June 24
Fear of God
Wednesday, June 24, 2009 @ 9:37 am by Josh Burcham
This past week my brother-in-law, Steve, emailed me with these questions: “What do you think about the “fear of God”? Do you think there is a fear of God in the church today? Should we fear God? Do you fear God?” I didn’t feel I did the questions true justice and as I thought about my response to the questions over the weekend I’ve come to some conclusions:
Let me start with Truth. Two stories come to mind that happen in scripture one with Isaiah and the other with John. Both recount their experience in the temple court before our Creator.
I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.” Isaiah 6:1-5After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian. A rainbow, resembling an emerald, encircled the throne. Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. Before the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits. Also before the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal. of God.
In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. Day and night they never stop saying: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.”
Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne, and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:“You are worthy, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they were created
and have their being.” Revelation 4We serve a great powerful God. Creators of the heavens and the earth. I think we only give lip-service to that statement, because if we really stepped back and realized how BIG God is, we would be floored and have the same reaction Isaiah had: “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.” Scripture tells us that men are blessed because they fear the Lord.
We do live in oneness with Christ through the Holy Spirit. And will rule in heaven, scripture tells us.
Here it is: God is our heavenly father and that relationship is just that, father and child. God loves us more than we could ever understand or comprehend, but God is God. He is the creator of the heavens and the earth. All powerful being. In a moment could take your life (not saying He would). He is just that big.
The essential part of fearing the Lord is that fact that nothing and I mean nothing can stop Him from doing His will. If He has called you to a God-size dream… you can complete that dream. Nothing should scare you out of doing what the Almighty has called you to. Make sense?
It is a level of reverence or respect and honor.
Doe churches fear the Lord? No. Most churches I would say, don’t fear the Lord. Do I fear the Lord? As I mature in Christ, I’ve noticed that my fear of God has increased and my obedience has as well. I still have a LONG way to go, though.
These are my thoughts. Nothing more than that and I would be up for converstation about them. I know we are called to “fear the Lord,” but I could be missing something in how I interpert it. Post a comment and lets start conversating.
Comments »
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URL
[...] Fear of God This past week… [...]
Pingback by Three Guys and a Bible » Blog Archive » Teaching on the Hill — October 11 @ 10:53 pm