Walking In The Fear of God
“THE REMARKABLE THING ABOUT THE FEAR OF GOD IS THAT WHEN YOU FEAR GOD YOU FEAR NOTHING ELSE”. OSWALD CHAMBERS
* WHAT IS “THE FEAR OF GOD”? THE BIG DEBATE IS ON WHETHER OR NOT “THE FEAR OF GOD” IS “A REVERENTIAL FEAR, TERROR, OR TO BE AFRAID” OR IF IT MEANS “MERELY TO HAVE A GREAT REVERENCE, HONOUR, AND RESPECT FOR GOD”?
* JEREMIAH 5: 22 – “FEAR YE NOT ME (SHOULD YOU NOT FEAR ME)? Saith the Lord: WILL YE NOT TREMBLE AT MY PRESENCE, which have placed the sand for the BOUND (BOUNDARY) of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it: and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it”?
* THE WORD “FEAR” HERE, IN THIS VERSE, IS THE STRONG’S HEBREW WORD # 3372, “YARE”, AND MEANS “TO BE FEARFUL, TO BE DREADFUL, TO BE FEARED, TO BE AFRAID, TO CAUSE ASTONISHMENT AND AWE, TO BE HELD IN AWE”. OTHER OLD TESTAMENT VERSES WITH THE HEBREW WORD # 3372:
GENESIS 3:10 – “And he (Adam) said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was AFRAID (#3372) because I was naked and I hid myself”.
GENESIS 28:17 – “And he (JACOB) was AFRAID (#3372), said how DREADFUL (#3372) is this place! This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of Heaven”.
PSALMS 86:11 – “Teach me thy way, O Lord; I WILL WALK IN THY TRUTH: UNITE MY HEART TO FEAR (#3372) THY NAME”.
* THE WORD “FEAR” IS ALSO TRANSLATED FROM THE STRONG’S HEBREW WORD # 33374, “YIRA”, AND MEANS “TO FEAR, BE IN TERROR, TO BE FEARING, TO REVERENCE”. OLD TESTAMENT VERSES WITH THIS STRONG’S HEBREW WORD # 3374 IS:
ISAIAH 11:2 – “And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the FEAR (H#3374) OF THE LORD”;
ISAIAH 11:3 – “AND SHALL MAKE HIM OF QUICK UNDERSTANDING IN THE FEAR (H#3374) OF THE LORD: and He shall not judge after the sight of His eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of His ears”:
ISAIAH 33:6 – “And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times, and strength of salvation: THE FEAR (#3374) OF THE LORD IS HIS TREASURE”.
JEREMIAH 32:40 – “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”.
* THIS IS NOT THE WORD IN THE HEBREW, FOR THE MEANING OF MERE: “GREAT RESPECT OR REVERENCE”! WHICH, THIS MEANING IS FOUND IN OTHER HEBREW WORDS, SUCH AS THE STRONG’S HEBREW WORD # 3513, “KABAD”, WHICH IS FOUND 116 TIMES IN THE OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE AND MEANS:” TO HONOUR (NUMBERS 22: 17), GLORIFY, GLORIOUS (2 SAMUEL 6: 20), HONORABLE (GENESIS 43: 19) AND CAN BE “BE HEAVY TO BEAR BY OTHERS (1 SAMUEL 5: 11)”.
* THE SAME IS TRUE, IN THE GREEK NEW TESTAMENT BIBLE, CONCERNING “FEAR”. THE STRONG’S GREEK WORD # 5401, “PHOBOS” WHICH MEANS “FEAR, DREAD, TERROR” AND IS FOUND 47 TIMES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT BIBLE.
MATTHEW 28:8 – “And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with FEAR (#5401) AND GREAT JOY; and did run to bring His disciples word.
Upon Ananias and Sapphira, “Lying to the Holy Ghost,” and God striking them down in death, in the early church, this is what happened:
ACTS 5:11 – “And GREAT FEAR (#5401) came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things”.
*ALSO, WE GET THE SAME UNDERSTANDING FROM THE STRONG’S GREEK WORD # 5398, “PHOBEROS”, WHICH MEANS “FREIGHTFUL, FEARFUL”,
HEBREWS 10:26 – “For if we SIN WILLFULLY after that we have RECEIVED the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins”.
HEBREWS 10:27 – “But a certain FEARFUL (#5498) looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries”.
HEBREWS 10:31 – “It is a FEARFUL THING (#5498) to fall in the hands of a living God”.
Upon Moses coming to Mount Sinai and receiving the “Law of God”, this is what Moses said of the experience:
HEBREWS 12:21 – “And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I EXCEEDINGLY FEAR (#5498) AND QUAKE”:
*THIS IS WHAT THE GOSPEL WRITER, LUKE, HAD TO SAY ABOUT THE EARLY CHURCH IN THE BOOK OF ACTS:
