Adullam
Member
- Mar 28, 2009
- 2,175
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Holiness & Fear Revisited
We live in a generation of believers who have lost their fear of God. Scripture has much to say about fear. Most Scriptural teaching on fear center’s around God instructing His people not to fear people, events or circumstances. But Scripture recognizes and even commands, a good kind of fear, namely, the "fear of God". At the end of his search for wisdom the Preacher of Ecclesiastes (Solomon) declared, "Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man" (Ecclesiastes 12:13). I would dare to say that our lack of fear toward God reflects our lack of understanding concerning His holiness. Holiness is that attribute of God’s nature whereby He is totally and completely separated from sin and is singularly devoted to His own glory. Because we do not appreciate the Holiness of God, we do not fear Him in a genuine biblical sense. Isaiah rudely discovered this reality when he was confronted in the Temple by a vision of God in all His terrible holiness (Isaiah 6:ff). That encounter with God’s holiness transformed Isaiah. And Isaiah discovered what David meant when he wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, "The fear of the Lord is clean . . ." (Psalm 19:9). The New Testament Church was rudely introduced to God’s holiness in Acts Chapter 5 when He struck Ananias and Sapphira dead where they stood for the sin of intentionally lying to the Holy Spirit. The impact upon the Church of that encounter with God’s holiness was profound: "And great fear came upon the whole church, and upon all who heard of these things" (Acts 5:11). God’s holiness is not something to be trifled with.
Holiness is that penetrating light of God’s presence which exposes our sin for the terrible rebellion and offense against God it truly is. How terrible is sin? So terrible that the wrath of God Himself is reserved for one thing and one thing only - the punishment of sin. God responds to sin as a personal affront to His holiness. So terrible is sin that it demands either the eternal punishment of the offender, or the substitute of a Savior sufficient to pay sin’s price. The "fearfulness" of hell only makes sense in the blinding light of God’s holiness. I do not believe that the biblical doctrine of eternal punishment in "hell" can be fully appreciated or understood apart from an understanding of God’s holiness.
Ideas have consequences. And so does their loss. The present day loss of any genuine sense of God’s holiness, and the biblical fear which accompanies it, has produced consequences in the life of God’s people which are nothing short of catastrophic. The love of God has been distorted into little more than grand-fatherly sentimentality. The holiness, fear and wrath of God have been excluded from our vocabulary. Repentance has been forgotten while sin has been sanctified. The judgments of God have been muted and the Cross of Christ has been reduced to religious jewelry. Not only does this emasculated God want you to have your best life now, but he now promises that when you die, regardless of your condition, you will eventually end up in heaven, an uncomfortable citizen of a Kingdom whose motto is "holy to the Lord" (Zechariah 14:20). Richard Neibuhr summarized the condition of the Church today in his classic observation:
"A God without wrath brought men without sin into a kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without a cross."
We live in a generation of believers who have lost their fear of God. Scripture has much to say about fear. Most Scriptural teaching on fear center’s around God instructing His people not to fear people, events or circumstances. But Scripture recognizes and even commands, a good kind of fear, namely, the "fear of God". At the end of his search for wisdom the Preacher of Ecclesiastes (Solomon) declared, "Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man" (Ecclesiastes 12:13). I would dare to say that our lack of fear toward God reflects our lack of understanding concerning His holiness. Holiness is that attribute of God’s nature whereby He is totally and completely separated from sin and is singularly devoted to His own glory. Because we do not appreciate the Holiness of God, we do not fear Him in a genuine biblical sense. Isaiah rudely discovered this reality when he was confronted in the Temple by a vision of God in all His terrible holiness (Isaiah 6:ff). That encounter with God’s holiness transformed Isaiah. And Isaiah discovered what David meant when he wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, "The fear of the Lord is clean . . ." (Psalm 19:9). The New Testament Church was rudely introduced to God’s holiness in Acts Chapter 5 when He struck Ananias and Sapphira dead where they stood for the sin of intentionally lying to the Holy Spirit. The impact upon the Church of that encounter with God’s holiness was profound: "And great fear came upon the whole church, and upon all who heard of these things" (Acts 5:11). God’s holiness is not something to be trifled with.
Holiness is that penetrating light of God’s presence which exposes our sin for the terrible rebellion and offense against God it truly is. How terrible is sin? So terrible that the wrath of God Himself is reserved for one thing and one thing only - the punishment of sin. God responds to sin as a personal affront to His holiness. So terrible is sin that it demands either the eternal punishment of the offender, or the substitute of a Savior sufficient to pay sin’s price. The "fearfulness" of hell only makes sense in the blinding light of God’s holiness. I do not believe that the biblical doctrine of eternal punishment in "hell" can be fully appreciated or understood apart from an understanding of God’s holiness.
Ideas have consequences. And so does their loss. The present day loss of any genuine sense of God’s holiness, and the biblical fear which accompanies it, has produced consequences in the life of God’s people which are nothing short of catastrophic. The love of God has been distorted into little more than grand-fatherly sentimentality. The holiness, fear and wrath of God have been excluded from our vocabulary. Repentance has been forgotten while sin has been sanctified. The judgments of God have been muted and the Cross of Christ has been reduced to religious jewelry. Not only does this emasculated God want you to have your best life now, but he now promises that when you die, regardless of your condition, you will eventually end up in heaven, an uncomfortable citizen of a Kingdom whose motto is "holy to the Lord" (Zechariah 14:20). Richard Neibuhr summarized the condition of the Church today in his classic observation:
"A God without wrath brought men without sin into a kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without a cross."
