Definition – 2
So then, let us move to first consider the first aspect of the meaning of the fear of God as found in Scripture: the fear of dread, of terror, and a fear that leads to anguish. The first instance of this fear is Genesis 3:10. The first recorded instance of any fear of God is in this passage. And this is the first aspect of that fear, dread, or terror. You remember the setting. God has placed Adam in a perfect environment surrounded with everything that his holy nature could desire. And then God has issued the threat: if you eat of that one tree that is forbidden, in the day that you eat of it you shall die.
When the Lord comes and calls upon Adam, he responds by saying, “I heard Thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.” God had threatened Adam with death if he disobeyed. Adam has sinned, and now upon hearing the voice of God, he says, “I was gripped with a terror and a dread which led to aversion. I was afraid; I hid.” Now the question is: is it right for a person to have this kind of dread with reference to God? Is this kind of fear any part of the fear of God which is commanded and commended in holy Scripture? Is the sense of dread and terror any part of that virtue which is such a dominant theme in holy Scripture?
Professor Murray has so beautifully and accurately stated, and I quote: “The only proper answer is that it is the essence of impiety not to be afraid of God when there is reason to be afraid of God.” Once Adam had sinned, suppose he had simply tripped up to God when He called and said, “O, how are you God? Nice to see you again.” That would have been the essence of impiety and hardness of heart and searing of the conscience. For if Adam had any remaining sense of who God was, of the terribleness of sinning against Him, of the certainty of the fulfillment of the threat, “In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die,” anything less than this fear of dread and of anguish would have been the grossest form of impiety and brazen religious and moral folly.
This kind of fear is right and proper in every situation where our condition makes us exposed to the righteous judgment of God. Is it right to be afraid of God? Yes, if you have Scriptural grounds to be afraid of Him. Was it right for Adam to be afraid? Of course it was. He had sinned against God. He had flown into the face of the explicit command of God, “Thou shalt not eat of it.” And now, as God draws near to him, he’s gripped with this dread which leads to a running from God. And I say that Scripture warrants this dread of God whenever the cause of that dread is present.
Notice the references to this aspect of fear commanded and commended in Holy Scripture. Deuteronomy 17:13. The context is, if a man disregards the directives of the appointed judges in Israel, he is to be put to death. And one of the reasons for this, God clearly states in verse 13: “And all the people shall hear, and fear, and do no more presumptuously.” Here they go out one day for their neighborhood Powwow, and they find that one of their friends is missing. And they say, “Hey, where’s so and so?” “Didn’t you hear? He flaunted the laws of God. He was indifferent to the enforcement of those laws by the judges. He was taken out and stoned yesterday.” “Stoned? For doing what?” And they mentioned something which perhaps seemed very insignificant in itself.
It was not the issue so much as his disregard to the institution of the law and the administration of that law by God’s directive. What happened? His friends are filled with fear. There is a dread: “We dare not do as he did lest we get what he got.” And God says the very purpose for which He gave this directive was that His people might be possessed of the fear of God which has dread and horror in it. This is commanded. It’s the very end for which this was instituted.
In Deuteronomy 21, directives are given for dealing with a stubborn rebellious son, who in spite of the faithful discipline of his parents, refuses to walk in the ways they have directed for him. Verses 19- 21: “Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place; and they shall say into 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. And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear.”
Some young fellow is tempted, and he begins to be a smart aleck with regards to his parents. It’s the In Thing in his particular neighborhood in that group of tents out there in the wilderness to start mouthing off about your mom and dad. And you begin to show your maturity of how smart aleckly you can be. So one day the group gets together to have their clandestine session of bragging before one another of how they’ve been able to get away with things at home. And one of their cohorts doesn’t show up.
And they say, “Hey, where’s Johnny?” “Didn’t you hear what happened to Johnny?” “No, what happened?” “His mom and dad took him to the elders of Israel, and he’s dead under a pile of stones.” Suddenly a lot of the gaiety leaves the little group. They’re not so apt to be bragging now. The group just gradually dissipates, and they go to their homes gripped with the dread of fear, lest by coming into the same sphere of guilt, the same condemnation come upon them. God says, “I’m giving this mandate, not only to put away evil so that it will not be infectious but to put fear into the hearts of the people.” This is the fear of dread, the fear of terror.
Ah, but someone says, “That’s in the shadowy, hard-angled, iron-like climate of the Old Testament. The New Testament is a new climate.” Is it? Listen to the words of our Lord Jesus: “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.” What is that fear? That’s not the fear of veneration and awe. That’s the fear of dread and of horror. Jesus said if you come into that sphere of conduct which warrants the damnation of God, you should be gripped with terrible dread. That God can cast into hell. Our Lord not only commends this fear, He commands it.
Then we find in the writer to the Hebrews, chapter 4, verse 1–exhorting these people to press on into the full knowledge of Christ and into an unswerving commitment to the Christian faith as they begin to waver. Some of them who’ve been enlightened and tasted the good Word of God and the powers of the world to come are tempted to go back to the old shadowy forms of the past. He says in his exhortation, “Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.” What fear is that? He said, “Let us be filled with horror and dread at the thought that we might fail to enter into full Gospel rest, and failing to enter in, finding ourselves under the condemnation of God.”
Turn over to chapter 10 where the same thought is enlarged more fully. I’m not expounding what verse 26 means. I’m simply trying to extract from the passage the concept that this aspect of fear is commended and commanded in the Word of God.
“For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? For we know Him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto Me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge His people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”
See what the writer is saying? He’s saying if a man places himself in that relationship to God where judgment is inevitable, then he should be filled with a fearful looking for that judgment, for it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. And for a man to judge himself as being a candidate to fall into God’s hands in judgment and not to fear is to show a total insensitivity to all that Scripture reveals about the character of God and the terror of His judgment. So in answer to the question, is it right to have this aspect of the fear of God, this dread or terror of the Lord? The answer of Scripture is clear–yes.