Fear is a human emotion all people have experienced. It can be very troubling and cause people to act in irrational ways. We have all struggled with fear in the forms of worry and anxiety. The Bible talks quite a lot about fear. The command, “Fear not!” is found dozens of times in the Bible. Bur fear can be sinful disobedience or a natural human reaction to adverse circumstances. There is a fear that the Bible not only recommends but commands we have in our hearts. That fear is the fear of the Lord.
Fear for the Lord is the humble response to realizing our immense responsibilities before a Holy God. It is the realization that God knows and sees all things. The Lord is a God of love and grace, which brings us comfort and peace, but He also calls us to obey His Word. He calls us to obedience because it is the best thing for us, and we owe our creator obedience. So, we often feel the burden of obedience as well as the joy of obedience. The fear of the Lord is also the experience of the felt presence of the Lord with us. Basically, the fear of the Lord is understood as deep reverence or awe for the Holy God and not a paralyzing fear of an unknown threat. Rather than repelling, the fear of the Lord draws the worshipper to the Lord but keeps the familiarity from becoming frivolous. We humbly approach the God who calls us near. In Exodus 20:20, Moses tells the children of Israel at Mt. Sinai after they experienced the awesome presence of the Lord, “Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear Him may be before you, that you may not sin.” They were not to be terror-stricken before the awesome Lord but to bow in deep reverence to Him that moved them to serve Him.
The fear of the Lord is also common in wisdom literature, especially in Proverbs. The phrase is found 14 times in the book (1:7, 29; 2:5; 8:13; 9:10; 10:27; 14:26, 27; 15:16, 33; 16:6; 19:23; 22:4; 23:17), which shows the deeply God-centered nature of wisdom in Proverbs. Those who would possess the wisdom of the Lord must come into His presence with reverence. The fear of the Lord and wisdom are related. We see this in the phrase, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Psalm 111:10; Proverbs 9:10). Wisdom is something all people who humble themselves with great reverence before the Holy God can possess.
We find the words “Fear and trembling” used in the Bible to connote the serious nature of the fear one has for the Lord. We find the idea in both the OT and the NT. In the OT, we find it in Psalm 2:11 to show the response one must have to the Lord who judges the wicked righteously, “Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling.” In the NT, the phrase is used in Philippians 2:12, “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling.” The call here is to work out the salvation they have rather than work for the salvation they seek. Living before the face of the gracious God is a serious matter. We are to devote ourselves to working out our salvation in daily life in a manner that pleases the Lord.
But maybe we see the fear of the Lord most clearly in the story of the call of the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 6:1-8. In this passage, we see the vision Isaiah received from the Lord. It came at a difficult time in the life of the nation and Isaiah’s life. It was the year that King Uzziah died. King Uzziah had a long and prosperous reign. It was a time of stability for the people. At his death everyone felt the instability, especially Isaiah. It was that very year that Isaiah received the vision. Isaiah saw a glorious vision of the majestic Lord, the true King, sitting upon a throne in the temple. He is the sovereign Lord whose presence resided in the temple. Isaiah also saw seraphim, holy angels with six wings, flying about the temple, calling out, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory.” With the thunderous voice of the angels, the thresholds shook, and the temple was filled with smoke. Isaiah was humbled and himself shaken by this vision. He cried out, “Woe is me! For I am undone; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”
Isaiah thought that he would be immediately destroyed. But at that moment, one of the seraphim flew to him with a burning coal from the altar. The angel touched Isaiah’s mouth with the coal and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.” The altar was the place of atoning sacrifice. The innocent was killed in place of the guilty. The sinner was made right with the Holy God. This is a picture of the cross of Jesus Christ. Then Isaiah heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” At this compelling call, Isaiah cried out, “Here am I! Send me!”
In this vision of Isaiah, we see the essence and heart of the fear of the Lord. Those who truly fear the Lord see Him as He is. That is why they fear Him. They shake with reverence because of his awesome presence. But in their humility, they find atonement in God’s saving grace through Jesus Christ. And in that reverential awe, they answer the call of God upon their life. The fear of the Lord moves them and drives them into the presence and service of the Lord of glory. And in that place, they are filled with the blessing of a sense of that glory of the Lord that is beyond description.