I wrote this sermon for Old Testament Theology (OT 640) at Bob Jones University on April 18, 2003.
Introduction
Two years ago, about this time of year, happened one of the most difficult circumstances of my life. I received a phone call from my aunt telling me that my dad had just had a massive heart attack and almost didn’t make it. Since our house was just half a mile down the street from the hospital, my mom was able to get him there just in time for the doctors to help preserve his life. It was not quite smooth sailing from that point on either. After some evaluation, the doctors recommended doing a quadruple bypass surgery immediately. This was certainly no minor surgery. All of this was happening the day before exams started. Great fear for my father’s life haunted me and made it quite difficult to focus. In response to that fear, I could only do but one thing, turn to the sovereign God who alone is to be feared. While I still had great concern for my father, a proper knowledge of God and His loving providence for His people gave me a peace that could come from nowhere else.
This experience and experiences like it are not unique to me. We all regularly face things that cause us to fear, because life is filled with uncertainty and tragedy. How should we respond to these things? What is the solution to dealing with fear? I would submit that the only way to handle fear is by having a proper understanding and estimation of God.
Proposition: Because of who God is and what He does for His people, you must refuse all other fears by fearing Him alone.
I. Do Not Fear Your Enemies
Explanation: As the Israelites prepare to enter into the land of Canaan, there begins a sequence of wars against the enemies so that they may possess the land that God has promised to them. God said to the people, “See, I have placed the land before you; go in and possess the land which the LORD swore to give to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to them and their descendants after them” (1:8). After Moses instructed the people to take the land, he immediately followed that by a command to not fear (1:21). The task, from a human perspective was going to be difficult, if not impossible. So the natural response of the people was to shrink back in fear. But throughout the book, God commanded His people not to fear, and He gave them reasons why they did not have to fear. They simply needed to take God at His Word and trust Him and choose to obey Him.
Application: Just as God commanded Israel to not fear, so He commanded His people in this age not to be fearful in regard to opposition or adverse circumstances (Mat. 10:26, 28, 31; Act. 18:9; 27:24; 1 Pet. 3:14; Rev. 2:10; cf. 2 Tim. 1:7). We, like Israel, must be a people consumed with trust in God, rather than fear of man and circumstances.
A. What not to fear
1. Do not fear to claim what God has promised to you.
Explanation: God had promised the land to His people, yet they were commanded to go and take it. God did not clear out the enemies ahead of time so that they just had to walk in, although He certainly could have. God had chosen to use His people in the very fulfilling of His promises to them, and His reason for this was to teach them to trust Him supremely. Moses instructed the people plainly of the Lord’s command: “The LORD your God has placed the land before you; go up, take possession, as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has spoken to you” (1:21).
2. Do not fear the opposition that may arise.
Explanation: Obeying God is not always easy. Oftentimes great obstacles will come in the path of those who seek to obey the Lord, but these are not obstacles apart from the Lord’s control, nor is the command to go forward separate from the promise of God to fulfill it. In spite of opposition, God’s people must go against all human appearance and consider God reliable to keep His Word.
Application: God never promises smooth sailing for obedience. Often He will use obstacles to show us our self-dependence and teach us to trust Him. We must strive to trust Him in spite of how circumstances may seem. Will you choose to walk by faith or by sight?
B. Causes of fear
1. The opposition is too great.
Explanation: Israel’s fear came primarily as a result of looking at the strength and abilities of the opposition. They feared because they concluded, “The people are bigger and taller than we; the cities are large and fortified to heaven. And besides, we saw the sons of the Anakim there” (1:28; cf. 7:17). And were it not for what God had promised them, they certainly would not have stood a chance against the greater opponent.
2. We are too insufficient.
Explanation: On the flip side of seeing the greatness of the enemy, Israel saw their own weakness and insufficiency for the task. They were much fewer in number than many of their enemies (20:1). They did not have the experience or military might to win battles. So from a strictly human perspective, the people had reason to be fearful. But this is not where the story ends. There are reasons why Israel did not need to fear.
C. Reasons not to fear
1. God loves His people.
Explanation: God’s relationship to Israel is illustrated in terms of a father’s love and care for his son (1:31). This love is clear throughout the whole book (4:37; 7:7–9, 13; 10:12; 23:5; 33:3). His love for them was based on the love that He had for their fathers and the covenant promises He made with them. As a result, this love was unwavering and constant, not dependent on their own worthiness. This love provided Israel with a sure defense against fear.
2. God is with His people.
Explanation: On multiple occasions the command to not fear is tied directly with a statement of God’s presence with His people. God’s presence with Israel was a foundation for confident assurance and peace in the face of great opposition. The Lord repeated the command to not fear saying, “[There is no reason to fear] for the LORD your God… is with you (20:1)”; “for the LORD your God is the one who goes with you (20:4; 31:6)”; “[for] the LORD is the one who goes ahead of you; He will be with you” (31:8). The continual presence of God with Israel provided them with another reason why they should not fear.
3. God acts in behalf of His people.
Explanation: God’s presence with Israel was not an idle one. He did not just sit back and watch them in battle. Rather He was the one who was fighting the battles for them (1:30; 3:22; 20:4). God’s control over the enemies of His people is seen in the fact that God could say beforehand, “I have delivered him and all his people and his land into your hand” (3:2). The sovereign God ruled over the armies of the enemies and could effortlessly wipe them out when He so willed. To assure the Israelites of God’s ability to defeat their enemies, He continually reminded them of the victory in Egypt (e.g., 7:18–19; 20:1; there are over 50 references to Egypt and the redemption).
Application: One of the key ways for the believer to have increased trust in God in the present is by meditating on the faithfulness of God to His people in the past. We must often call to mind the providential working of God for His own.
4. God will keep His promises.
Explanation: God did not leave His people without a word of promise and assurance; rather, He often told them of what He would do for them (7:19). Based on His reliability manifested through Israel’s history, they could certainly be safe in trusting the promises of God when He promises to deliver their enemies, to not fail them, and to not forsake them (4:31; 31:6, 8). God’s promises can always be relied upon.
Transition: Rather than fearing the seeming obstacles and opposition, God calls His people to have a right estimation of who He is and to fear Him alone.
II. Fear the Lord
Throughout the book, standing in contrast to the commands to not fear their enemies, God repeatedly commands that His people fear Him (4:10; 5:29; 6:2, 13, 24; 8:6; 10:12, 20; 13:4; 14:23; 17:19; 28:58; 31:12, 13). And it is this fear of God that really provides the impetus to obey the previous command to not fear man and difficult circumstances. Fearing God is the solution to conquering all other fears.
A. Meaning of the fear of the Lord
Explanation: This concept of the fear of the Lord is an important one. The English word “fear” is somewhat deficient to communicate the full meaning of this concept. The normal idea that seems to be implied is that of terror, and while it may not be entirely absent, it is certainly not in the forefront of the concept. The idea is primarily one of properly esteeming God as the one who is infinitely great and deserving of worship, service, love, and obedience. That terror is not the central meaning of the term is clear from its collocation with love (10:12). The concept is a very broad one that encompasses within it ideas of faith, love, obedience, respect, loyalty, among other things.
B. Reasons to fear the Lord
1. Because of who He is
Explanation: God is to be feared first of all because of who He is. God is described in the book as “awesome” (7:21; 10:17, 21). [Interestingly, this term is the niphal of the verb “to fear.” The idea is literally that God is a being-feared God, i.e., a God who is to be feared.] The greatness and power of God demands the highest of estimation and respect of His people. Fearing God is properly esteeming oneself in light of His greatness. A proper understanding of the name Yahweh is vital in order to fear God aright (28:58). This name is an awesome name [see previous note]. It occurs 550 times in the book and is vital to fearing God. Without knowing who this great God is, one will not have a proper fear of Him.
2. Because of what He does for His people
Explanation: But God is not just feared for His sheer greatness and power. There is also a relational aspect to this fear. God is to be feared because He is the personal God of His people (10:21). This relationship that God has with His people is manifested in His acting in their behalf and doing great things for them. Not only is God awesome, but His acts are also awesome. [This is the same term used to describe God, coming from the verb meaning “to fear.”]
C. The means to fearing the Lord
Explanation: The primary way for Israel to fear the Lord was by continually hearing the words of the Lord and being reminded of God and His love for them and claims upon them. God expressed this in saying, “Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth” (4:10). This same thing is emphasized at the end of the book as well: “When all Israel comes to appear before the LORD your God at the place which He will choose, you shall read this law in front of all Israel in their hearing. Assemble the people, the men and the women and children and the alien who is in your town, so that they may hear and learn and fear the LORD your God, and be careful to observe all the words of this law. Their children, who have not known, will hear and learn to fear the LORD your God, as long as you live on the land which you are about to cross the Jordan to possess” (31:11–13).
D. The manifestation of fearing the Lord
Explanation: The primary manifestation of fearing the Lord is seen in one’s relationship to His commands. The one who fears God will seek to serve (6:13; 10:12, 20; 13:5), love (10:12), and obey (13:15) God exactly as He requires by clinging to Him (10:20; 13:5) and by doing (6:24), keeping (5:29; 6:2; 8:6; 13:5), and walking according to (8:6; 10:12; 13:14) His commandments. [One specific way in which this fear of God is demonstrated is by showing kindness to the stranger or resident alien (10:18–20; 25:18).]
Illustration: The fear of the Lord is not an exclusively internal and abstract concept. Take for example having a due respect for the state highway patrol. If there is a genuine fear present, it will manifest itself by obedience to the laws of the land concerning speed, etc. Where there is a reckless abandon on the road, there is no fear of the governing authorities.
Conclusion
Because of who God is and what He does for His people, you must refuse all other fears by fearing Him alone. Although there are many things in this life that can cause fear—struggles in relationships, insecurity in employment, uncertainty about the future, sickness, physical safety, death—a proper estimation and fear of who God is will drive out all other fears. You must seek to biblically deal with your fears by having a proper estimation of God and trusting His promises rather than being governed by the changing, and often fearful, circumstances of life. By God’s grace and by meditation upon the Word, make God your only fear.
Sources: BTOT (Zuck); HALOT; ISBE; K&D; NDBT (“Fear”; “Deuteronomy”); Theology of the Older Testament (Payne); TWOT