Whom Should We Fear?

The first mention of fear in the Bible is found when Adam and Eve sinned against God for the first time.  As they rejected His commands and ate the fruit of the forbidden tree, they fled from Him.  They hid themselves just only as they heard Him walking (Genesis 3:10). It was because they were scared of His judgment. 

The people of Israel also were very afraid of God at the foot of Mt. Sinai (Ex. 19:16-18).  There was thunder and lightning with a thick cloud over the mountain, and the people heard a loud trumpet blast.  The smoke went up just like smoke from a furnace, and the whole mountain trembled violently.  The people thought they would be killed, and began to tremble. 

Prophet Isaiah was afraid, too, when he saw the heavenly scenery (Is. 6:1-5).  He dimly saw God sitting on the throne.  Around Him the angels were standing and calling to one another; “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!”  Then, Isaiah thought that he would be killed.  God’s presence seized him with fear. 

Fear comes when you are aware of God’s presence.  If you feel that God is just beside you, you fear Him strongly.  The Bible says, “Fear God.” “Think of God seriously in life and get fear towards Him.”  Let us look at Ecc. 12:13-14. 

Ecc.12:13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man's all.

12:14 For God will bring every work into judgment, Including every secret thing, Whether good or evil.

The writer of the book of Ecclesiastes obtained all the things which worldly people wanted to have; such as wealth, authority, pleasures, wisdom, and knowledge.  He experienced so many things in his life.  And as he closely examined all of them, he concluded that what was best for him was to fear the Lord and to keep His commandments throughout all his life. It is because he believed that God would bring every work into judgment, including every hidden thing.  Even if we can deceive people, we cannot deceive God.  He knows everything.  He hears what we say in secret.  He sees what we do in secret.  We cannot hide anything before Him.  That is why we should fear Him.  We should keep His commandments.  This is the whole duty of man.  This is what the writer of the book of Ecclesiastes said in conclusion.  Let us look at Ps. 111:10.

Ps.111:10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; A good understanding have all those who do His commandments.  His praise endures forever. 

The fear of the Lord is our starting point to receive wisdom.  We should first fear the Lord in order to decide what we should or to discern what is right and what is wrong.  In other words, if we fail to fear the Lord, we will lose the purpose of our life.  We may go to a wrong direction of life.  We may make a fatal mistake which we cannot mend.  The fear of the Lord is a prerequisite of everything that we do. 

When I was a teenager, I did not understand the meaning of the fear of the Lord.  I attended worship.  Though I quietly listened to pastor’s sermon, I could not remember it all.  Because I did not have heart to seek for the truth by myself.  I did not pay tithe.  I pay offering which I got from my mother.  I did not understand why it was so important to pay offering.  I think of God’s presence just like the presence of man.  But as I accumulated many experiences, I began to understand little by little the fear of the Lord as the beginning of everything.   Ps. 111:10 is a very important text for your life. 

You may find an English sentence at the bottom of the bulletin that you have.  Can I ask anybody to read the sentence? 

“Let us reverently and quietly respect others and quietly listen to the service.” 

Worship is a pivotal time to experience the fear of the Lord. Without the worship we cannot find any place to experience the fear.  Let us look at Revelation 14:7.  

Rev.14:7 Saying with a loud voice, “Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water.” 

This is the first angel’s message which God spoke to our Church living at the end time.  Here He emphasises three items; fear God, give glory to Him, and worship Him.  All these three commands are spoken by one sentence. That means to fear God is to give glory to Him and to worship Him.  Worship is always accompanied with fear.  Worship with fear is a vital issue in the end time.  Therefore, if we do not have the fear of the Lord in worship, we may go away from this congregation.      

In verse 7 you can find out a reason why we need to fear the Lord.  It is because the hour of God’s judgment has come.  The judgment is not delayed.  It has already come.  In these three months from the Sabbath School lesson quarterly we learnt the judgment of God began in 1844.  Now we are living in the very solemn time.  Everybody in this world is being judged.  Evil will be recompensed and goodness vindicated.  This judgment already has begun and one day we will see the final results. For now, we need to live by faith, to fear the Lord and to worship Him.

I attended worship service at another church during my summer vacation.  I think it was about the middle of the pastor’s sermon.  One lady sat beside me. And she started to talk with her neighbouring friend.    She kept on talking about 10 minutes.  I just could not listen to the sermon.  I was so much irritated.  And I could not help saying “excuse, me.”  But she ignored me and kept talking for a while.  And then finally she stopped.  I no longer could focus my attention on the sermon.  The worship was not worship any more. Through this experience I learnt a lesson that chattering or even whispering in worship time is really giving troubles to people around and destroying their heart of worship.  This is sin.  It should not happen in worship.  We should keep worship with the fear of the Lord. 

This human society has been creating many intelligent people.  The book of Daniel prophesies that they are getting clever in the end time. Especially since they utilised computer, their knowledge is dramatically increasing.  But I am concerned about one thing in the trend of the times; People are losing the fear of something which they cannot comprehend.  Because they know so many things, they make light of what they cannot understand or explain.  For examples, they don’t take seriously about God’s creation for six days, Jesus’ birth, His resurrection, and His second coming, Mrs White’s vision and her prophecy.   

We should have fear of what we cannot understand.  We should have fear of God’s existence and His works.  And we should destroy the idea of “incomprehensible thing is not true.” 

From now we will begin the foot washing service and communion service.  Jesus commanded us to wash our feet each other.  That is because He wants us to practise humility by washing our dirty parts of our body, and to ask for forgiveness of our sins.  Jesus also wants us to participate in the communion service by taking the bread and the juice which are symbols of His body and blood, and to make decision to follow Him.  We want to invite even non church members who believe in Jesus and commit themselves to Him to participate in this holy service.