To Fear or Not to Fear

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE

TO FEAR OR NOT TO FEAR

Luke 12:4-7

4 "I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. 5 But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him. 6 Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. 7 Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

NIV

The beginning of all wisdom is the fear of the Lord from Proverbs. We just had to revisit these words of Jesus to clarify in our minds how we could see them.   This is the other shoe that drops from these same words that we saw that there is some reason to fear that old devil because he wants us to be cast out of heaven just as he was. He comes as the destroyer, the tempter, to get us to drop our guard and follow his lead into the pits of hell. We know that if someone were to kill our body, they can do no more to us, for in their eyes we are dead. But who is the one who kills us and then has the power to cast us to hell? It is interesting the Greek word, apokteinoo, properly means to kill in any way whatever, to kill outright. However, used metaphorically, to extinguish, and abolish. It is the same word Jesus used when he said not to be afraid of those who kill the body and can do no more, and to fear him who after killing the body has the power to cast us into hell. Does that mean that God kills our body in the same way a murderer would kill us? We know all the scholars are convinced that Jesus means that we should fear God, for he has the power to cast us into hell. It is also interesting the Greek word, fobeoo, which we can see in the English word phobia, has a direct meaning to put to flight by terrifying, to flee, to fear, be afraid, but can also mean to reverence, venerate, to treat with deference or reverential obedience. It is generally always translated as fear, afraid, terrified, throughout the New Testament.  Again, would we be right to interpret this fear of the one who kills us and has the power to cast us into hell as being God? Throughout the New Testament, there are references to those who are not saved or in Christ, are cast into the darkness. Would God, who is defined as a God of love really desire all who refuse him to be cast into hell, or is that simply being a just God? We see that in the narrative of the king who threw a wedding banquet and the one who showed up without wedding clothes caused the king to order his attendants to cast him out into the darkness where there is gnashing of teeth, which is seen as hell. So, then God will throw, or have someone throw, his attendants, which could be angels, those who do not have their wedding clothes, which would be clothed in Jesus, into the darkness, the pit of hell. Then it is right to be afraid, to have fear, to be terrified of God, even though we are worth more to him than many sparrows. That just does not sound right, but we should be reverent toward him. However, God does not cause us to be cast out into the darkness, it would be the devil who would cause that to happen by getting us to refuse to follow Jesus, or at least live in an ungodly way, so God would judge us guilty and order us to be thrown into the darkness. Then if we are fearing God, in the sense of reverence, we do not have to be afraid, terrified of the devil.