Fear Of God & Belief In God
“Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.”
The backstory of this verse is the crossing of the Red Sea. It must be one of the greatest miracles ever recorded in the bible or anywhere in human history. By His mighty power, God divided the sea and carved out a path for the Israelites to cross over to the other side. Once they were safe from the Egyptians who were pursuing them on horses and chariots, God rolled the waters back, drowning the entire Egyptian army. The threat of total annihilation was miraculously eliminated.
One would expect the Israelites to break out into jubilant celebration. However, I suspect that the mood was rather subdued. They were awestruck by the sheer greatness of God’s power and the magnitude of their deliverance. Fear is the word used to describe their collective emotion – “the people feared the Lord.” In the same breath, we are told that “they believed in the Lord…”
How often do you hear the fear of God and belief in God spoken in the same breath?
It is a rare occurrence. Christians are more accustomed to words like grace and love being associated with belief in God. After all, who wants to believe in a fearsome God? It does not seem to make sense. Not to Christians. However, I notice that pagans have no problem believing in gods that are fearsome so long as they are powerful.
Unhelpful Dissociation
It has been some time since Christians dissociate God from His seemingly unpleasant attributes and works. Many Christians avoid mentioning sin, judgement and hell, especially when talking to non-Christians about God. To them, such words conjure horrific images of God, portraying Him as angry and unloving. So, it is best to leave these words out.
The obvious next step for these politically correct Christians is to remove words like discipline, test and suffering from their Christian vocabulary. Never mind ideas carried by these words are present throughout the bible. Never mind the Christian life is never easy. Never mind God is not always smiling and condoning. To them, God and His ways need to be sanitised and reconfigured for better presentation in the contemporary age. So, they give God a makeover.
In doing so, they throw God and the church down a precipice.
Dire Consequences
So, what is the state of the church now?
In general, we have a church that is a mile wide and an inch deep; a church filled with lukewarm Christians who run the risk of being spat out by Christ (Revelation 3:16); a church of professing but carnal and uncommitted Christians; a church with many so-called believers to whom Christ will say on the day of reckoning, “I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness” (Matthew 7:23); a church of “foolish virgins,” who are unprepared for the return of the Bridegroom (Matthew 25:1-13).
In other words, we have a church that fundamentally lacks the fear of God!
The Necessity of Fearing God
God is to be feared because He is both awesome and fearsome. He deserves our deepest reverence and highest honour. Unfortunately, many Christians are not giving Him due regard. The reason is simple. They do not truly know Him; they just know about Him. The psalmist, David, made this insightful observation, “He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel” (Psalm 103:7). David was essentially saying that the Israelites saw and marvel at the raw power of God, but they did not know His heart – His ways, desires and motivations. That is why they kept disobeying Him and they did not walk according to His ways.
By God’s amazing grace, we can come freely to Him. However, without the fear of God, many will be rejected on the day of judgement. They will be shocked, but it will be too late. That is why sound doctrine, right belief and living our lives according to God’s ways are crucial. It is a matter of life and death.
The fear of God is necessary for developing a strong conviction in our basic Christian beliefs and a faithful Christian lifestyle. It is a vital ingredient that is starkly missing from many contemporary Christians. We desperately need to recover the reverential fear of God for our own good.
Ananias & Sapphira
The first Jewish followers of Christ understood the connection between the fear of God and belief in God. Most of us are familiar with the tragic story of Ananias and Sapphira. The couple lied to the apostle, Peter, about their generous monetary gift to the church. Peter pointed out in no uncertain terms that lying to the church leadership was as good as lying to God. God’s judgement fell on them and they were instantly struck dead.
As a result, a great fear came upon the church and all those who heard about the incident (Acts 5:5,11). Two fascinating developments followed.
First, God released a great anointing upon the church as “many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles” (Acts 5:12). Even Peter’s shadow could heal the sick and cast out evil spirits (Acts 5:15-16).
Second, “none of the rest dared join them, but the people held them in high esteem. And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women” (Acts 5:13-14).
Isn’t that remarkable? Because of His severe judgement, both the believers and non-believers sat up and took notice of God. They understood that He was awesome and greatly to be feared. The people who had yet to believe dared not joined the church frivolously. They had to make sure that they truly believed before committing their lives to this holy God. God is love but He also judges sins. God is full of grace, but holiness still matters.
Contrary to contemporary belief, the fear of God does not deter non-believers from believing in Him. It only deters those who do not take God seriously. Anyway, God is not interested in these fickle and frivolous believers. He wants only true converts, those who are the true followers of Christ. The fear of God works like a filter, sifting out the wheat from the chaff. That is, it separates the true believers from false believers.
Contrary to contemporary belief, the fear of God inspires reverence and honour both toward God and the church.
Pastors Leslie & Adeline Chua