The Fear of God

I'm currently teaching an adult Bible class on Wednesday nights covering the Books of Kings. Last week we were studying II Kings 17. In the space of ten verses (32-41) the word fear is used nine times relating to the fear of God. A question was asked about this. Were the people scared of God? More importantly should we fear or be afraid of God?

These are important questions. We need to know this for our own knowledge and to improve our relationship to God. This is also a point that non-believers like to us. Often some will say they don't want to worship a God they have to be scared of. They will also wonder how a God that is supposed to ipitimize love can demand fear from us.

Read Exodus 20:20. If you didn't know better you might believe this verse contradicts itself. Fear is used twice. Once the people are told not to fear. Then they're told God's fear will be before them.

The main Hebrew word we get fear from is Yare. It means fearing, reverent or afraid. From it comes the word Yir' ah. That word means respect, reverence, revered, to stand in awe. That word is used 64 times in the Old Testament, 27 times in Psalms alone. Four verses that use the word fear in a meaning of reverence and/or respect are Genesis 22:12, Exodus 14:31, Exodus 18:21 andII Samuel 23:3. Go back and read those verses with the above definition in mind. Don't they mean much more than we might have first thought?

The other Hebrew word for fear is Pachad. It means terro, dread, an object of dread. This word is used 25 times in the Old Testament including II Chronicles 20:29.

Since we live under the New Testament, what does it say? The Greek word Phobos is most commonly used meaning reverence. II Corinthians 7:1 and Ephesians 5:21 are good examples of this. Yes there is a "bad" fear as evidenced in Luke 12:5 and Hebrews 10:31. That is the fear the non-believer should have; a reason to be afraid.

For the Christian though, the reverence can be seen in the word phobo as used in Hebrews 12:28-29 and Revelation 12:4 among others.

Yes we need to fear God. We need to have reverence, respect and stand in awe of Him. Whether we're together with other Christians in worship or alone with Him in Bible reading or prayer. If that weren't true then entire passages like I John would be meaningless. A scared fear wouldn't mesh with the love of God talked about there.

I think a man who spoke about this in class last week summed it up best. He has a four year old son. That son fears him but isn't afraid of him. The son is at an age where he reveres his father. He looks up to him. He wants to please his father. Isn't that a simple way to sum up how our relationship should be with our Father?