Dr Paul Allen

What Are You Haunted By? What man is he that fears the Lord?  PSALM 25:12 This comes from the believer’s apprehension of the living God. According to Luther, the natural man cannot fear God perfectly; according to Rudolf Otto, he is ‘quite unable even to shudder or feel horror in the real sense of the word’.  Holy fear, on the other hand, is God-given, enabling men to reverence God’s authority, obey his commandments and hate and shun all form of evil (Je. 32:40; cf. Gn. 22:12; Heb. 5:7). It is, moreover, the beginning (or principle) of wisdom (Ps. 111:10); the secret of uprightness (Pr. 8:13); a feature of the people in whom God delights (Ps. 147:11); and the whole duty of man (Ec. 12:13). It is also one of the divine qualifications of the Messiah (Is. 11:2–3). In the OT, largely because of the law’s legal sanctions, true religion is often regarded as synonymous with the fear of God (cf. Je. 2:19; Ps. 34:11, Moffatt), and even in NT times the term ‘walking in the fear of the ...

As we work our way through the Scriptures, we are repeatedly met with the importance of the fear of the Lord and learn that it “is wisdom” (Job 28:28); “the beginning of knowledge” (Prov. 1:7); “hatred of evil” (8:13); “a fountain of life” (14:27); and “the whole duty of man” (Eccl. 12:13). Isaiah called it the church’s “treasure” (Isa. 33:6). Without dispute, it is one of the most important teachings of Scripture. Yet for all that, it is one of the least understood. We do not come to an experiential realization of the fear of God until we first see our predisposition to what the Bible calls the fear of man. The Scriptures distil the totality of our spiritual experience into a series of easily grasped contrasts: light and darkness, wisdom and foolishness, old and new, life and death, faith and unbelief, and so on. Not least among these is the contrast between the fear of the Lord and the fear of man. Our Lord Jesus highlighted this contrast when He said, “Do not fear those...

Elijah Wood as Frodo in Peter Jackson's live-action version of The Lord of the Rings. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) One of the most frightening verses in the entire Bible is Hebrews 12:14, particularly the final phrase: “…and pursue holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.” Yet, like Aragorn’s dramatic words to Frodo Baggins in their encounter at the Prancing Pony in The Fellowship of the Ring, I don’t think we’re frightened enough. The author’s words are an imperative, and the holiness he is commanding is not the spotless righteousness of Christ imputed to the believer at conversion. Rather, he is speaking of purity of life. Essentially, the writer is telling his audience to pursue Christ-likeness, for without ongoing transformation into the image of Christ, a sinner has no rightful claim on the grace of God. In real life, this means we can go to church, read our Bibles daily, pray regularly, and yet, if we are not being transformed so that our lives reflect Christ’s,...

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, the Proverbs tell us, and the fear of the Lord is the beginning of the end of all other fears. For us as sons of God, to fear God means to humbly trust Him and helplessly tremble before Him with reverence and awe, love and gratitude (Ps. 147:11; 2 Cor. 7:15; Heb. 12:28). Although most fear is deadly, the fear of the Lord is life. The fears we experience in this life are countless and complex. And while we have chosen to address seven deadly fears, there are innumerably more that each of us experience every day of our lives. For it’s not only that we experience fears from things outside of us, but that we experience fears from things within us, as Martin Luther admitted: “I more fear what is within me than what comes from without.” Fear often takes the form of anxiety when we worry about things that might happen to us, but it also takes the form of anxiety when we worry about things that have already happened to us.  We fear not...

The doctrine of God’s omnipresence is of immeasurable practical benefit. It is, first of all, a stern warning to the wicked, as Charnock elaborates: “How terrible should the thoughts of this attribute be to sinners! How foolish is it to imagine any hiding-place from the incomprehensible God, who fills and contains all things, and is present in every point of the world. When men have shut the door, and made all darkness within, to meditate or commit a crime, they cannot in the most intricate recesses be sheltered from the presence of God. If they could separate themselves from their own shadows, they could not avoid his company, or be obscured from his sight: Ps. 139:12, ‘The darkness and light are both alike to him.’ Hypocrites cannot disguise their sentiments from him; he is in the most secret nook of their hearts. No thought is hid, no lust is secret, but the eye of God beholds this, and that, and the other. He is present with our heart when we imagine, with our hands when we ...

The fear of God denotes the proper response of human beings to the awesome majesty and holiness of God. It is a recognition of our frailty, weakness, and sinfulness in contrast to the sovereign power and infinite holiness of a God who holds in His hands our very lives and ways. This centrifugal aspect of the fear of God holds us reverently distant from the One who by the simple power of His word created the universe out of nothing. On the other band, the fear of God also denotes the love and humble gratitude of the person who, conscious of his own sinfulness and exposure to divine wrath, has experienced the grace and mercy of God in the forgiveness of his sins. This centripetal aspect of the fear of God is beautifully expressed in Psalm 130:3–4: “If You, LORD, should mark iniquities, O LORD, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with You, that You may be feared.” Here we see that it is not the fear of divine wrath, but rather the gratefulness for divine forgiveness that elicit...

I recently heard a young Christian remark, “I have no fear of dying.” When I heard this comment I thought to myself, “I wish I could say that.” I am not afraid of death. I believe that death for the Christian is a glorious transition to heaven. I am not afraid of going to heaven. It’s the process that frightens me. I don’t know by what means I will die. It may be via a process of suffering and that frightens me. I know that even this shouldn’t frighten me. There are lots of things that frighten me that I shouldn’t let frighten me. The Scripture declares that perfect love casts out fear. But my love is still imperfect and fear hangs around. THERE IS ONE FEAR, HOWEVER, that many of us do not have that we should have. It is the fear of God. Not only are we allowed to fear God, we are commanded to fear Him. A mark of reprobation is to have no fear of God before our eyes. Luther made an important distinction concerning the fear of God. He distinguished between servile fear and filia...

Stained glass at St John the Baptist's Anglican Church http://www.stjohnsashfield.org.au, Ashfield, New South Wales. Illustrates Jesus' description of himself "I am the Good Shepherd" (from the Gospel of John, chapter 10, verse 11). This version of the image shows the detail of his face. The memorial window is also captioned: "To the Glory of God and in Loving Memory of William Wright. Died 6th November, 1932. Aged 70 Yrs." (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom" ( Prov. 9:10). If that is so, and it is, then the fear of the Lord is never to be feared . This fear is not a barrier to growth but a breakthrough to growth and eternal fulfillment. But the word fear needs clarification, doesn't it? After all, doesn't the Bible say, "Perfect love casts out fear" (1 John4:18)? Yes. So, there must be two kinds of fear. One kind of fear is the fear that shrinks from the Lord in dread, that cowers ...

John Bunyan (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) One of the more interesting sections of dialog in John Bunyan ’s  The Pilgrim’s Progress  has Christian and Hopeful discussing the danger of backsliding, of falling away from what had the appearance of spiritual life and growth. That dialog, drawn from the tenth stage of Christian’s journey, is important and instructive. Bunyan presupposes that such people have been awakened to their need for salvation by some combination of the fear of God and the danger of hell, but eventually fall back or fall away. Here are four reasons that people backslide: The conscience is awakened, but the mind is not changed. Therefore, when the guilt and fear of God that motivated this awakening of conscience has passed, their desire for salvation cools and they return to their own ways. Though the consciences of such men are awakened, yet their minds are not changed: therefore, when the power of guilt weareth away, that which ...