Joel Hendon

If A Loving God, Why Should We Fear Him?


Posted: Tuesday, December 02, 2008

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http://hebronics.org/index.html

Many Scriptures tell us to fear God. Then we have a number of scriptures which tell us not to fear. Atheists and skeptics love to point those places out in order to show that there are contradictions in the Holy Bible. According to some who have counted them, and now that we have computers to bring up all words which are alike from any document, we learn that the New King James Version has the word "fear" in it 367 times. Sometimes it is translated from a word which means "to be afraid", sometimes from words which mean "dread" and sometimes from words which mean "awesome respect."

Certain things exist that produce extreme fear, or under other conditions, no fear but definitely a form of respect. Those of us who have served in the military, and many other folks, are familiar with a weapon called a hand grenade. These are a small, hand held metal bomb filled with a strong explosive and whose outer shell, breaks into small pieces of shrapnel which are flung in every direction when it explodes . It is equipped with a spring loaded handle which is fastened to the body of the grenade with a tight fitting pin. As long as the handle is held down by the pin, the weapon is safe to hold, carry on your person, or anything else. It will not explode, even if you threw it against a rock wall, it is highly unlikely that it would explode and only if the pin were dislodged. But to be used, the soldier must hold the handle down in his throwing hand and pull the pin. It still will not explode as long as the handle is not released, and can even have the pin re-inserted and remain safe. So, you see, as long as the pin is in place, one can handle them without fear, but you still have great respect for it. But once the pin is pulled and the handle released, it becomes something for anyone to fear exceedingly. You have six seconds from the time you release the grenade, along with the handle, to drop behind some kind of safety barrier, a large rock, a hole in the ground, etc. So are many things which can fall into this type category.

Let us look at some scriptures which contain the word fear, with reference to God.

"Ye shall not therefore oppress one another; but thou shalt fear thy God: for I am the LORD your God. Wherefore ye shall do my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them; and ye shall dwell in the land in safety." (Leviticus 25:17-18)

And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. (Matthew 10:28)

These two scriptures alone show that one is to fear God. But like the hand grenade described above, you can feel safe and secure with Him as long as you are striving to do His will. But once you disobey, it is as if you had pulled the pin and released the handle. Discipline of children these days is certainly different than when I was a lad. My parents loved me and my siblings very much. And I loved them very much. I respected and admired them and I did not walk around frightened to death of them. But I feared them, in the sense that I knew I would be punished if I disobeyed their instructions. And believe me, it kept me from doing a lot of things which I should not do, and knew it. Read and consider the following:

"For if we sin wilfully 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." (Hebrews 10:26-31)

Scriptures such as this should strike terror in the hearts of those who are careless and unconcerned. Those who just believe that God is going to usher them into eternal joy in His presence when they have not studied His word, have not sought to obey Him. How on earth can one obey Him when they don't know what He says?? Obeying your uninformed ideas won't cut it. Read this scripture and understand that this means you and me, if we fit the mold.

"Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. 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? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity." (Matthew 7:21-23)

May God bless us as we study His word.

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Author Biography: Joel Hendon was born near Gadsden Alabama. He attended public schools in Cherokee County, Alabama and after serving a tour of duty in the U.S. Army during the Korean War, attended Jacksonville State University, majoring in Business Administration. He became a Christian in 1948, and although he followed secular work as a career and retired from Allied Signal Aerospace, he is an avid student of the Holy Bible and related works as well as biblical history. He has an extensive website of conservative religious and political articles.http://hebronics.org/index.html

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Top-level comments on this article: (2 total)
» left by Avis Ward
 3 years 44 days ago.
131 fans.
An excellent topic for your column, Joel. I have heard this argument before even by believers who didn't understand. In the future, I can refer them to this article which explains it as I understand, too. I liked your selection as the closing scripture. God bless you, too. 
» left by Joel Hendon 3 years 44 days ago.
Thank you Avis, for reading and commenting. I cherish your comments because I know that you are also an avid student of His word. One of my most favorite scriptures, I extend to you:

The LORD bless you and keep you;
The LORD make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you;
The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.
(Numbers 6:24-26 NKJV)
 
» left by jennifer cuddy
 3 years 44 days ago.
Yes, Joel.
 
And the ironic thing is that when we sin, we harm ourselves. What people see as harsh laws do not understand this concept. Or are we to believe that we know better than God or that God is without understanding? Because this is what they are implying.
 
» left by Joel Hendon 3 years 44 days ago.
Absolutely Jennifer, and eventhough they put forth no effort to serve Him, they think He wouldn't dare punish them. He put us here to live "Holy and without blame, before Him, in love". No one will go to heaven or to hell by accident. It is our choice. He has done His part by giving us a plan whereby we may invoke His grace. We cannot deserve salvation, but he will extend His grace to those who do their best.
» left by jennifer cuddy 3 years 44 days ago.
Yes. And then of course we have the question "How do I serve the Lord?" and many people have different opinions about this. But to me, I do not think we can serve the Lord without knowing him. And we can't know Him if we do not study the Bible. If all that we needed to do to be Christians is to be good to others, then what need would the Bible serve? This is why I believe that there is more to it than this. Jesus did not die on the cross so that we be free to do what we want. Also, if this were true than who would bother to read and study the Bible?
 
It is interesting that it seems as though there are contradictions regarding this unconditional love at times. For although we are to love our neighbor as ourselves, and not hate our brother; we are to also be on the alert for false teaching and false doctrines and beware of them.  Sometimes I wonder what exactly he meant by neighbor or brother because of this.
 
At what point do you turn away from someone who is spiritually harmful or dangerous? It isn't that we hate the person, but I think that the adversary uses them to voice himself, thereby leading people astray. At what point do run and take your loved ones with you to protect them? Is it wrong to do so?
» left by Joel Hendon 3 years 44 days ago.
124 fans.
Hi again Jennifer;
 
You are right again. You've also opened up a new can of questions. I'll try and write an article soon concerning those we should turn away from and why. We live in the world, but we are not "of" the world. Christians are sojourners. It is only rarely that we are supposed to shun anyone and then only for a purpose. Otherwise, we need to show love and respect for all as we attempt to teach them.
» left by jennifer cuddy 3 years 44 days ago.
Yes, I agree with you 100%
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