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Isaiah 8:11-14
There is a story behind these
verses. Little Judah had enjoyed sixty-eight years of relative peace and
prosperity. Fifty-two years under the righteous rule of good king Uzziah
of whom the chronicler wrote, "He did that which was right in the sight
of the Lord," and 16 years under the reign of his son, Jotham, of whom
it was said, "He did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according
to all that his father Uzziah did."
Now Ahaz, Jotham's son, comes to the throne at twenty years of age. His goal seemingly was to do all the wickedness possible. Note how the chronicler speaks of him. 2 Chronicles. 28:1-4, "Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem: but he did not that which was right in the sight of the Lord, like David his father: For he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, and made also molten images for Baalim. Moreover he burnt incense in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and burnt his children in the fire, after the abominations of the heathen whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel. He sacrificed also and burnt incense in the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree."
It seems incredible that
after 68 years of godly rule with peace and prosperity the nation of Judah
should follow their young king into idolatry and unspeakable wickedness,
burning their children in the fire. He led them to cast off all fear of
God and restraint against evil.
Word now reaches Judah that Syria is joining Israel to make war on them. (Isaiah 7:2), "And it was told the house of David, saying, Syria is confederate with Ephraim. And his heart was moved, and the heart of his people, as trees of the wood are moved with the wind."
It is a national crisis and
the people are terrified. Removing the fear of God does not remove fear.
Isaiah is sent by the Lord
to tell them don't fear the enemy, fear God, let Him be your dread, and
promises He will be their sanctuary.
There's a parallel between
what happened then and what's happening in our own day.
From the earliest days of our nation there was a deep respect and reverence of God. So many of its early settlers had come to America seeking religious freedom; groups such as the Puritans and others. And they have had a profound and positive influence on all of American life.
The great awakening in the
17th century under the preaching of Jonathan Edwards shook the New England
states. In one service as he preached on sinners in the hands of an angry
God, strong men clung to the pillars that supported the roof of the church
fearing they were falling into hell.
The Wesley, Whitfield, and
Finney revivals helped lay a strong, religious, moral foundation in our
nation with a sense of fear of God and love for His word. In the great
crisis of the Civil War Abraham Lincoln, realizing it was God's judgment
on our nation, called for national repentance, referring to 2 Chronicles
7:14 as a text. If you visit the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.,
you will find that verse inscribed in bold letters.
God has graciously visited
America with other great revivals to bring us back to Himself as His people.
When I was a lad, we were a God-fearing nation. Business places were closed
out of respect for the Lord's day. Even the saloons were padlocked, so
great was the influence of the church on national life.
But we have drifted away
from our past religious heritage and are fast becoming a godless nation.
The teaching of evolution, the rejection of God as Creator, along with
the doctrine of humanism, are replacing the fear of God. In the early 1960's
there began a series of Supreme Court decisions that reflected this drift.
Prayer and reading of the Bible were banned from our public schools. The
Ten Commandments were no longer allowed to be displayed in public places.
There have been other similar decisions all bent on taking God out of public
life.
The most recent decision
was the banning of prayer at public school graduation exercises. Chuck
Colson wrote an editorial in the September 1992 issue of Prison Fellowship
titled, "Making America Safe for Atheism." In it he wrote, "The court by
a five to four vote held the prayer unconstitutional because it expressed
a particular religion--namely 'theism.' But the court's reasoning was even
more astonishing. The majority argued that prayer created peer pressure
on impressionable youngsters. The Lee V. Weisman case is not only bad constitutional
law, but also dangerously discriminatory. It singles out religion as the
one thing that must be excluded from public life."
Once a moral nation with
strong family ties, in my short life-time we have plunged into sexual promiscuity,
and with it every conceivable crime--abortion (the murder of innocent unborn
babies), rape, incest, sexually abused children, sexual deviation of the
most unimaginable kind, and unparalleled depths of pornographic filth.
I was shocked to hear a doctor
state on medical matters during an evening broadcast, of the extremely
high incidences among women of genital warts, a highly contagious disease,
spread mostly from sexual contact. It is incurable and can cause cancer
of the cervix in women. But genital warts is only one of many of the sexually
transmitted diseases, the worst of which is AIDS. In a recent issue of
the Times magazine which featured the AIDS epidemic, the article stated
that many in the homosexual community are no longer practicing safe sex
even though they know they may acquire HIV. When the fear of God is removed,
all restraints against evil are removed with it.
It is the fear of God that
is the basis of good sense and good morals. (Proverbs 3:7, 8), "Fear the
Lord and depart from evil. It shall be health to thy navel and marrow to
thy bones." But the rejection of God's fear leads to bad morals. Twice
the Psalmist wrote (Psalm 14:1, 53:1), "The fool hath said in his heart,
There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable iniquity:
there is none that doeth good."
Our founding fathers based
the nation's judicial system on Jewish and Christian principles of what
is right, what is just. It is with hand on the Bible that each supreme
court justice takes the oath of office. But our judicial system, once the
envy of the world, is under attack from the American Civil Liberties Union
which is bent on destroying the integrity of our law courts.
Witness the recent case in
a federal court where a policeman was charged with violating the civil
rights of a black man who was shot fleeing the scene of a crime. The family
of the victim is suing the policeman and the city of Indianapolis one million
seven hundred thousand dollars for punitive damage. Is that just, is it
right?
Today there is little fear of God and almost no respect for law. When I was a lad a young lady could walk the streets of Chicago at 2 a.m. with no fear. The big, burly Chicago cops knew their job and the streets were safe. Now, violence fills our cities; no one is safe.
When I pondered the incredible
moral collapse of Judah under King Ahaz I had to ask myself the question,
is he the only one to blame? But I noticed the chronicler wrote in 2 Chronicles
27:2 concerning the godly reign of king Jotham, "He did that which was
right in the sight of the Lord," and then adds this strange statement,
"and the people did yet corruptly."
A moral rot had set into
the national life of Judah before Ahaz came to the throne. Isaiah, who
ministered in the reign of Jotham, wrote (Isaiah 1:4), "Ah sinful nation,
a people laden with iniquity." (Isaiah 1:5,6) "The whole head is sick,
and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head
there is no soundness in it."
In our own day, while there
has been corruption in high places, the congressional banking and post
office scandals, bad judgments from the supreme court bench, are they the
sole cause of the moral rot in our nation? In the recent 5 to 4 vote to
ban prayer in public school graduation exercise, 3 of the 5 supreme court
justices, O'Conner, Souter, and Kennedy appointed by Reagan and Bush, voted
with the majority. The truth is our public officials are only a reflection
of the moral state of our nation. Jeremiah wrote of his day, (Jeremiah
5:31) "The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their
means; and my people love to have it so:" and then he cries, "What will
ye do in the end thereof?"
God's word is very clear. Proverbs 1:25, "But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: (v.26) I will mock when your fear cometh; (v. 27) When your fear cometh as desolation, (v. 29) For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord: (v. 31) Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices."
We face a four trillion dollar
national debt. Our cities are filled with violence; our prisons are overcrowded.
Never has there been such fear of being robbed, raped, even murdered. The
fear of financial insecurity, loss of one's job, even the fear of becoming
homeless.
We will either choose the
fear of God or live with our own fear. But God has a promise (Proverbs
1:33), "Whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely and shall be quiet
from fear of evil." So our text: "Sanctify the Lord of hosts Himself and
let Him be your fear and let Him be your dread. And He shall be for a sanctuary."
Fear is a basic human emotion.
While I am not a psychiatrist or psychologist, there is something I feel
to express. Most of our fears are not something we are born with; they
are something we acquire. A baby can be taught to swim in its earliest
days without fear. My grandson had a bad experience and swallowed some
water at the beach. When Grandpa tried to teach him to swim he would scream.
It took him quite a while to get over his fear of water. But I have another
grandson, my namesake, who is a very strong-willed child and his daddy
is trying to teach him to fear. When he is with Grandpa, I try to help
with a stingy willow switch.
There is a tragedy in leprosy
beyond the loss of the extremities of the body--toes, fingers, nose, etc.
And that is the loss of feeling in the nerve ends. A leper can suffer serious
cuts or burns and never feel it. We may not like pain but it is important
to our physical well-being. But as fear is important to our physical well-being,
may I suggest it is even more important to our spiritual well-being.
Let me quote a few of the
many statements on fear from the book of Proverbs.
1:7. The fear of the
Lord is the beginning of knowledge.
3:7,8. Fear the Lord
and depart from evil. It shall be health to thy navel and marrow to thy
bones.
8:13. The fear of the
Lord is to hate evil.
10:27. The fear of
the Lord prolongeth days.
14:26. The fear of
the Lord is strong confidence.
14:27. The fear of
the Lord is a fountain of life.
This fear is not something
we were born with but something we acquire. It is one's choice to fear
God.
Go back to the beginning. (Genesis 2:16, 17), "And the Lord God commanded the man saying . . .
of the tree of knowledge
of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day thou eatest thereof
thou shalt surely die." As you read through Genesis 2 note how often the
expression "the Lord God" is used. That expression made one thing clear,
God was sovereign, man was subject. And they had God's word for it, that
in the day you eat of it you will die. Certainly they must have been concerned
about it and shared their concern with each other.
But all that changed when
Satan said to Eve, "You shall not surely die. You have nothing to fear
but fear itself. You will be as God, free to make your own decision." But
they were deceived; no one lives without fear, whether the fear of God
or your own fear. Note what happened in that garden: (Genesis 3:10), "I
heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid..." It was not fear by
choice but fear by experience and an entirely different kind of fear, a
terrifying fear. Satan sought to remove all fear of God from their minds
that he might impose on them a reign of terror. To enslave man by fear,
not the fear of God, but the fear of Satan himself.
This was how Nebuchadnezzar ruled. (Daniel 5:19), "And all people, nations, and languages, trembled and feared before him: whom he would he slew; and whom he would he kept alive." The huge golden image on the plains of Dura was not to impress man with his wealth but to cause them to tremble. You will bow or burn. This has been the satanic method of Russia's KGB to terrorize the masses so as to rule by fear, and they used any method to achieve their end.
But God never forces us to
fear Him. It is always man's own choice. But one thing is clear. The fear
of God is the beginning of wisdom, the foundation of good sense, the basis
of good morals. When the fear of God is gone all restraint against evil
is removed.
Paul made this clear in Romans
1:19-32 where God gives man the capability of knowing Him, surrounds him
with evidence of Himself. But when man chooses to reject that knowledge,
the consequences are unspeakable immorality and wickedness.
Humanism, like the theory of evolution, denies that God exists. It has been sweeping throughout Europe and is now beginning to sweep through our land. A recent survey taken in Germany reveals that 56% of its people do not believe God exists. No one fears a non-being.
But our Bible opens, "In
the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Hebrews (11:6), "He
that cometh to God must believe that He is." Jeremiah wrote in 5:22, "Fear
ye not me? saith the Lord: will ye not tremble at my presence, which have
placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it
cannot pass it...?"
I remember the terrible hurricane
that swept the New Jersey/New York coast in 1936. I was alone in Ocean
Beach, a small community on Fire Island, New York, a narrow spit of land
in the ocean; winds were 125 to 150 miles an hour, and the waves seemed
at least fifty feet high. (Fire Island is only a few feet above sea level.)
Filled with fear I made my way to my friend's house about a mile down the
beach. When I arrived I was scared spitless! No one had to teach me to
fear that night. Shouldn't I fear God who created the world and set bounds
to the sea?
Darius, awed that the God of Daniel spared him from the mouth of lions, made an edict. (Dan. 6:26), "I make a decree that in every dominion of my kingdom men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel..." Does he, an oriental heathen king, have better sense than we? All men trembled before Nebuchadnezzar because he had the power of life and death over them. Should I not fear God even more? Jesus said in Matthew 10:28, "Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both body and soul in hell."
When man disobeyed God in
the garden, God had no alternative but to place man under law. (Galatians
3:19), "The law was added because of transgressions." The blackness and
darkness, the tempest, the mountain of Sinai shaking, were external manifestations
to inspire fear in the hearts of His people. But it was God's voice above
all else, (Deuteronomy 5:25), "This great fire will consume us: if we hear
the voice of the Lord our God any more, then we shall die."
God's purpose in it all was
to teach them to fear. (Deuteronomy 4:10), "I will make them hear my words,
that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the
earth, and that they may teach their children."
Go through the book of Deuteronomy,
the second book of the law given to the second generation that came out
of Egypt. Note the emphasis on fear: (4:10), "Learn to fear." (6:13), "Thou
shalt fear the Lord thy God." (6:24), "The Lord commanded us to do all
these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good." (8:6), "Walk in
His ways and fear Him." (10:12), "To fear the Lord thy God." (10:20), "Thou
shall fear the Lord thy God." On and on God pleads with them to fear Him.
Moses' last admonition was
an instruction that at the end of every seven years the whole nation was
to gather at the feast of tabernacles and the law was to be read. (31:12),
"That they may learn to fear the Lord your God."
I challenge each one to carefully
read Deuteronomy 27 and 28, especially chapter 28 noting the marvelous
blessing: verses 1-14 for obedience, and the over fifty curses from v.
15 on for disobedience. But it is Deuteronomy 28:58 that is the bottom
line of law: "That thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful name, the
Lord thy God."
But you ask, does God want
me to serve Him only through fear? No, through love. No book of the Old
Testament speaks more of God's love than Deuteronomy. (6:5), "Thou shalt
love the Lord thy God." (7:9), "The faithful God which keepeth covenant
and mercy with them that love Him." (7:13), "And He will love thee." (10:12),
"What doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God,
to walk in all His ways, and to love Him." But never forget love can only
grow where reverence and respect are shown, whether from a child to a parent
or an individual to his God. Let your child disrespect and disobey you--they
will never learn to love you. The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.
Disobey God, show him disrespect--you will never learn to love Him.
In Mal. 1:6 God asks a question:
"A son honoreth his father and a servant his master: If then I be a father,
where is my honor? and if I be a master where is my fear?" Why, may I ask,
is there so little fear of God among His own?
You say I show God respect
and honor. I come to the Sunday morning service and I worship Him. But
the fear of the Lord is not manifested in worship alone but in obedience
as well. (Luke 6:46), "Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things
which I say?"
It was godly fear that kept
Joseph from yielding to Potiphar's wife's seductive appeal. (Genenis 39:9),
"Thou art his wife: how can I do this great wickedness and sin against
God?" It was godly fear that kept David from plunging the spear into Saul
that day when they were in the cave together. (1 Samuel 26:23), "I would
not stretch forth mine hand against the Lord's anointed." It was godly
fear on the part of Daniel that caused him to purpose in his heart he would
not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat, though that decision
could cost him everything (Daniel 1:8).
No one exhibits this quality
more than our Lord. (Isaiah 11:2,3), "The Spirit of the Lord shall rest
upon Him . . . the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord; and His
delight shall be in the fear of the Lord." You say, Jesus feared? Yes,
the path of obedience He must walk took Him through the deepest sufferings.
(Hebrews 5:7), "Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers
and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to
save him from death, and was heard in that he feared."
In the wilderness when tempted by Satan He answered from Deuteronomy 6:13, "Thou shalt fear the Lord and serve Him." He knew the obedience required of Him was absolute and He would give it to His Father. He taught us to pray, "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven."
I was privileged to be raised
in a God-fearing home by God-fearing parents. One incident stands out in
my mind among so many. I was a young lad. We were quite poor. Father had
offered to sell a sheepskin lined coat to a fellow worker. It was Sunday
afternoon when the man came to the door and said, "Jim, I've come to buy
the coat."
My father stood silent for
some moments and then softly said, "I can't sell it today, it is the Lord's
day." Badly as he needed the money, he respected the Lord's day even more.
Father was a Danish immigrant. He loved his new country dearly so when
World War II broke out he was willing to work on Sundays; but all the money
he received for Sunday work he gave to the Lord's work. So deep was his
respect of the Lord's day.
I think of my own life, that
early in childhood I chose the fear of the Lord as a guide for my life.
Now at 78 years I can look back to how that choice has kept me from evil
and helped me stay pure in my morals. (Proverbs 8:13), "The fear of the
Lord is to hate evil."
The church was born on the
day of Pentecost in an atmosphere of Godly fear. Those who heard Peter's
message "that God hath made that same Jesus whom ye have crucified both
Lord and Christ," came under the conviction of the Holy Ghost and cried,
(Acts 2:36,37) "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" (Acts 2:43), "And
great fear came upon every soul."
The result of the sudden
death of Ananias and Sapphira for attempting to lie to the Holy Ghost was
that: (Acts 5:11) "Great fear came upon all the church." In Acts 9:31 we
have Luke's testimony of those early Christians. They "were edified walking
in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost."
Paul who knew how sin deadens
the fear of the Lord, wrote in 1 Timothy, 5:20, "Them that sin rebuke before
all, that others also may fear." Philip Schaff, in his volume of early
Church history wrote, "The ancient church was distinguished for strict
discipline. The object of the discipline on the one hand, the dignity and
the purity of the church, and on the other, the spiritual welfare of the
offenders. The church leaders did not neglect to inculcate the penitential
and contrition of the heart as the main thing."
Today there is almost no
fear of God in public life and very little of it in the church. Woe to
the minister who would publicly rebuke the sin of an offender.
When Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians
2:3, "I was with you in fear and much trembling," was it because he feared
the persecution he might suffer at the hands of the Jews and Romans? No!
Earlier he had been terribly beaten and imprisoned at Philippi, and run
out of Thessalonica and Berea. But this was not the reason for his fear
and trembling. Corinth was a large city, wicked. He feared and trembled
that he might fail in his mission because of his weakness.
What does the word trembling
mean? Thayer Greek English Lexicon defines the Greek word "tromos" as the
anxiety of one who distrusts his ability completely to meet all requirements,
but religiously does his utmost to fulfil his duty. Webster defines trembling:
"to feel great fear, anxiety."
In 2 Corinthians 5:11, Paul
wrote, knowing therefore the terror of the Lord we persuade men.
He never forgot that day on the Damascus road when he fell to the earth
and heard a voice saying, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?" He was
a young man then but he clearly remembers asking, "Who art thou Lord?,"
and the Lord answering him, "I am Jesus whom thou persecutest." It was
with trembling and astonishment he said, "Lord, what will thou have me
do?" Now he is an old man. He has had a long hard life in services for
the Lord; the last four years as a prisoner, chained wrist and ankle to
a Roman soldier.
It was in fear and trembling
he had surrendered his life to the Lord and received his call to the ministry.
It was in fear and trembling he had fulfilled that call. He knew how important
it was to his own life, so now as he dictates a letter to his beloved Philippian
brethren, he exhorts them (2:12,13) Work out your own salvation with
fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you, both to will and
do of His good pleasure.
Any thinking, mature individual
must acknowledge that the moral and religious foundations of our nation
and our homes are crumbling. We are fast becoming a Godless nation, and
with it losing our sense of the fear of God. Paul's statement in Rom. 3:18,
"There is no fear of God before their eyes," is descriptive of so many
today, and when the fear of God is removed all restraint against evil goes
with it.
This leads to the question
the Psalmist asked in Psalms 11:3, If the foundations be destroyed
what can the righteous do? I'm glad he answers that question in
v. 4. The Lord is in His holy temple, the Lord's throne is in heaven:
his eyes behold, his eyelids try the children of men. One paraphrase
of 2 Timothy 2:19 reads, "Nevertheless God's solid foundation stands firm
sealed with this inscription. The Lord knows them that are His, and everyone
who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness."
How comforting in an hour
of crumbling foundations to know God's foundation stands firm and that
the great Shepherd knows His own so intimately. (John 10:3), He calleth
His own sheep by name.
But if I call Him Lord I have a personal responsibility to turn away from all sin.
The first and most basic revelation God gave of Himself is stated in Leviticus 11:44: "I am the Lord your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves and ye shall be holy; for I am holy." In 11:45 He gives it as the reason for His delivering them from Egypt. "I am the Lord that bringeth you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy."
Thayer defines holy, "to
set apart for God; exclusively His; to be pure, sinless." Webster defines
it, "consecrated to God, uncontaminated by evil." Holiness is essential
to our relationship with God. (Hebrews 12:14), "Holiness, without which
no man shall see the Lord."
Paul, concerned that the
Corinthian church was forgetting that, wrote in 2 Corinthians 6:16-18,
7:1, "God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will
be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among
them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing;
and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be
my sons and daughters . . . Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved,
let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting
holiness in the fear of God."
Peter shares the same concern.
(I Peter 1:15-17), "But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy
in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I
am holy. And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth
according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in
fear."
You ask, is fear an important
incentive to holiness? That is what God said about Job. (Job 1:7), There
is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth
God, and escheweth evil. I heard an evangelist who constantly travels
once say, "The first thing I do when I check in at the motel is to go to
my room, disconnect the cable hook-up and take it to the registration desk."
Why? He is afraid. He knows the entertainment industry is a reflection
of the wicked adulterous generation he lives with. Is he right?
Let me quote from an article
in (Time Magazine), Sept. 21, 1992, titled, "Hollywood and Politics." "A
survey of 104 top TV creators and executives reveal 97% are pro-choice
in their views, 86% hold the right of a homosexual to teach in public schools,
and 51% do not regard adultery as wrong and they do material congruent
to their views." That is, they have a personal agenda in what they produce.
Let me ask a question; Is
it right for one who confesses Jesus as Lord, who is called to be holy
as He is holy, watch these productions so filled with violence, profanity,
obscenity, and filth? And if one does, where is their fear?
Psalm 34 is a beautiful Psalm
David wrote on the occasion when God delivered him from Achish, a Philistine
king. It is on the subject of the fear of the Lord. (v.7) "The angel of
the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them."
(v.9) "O fear the Lord, ye his saints: for there is no want to them that
fear Him." (v.11) "Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you
the fear of the Lord." And the bottom line in his teaching is in v. 14,
"Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it."
You say, "I have trouble
with this thing of sin." I do too. And David had his problems as each of
us does. Earlier in Psalm 25:14, David wrote, "The secret of the Lord is
with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant." David's fear
of God is not seen in his sinlessness but in the attitude he showed when
he failed. (51:3), "My sin is ever before me." (38:18), "I will be sorry
for my sin." (32:5), "I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord."
And it is this secret David shares in 34:18, "The Lord is nigh unto them
that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit."
Webster defines contrite: "crushed in spirit by a feeling of remorse; contrition;
earnest repentance."
David knew that when there
was genuine sorrow and deep repentance for sin he could count on God's
covenant of mercy. (Psalm 103:11), "For as the heaven is high above the
earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him." Mercy is the bottom
line of the New Covenant. (Hebrews 8:12), "I will be merciful to their
unrighteousness."
But my attitude toward sin
is important. (Isaiah 57:15), "For thus saith the high and lofty One that
inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy, I dwell in the high and holy place
with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit
of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones." (Isaiah 66:2),
"To this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit,
and trembleth at my word."
The book of Malachi was written in an hour so much like our own: carelessness, indifference towards the things of God and so little fear. God asks them in Malachi 1:6, "If I be a master, where is my fear?" Their attitude towards God was manifested in what they were saying. (Mal. 3:13,14), "Your words have been stout against me, saith the Lord. Yet ye say, What have we spoken so much against thee? Ye have said, It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of hosts?"
But God has a word of encouragement
for those who choose to fear Him. (Malachi 3:16-4:2), "Then they that feared
the Lord spake often one to another: and the Lord hearkened, and heard
it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared
the Lord, and that thought upon his name. And they shall be mine, saith
the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare
them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. Then shall ye return,
and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth
God and him that serveth him not. For, behold, the day cometh, that shall
burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall
be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord
of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. But unto you
that fear my name shall the Son of righteousness arise with healing in
his wings."
So our text, Isaiah 8:13,14,
"Sanctify the Lord of hosts Himself; and let Him be your fear, and let
Him be your dread. And He shall be for a sanctuary."
It is not easy to maintain
a sense of fear of God when there seems to be so little fear of Him by
many, but it will be worth it. Our homes are at stake! Remember Noah when
warned of God of things to come--it was fear that moved him to act that
his house might be saved. Hang in there--Jesus is coming!
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