|
In the Torah we read: "And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God..." (Deut. 10:12). Notice that "fear of the LORD," called yirat Adonai (יִרְאַת יְהוָה) in Hebrew, comes first and is what is required of you. The sages say that to fear the LORD means that your fear should be like God's fear. But what could God possibly fear, you ask? Only this: that you will turn away from his love and destroy yourself. To fear God means abhorring that which breaks the relationship He desires with you. That is the wound of God's heart, and that is what God "fears."
Of course there is also the fear of going to hell and suffering God's judgment for sin, but that outcome is the result of that which God fears, namely, the tragic rejection of his offer of grace and forgiveness given in Yeshua. Nonetheless, even believers in Yeshua should fear sinning against God because it makes a mockery of his love. How so? Well if God so hates sin that he suffered and died for you to be free from its power, what sort of insult is it to continue sinning without experiencing fear and trembling? Consider again the great cost of your salvation (1 Pet. 1:18-19). Yeshua was shamed as a criminal, cruelly beaten, mercilessly flogged, viciously lacerated, and died of asphyxiation upon a cross to intercede for your life and to present his blood as atonement for your sin. He did not die like this so you could go on sinning with impunity, but to redeem your life from the verdict of the law and to restore your place as beloved child of God. Willfully sinning shows contempt for the sacrifice of Messiah and outrages the spirit of grace: "Someone who rejected the law of Moses was put to death without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? For we know the one who said, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay," and again, "The Lord will judge his people." It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Heb. 10:28-31).
Be encouraged. friend. The fear of the LORD is "to life," that is, it is for your good, and it is the source of your wisdom as his beloved child (Prov. 9:10). It takes wisdom to balance fear over our sin and love for our Lord. May God help you fall before the cross in fear of your sin, yet be raised up by the reality of his love for your soul. Amen.
 |
Hebrew Lesson
Prov. 19:23 reading (click):
<< Return
|
