’m not sure I’ll even mention every stone this morning, but we’ll try to build a decent foundation for understanding the fear of the Lord this morning. I will split our discussion this morning into four parts. First, we will determine what the purpose or use of this verse is and how it relates to Proverbs and to our life. Second, we will answer the question, what is the fear of the Lord? Third, we will

look at wrong and right responses to the fear of the Lord. And finally, we will look at the effect of correctly responding to the fear of the Lord.

Purpose of Proverbs 1:7

So, the first question we are going to answer this morning is how are we to use this verse – what is its purpose? I want to define two purposes here. The first purpose is in relation to the book of Proverbs. This verse concludes the introduction of the book before the actual proverbs start. The compiler of Proverbs, under the direction of the Holy Spirit, placed this verse here, at the head of Proverbs, to show the importance of the fear of the Lord to the book of Proverbs. In fact, this verse should be used as an overlay to the book of Proverbs. All of the knowledge and wisdom found in the book of Proverbs must start here, with the fear of the Lord – the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. There is a lot of practical and even worldly wisdom in the book of Proverbs that one could use without even a fleeting thought of God. There is wisdom that could be used to build wealth, reputation, pleasure, and many other things that all men apart from God desire. But the compiler of Proverbs warns us, this is not true wisdom. The wisdom in the book of Proverbs must start with the fear of the Lord – the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. If the fear of the Lord is not present, doing the things in Proverbs may have the appearance of wisdom, but in reality they are folly. Solomon, who wrote most of the book of Proverbs, is also assumed to have written the book of Ecclesiastes. Listen to his words in Ecclesiastes 1:

12I the Preacher have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13And I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven. It is an unhappy business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. 14I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind. 15 What is crooked cannot be made straight,   and what is lacking cannot be counted.

 16I said in my heart, "I have acquired great wisdom, surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me, and my heart has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge." 17And I applied my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is but a striving after wind. 18For in much wisdom is much vexation,   and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.

The Preacher, probably Solomon, acquired great worldly wisdom, surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before him. But, he perceived that this is only a striving after wind, meaning something without purpose because worldly wisdom profits nothing. Concluding the book in Ecclesiastes 12, the preacher says:

 1Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, "I have no pleasure in them"; 2before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened and the clouds return after the rain, 3in the day when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men are bent, and the grinders cease because they

are few, and those who look through the windows are dimmed, 4and the doors on the street are shut—when the sound of the grinding is low, and one rises up at the sound of a bird, and all the daughters of song are brought low— 5they are afraid also of what is high, and terrors are in the way; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags itself along, and desire fails, because man is going to his eternal home, and the mourners go about the streets— 6before the silver cord is snapped, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is shattered at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern, 7and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it. 8 Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher; all is vanity.

The only thing the preacher could find that was not vanity, or something that is worthless, was to remember God in the days of your youth. So, there may be much wisdom in the book of Proverbs, but unless it grows out of a fear of God, it becomes folly and vanity – foolish and worthless. So, this verse first reminds us of what Proverbs ought to be – instruction on how to live as God wills based out of a holy fear of God.

The second use for this verse is related more to the entire Bible than simply to Proverbs. The verse says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge and again in Proverbs 9:10:

10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom,   and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.

The same thing is emphasized in Psalm 111:

10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom;   all those who practice it have a good understanding.   His praise endures forever!

All three of these verses emphasize that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge. So, the second way we should use this verse is as a pathway to be followed. Since there is a beginning, it stands to reason that there is an end, and from the beginning to the end is a path. The fear of the Lord is referred to as leading down a path in Proverbs 19:23:

23The fear of the LORD leads to life,   and whoever has it rests satisfied;   he will not be visited by harm.

So, the fear of the Lord is a beginning that will eventually lead us to life. So what is this pathway of life that the fear of the Lord leads us down. I want to define three parts to this path, the beginning, the pathway and the end. The beginning is, as we have already noted, the fear of the Lord. It is almost pictured as a gate. Something like in Pilgrim’s Progress when Christian finds the path, there is a gate at the beginning and the only way to get onto the path is to go through the gate. So, to even enter on the path, one must fear the Lord – the fear of the Lord is the beginning of the path.

Once one enters the path, he must go down the pathway. I believe the pathway that the gate of the fear of the Lord enters into is the Scriptures. I want to look at several scriptures. First, Psalm 19:

7 The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple; 8 the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes; 9the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the LORD are true, and righteous altogether. 10More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. 11Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.

The fear of the Lord is listed among the descriptions of God’s word. Again, in Deuteronomy 4:

 9 "Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children’s children— 10how on the day that you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb, the LORD said to me, 'Gather the people to me, that I may let them hear my words, so that they may learn to fear me all the days that they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children so.'

Where the fear of the Lord is related to the Word of God. Again, in Psalm 34:

 11 Come, O children, listen to me;    I will teach you the fear of the LORD.

And Psalm 86:

11 Teach me your way, O LORD,   that I may walk in your truth;    unite my heart to fear your name.

Where teaching the Word of God is teaching in the fear of the Lord. So, the pathway that the fear of the Lord opens into is the Holy Scriptures which teach us how to react and use the fear of the Lord. The gate is the fear of the Lord; the path is the Scriptures.

So, finally, where does this pathway lead– what is the end of the path? To answer this, I want to go to Colossians 2:

1For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, 2that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Paul tells us Christ is who all of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in. That is, the end of wisdom and knowledge is Christ. The beginning of wisdom and knowledge is the fear of the Lord and the end is Christ. So, the fear of the Lord is a gate onto a pathway of the Scriptures which leads to the end of Christ. Again, in I Corinthians 1:

18For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19For it is written,

    "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,   and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart."

 20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. 22For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

 26For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. 30And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31so that, as it is written, "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord."

Paul says that Christ became to us Wisdom from God – a wisdom that the world does not understand and rejects but true wisdom that is wiser than man’s wisdom. The fear of the Lord ought to lead us to Christ – if it leads anywhere else, it is not the fear of the Lord. The beginning of wisdom must lead to the end of Wisdom and it must follow the path of Wisdom. The fear of the Lord will lead us to Christ using the scriptures.

So, this verse is first an overlay to the book of Proverbs reminding us that the wisdom of each proverb must be founded here or it is vanity. Second, the fear of the Lord is a beginning, a gateway, that leads through the scriptures to Christ who is the end of wisdom and knowledge.

What is the Fear of the Lord

So, understanding what this verse is pointing us to, the next question we must ask is, “what is the fear of the Lord?” As we look at what the fear of the Lord is, I think we must come to the conclusion that the answer to our question must be twofold. This is because, as we look at Scripture, we see that the fear of God for a believer must be different than the fear of God for an unbeliever. We’ll look at this concept in depth at the end of my sermon, but let’s look at two references right now, I John 4:

16So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 17By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this

world. 18There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.

And Psalm 19:9 says:

9the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever;

The question then becomes, how can the fear of the Lord be clean, enduring forever if knowing God in love ought to cast out fear. Those seem to be opposite statements, but they can be reconciled if we see that in the fear of God exists, at least, a twofold distinction . For purposes of speaking this morning, I am going to define these two types of fear as awe and terror.

Awe is the first, and I would argue, the primary fear of God. Awe is a fear of God that is based on who God is, that is the Creator and Almighty King of the Universe, and who we are, that is creatures. When the creature considers the Creator and starts to compare himself to the Creator, there ought to be an awful fear. The creature ought to stand in awe of the Creator and this awe is rightly called fear. This type of fear is specifically mentioned several times in the scripture. Deuteronomy 28 says:

58"If you are not careful to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name, the LORD your God,

Psalm 22 says:

23You who fear the LORD, praise him!   All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him,   and stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!

Psalm 33 says:

8Let all the earth fear the LORD;   let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him!

Malachi 2 says:

5My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave them to him. It was a covenant of fear, and he feared me. He stood in awe of my name.

And, finally, Hebrews 12 says:

28Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe.

The last verse, Hebrews 12, ends a section that emphasizes that in the New Covenant God is even more to be feared. The section starts, in Hebrews 2, where the author tells us that we should not neglect so great a salvation. In Hebrews 4, the author tells us that a major aspect of not neglecting is fear saying:

 1Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it.

The author of Hebrews emphasizes the greatness of the New Covenant through emphasizing the greatness of Christ and continually brings the reader back to the fact that this means we ought to fear all the more, with the strongest passage in Hebrews 6. Now at the end of this section, the author brings us back to the starting point, we ought to fear God, but he defines it. We ought to fear by offering God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe. So, the first fear of God is awe, which is based out of a knowledge of who God is as Creator and King and who we are as creatures.

The second fear of God is terror. Terror is a fear of God that is again based out of a knowledge of God and a knowledge of ourselves, but in a different way. Terror is based out of the knowledge of God as the Righteous Judge and the knowledge of ourselves as sinful. The Righteous Judge will condemn and punish us for our sin, and therefore, we ought to be terrified of Him; we ought to quake in fear. Again, this type of fear is specifically mentioned in scripture several times. First, in the Old Testament, punishment is often indicated so that others will fear. For example, Deuteronomy 13:

6 "If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son or your daughter or the wife you embrace or your friend who is as your own soul entices you secretly, saying, 'Let us go and serve other gods,' which neither you nor your fathers have known, 7some of the gods of the peoples who are around you, whether near you or far off from you, from the one end of the earth to the other, 8you shall not yield to him or listen to him, nor shall your eye pity him, nor shall you spare him, nor shall you conceal him. 9But you shall kill him. Your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. 10 You shall stone him to death with stones, because he sought to draw you away from the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 11And all Israel shall hear and fear and never again do any such wickedness as this among you.

And again in Deuteronomy 21:

18"If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and, though they discipline him, will not listen to them, 19then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gate of the place where he lives, 20and they shall say to the elders of his city, 'This our son is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.' 21 Then all the men of the city shall stone him to death with stones. So you shall purge the evil from your midst, and all Israel shall hear, and fear.

Psalms 119 says:

120My flesh trembles for fear of you,   and I am afraid of your judgments.

I Peter 1 says:

17And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile,

And I John 4 says:

18There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.

The judgment and the punishment of God are fearful things, and we are rightfully the recipients of this punishment. So, we ought to be terrified of God as judge. We ought to tremble before him. We ought to recognize Him as Judge and ourselves as sinners and stand in terror.

Before I move to the next section, I want to emphasize that both of these are right fears. I’m not saying that there are two fears, one right and one wrong. Now, when and how we ought to experience these fears may be a little more complicated, but both of these fears are a good thing to experience and both of these fears are wrapped up in Proverbs 1:7. Both of these fears, together, are the gateway to the path that leads to Christ. We are going to look at how and when we ought to experience these fears and how the believer and the unbeliever ought to fear, but first, I think we need to look at the response to these fears.

Response to Fear

Having looked at what the fear of the Lord will lead us to and looking at what the fear of the Lord is, now I want to ask, “How ought we to respond to the fear of the Lord?” A godly response to the fear of the Lord will bring all of the benefits of the fear of the Lord. Proverbs 10 tells us:

The fear of the LORD prolongs life, but the years of the wicked will be short.

And Proverbs 14 tells us:

26In the fear of the LORD one has strong confidence,   and his children will have a refuge.27The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life,   that one may turn away from the snares of death.

Proverbs 19 tells us:

23The fear of the LORD leads to life,   and whoever has it rests satisfied;   he will not be visited by harm.

And Proverbs 22 tells us:

4The reward for humility and fear of the LORD   is riches and honor and life.

In each case, the fear of the Lord brings life. But, both biblically and experientially, we see that there are many who appear to fear the Lord but do not follow the path of life. Now we can talk about this two ways. First, we could say that those who appear to fear the Lord but do not follow the path of life do not really fear the Lord. This is absolutely correct, a true fear of God will undoubtedly lead to life and if it isn’t leading to life, the person doesn’t truly fear God. But, I think, sometimes, this isn’t the most beneficial way of talking about it because it doesn’t explain why that person doesn’t truly fear God. It appears that they are, but we are telling them they aren’t. So, the second way of talking about it is saying that the response to the fear of the Lord is paramount. This is actually saying the same thing, but explains what we mean. The only way we can tell if a person truly fears the Lord in a godly manner is by the response that the fear generates. So, when we feel a terror and an awe of God, how ought we to respond. I want to look at five wrong responses to fear and then look at three right responses to fear. I will start with the wrong responses, listing them and giving examples and then I will move to the right responses.

The first wrong response is the most basic. I say this response is the most basic because every person ever born has responded to the fear of the Lord in this way at some time. Every human being ought to be terrified of God. This is because every human being, on some level, knows who God is and knows who they are. Paul tells us this in Romans 1:

 18For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse…(AND THEN A FEW VERSES LATER)… 32Though they know God’s decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

Paul tells us that every unregenerate person knows who God is. His invisible attributes, eternal power and divine nature have been clearly perceived. Paul also says that they know God as Judge, “though they know God’s decree that those who practice such things deserve to die…” An unbeliever, whether they admit it or not, knows enough about God and ought to be terrified of God. But Romans 1 also tells us how unbelievers deal with this fear. Verse 18 tells us that they suppress the truth. So, I’m going to call the first wrong response running away from the fear of the Lord. Having tasted the fear of God, we can run away from God, from His Word and from His messengers seeking to place it in oblivion. This is the state of every unregenerate unbeliever. It is not that they have never known to fear God, it is rather that they suppress the truth, they have run from the fear of God. They deny that God exists. They refuse to accept or believe His Word. They scoff at His servants. They do all of these things to suppress the fear that they ought to feel of God. The first example of this fear comes in Genesis 3, in the garden of Eden:

 8And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the

garden. 9But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, "Where are you?" 10And he said, "I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself."

Adam and Eve hid themselves from God because they were afraid of God. They tried to suppress their fear. Job describes the wicked in this way:

14They say to God, 'Depart from us!   We do not desire the knowledge of your ways.

So, the first and basic wrong response to the fear of God is to run from it and suppress it. The next four wrong ways of responding to the fear of God are actually subsets of this first response. But they each deserve their own discussion. I need to acknowledge John Bunyan here. He wrote an entire book on the fear of God titled appropriately the Fear of God. In this book he carefully catalogs ungodly fears of God and I’ve drawn on this strongly here.

The second wrong way of responding to the fear of God is resisting the fear of God. That is, we can hate God and grumble against Him for causing us to fear. We can mutter against God saying He is unfair or that His rules are too hard to keep. We can fear God and wish He didn’t exist or at least did not take notice of us. Our example of this fear comes from Numbers 14:

 1Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night. 2And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, "Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! 3Why is the LORD bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?" 4And they said to one another, "Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt."

And again in Numbers 21:

 4From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way. 5And the people spoke against God and against Moses, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food."

The Israelites did have, in a way, the fear of the Lord. They were scared of God and thought He was out to destroy them. So, they grumbled against Him saying it would have been better if God had not shown up on the scene. In an odd way, this is true. For the unbeliever, it would be better if God didn’t exist and did not punish them. It demonstrates that the unbeliever understands God as judge, but the unbeliever fails to respond appropriately.

The third incorrect fear of God is being paralyzed by the fear of the Lord. This is best explained by our example of this fear. In Matthew 25 it says:

14 "For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. 15To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his

ability. Then he went away. 16He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. 17So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. 18But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money. 19Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. 20And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, 'Master, you delivered to me five talents; here I have made five talents more.' 21His master said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.' 22And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, 'Master, you delivered to me two talents; here I have made two talents more.' 23His master said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.' 24He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, 'Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, 25so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.' 26But his master answered him, 'You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? 27Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. 28So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. 29 For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 30And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'

Notice what the evil servant said, “so I was afraid and I went and hid your talent in the ground.” In this response, we may fear God, but we fear to do anything about it. We fear God and believe that anything we do would make things worse. We think that maybe God will respect that we didn’t know how to please Him, so we just tried to not specifically displease Him. Again, in one way, this fear is correct. There is nothing we can do to pacify the fear of God, but it ignores the revelation that God has given us. See what the master says in the parable, “You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? Then you ought to have…” The unbeliever that knows that nothing he or she does can please God ought to see that pointing to Christ.

The fourth wrong response to the fear of God is trying to pacify the fear of God with our own works. This is a very common response to the fear of God and is at the root of all false religion. Men generate false religions to try to pacify the God they refuse to treat with. It can easily be seen in Catholicism when they refuse to believe that Christ could possibly be enough and continue to try to pacify God with their own righteousness. An excellent biblical example comes from II Kings 17:

 24 And the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the people of Israel. And they took possession of Samaria and lived in its cities. 25And at the beginning of their dwelling there, they did not fear the LORD. Therefore the LORD sent lions among them, which killed some of

them. 26So the king of Assyria was told, "The nations that you have carried away and placed in the cities of Samaria do not know the law of the god of the land. Therefore he has sent lions among them, and behold, they are killing them, because they do not know the law of the god of the land." 27Then the king of Assyria commanded, "Send there one of the priests whom you carried away from there, and let him go and dwell there and teach them the law of the god of the land." 28So one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and lived in Bethel and taught them how they should fear the LORD.

 29But every nation still made gods of its own and put them in the shrines of the high places that the Samaritans had made, every nation in the cities in which they lived. 30The men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, the men of Cuth made Nergal, the men of Hamath made Ashima, 31and the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the Sepharvites burned their children in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim. 32 They also feared the LORD and appointed from among themselves all sorts of people as priests of the high places, who sacrificed for them in the shrines of the high places. 33So they feared the LORD but also served their own gods, after the manner of the nations from among whom they had been carried away.

 34To this day they do according to the former manner. They do not fear the LORD, and they do not follow the statutes or the rules or the law or the commandment that the LORD commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel. 35The LORD made a covenant with them and commanded them, "You shall not fear other gods or bow yourselves to them or serve them or sacrifice to them, 36but you shall fear the LORD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt with great power and with an outstretched arm. You shall bow yourselves to him, and to him you shall sacrifice. 37And the statutes and the rules and the law and the commandment that he wrote for you, you shall always be careful to do. You shall not fear other gods, 38and you shall not forget the covenant that I have made with you. You shall not fear other gods, 39but you shall fear the LORD your God, and he will deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies." 40However, they would not listen, but they did according to their former manner.

 41 So these nations feared the LORD and also served their carved images. Their children did likewise, and their children’s children—as their fathers did, so they do to this day.

After the Assyrians carried the Israelites off, they settled new peoples in the land. The people figured out that God was mad at them, so they sent for an Israelite priest to teach them how to pacify God. The priest came and taught them about God, and they did some of the things that the priest told them, but they still served their gods. They thought, maybe, with the right actions they could pacify the Israelites God. In fact, this was also the attitude of most of the Israelites themselves. Instead of seeing the revelation of Christ in the Old Covenant, they sought to pacify God by following the law. Therefore Paul says, in Romans 2:

30What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; 31but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to

righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. 32Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone,

So, fearing God and trying to pacify Him with our own works is a wrong response. Again, this has a shred of truth buried in it. This fear recognizes that God needs to be pacified, but fails to realize that we have no capacity to pacify God.

The last wrong response, that I will discuss, is despairing due to the fear of the Lord. We can see the terror of God and despair that there is nothing left for us except wrath. Our example comes from Ezekiel 7:

27The king mourns, the prince is wrapped in despair, and the hands of the people of the land are paralyzed by terror. According to their way I will do to them, and according to their judgments I will judge them, and they shall know that I am the LORD."

When the leaders of the people saw the judgment that Ezekiel was prophesying, they would fear God and in this fear, they would despair. They would believe that there is no hope left. Again, this fear has an ounce of truth in it. Apart from God’s gracious intervention, there is no hope left. We ought to despair. But, God has intervened and this fear rejects the revelation of Christ.

So, the main wrong response to the fear of the Lord is to run from it and suppress it. From this response flows four other responses. We can reject the fear of the Lord and grumble against God. We can be paralyzed by the fear of the Lord. We can attempt to pacify the fear of the Lord on our own. And we can despair because of the fear of the Lord. In each case, a shred of truth is packaged in this response, but an important part of the revelation of God is rejected.

Now we will look at the right responses to the fear of God. I will list three responses here that should characterize the right response to the fear of God. Each of these responses is in opposition to one of the five wrong responses given above and all of these responses must be done together. Doing one of these responses without the other two is really doing none of these responses. So, this isn’t a list to be chosen from, but a list of the necessary responses to the fear of the Lord.

The first right response to the fear of the Lord is to humble ourselves before God. This flows from the basis of the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord based on our knowledge of who God is and the knowledge of who we are. Because of who we are before God, we ought to be humble before Him. As we saw before, this leads in two different directions. First, we ought to be in terror because God is Judge and we are sinful. Second, we ought to be in awe because God is Creator and we are creature. We ought to humble ourselves in both fears. So, here, the first thing to do is humble ourselves and admit our sinfulness. We see Isaiah do this when the glory of God appears to him, in Isaiah 6:

1In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3And one called to another and said:

    "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!"

 4And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. 5And I said: "Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!"

And again, in Luke 18:

 9He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: 10"Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.' 13But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner!' 14I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted."

The only thing Isaiah and the Tax Collector did when faced with God was humble themselves and admit that they are sinful.

Not only should we humble ourselves and admit our sin, but we ought also to humble ourselves and recognize the exaltedness of God and give Him proper reverence. This is often contrasted in scripture with reverencing man. So we see God tell Isaiah in Isaiah 8:

11For the LORD spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me, and warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying: 12"Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. 13But the LORD of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. 14And he will become a sanctuary and a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 15And many shall stumble on it. They shall fall and be broken; they shall be snared and taken."

And again, Christ Himself said as much in Matthew 10:

 26"So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. 27What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. 28And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. 29Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. 30But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. 31Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. 32 So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father

who is in heaven, 33but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.

So, in response to the fear of God we ought to humble ourselves before God, both as sinners and as creatures. This is opposite of resisting the fear of the Lord. Instead of grumbling against God because He makes us afraid, we humble ourselves and agree with God that He ought to be feared.

Having humbled ourselves, the next necessary response is to seek Christ for mercy and salvation. As we noted earlier, if the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge and wisdom, then Christ is the end of knowledge and wisdom. Fear of the Lord ought to lead to Christ. We ought to seek Christ in the fear of the Lord because He is the only way to pacify the wrath of God. Romans 5 tells us:

1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Understanding that God is Judge and that we are sinful leaves us with no other options. We must seek Christ. Only He can satisfy the wrath of God and give us peace. Christ is also the only way we can enjoy the trembling fear of God, that is, the only way we can stand in awe of God and enjoy His presence. Psalm 2 tells us:

11 Serve the LORD with fear,   and rejoice with trembling.12 Kiss the Son,   lest he be angry, and you perish in the way,   for his wrath is quickly kindled.Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

It hits both sides, that kissing the Son pacifies wrath, but also that the way to rejoice with trembling is to embrace the Son. Christ is the end of the fear of the Lord. So, we see on the day of Pentecost:

 36Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified."

 37Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?" 38And Peter said to them, "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself."

Peter told the men gathered that Jesus, whom they crucified, was Lord and Christ. The men who heard were cut to the heart, and I take this to mean, at least in part, that they understood the fear of God. So they cried out, “what shall we do?” Peter points to Christ. Christ is the end of the fear of the Lord. We see the same scenario play out in Acts 16:

29And the jailer called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas. 30Then he brought them out and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" 31And they said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household."

The jailer, having seen the power of God knows the fear of God and asks Paul what he must do. Paul again points to Christ. So, the correct response to the fear of God is to cry out, “what must we do?” And the scriptures, being the pathway that we follow in the fear of God, points us to Christ.

Seeking Christ for mercy and salvation is in opposition to despairing due to the fear of the Lord. It does despair of anything that we can do, but it recognizes that God has revealed Christ as the Savior and runs to Him for refuge. It is also opposite of being paralyzed by the fear of the Lord. It recognizes that anything we do would only make things worse, but instead of doing nothing, it seeks Christ to do it for us. It is also opposite of trying to pacify God with our own works. It does recognize that God must be pacified, but it recognizes that only Christ is able to pacify the wrath of God. Nothing we do can pacify God’s wrath.

Having humbled ourselves before God and sought Christ for mercy and salvation, the last necessary response is to delight in the fear of the Lord. I’m going to start out with what this is opposite to, because it helps explain it I think. The most basic response of mankind to the fear of the Lord is to run from and suppress it. So, instead of suppressing the fear of the Lord anymore, we ought to delight in it. In Isaiah 11, the prophecy of the branch of Jesse, it says:

3And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. He shall not judge by what his eyes see,   or decide disputes by what his ears hear,

So, Christ delighted to fear the Lord, so, in imitation we ought to delight to fear the Lord as well. And in Nehemiah 1, Nehemiah prays:

11O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of your servants who delight to fear your name, and give success to your servant today, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man."

Psalm 86 tells us:

11 Teach me your way, O LORD,   that I may walk in your truth;    unite my heart to fear your name.

I take this to mean that David desires God to make his heart desire to fear Him. That to fear God would be the desire of his heart. Instead of suppressing the fear of the Lord, we ought to delight in it. Even when it is painful, we delight in it, because it teaches us the necessity of Christ. And, having Christ, we rejoice in the awe of God, knowing, even in His Supreme Majesty, He loves us for the sake of Christ.

Delighting to fear the Lord, then we reject evildoing. Proverbs 3 tells us:

7 Be not wise in your own eyes;    fear the LORD, and turn away from evil.

And Proverbs 8 tells us:

13 The fear of the LORD is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil   and perverted speech I hate.

And Proverbs 16 tells us:

6By steadfast love and faithfulness iniquity is atoned for,   and by the fear of the LORD one turns away from evil.

If we delight to fear the Lord, which is delighting in the Lord, then we will hate evil and the fear of the Lord will remove evil from us.

Before we move on from the right responses to the fear of the Lord, I want to note that the right responses to the fear of the Lord are solely the gift of God. Deuteronomy 28 tells us:

58"If you are not careful to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name, the LORD your God,

The first thing we see is that the Word of God is instrumental in bringing about the fear of the Lord. Psalm 130 tells us:

 3If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities,   O Lord, who could stand?4But with you there is forgiveness,    that you may be feared.

The forgiveness of God is a prerequisite of the right response to the fear of God. Jeremiah 32 tells us:

37 Behold, I will gather them from all the countries to which I drove them in my anger and my wrath and in great indignation. I will bring them back to this place, and I will make them dwell in safety. 38 And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. 39 I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their own good and the good of their children after them. 40 I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me. 41 I will rejoice in doing them good, and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness, with all my heart and all my soul.

So, the fear of the Lord is a covenantal gift from God. So, the fear of the Lord is engendered by His Word, which is a gracious gift of God, is dependent on His forgiveness, which is a gracious gift of God, and is only given as a covenantal gift of God, which is dependant solely on God’s sovereign grace. Thus, we can easily conclude that the fear of the Lord and the right response is a gift from God.

The Effect of the Right Response

Having examined how we ought to respond to the fear of the Lord, I want to close by returning to the two types of the fear of the Lord. We defined the fear of the Lord to include both awe and terror. But ought we to feel awe and terror of God at all times?

For the unbeliever, the answer is yes. There is nothing that ought to assuage any of the fear of God. They are subject to God’s judgment and rightly fear His wrath. Notwithstanding, they are still creatures and ought to stand in awe of the Creator. Awe and terror ought to overwhelm the unbeliever and ought to lead the unbeliever to Christ.

For the believer, the answer is mostly no. Consider the following passages. Psalm 19:

9the fear of the LORD is clean,   enduring forever;the rules of the LORD are true,   and righteous altogether.

Psalm 72:

5May they fear you while the sun endures,   and as long as the moon, throughout all generations!

Both clearly state that the fear of the Lord ought never to end. So the believer ought still to fear the Lord. But, consider also the following passages. Romans 8:

15For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!"

II Timothy 1:

7for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

And I John 4:

 13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 17By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. 18There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. 19 We love because he first loved us. 20 If anyone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. 21And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.

These verses tell the believer that he or she no longer needs to fear. I John 4 explains a little more what the apostles are telling us. He says, “Fear has to do with punishment.” So, the fear that the apostles are talking about is what I have referred to as terror. The fear that recognizes God as judge and us as sinners. The Christian has no need to fear God in this way anymore because Christ has perfectly pacified the wrath of God. In fact, continuing to fear God in this way is refusing to fully trust Christ for salvation. Not only does the Christian not have to be in terror of God anymore, the Christian must not be in terror of God anymore. John says, “Whoever fears has not been perfected in love.”

Our status has been changed. We are no longer sinners before God, but have been declared righteous in Christ. So, God is still Judge, but we are no longer sinners, we are saints. The basis of terror has been removed. But our creaturely status is unchanged. God is still Creator and we are still creatures, so the fear of God that can be described as awe and reverence ought still to be in us. So, the apostles can tell us that we should no longer fear and the psalmists can tell us that the fear of the Lord should endure forever. We ought to always stand in reverent awe of God, but the terror of God has been destroyed.

This doesn’t mean that terror has no place in the Christians life, it still has a small role to play. I will call this the ‘remembrance of terror’. We ought to remember what it is like to be terrified God. Not, we ought to be terrified of God, but we ought to remember what terror was, and this should cause us to fear falling away from Christ and returning to our sinful ways. As we saw in Hebrews 4, the author tell us:

 1Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it.

And again in Hebrews 6, he says:

 1Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, 2and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. 3And this we will do if God permits. 4For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. 7For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. 8But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.

 9Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things—things that belong to salvation. 10For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do. 11And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, 12so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

We ought to fear lest we fall away. We remember the terror of God and do not want to return to the place of terror. This is actually a grace of God to keep us clinging to Christ. As long as we cling to Christ, we don’t feel the terror of God’s wrath, but we know if we fail to continue clinging to Christ, we will be again the recipient of His wrath. So, we cling to Christ all the more.

Colossians 3 tells us:

 5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming. 7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. 8But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. 11 Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.

Paul tells the Colossians to put off their sinful natures and the reason He gives is that these things are the things that engender God’s wrath. Paul is telling us to remember that these are what cause the terror of the Lord, and we ought not to return to our former way of life.

So, the terror of God has been abolished for the Christian so, not only does the Christian not have to be terrified of God, he or she must not be terrified of God. We don’t forget the terror of God, though, and remembering the terror of God is a grace of God to us to keep us clinging to Christ and preventing us from returning to our former way of life. The awe of God is based on immutable characteristics of God and ourselves, though, so the fear of the Lord ought to be eternally delighted in by us in worshiping God with reverence and awe. Therefore, the author of Hebrews concludes:

28Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, 29for our God is a consuming fire.