John 16:33 says In the world you will have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.  

Jesus isn’t commanding us to not be afraid.  Does the vine command the branch to be fruitful or does the vine produce fruit in the branch?  The only thing the vine will say to the branch is abide in me and I will produce my fruit in you.  

God isn’t so harsh as to command people to deliver themselves from fear.  He comes as the deliverer.  

There’s a life in Jesus that has already overcome the world.  There’s a life inside of human flesh seated at the right hand of God that has already overcome the corona virus.  The corona virus cannot decay that life.  It cannot take from that life.  It cannot overthrow that life.  

When you see the life that is in Christ is your life, and you see the life you have now even in this earthen vessel has already overcome any tribulation that can manifest in the world.  Your heart will be purified from the fear in the earth on account of things like the corona virus.  

Beginning 

I want to look at the fear of the Lord and what it means to fear God.   

Proverbs 9 says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.  Deuteronomy 6 says you shall fear the Lord your God.  The fear of the Lord is one of the primary things talked about in the book of Deuteronomy. 

So what is the fear of the Lord?  What does it mean to fear God?

Are we supposed to be afraid of God?  Are we supposed to be walking on eggshells around God?  Tip toeing when we are around Him.  Is that what it means to fear God?  

Heb 12:28  says Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: 

The scriptures make a point to differentiate between godly fear and worldly fear.  There’s a worldly fear and a godly fear.  We dont want to think of godly fear in the same way we think of worldly fear.  

The kind of fear that is of the world means to be afraid of someone or something.  But, godly fear.  The kind of fear that is born of God.  The fear and trembling that comes from knowing God does not speak of being afraid of God.  Or to live as if your walking on egg shells with God.  

1st John says God is love in whom there is no darkness.  He goes on to say there is no fear in love because fear has torment.  

Now if there’s no fear in love and God is love that means there’s also no fear in God.  It means there’s nothing in God that can make a person feel afraid.  The only way a person can feel afraid of God is if they arent seeing Him according to the truth of who and what He is 

Exo 20:20 says 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.

Now Moses is a prophet from God.  When he says fear not what he’s saying is there’s no reason to be afraid, and since he is a prophet from God, really what he’s saying is God doesn’t want you to be afraid.  Moses isn’t just speaking on his behalf here.  He’s speaking on behalf of God.  When he says fear not he’s saying God doesnt want you to be afraid.  

Notice the first thing Moses says to the people is dont be afraid and then he goes on to say God wants your fear to be before Him.  

Now whats going on there?  It sounds like a contradiction.  Why would Moses tell the people God doesnt want them to be afraid if fearing God means to be afraid of Him?  

Shouldn’t Moses have told the people to be afraid if fearing God means to be afraid of Him?  Its an oxymoron.  Really if you feared God in the sense the scriptures talk about you wouldn’t be afraid at all.  

If fearing God doesn’t mean to be afraid of Him what does it mean?  

Remember the context here is that the Israelites were just given the law.  

Now the law talks about the work of God.  The law speaks of Gods righteousness towards mankind.  It talks about the righteous thing God will do to deliver mankind from sin.  The law talks about what God will do to abolish death and manifest His life and His immortality in our physical bodies and in the earth.  

I know it can be a struggle for us to see it because for so long we’ve had a veil over our hearts when we read Moses.  But, the law was always talking about the work God would do to save us from sin and gift us with His eternal life.  

Paul said in 2nd Corinthians 3 there was a veil upon the hearts of people when they read Moses but the veil is removed in Christ.  Paul is saying when we read Moses in the past we were blinded to what it was really saying.  

We couldn’t see that the law was always talking about the work of God.  We looked on the law through the carnal mind and that veiled our hearts to what was really written there, and we thought the law spoke of the works which we must do.   

Yes the law was given by Moses but the revelation that what it said is full of grace came by Jesus Christ.  Jesus came to remove the veil from our hearts by showing us the grace the law was always talking about.  

So in Exodus 20 Moses says God doesnt want you to be afraid.  He sees you are perishing.  He sees the venom of the serpent has stung you with death and filled your hearts with the poison of asps.  Don’t be afraid God sees the bite of the serpent has caused your fear to be before your own works.  

God has given you this law to tell you of the good work He will do to save you from the death in the world.  So that when you see the beauty of what He will do you will be put to rest by the revelation of His goodness towards you.  

Moses is telling the Israelites God has given you the law to put the beauty of the work He will do before your eyes.  He has given you the law to tell you about the work He will do ........ so that when you see what He will do you will be so awestruck by His goodness towards you that all you will be able to do is stand still and gaze upon His work with wonder and amazement.  

Exodus 14 says fear not.  Stand still and see the salvation the Lord will bring you.  When you see the salvation God serves you with as a gift it will cause you stand still.  

Like with the parting of the Red Sea ....

God wanted the people to know Him as their God.  He wanted the people to know its His good pleasure to serve them with His life and save them from the evil in the world.  God wanted the people to be intimate with the work He would do so they would know Him as their God.  

Moses says listen guys we are needing death to be conquered.  We are in need of sin being removed from us as far as the east is from the west.  We are in need of a life that is indestructible and can never end.  

Man God sees what we need.  God has given you this law to show you that He will be your provision.  He has given you this law to show you He will condemn the bite of the serpent.  He has given you this law to put before your eyes the work He will do to crush the serpents head and serve you with the life your heart longs for.  

God gave the law to set before the people’s eyes the work He will do to condemn the bite of the serpent and gift them with His life so they could see He would Father their life and be made still from their works.  

Psalm 46:10 says Be still, and know that I am God.  When you see that I am your God it will make you still.  

The fear of the Lord is to be put to rest on account of being so awestruck by the work of God that all you can do is stand still.  It’s to be made still on account of the beauty you behold in God and the work He will do to serve you with His salvation.   

Fearing God talks about the stillness that comes upon a person as they behold the beauty of what God has done.  Its the stillness that comes upon you when you see what God has done to conquer death in the flesh and manifest His life and immortality in your physical bodies.  

We can see the same thing in Christ.  Christ is the manifestation of what the law said God would do. 

If I look at myself.  There I was needing life.  There I was needing to be justified from the death in the world.  There I was trying to build myself a life.  And then I see God come in Christ and built me a life that was exceedingly abundantly above all I could ask or think.  

I mean I was busy thinking of how I need to be in the Olympics, I was busy thinking of how I can be a success in the eyes of man and the world.  I was busy thinking of how I could be prosperous in the worlds eyes and in the worlds resources.  Man my eyes were filled with temporal things.  I was busy asking God for temporal things.  I was busy with my own works trying to prove I was filled with glory and honor by the life I could build myself in the earth.  I couldn’t even imagine what God had in His heart for me.  And then God came and prepared for me a body that was clothed in His life and His immortality.  Man when I saw what He did I was in awe of Him and my fear was before Him and not before my own works.   

What happened when I saw what God did in Christ to build my life is, I was filled with a reverential awe of God.  I saw the work He did to build me a life was exceedingly abundantly above all I could ask or think, and my heart esteemed him as my Father.  I adored Him as my Father.  I was in awe of Him. 

When we see the work God has done to overcome sin and death in the flesh and to make manifest His immortality in our physical bodies.  Man it will make us still.  We will be awestruck.  You think it was a sight to see the Red Sea part? Man that’s nothing compared to setting your eyes on the life and immortality God has prepared for you.  Its nothing compared to the glorified flesh God has prepared for you.

Have you ever seen something that blew your mind.  Where your couldn’t believe what your eyes just saw.  Where it seemed as if it was impossible to see something like that.  Where you are just in awe of what you are seeing, and the amazement of what you are seeing makes you stand still.  Where all you can do is gaze upon it with your mouth wide open.  

Example of Beckie and being in awe of the beauty I beheld in her....

Example of reverential awe of my dad ....

If I think of my dad 

No one had to tell me to revere my father.  All that had to happen was for my eyes to see what He did .... and when I saw what my dad could do I was like wow and I was made still.  I was in awe of  all that He did and what happened is I revered him.  I was so awestruck by what He could do i was filled with a reverential awe.  My heart adored him as my Father.  I wasnt afraid of him I was filled with adoration towards him when I saw what He could do.  My fear was before him.  

Jesus interpreted the fear of the Lord as worshipping God in Matthew 4:10 when he interpreted Deuteronomy 6:13 as saying “thou shalt worship the Lord thy God.

How does a person worship God?  

In Acts 17 Paul said You don’t worship God by what you can do for Him, or by your outward actions.  So what does it mean to worship God? 

Worshipping God is for your heart to esteem Him as your Father on account of what He has done to care for your life.  It means to have reverence towards God and to adore Him as your Father.  

The word reverence is a poetical title for a Father.  The way you revere someone as your Father is to be persuaded of their love for you by way of seeing what they have done to care for your life.  

When your sight is fixed on the work God has done in Christ to build you a life inside of human flesh that is indestructible it will cause you to revere God as your Father.  It will cause you to revere God as the one who cares for your life.  That is what it means to fear God.