Exodus 20:19-22

Peace to you my brothers and sisters.

Today’s Bible Verse: [Exodus 20:19-22 KJV] And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die. And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not. And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God [was]. And the LORD said unto Moses, Thus thou shalt say unto the children of Israel, Ye have seen that I have talked with you from heaven.

The Holy Spirit pointed me to an article in Our Rabbi Jesus that I have shared pieces from. There are times when the Holy Spirit guides me to articles that explain things much better than I can.

The verses under consideration take place just after God gave Israel the ten commandments. One other part that I should have included:

[Exodus 20:18 KJV] And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw [it], they removed, and stood afar off.

The people were afraid of God, as we should be. Why would a loving God want us to fear Him? Maybe it really is all about what we mean by fear.

From Our Rabbi Jesus: The word “fear” is common in the Old Testament, and to many it sounds like we should cringe in dread of God’s presence.

Of course, we also find “fear” in the New Testament too. The Gentiles who believed in God were called God-fearers, and the early church was said to be built up in the “fear of the Lord” (Acts 9:31). Why is there so much fear in the Bible?

The key to solving this mystery is to know more about the Hebrew word that we translate as “fear.” Like many words in Hebrew, it has a much broader range of meaning than we have in English. To us, “fear” is the opposite of trust, and its synonyms are fright, dread and terror. But the Hebrew equivalent, yirah (YEER-ah) encompasses a wide range of meanings from negative (dread, terror) to positive (worship, reverence) and from mild (respect) to strong (awe).

You may be surprised – every time you read “revere” or “reverence” in English it comes from the Hebrew word yirah. In Leviticus 19:3, we are told to “fear/respect/revere” our mother and father using this same word. Certainly here yirah refers to showing them respect or reverence, not being afraid of them.

An even stronger word for “fear,” pahad, (which is often translated “dread”) can also describe jaw-dropping awe.

Pahad can be translated as “thrill.” Just imagine — “fear” actually describes spine-tingling amazement at what God has done to bless his people!

So, how can we “fear” God?

Also form Our Rabbi Jesus: Often Christians interpret “the Fear of the LORD” as the fear of the punishment that God could give us for our deeds. Certainly, we will all stand before God’s judgment when we die. But if you know that Christ has paid for your sins, you should not have this kind of fear anymore. This is what John preaches against when he says:

[1 John 4:18 KJV] There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

The rabbis often spoke of the “fear of the Lord” — Yirat Adonai — but they always thought of it in terms of the most positive sense of the word yirah. They defined it as awe and reverence for God that motivates us to do his will.

They pointed out that fearing God’s punishment is actually an inferior understanding, because at its core it is self-centered. It doesn’t even focus on God. Rather it looks at God only through the lens of your own interests, by asking what will happen to you because of God’s knowledge of your deeds.

If you have yirat Adonai, awe and reverence for God, it fills you with a better kind of fear. Imagine that you work at a mega-corporation and one day you’re promoted to work directly under the CEO. Wouldn’t you tremble as you report for your first assignment? When you have great respect for someone, you feel terrible knowing you’ve disappointed them. And when you love another person deeply, you earnestly want their approval. How much more should this be true with God!

From me: The fear of God is the spine-tingling awe we should have for Him. This awe should be seen in the gospel because He became flesh and died for us so that we may be saved.

This is the gospel: [1 Corinthians 15:1-6 KJV] Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.

Go forth and spread this good news.

I hope this has been a blessing to you. May the rest of your day be blessed. Peace.