On The Fear of the Lord
The Fear of The Lord
“The Fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction” Proverbs 1:7
There are those who mock and revile the Living God. They test His patience, and brazenly flaunt their sin before His eyes. They call Him “liar”, and declare Him to be weak. They know not what they do!
Where the people lack a fear of the Lord we can be assured that they are walking in blindness. The things of the Spirit are spiritually discerned, and having not the Spirit they do not comprehend. “And the light (Jesus) shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.” John 1:5
. Those who do not fear the Lord, are walking in darkness. The light is shining. In fact it is shining from this very website, for I proclaim the Gospel of the Risen Lord, Jesus Christ, Lamb of the World, sent to die for your sin, that you might have life everlasting. It is surely shining. But the darkness comprehended it not. Instead of seeing the Light for what it is, they think it a lie. They revile His Name, they curse Him, and blaspheme. ‘And this is the condemnation, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than the Light, because their deeds were evil’ (John 3:19).But He is calling, He is sending out His Spirit among men. Open your ears and hear the truth proclaimed. Fear the Lord. This is not the end of life. After we pass from these bodies, there is more, and where you spend all that time depends on what you choose here. For “The fear of the LORD [is] clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD [are] true [and] righteous altogether.” Psalms 19:9
.Num 23:19 “God [is] not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do [it]? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?” And God has promised justice, eternal justice. He will judge the quick and the dead. What does that mean? He will judge the saved (who are quick: alive) and the lost (who are dead in spirit). Those who choose Him, those who have a healthy fear of an Almighty God, and believe on His son, will be saved from the just penalty of their sin. Those who do not, will be winnowed out, and sent, with their father who is the devil, into the pit of hell. ‘The one who is not with Me is against Me, and the one who does not gather with Me scatters’ Matthew 12:30; if you are not with Him, you are against Him, there is no neutral ground.
Not one of us is righteous, not one of us is good. None of us can come to the Father lest He calls us. But neither do we have excuse, for it is written “For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, [even] his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:” Romans 1:20
. The creation of the world testifies to His power and Godhead, we are ALL without excuse. We have all been called. Nature testifies to His glory, and we are all able to see. Some of us would choose not to.The way of the cross is foolishness to those who know Him not. Those who refuse to accept what is plainly before their eyes, consider those of us who see the Truth as fools. But they do not know what they do, for they do not comprehend the Light.
I pray that the fear of the Lord would be upon them. That the Holy Spirit would soften their hearts, and open their eyes before it is too late. The day is drawing closed, and He is calling you. He is calling you to be filled, and to be blessed, and to come home to Him. He loves us all, and died that we might be spared an eternity separated from His glory. Just say “Yes Lord, I hear and I obey. Forgive me of my sins. Command me, I will do Your bidding.”
And here are some other verses which address the fear of the Lord.
Job 28:28 And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that [is] wisdom; and to depart from evil [is] understanding.
Psa 111:10 The fear of the LORD [is] the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do [his commandments]: his praise endureth for ever.
Pro 1:7 The fear of the LORD [is] the beginning of knowledge: [but] fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Pro 1:29 For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD:
Pro 2:5 Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.
Pro 9:10 The fear of the LORD [is] the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy [is] understanding.
Pro 14:26 In the fear of the LORD [is] strong confidence: and his children shall have a place of refuge.
Pro 14:27 The fear of the LORD [is] a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death.
Pro 15:33 The fear of the LORD [is] the instruction of wisdom; and before honour [is] humility.
Pro 16:6 By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the LORD [men] depart from evil.
November 18th, 2006 at 11:09 am
Hi Meg. I like your posts because I can tell you’re a very thoughtful and kind person.
Two things here:
“The way of the cross is foolishness to those who know Him not. Those who refuse to accept what is plainly before their eyes, consider those of us who see the Truth as fools.”
Is faith a matter purely of reason? By this I mean, is faith purely rational in the sense that any thinking person will arrive at a specific set of conclusions about the nature of Christ, doctrines about the Resurrection, etc? While I don’t think it’s unreasonable to suggest that we can draw conclusions about the universe and a “First Cause”, I’m not sure about all the other theological stuff that comes along with it. So faith, then, seems to be about something that has nothing to do with being “obvious”, per se.
“He loves us all, and died that we might be spared an eternity separated from His glory.”
This really isn’t Calvinist doctrine, is it? He died for some, not all. So when you tell someone to “believe in the Gospel”, you’re asking them to believe that Christ died for them (essentially) when He may not have, correct? Put yourself in the position of the listener: you’re saying, “Christ died for a lot of people. However, He may not have died for you. Believe it, although believing it won’t get you into Heaven, since He had to have died for you as well for you to go to Heaven.”
Do you see what I mean? You’re asking someone to believe a potential falsehood, it seems.
November 18th, 2006 at 3:55 pm
Oh dear, Meg…
My trolls have taken over your comment box! So sorry. It’s your call, but I would just get rid of the nonsense. It doesn’t glorify God, and they are here just to cause trouble. Dealing with either one of them is a waste of time.
Now, about your post: the greatest lack in the Christian church today is a healthy fear of the Lord. Check out this verse:
“Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest? For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.” (Isaiah 66:1-2)
Sister, I have been a saved man now for over 15 years, and I don’t have a clue as to what “trembling at God’s Word” means. It has never happened to me, it has never happened in the lives of anyone I know. I pray that the Lord would teach me, by His Holy Spirit to fear God in this manner.
You know, when you really think about it, Proverbs 1:7
says: “you haven’t understood anything, until you come to understand to fear the Lord.” Isn’t that something!?! There is no wisdom outside the fear of the Lord.
Come to think of it, Jake and “Todd” are fine examples of this fact.
Later,
Rand
November 18th, 2006 at 4:25 pm
Rand, Meg is a decent gal (if I may call her that). I ask her questions because I like to try to wrap my mind around how someone can believe what I THINK Calvinists believe.
You just don’t like certain questions, because you can’t answer them and they make you feel uncomfortable. I’m not going to apologize for that. So you dance around your doctrines to make them palatable (which they are not).
I guess I’d like to get the opinions of someone who’s willing to discuss the more unpleasant elements of these doctrines instead of pooh-pooing them and calling everyone “wicked” who even presents the questions.
I happen to despise cruelty in all its forms. If you find that “wicked”, well, then I don’t know what to tell you. We have different ideas of “good” then.
If you’ve noticed, I did also say that believe in God is NOT irrational, by the way.
November 19th, 2006 at 1:24 am
Todd - “Is faith a matter purely of reason? By this I mean, is faith purely rational in the sense that any thinking person will arrive at a specific set of conclusions about the nature of Christ, doctrines about the Resurrection, etc?”
Do you know any topic where every “thinking” person would come to the same conclusion? E.G. There are many wide differences of opinion on many elements surrounding Socrates’s life. Yes, there are many topics that the majority of scholars agree on, but there are also many topics that they disagree on.
Why is there a difference of opinion at all if its all laid out? Because different people interpret things different ways and choose to fill in the gaps of their knowledge in different fashions. Does this make what they believe irrational? As long as it is substantiated on some sort of fact you would probably say “No”. For any given topic is there still only going to be one right answer that is 100% correct? Yep.
Faith in Christ is very similar in many regards (but has some key differences I’ll go into in a bit). Just like with Socrates’s life a person could jump to conclusions after gathering very little evidence and have faith that what they believe is correct. Just because they have gathered little evidence does not mean that they’re incorrect or irrational, it just means that they’re willing to believe with less empiracle evidence. It also does not mean that there is not more empiracle evidence out there, they have simple not decided or been unable to do the additional research. There are many websites dedictated to the amazing amounts of evidence in existence that supports everything about the Bible and Jesus ranging from the resurrection to the miracles, from the lineages to the creation of the earth. Many people have found Christ simply by reading His perfect word (Myself being one of them).
How then is faith in Christ different then faith in Socrates? Evidence of Socrates is only found in books and in objects. While God Himself can be seen in knowledge since He is the originator of all knowledge, He also transcends knowledge. Faith in the truest sense comes from Him, that one can come to believe in what He did for us. The bible tells us that he sends the Holy Ghost to reveal His nature to us. That knowledge can be supported by the words of our minds. E.G. See ( Jeremiah 31:31-33
), where Jeremiah talks about the coming of Christ and the new covenant that will fill our minds, and be written on our heart.
Does any of this say that if you read the bible you will find God, or be convinced immediately? Nope. I know some pretty intelligent people who have read their bibles and missed God because their point was to prove it wrong. They never engaged the scripture on anything but a surface level, and as a result missed God.
Do you have to miss God if you truly desire to know Him? Nope.
Deuteronomy 4:29
“But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.”
God will honor the integrity of your heart in your seeking.
November 24th, 2006 at 2:42 pm
Thank you DLogan (is that Mr Logan?), I’ll mull it over a bit.
By the way, it was mentioned here by someone that even replying to the questions of “heretics” (or apostates, whatever) is wicked and fruitless and does not please God. I also keep hearing “Who are you to answer God back?” as if it were the conversation closer. So, I thought I’d paraphrase something I read elsewhere about this very topic in the book of Job:
God reiterates again in 42:8 that the three friends had not spoken of God what is right, as Job has. In 42:9 it is indicated again that what Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shulhite and Zophar the Naamathite all said was incorrect.
Clear enough. What Job said about God was correct. What the three friends said was incorrect. But have you ever read the book of Job with the mindset that what Job was saying was right, and what the three friends said was wrong? So of the following statements, which was made by a “Believer or Infidel”?
1) The rhetorical question: “Can a mortal be more righteous than God? Can a man be more pure than his Maker?”
Made by an infidel. Job. 4:17.
If God says this is wrong, why is it a wrong question?
2) Blessed is the man whom God corrects; so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.
Infidel. Job. 5:17
3) Why do you not forgive my sins?
Believer. Job 7:21
. Interesting how many times we have discussed here the problem of God only forgiving some sins, or how atonement could be so incomplete. We are often told “Who are you to ask God, ‘Why?’” Yet that is exactly what Job did, and God found that acceptable!
4) If you will look to God and plead with the Almighty, if you are pure and upright, even now he will rouse himself on your behalf and restore you to your rightful place.
Infidel. Job. 8:5-6 Again, we have been informed by Christians that we can still turn to God. That we can still beg forgiveness for our inability to believe. Apparently according to God, all those believers are quite incorrect and should beg for forgiveness for saying such inaccurate statements about him. ‘Cause when Bildad the Shuhite said the same thing, God said it was wrong.
5) I will say to God: Do not condemn me, but tell me what charges you have against me. Does it please you to oppress me, to spurn the work of your hands, while you smile on the schemes of the wicked?
Believer. Job. 10:2-3. Let’s see if I have this right—What Job says is correct. Job has the audacity to question why God condemns him. Therefore, it seems quite appropriate that we, too, even as infidels would be correct to ask God why he condemns us. Especially given the vast amounts of information that point to his non-existence.
God would seem to give the stamp of approval to us questioning his ways—including his methods of judgment! Remember THAT, next time we are told, “God does not have to answer to you.” According to Job, we are at least allowed to ask the question and it is appropriate.
6) Can you fathom the mysteries of God? Can you probe the limits of the Almighty? They are higher than the heavens—what can you do? They are deeper than the depths of the grave—what can you know?
Infidel. Job 11:7-8
. This has always intrigued me. Remember—God says that this statement about him is incorrect! Very, very often, when discussing God we are informed by Christians that some question, some problem is unknown—because we cannot know the ways of God.
Yeah, this is exactly what Zophar the Naamathite said, “God is too mysterious for you.” And God says that is wrong! So, if God says Zophar is wrong for saying it, are you? Dare a Christian ever revert to the “God is mysterious” defense, in light of Job 11:7-8
?
7) If you devote your heart to him…if you put away the sin that is in your hand…then you will lift up your face without shame; you will stand firm and without fear.”
Infidel. Job 11: 13-15.
Believer Job. 13:3
9) Your sin prompts your mouth; you adopt the tongue of the crafty. Your own mouth condemns you, not mine; your own lips testify against you.
Infidel. Job 15:5-6
10) Are God’s consolations not enough for you, words spoken gently to you? Why has your heart carried you away, and why do your eyes flash, so that you vent your rage against God and pout out such words from your mouth?
Infidel. Job. 15:11-13
We could go on for the next few chapters, but hopefully the point has been made. I strongly encourage you to read the book, noting who is speaking, and whether what they are saying is “correct” or not
I hope this post isn’t too long and that it’s not taken in the wrong way. I find these topics truly quite interesting and engaging!!
Hopefully you are having a good thanksgiving and avoiding the insanity of the “shopping craze”. - Todd