Introduction – 3
Then in Jeremiah 32, as Jeremiah speaks of that new covenant which Messiah should bring to pass by His own suffering and death, that covenant sealed and ratified by the blood of Christ and expounded in Hebrews 8 and 10 in which passages there is a quotation from Jeremiah 31 and 32 and also from Ezekiel 36. Look at what God says to the prophet concerning what will happen by virtue of the blessings of the new covenant being brought to men. Verses 38-40:
“And they shall be My people, and I will be their God: and I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear Me forever, for the good of them, and of their children after them: and I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put My fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from Me.”
God says, “The whole end for which I will work in such power in this new covenant is to so put My fear within the hearts of My people that they will not turn away from Me.” Do you claim to be one who sits here this morning a benefactor of the blessings of the new covenant? Do you frequent the Lord’s table where you take the outward symbols of the blood of that covenant? God says if you have inwardly partaken of the benefits of that covenant, one of the dominant characteristics of your life will be that you are held by the fear of God. And if you’re a stranger to that fear, my friend, you’re a stranger to the blessings of the new covenant; you’re yet in your sins; you’re under the wrath of Almighty God. For every time the benefits of the new covenant are applied with power by the Spirit, it is in such a way that God says, “I’ll put My fear in their hearts.” So this is a central theme, then, of the great theme of the new covenant.
And then the last Old Testament reference: Malachi 4:2. Here we have the picture of that coming day when Messiah shall come forth in judgment on all His enemies to consume them. And that same day that brings the consuming of the wicked will bring the full and final glorification of the people of God. So we read in verses 1-2:
“For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. [But this will not be the case with all men. In that day when He will come as a refiner’s fire; in that day when He shall come to consume His enemies, there will not only be enemies to consume, but there will be another class of people.] But unto you that fear My name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in His wings….”
The only people who will escape the fiery wrath of Christ at His second coming are those who fear Jehovah’s name. That’s a pretty central issue, isn’t it? You say, “Who will escape His wrath in that day? All who have made decisions?” No. “All who have made professions?” No. “All who fear His name?” Yes, and only they. So we see, then, in the light of these thirteen references taken from the dozens and dozens of the Old Testament that the fear of God, whatever it is–and we’ve not tried to describe it this morning–is a predominant theme in the Old Testament. It is a virtue that is not peripheral but absolutely essential in the saving work of God. Now someone says,
“Ah yes, but that is part of the dark and shadowy religion of the Old Testament. Now, with the full revelation of God’s love and mercy in Jesus Christ, just as the types and shadows of the blood of bulls and goats and heifers have been swallowed up in Christ, so that dark, foreboding concept of the fear of God being a dominant characteristic of worship has given way to the bright and flitty quality of the joy of the Lord.”
Is that true? Will the New Testament support such thinking? Well, I trust as we look at ten references in the New Testament, we will see such thinking absolutely flagged and laid dead. And may God grant that the carcass shall not be revived in the mind of any one of His people.
Alright, turn to the New Testament, and what do we find? Well, at the very conception of our Lord or shortly thereafter, you’ll remember that Mary goes to pay a visit to Elizabeth. And as she does, she is filled with the Spirit, and she breaks forth in what has commonly been called the Magnificat. And in this hymn of praise, Mary sees illustrated in God’s dealings with her a principle or principles which have been characteristic of God’s dealings with His people throughout the centuries and characteristic of His dealings with His people through the very one she now carries in her womb.
When you read the Magnificat in that light, it becomes a wonderful hymn of praise. Mary sees that what God is doing to her is simply illustrative of what He has always done with His people and what He will continue to do through the coming of the Son of God whom she now carries in her womb. And in this great hymn of praise, she says among other things, “For He that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is His name. And His mercy is on them that fear Him from generation to generation” (Luke 1:49-50). She sees what God is doing to her as an illustration of this principle, a principle that will continue to be operative as Messiah comes and carries out His mission.
What did our Lord teach? Certainly, if His presence should cause men no longer to fear God but simply to have joy in Him and to love Him, we would expect our Lord to discourage anything like fear, especially anything that had the fear of dread in it. For as we shall see in our definition, there are two basic aspects of the fear of God as in all human fear: a fear of dread and a fear of awe, one that drives us from the object of dread; one that draws us to the object of awe. But our Lord’s teaching in a passage like Matthew 10 is very clear, even in underscoring this concept of fear that has an element of dread.
Speaking to His disciples in the parallel passage in Luke 12, He says, “And I say unto you My friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear Him, which after He hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear Him” (vv. 4-5). Rather than come with a mission that was to negate the fear, the fear that even has the aspect of the dread of what God can do if I fall into His hands with my sins laid to my charge, Jesus enforced it and said, “Don’t be afraid of them who can kill the body, but fear that God who can cast you into hell.” We shall see in our further studies, as there was ground in the shadowy revelation of God in the old covenant to fear Him, so the fuller revelation in the new covenant has only intensified the obligation of Godly fear.
Now we turn to the Epistles, 2 Corinthians 7. Is there remaining sin in the life of the believer to be dealt with? Is he negatively to seek to mortify the deeds of the flesh and positively to cultivate every grace that will bring him into closer conformity to Jesus Christ? And every intelligent Christian says, “Yes.” How then is it to be done? Is he to be spurred on by the thought that “the more holy I am, the more gifts I’ll get when I get before the Lord?” Is that to be the dominating thought? Is the dominating thought to be: “The more I am filled with the Spirit, the more joy and happiness and peace and vibrancy I’ll have, and so I’ll live life with a capital L. So I should carry out the pursuit of holiness in the climate of anticipating greater joy.” Now, there’s an element of truth in both those things, but I suggest that’s not to be the dominant thought.
Look at the words of the Apostle in 2 Corinthians 7:1: “Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” In other words, the highest reaches of attainment in practical holiness and Godliness are to be attained and sought after in the climate of the fear of God. In the outworking of practical Godliness, much has to do with our interpersonal relationships. The Godliness that leaves you ugly with your boss, churlish with your wife, nasty with your husband, snippy with your mom and dad is no Godliness at all. The Godliness and holiness of the New Testament and the Old as well are intensely practical things, things which show up most clearly in their presence or absence in the interpersonal relationships of your deepest human relationships (family, place of work, school, etc.). So our holiness, our going on in sanctification must be seen in those relationships. And as we go on in seeking greater degrees of holiness in those relationships, what’s to do be the dominant characteristic?