Can one properly fear God without being afraid of Him ..or afraid of His words? Yes.
Christians want to rep Him well (be and give witness of Him) in this world gone south, but how can we if we are scared of approaching God?
A healthy fear of God is not a tormenting type of fear. It's not the same as being scared of God or of what He speaks. It is a sense of reverential awe while truthing Him. It's what is 100% needed in this world today. I mean especially with so many people that feelin' afraid. It is a fear that allows us to see our place in the order of creation. In many ways, it is a good reminder of our smallness before Him who is Big in this vast universe. If we fear God we will fear nothing.. no man or circumstance.
Believers are not to live scared of God. That'd be lame. We have no reason not to approach Him with honesty, trust and humility, or to become scared of Him at all. We have His promise that nothing can separate us from His perfect love (See Romans 8:38-39).
What's it about? It's about more than mere respect of Him, the fear of God includes understanding how much God hates sin (that destorys) and fearing His judgment on sin—even in the life of a believer. Hebrews 12:5-11 describes God’s discipline of the believer. While it is done in love (Hebrews 12:6), it is still a fearful thing. When we were children, our fear of discipline from our parents no doubt prevented some evil actions on our part. The same should be true in our relationship with God. We should fear His discipline, and therefore seek to live our lives in a way that pleases Him.
We believers have His promise that He will never leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). Yes, fearing God means having a respectful reverence for Him and His guidelines that greatly impacts the way we live. The fear of God is all about respecting Him, and vertical relationship while obeying Him. Yes, it's about submitting to His Word, to His discipline, and worshiping Him 24/7/365 in awe.
Proverbs 1:7 declares, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge.” Until we understand who God is and develop a reverential fear of Him, we cannot have true wisdom. True wisdom comes only from understanding who God is and that He is holy, just, and righteous. Deuteronomy 10:12, 20-21 records, “And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Fear the LORD your God and serve him. Hold fast to him and take your oaths in his name. He is your praise; he is your God, who performed for you those great and awesome wonders you saw with your own eyes.” The fear of God is the basis for our walking in His ways, serving Him, and, yes, loving Him.
"When the people heard the thunder and the loud blast of the ram’s horn, and when they saw the flashes of lightning and the smoke billowing from the mountain, they stood at a distance, trembling with fear. And they said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen. But don’t let God speak directly to us, or we will die!”
“Don’t be afraid,” Moses answered them, “for God has come in this way to test you, and so that your fear of him will keep you from sinning!” As the people stood in the distance, Moses approached the dark cloud where God was. And the LORD said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: You saw for yourselves that I spoke to you from heaven. Remember, you must not make any idols of silver or gold to rival me. “Build for me an altar made of earth, and offer your sacrifices to me—your burnt offerings and peace offerings, your sheep and goats, and your cattle. Build my altar wherever I cause my name to be remembered, and I will come to you and bless you. If you use stones to build my altar, use only natural, uncut stones. Do not shape the stones with a tool, for that would make the altar unfit for holy use. And do not approach my altar by going up steps. If you do, someone might look up under your clothing and see your nakedness." Exodus 20:18-26 nlt
So why the difference when he changes not?
God speaks in the way that best fits the people's need of the moment as well as accomplishes his eternal purposes. Q: What's your need of the moment?
At Sinai, His awesome display of light and sound was necessary to show the people of Israel His great power and authority. Only then would they listen up to Moses and Aaron.
All through His Book we find phrases such as: “Don’t be afraid.” I see this 365 times. If he says anything once or even twice I want to listen up cuz it's important.
God never was trying to scare the people (see Ex. 20:20) cuz that's not productive. He was showing his mighty power so the Israelites would know he is way Holy (so unlike that proud suborn Pharaoh in Egypt), and know he was the only true God after they were delivered from slavery where there was corruption and were countless so-called (dead as wood kinda) gods. Sure, and then they'd subsequently think right wanting to obey his direct and delegated authority.. for their own benefit and the benefit of others around them.
The fear of the Lord is so dif than being afraid of him. If they would do this, he would make his power available to them. God wants us to follow him out of love rather than that unhealthy kind of fear. Why? Here's why: To overcome all bad fears, to overcome this world-system, and all that other junk of the flesh that can pull us downward.
We all need to think and pray more about his love daily. First John 4:18 says, “Perfect love expels all fear.”
Why were so many specific directions given in the OT for building those altars? Think about it, it needed to be simple. God’s people had no Bible. They had few spiritual traditions to learn from. God basically had to start from scratch with them and teach them how to worship him (see Ex. 20:24–26).
And so God gave specific instructions about building altars because he needed to control the way sacrifices were offered.. rather than see things go so sideways like in Egypt.
To prevent that weirdness.. idolatry.. from creeping into their worship, God did not allow the altar stones to be cut or shaped into any form. Seems like the more people get away from their consciousness of God's close relational presence.. they run off to idols and all the ornate carvings with their worship. Stay focused and keep it simple, please.
Nor did God let the people build an altar just anywhere they felt like it. This was designed to prevent them from starting their own strange religions (we see too much of that stuff with vain practices now) or making changes in the way God wanted things done. God is not against creativity really. He is SO creative, but he is against us creating our own religion and things to bow down to.
The Jews of Moses day and many of our day to have wanted systematic procedures for acknowledging God’s holiness and mankind’s sinfulness before a watching world.
Yes, before all nations.
Re-born Christians that are on-fire for Jesus zealously pray and seek to exhibit good moral behavior and live exemplary lives reflecting the light of the Lord before other peoples and nations. We want to win them to our holy God and His Son Jesus Christ!
There is a good purpose for all of God's laws. Jews and Christians have categorized them and there's a distinction between moral law, ceremonial law, and judicial law that we need to know about.
Moral Law
These are general laws, yeah not so specific to the Jew's time and culture in Moses' day, which are directly applicable to all people of all times and cultures. Not just the Ten Commandments, but many other laws fall into this category – i.e., love your neighbor as yourself, welcome the stranger, care for the poor, praise the Lord, etc.
The moral law encompasses regulations on justice, respect, and sexual conduct, and includes the Ten Commandments. It also includes penalties for failure to obey the ordinances. Moral law does not point people to Christ; it merely illuminates the fallen state of all mankind. The moral laws, or mishpatim, relate to justice and judgment and are often translated as "ordinances." Mishpatim are said to be based on God’s holy nature. As such, the ordinances are holy, just, and unchanging. Their purpose is to promote the welfare of those who obey. The value of the laws is considered obvious by reason and common sense.Modern Protestants are divided over the applicability of mishpatim in the church age. Some believe that Jesus’ assertion that the law will remain in effect until the earth passes away (Matthew 5:18) means that believers are still bound to it. Others, however, understand that Jesus fulfilled this requirement (Matthew 5:17), and that we are instead under the law of Christ.
Ceremonial Law
relationship with God. Clean and unclean foods, not mixing different threads or seeds, etc., were all about making a distinction between God’s people and the people of the world. The atonement sacrifices were about purifying the people and the tabernacle from their sin so that God could dwell there among them. The non-atonement sacrifices were about thanks, praise and devotion to God. The fes$vals were celebra$ons of what God had done for His people.
The ceremonial laws are called hukkim or chuqqah in Hebrew, which literally means “custom of the nation”; the words are often translated as “statutes.” These laws seem to focus the adherent’s attention on God. They include instructions on regaining right standing with God (e.g., sacrifices and other ceremonies regarding “uncleanness”), remembrances of God’s work in Israel (e.g., feasts and festivals), specific regulations meant to distinguish Israelites from their pagan neighbors (e.g., dietary and clothing restrictions), and signs that point to the coming Messiah (e.g., the Sabbath, circumcision, Passover, and the redemption of the firstborn). Some Jews believe that the ceremonial law is not fixed. They hold that, as societies evolve, so do God’s expectations of how His followers should relate to Him. This view is not indicated in the Bible.
Christians are not bound by ceremonial law. Since the church is not the nation of Israel, memorial festivals, such as the Feast of Weeks and Passover, do not apply. Galatians 3:23-25 explains that since Jesus has come, Christians are not required to sacrifice or circumcise. There is still debate in Protestant churches over the applicability of the Sabbath. Some say that its inclusion in the Ten Commandments gives it the weight of moral law. Others quote Colossians 2:16-17 and Romans 14:5 to explain that Jesus has fulfilled the Sabbath and become our Sabbath rest. As Romans 14:5 says, "Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind." The applicability of the Old Testament law in the life of a Christian has always related to its usefulness in loving God and others. If someone feels observing the Sabbath aids him in this, he is free to observe it.
Judicial a.k.a. Civil Law
The Westminster Confession adds the category of judicial or civil law. These laws were specifically given for the culture and place of the Israelites and encompass all of the moral law except the Ten Commandments. This includes everything from murder to restitution for a man gored by an ox and the responsibility of the man who dug a pit to rescue his neighbor’s trapped donkey (Exodus 21:12-36). Since the Jews saw no difference between their God-ordained morality and their cultural responsibilities, this category is used by Christians far more than by Jewish scholars.
The division of the Jewish law into different categories is a human construct designed to better understand the nature of God and define which laws church-age Christians are still required to follow. Many believe the ceremonial law is not applicable, but we are bound by the Ten Commandments. All the law is useful for instruction (2 Timothy 3:16), and nothing in the Bible indicates that God intended a distinction of categories. Christians are not under the law (Romans 10:4). Jesus fulfilled the law, thus abolishing the difference between Jew and Gentile "so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross…" (Ephesians 2:15-16).
These same qualities and attributes can be ascribed to the God of the Bible. God is truth. He made Himself discoverable throughout history and through the Bible (Exodus 8:10); He transcends all cultures in His very attributes (Job 38); His existence cannot be affected by our feelings or attitudes (Psalm 25); He is absolute as the Alpha and Omega (Revelation 1:18); and He is knowable through Scripture and personal revelation by the Holy Spirit (John 16:13). The ultimate revelation of God and therefore of truth is Jesus Christ. He is the way the truth and the life.
