Fear of the Lord

FEAR OF THE LORD

STAND & COMFORT NEWSLETTER # 11 by Ed Tarkowski

November 15, 2001

"FEAR OF THE LORD" In The New Testament (Subtitle: Did Jesus Save You From Apostasy Because You "Smell"?)

A perfect picture of reverence in the New Testament is given to us in John 9. Jesus put mud on
the blind man's eyes and told him to wash in the pool. When word got around that this man was
healed, the religious leaders of Israel were upset. Hebrews 10 warns of rejecting the prophet
like Moses who was to come, and the dialogue between the blind man and the leaders shows that
although they had heard Moses and were followers of Moses, they didn't hear Christ. The blind
man did:

John 9:28 Then they reviled him, and said, Thou art his disciple; but we are Moses'
disciples. 29 We know that God spake unto Moses: as for this fellow, we know not from whence
he is. 30 The man answered and said unto them, Why herein is a marvellous thing, that ye know
not from whence he is, and yet he hath opened mine eyes. 31 Now we know that God heareth not
sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth. 32 Since
the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind. 33
If this man were not of God, he could do nothing. 34 They answered and said unto him, Thou
wast altogether born in sins, and dost thou teach us? And they cast him out.

"And they cast him out." I always picture this healed man rolling down the synagogue steps and
rejoicing that he could see each step on the way down. But Jesus heard about what they had
done, and He personally went looking for the now-healed blind man:

John 9:35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when he had found him, he said unto
him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God? 36 He answered and said, Who is he, Lord, that I
might believe on him? 37 And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that
talketh with thee. 38 And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him. 39 And Jesus
said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they
which see might be made blind.

Verse 38 says, "And he worshipped him." That's reverence, an awed respect expressed in
worship. Jesus didn't refuse the worship. Why would He? He was the Son of God, God come in the
flesh. Jesus stepped into this man's life and did a loving, merciful thing for the glory of
God, and out of that came worship and reverence and awe. He was God come in the flesh and the
blind man believed on Him:

Isa 66:5 Hear the word of the LORD, ye that tremble at his word; Your brethren that hated
you, that cast you out for my name's sake, said, Let the LORD be glorified: but he shall
appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed.

We talked last week about fear of the Lord in the Old Testament, and we can see that in the
New Testament, the attributes of that fear have not changed. We are clearly told that it
contains fear and trembling and reverence:

Heb 12:28 Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby
we may serve God acceptably with REVERENCE (aidos) and godly FEAR (eulabeia):

There are a number of words for "fear" and "reverence" in the New Testament that maintain
these definitions:

1. FEAR 5399. phobeo, to frighten, i.e. (pass.) to be alarmed; by anal. to be in awe of, i.e.
revere:--be (+ sore) afraid, reverence.

2. FEAR 5401. phobos, (to be put in fear); alarm or fright:--be afraid, + exceedingly, fear,
terror.

3. FEARFUL 5398. phoberos, frightful, i.e. (obj.) formidable:--fearful, terrible.

4. FEAR 630. ekphobos, ek'-fob-os; from G1537 and G5401; frightened out of one's wits:--sore
afraid, exceedingly fear.

5. TREMBLING 5156. tromos, trom'-os; from G5141; a "trembling", i.e. quaking with fear:--+
tremble (-ing).

6. REVERENCE 127. aidos, ahee-doce'; perh. form G1 (as a neg. particle) and G1492 (through the
idea of downcast eyes); bashfulness, i.e. (towards men), modesty or (towards God) awe:--
reverence, shamefacedness.

7. FEAR 2124. eulabeia, yoo-lab'-i-ah; from G2126; prop. caution, i.e. (religiously) reverence
(piety); by impl. dread

In the Old Testament, Isaiah said of Jesus,

Isa 11:3 And shall make him [Jesus] of QUICK UNDERSTANDING in the fear of the LORD: and he
shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: 4
But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the
earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips
shall he slay the wicked. 5 And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and
faithfulness the girdle of his reins.

How does fear of the Lord relate to what Isaiah said about Jesus? The NIV says, "he will
DELIGHT [quick understanding-KJV] in the fear of the LORD." Jamieson, Fausset and Brown (JFB)
bring out the true meaning of "quick understanding" in this verse:

"make him of quick understanding--literally, 'quick-scented in the fear of Jehovah'; endowed
with a singular sagacity in discerning the genuine principle of religious fear of God, when it
lies dormant in the yet unawakened sinner (Mt 12:20; Ac 10:1-48; 16:14) [HORSLEY]. But MAURER,
'He shall delight in the fear of God.;' The Hebrew means 'to delight in the odors' of anything
(Ex 30:38; Am 5:21); 'smell,' that is, 'delight in.'"

According to Merriam-Webster, "Sagacity" means

2 a : of keen and farsighted penetration and judgment : DISCERNING <sagacious judge of
character> b : caused by or indicating acute discernment <sagacious purchase of stock>

In other words, Jesus could spiritually "smell" whether someone He was talking to truly feared
the Lord God in their heart. JFB says that this keen discernment of Jesus was SINGULAR. In
other words, when someone approached Jesus, He knew whether they really had the fear of God in
them or whether they were coming to play more of their games with Him. I believe Jesus
"smelled" the fear of the Lord in the blind man. He didn't "smell" it in the Jews who
constantly tried to trip Him up. We almost miss this in Scripture, although there are many
instances of it:

John 7:14 Not until halfway through the Feast did Jesus go up to the temple courts and begin
to teach. 15 The Jews were amazed and asked, "How did this man get such learning without
having studied?" 16 Jesus answered, "My teaching is not my own. It comes from him who sent
me. 17 If anyone chooses to do God's will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from
God or whether I speak on my own. 18 He who speaks on his own does so to gain honor for
himself, but he who works for the honor of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is
nothing false about him. 19 Has not Moses given you the law? Yet not one of you keeps the
law. Why are you trying to kill me?" 20 "You are demon-possessed," the crowd answered. "Who
is trying to kill you?" 21 Jesus said to them, "I did one miracle, and you are all
astonished. 22 Yet, because Moses gave you circumcision (though actually it did not come from
Moses, but from the patriarchs), you circumcise a child on the Sabbath. 23 Now if a child can
be circumcised on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses may not be broken, why are you angry
with me for healing the whole man on the Sabbath? 24 Stop judging by mere appearances, and
make a right judgment."

Jesus didn't "smell" any fear of God in the Jews to whom He was speaking. He had deep
perception of the intent of men's hearts. How He answered them was based on whether He
discerned the fear of the Lord in them and He was never puzzled as to whether that fear was
present in them or not. After all, He was God in the flesh who was sent to show us the Father:

Heb 4:13 Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are
naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.

The only thing that the Jews said was, "How did this man get such learning without having
studied?" There's nothing wrong with the question. In fact, Jesus welcomed questions about
Himself. Nicodemus was such a man and Jesus took the time to talk to him and answer him (John
3). He "smelled" the fear of the Lord in Nicodemus, but in John 7, Jesus is answering the Jews
when suddenly, out of the blue, without taking a breath, He asks, "Why are you trying to kill
me?" What is going on here? Where did that come from? Jesus could "smell" the fact that these
Jews had no fear of God, were not really interested in who He was, and were not interested in
accepting the truth about Him (John 1:11). Nicodemus, a Jewish leader, did have the fear of
God, but these other Jews didn't. It was obvious to the Lord that their question was asked to
belittle and embarass Him with the intent of turning the people against Him. He knew their
hearts and that their purpose was to slowly gain a consensus among the people that He should
be killed, for they feared the people (Matthew 4:5).

Notice this difference because it is an important one: they judged by appearance because Jesus
said, "Stop judging by mere appearances, and make a right judgment" (John 7:24). But of Jesus,
Isaiah prophesied, "And shall make him [Jesus] of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD:
and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his
ears" (Isaiah 11:3). Apparently the Jews He was talking to had their spiritual noses stuffed
up.

Considering all of the above, I think that this answers, to some degree, why some people have
gone to "revival" meetings and later testified that they were prayed for but nothing happened.
Others testify to how they went and the Lord protected them. Still others tell of how they got
involved in the manifestations and the like, yet eventually saw the reality of what was
happening to them and left. Why these and not others? Many have asked this question: "Why did
the Lord save me from that or pull me out once I got involved, but not others, even my closest
friends?" I truly believe this is the answer: you smell! Jesus "smelled" the fear of the Lord
in you and worked in your life until you finally came to see this was not of him. You went the
wrong way, but He knew that in spite of the error of your ways, you had a proper fear of the
Lord. He knew you would eventually see the truth because of His word. What is it that kept you
from departing from His word? The fear of the Lord, and therefore He was merciful toward you.
Notice something very important about the following Scriptures, that mercy always attends the
fear of the Lord in every one of them:

Psa 5:7 But as for me, I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy: and in thy
fear will I worship toward thy holy temple.

Psa 33:18 KJV Behold, the eye of the LORD is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in
his mercy;

Psa 103:11 KJV For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them
that fear him.

Psa 103:17 KJV But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that
fear him, and his righteousness unto children's children;

Psa 118:4 KJV Let them now that fear the LORD say, that his mercy endureth for ever.

Psa 147:11 KJV The LORD taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his
mercy.

Prov 16:6 KJV By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the LORD men depart
from evil.

Luke 1:50 KJV And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation.

While writing this issue, I realzed that taking the gospel to the Gentiles began with one who
had the fear of the Lord. In Acts 10:22, Luke writes of Cornelius,

22 And they said, Cornelius the centurion, a just man, AND ONE THAT FEARETH GOD, and of good
report among all the nation of the Jews, was warned from God by an holy angel to send for thee
into his house, and to hear words of thee [Peter].

Jesus is in heaven, but He still "smells" the fear of the Lord in people. When I sent the
email out that I was going to write about the above, I got this reply among others. Here is an
excerpt:

"My quick answer to your topic having come out of deception myself is -'Esteeming the Love of
the Lord and his Word greater riches than the love of men and acceptance by people' helped me
to come out from among them.

"Ulrike"

Do you "smell" the fear of the Lord in those words? I do. In the working of God in the life of
a believer, there is a proper and vital place for fear of the Lord. David wrote,

Psa 112:1 Praise ye the LORD. Blessed is the man that feareth the LORD, that delighteth
greatly in his commandments.

Jesus DELIGHTED IN seeing the fear of the Lord in THOSE TO WHOM FEAR OF THE LORD WAS A
DELIGHT. Strong's says "quick understanding" means "fig. to anticipate, enjoy." Jesus enjoyed
finding this fear in those He met and looked forward to finding it in people. This is quite a
contrast to what Isaiah says about those whom the Lord does not delight in:

Isa 66:4 I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them; because
when I called, none did answer; when I spake, they did not hear: but they did evil before mine
eyes, and chose that in which I DELIGHTED NOT.

In the above Psalm, fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the fear of the Lord is
directly connected to keeping His commandments.

Fear of the Lord also causes one to keep His commandments (His word) and thus gain
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.

Not only does fear of the Lord cause us to do His commandments and keep them, but by keeping
His commandments we gain a true knowledge of God, an understanding of Him, His will and His
ways:

Prov 1:7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of KNOWLEDGE: but fools despise WISDOM and
INSTRUCTION.

Prov 9:10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of WISDOM: and the KNOWLEDGE OF THE HOLY is UNDERSTANDING.

Old Testament Scriptures seem to indicate a "process" in building the firm foundation for
living the Christian life: first, with the fear of the Lord begins wisdom, and this wisdom
causes one to keep God's commandments. In turn, this brings understanding, which leads to a
true knowledge of Him. In the New Testament, Paul gives an example of this in his prayer in
Ephesians:

Eph 1:15 Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all
the saints, 16 Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; 17
That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of
WISDOM AND REVELATION in the KNOWLEDGE of him: 18 The eyes of your UNDERSTANDING being
enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the
glory of his inheritance in the saints, 19 And what is the exceeding greatness of his power
to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,

If we look at the apostasy in light of the words of Jesus, we cannot help but fear:

Mat 7:22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and
in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? Mat 7:23 And
then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

You know the parable that immediately follows in the very next verse:

Mat 7:24 THEREFORE whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him
unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:

The man who built his house on the rock had a proper fear of the Lord. We know he did because
Jesus said he was wise, and fear of the Lord PRECEDES wisdom. He feared the storm (the
disciplines, punishments and wrath of God) and he revered God and His word. He was apparently
one who trembled at His word. The man built his life on God's word by hearing it and holding
to it in its proper context. How do I know? Because there are those who do a lot of spiritual
things like prophesying and casting out demons, but in the end Jesus says to them, "I never
knew you." They do all of what they do, but not according to His word. Why? Because they do
not fear the Lord to hear His word and hold to it. Fear of the Lord is the regulator that
keeps one from ending up in apostasy. I believe the fear of God is absolutely necessary to the
beginning of a true Christian life. There are fresh realizations of it as one matures, but it
must be there in the beginning.

For example, look at a person becoming a new believer. There is an awe of God that stems from
a belief that He exists. There is the need to understand what God is about because of a fear
of going to hell, or to say it another way, not going to heaven. It's a desire to find out
what salvation is really about and what it involves. I know Christians whose Christian life
began with knowing that God was calling them to make a choice, to either follow Him or not.
There was a knowing that they had to either believe on Christ or reject Him. God had spoken to
them over and voer again and somehow, in the darkness of their life, God finally got through
to them. And with that strong call to either accept or reject Him, there came a fear of His
sovereignty and His power to save or condemn according to their choice regarding God and His
ways in Christ.

Maybe your experience isn't exactly like that, but in God's own personal dealings with each of
us, we learned or experienced the fear of God early in our Christian life. Such a realization
of who He is brought to us a fear of Him that has never left us. We want the truth and nothing
else will do, because God is a God of forebearance and mercy and salvation, but also the just
Judge of condemnation and wrath who speaks in holy words.

As we can see, fear and reverence and keeping His commandments also take their proper place in
the New Testament Church. The writer of Ecclesiastes said:

Eccl 12:13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear (3372. yare', to fear; mor.
to revere) God and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.

We are to "serve God acceptably with REVERENCE (aidos) and godly FEAR (eulabeia)" (Heb 12:28).

Apostasy is a very real thing. It is a forsaking of the faith, and I have come to believe that
the basic reason people forsake the faith is because they never had true fear of the Lord.
When they went astray, I believe God called to them and spoke to them to turn back, but
because they were lacking in a true fear of the Lord, they couldn't or wouldn't hear. Other
spiritual things caught their eye. Since wisdom stems from fear of the Lord, not having that
fear causes one to become wise in his own eyes concerning the Scriptures:

Prov 3:7 Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.

2 Pet 3:16 As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some
things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do
also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.

Unlearned - what is that but a lack of wisdom, understanding and knowledge? Unstable - what is
that but the lack of a stabilizer at the very foundation of these things, namely fear of the
Lord? Because their wisdom was corrupt, their understanding and knowledge of God was darkened
and they became spiritually unstable in their faith (see 2 Peter 3:16 above):

Rom 1:21 Because that, WHEN THEY KNEW GOD, they glorified him not as God, neither were
thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Rom 1:
22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

None of these things would happen to those who KNEW GOD with a proper fear of the Lord because
wisdom, understanding, and knowledge of Him and His ways in their proper context stem from a
proper fear of the Lord. He must be revered, but also cautiously feared. We need His grace,
forebearance, mercy and forgiveness to continue to walk in the truth and mature, but we also
need a cautious fear of departing from that truth lest we eventually apostasize. Without this
reverence and cautious fear, the danger of getting into error and apostasizing is very real.
The spiritual wisdom, knowledge and understanding does not go up as a sweet odor to the Lord.
The holy odor of fear of the Lord does. The Lord's response to that fear is to give us wisdom,
knowledge of Him and understanding by through His Holy Spirit. Such is His grace and mercy.
Paul said,

2 Tim 4:2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with
all longsuffering and doctrine. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound
doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching
ears; 4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.

2 Cor 11:3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety,
so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 4 For if he that
cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit,
which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear
with him.

Indeed, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, leading to understanding and a true
knowledge of Him. Hosea wrote,

Hosea 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected
knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast
forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.

I believe the knowledge here means a knowledge of God under the Law. One cannot have a proper
fear of the Lord and forget His law. What is the solution for a lack of this knowledge?:

Hosea 3:5 Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the LORD their God, and
David their king [OT type of Christ-Ed]; AND SHALL FEAR THE LORD and his goodness in the
latter days.

The same theme runs through Scripture: Fear of the Lord, wisdom, understanding, and knowledge,
but also maturity and service.

David knew the fear of the Lord, but he also knew the mercy of God, so he often placed the two
side by side as an incentive to hope. Knowing Jesus and all He said have given us a sure hope.
How could we not fear God who has given His only Son as a sacrifice for our sinfulness before
Him? How can we not fear Him who has done so much to bring us to Himself for HIS good
pelasure? His mercy endures forever towards those who fear Him. I will close by repeating the
Scriptures I listed above: