Fear Today: October 2022
Table of Contents
Fear Today
We need to understand the difference between fear with respect to man and with respect to God. “The fear of man bringeth a snare.” “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” The fear of man is the result of unbelief in the heart of God as our Father and His perfect care and control over every detail of our life. The fear of man is also a result of having temporarily lost our fellowship with God through pride or disobedience or a lack of dependence. The proper fear of God is a reverential respect for His majesty and authority and power over all things including ourselves. When we walk in the light, we walk in the conscious sense that He sees and knows every detail of what is happening with us, and if coupled with the enjoyment of His perfect love, the fear of man or circumstances is cast out. If we do not respect God and walk in disobedience, we lose our confidence in His love and our conscience will make us fear His governmental hand upon our lives. Because God has given every man a conscience, the unbeliever seeks to ignore and remove God from his thoughts, for he lives with the fear of being judged by God.
Fear Not
The phrase “fear not” occurs many times in the Word of God, beginning with the word to Abram in Genesis 15:1 and ending with the word spoken to the Apostle John in Revelation 1:17. Many times the words come directly from the Lord to one of His own, to encourage them and to allay their fears. However, the words come sometimes from men or women, such as Joseph, David, Elijah, Jael and others. Sometimes even ungodly men like Absalom used the term in Scripture.
In this article it would be impossible to consider all the references in Scripture to “fear not,” but it is significant that the term occurs seven times in the book of Luke. The order in which they are used in Luke is also important.
We know that Luke’s gospel portrays the Lord Jesus as the Son of Man, and it is also the introduction of Paul’s ministry. As such, Luke brings us into contact with souls much more than the other gospels. Some have even called Luke the social gospel. Matthew gives us kingdom truth and thus is much more taken up with the kingdom. However, the Lord Jesus speaks of the church in Matthew and tells us that in the future He would build His church. Mark looks at Christ as the perfect Servant, while John brings out His deity so clearly.
The Coming of Christ
The first three uses of the phrase “fear not” in the book of Luke have to do with the coming of Christ into the world. First of all, the priest Zacharias, while engaged in his service in the temple, sees an angel before him, and he is quite naturally troubled and afraid. But the angel tells him, “Fear not” (Luke 1:13), and then proceeds to give him wonderful news about a son that would be born to them. The son was John the Baptist, the forerunner of the Lord Jesus, who would “make ready a people prepared for the Lord” (Luke 1:17).
The second time the phrase is used, it is by the angel who speaks to Mary, the earthly mother of the Lord Jesus, when the news was given to her (John 1:30) that she was to give birth to the Messiah in a miraculous way. Mary too was somewhat troubled when the angel of the Lord appeared to her, but she was immediately told not to fear. Mary’s faith was simple but real, and she immediately accepts what had been told her, saying, “Be it unto me according to Thy word” (Luke 1:38).
Finally, when our Lord was born in Bethlehem, once again an angel of the Lord appeared, this time to shepherds who were watching their flocks at night. They too were initially “sore afraid,” because “the glory of the Lord shone round about them” (Luke 2:9). But the angel immediately reassures them by saying, “Fear not” (Luke 2:10), and then tells them the news of the birth of One who was to be a Savior. The news brought them great joy, and they immediately go and see the One who had been born a Savior.
Love Revealed
The introduction of Christ into the world brought with it the revelation of the love of God. God’s love was there in the Old Testament, for He could say to His people Israel, even after all their failure, “I have loved thee with an everlasting love” (Jer. 31:3). However, that love was hidden and not brought out clearly for all mankind. During the years of the Old Testament following the flood, men were often taken up with idolatry and pagan gods, who used Satanic power to put them in fear. But when Christ came into the world, it was to reveal God’s love and grace, which is the true antidote to all fear. Thus we read in 1 John 4:18 that “perfect love casteth out fear.” It is appropriate that the first uses of the phrase “fear not” in Luke’s gospel are connected with Christ’s coming into the world — the One who would reveal God’s love to all mankind.
Delivering Power
Then, however, we find four more occasions when our Lord tells His people, “Fear not,” and in these cases it brings in Christ’s delivering power. He first of all assures us of His love, and the Father’s love for us, and then brings in His delivering power.
In Luke 5:1-11, our Lord begins to call disciples to follow Him, and when He uses Peter’s boat for a small platform from which to preach, He rewards Him with a huge draught of fishes. Peter might have hesitated to give up his livelihood in the fishing business, in order to follow the Lord, but the Lord reassures him, telling him, “Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men” (Luke 5:10). In the same way, if you and I today are in the path of the Lord’s choosing, all His power is behind us. He knows our needs, and we need not fear that we will not have the necessities of life. The Lord has promised to look after us.
Second, we find our Lord saying “fear not” to Jairus, the ruler of the synagogue, when his daughter had died. The people thought that the Lord could heal her as long as she was alive, but felt that raising the dead was beyond His power. The Lord’s message to the father was, “Fear not: believe only, and she shall be made whole” (Luke 8:50). God’s power was not limited by death; the Lord Jesus could deliver his daughter from death and raise her up again. God does not normally raise people from the dead today, but we know that at the Lord’s coming, His mighty power will raise up all those who have died in Christ and take them to be with Him.
Them That Kill the Body
Third, we find the Lord Jesus once again reminding His followers that they were following a rejected Christ. There would be those who could kill the body, but they could not touch the soul. Also, not even one common sparrow fell to the ground without the Lord noticing it, and He reminds His own that they were of more value than many sparrows. More than this, there would be a reward in a coming day for those who confessed Christ before men; they would in turn be confessed before the angels of God in a coming day. It is worth it to give up present advantage in this world in order to have future gain with the Lord in heaven.
We also today follow that same rejected Christ, and the current of thought today, even in countries that have been based on Christian principles, is more and more contrary to God’s claims. It may well be that before our Lord comes to take us home, we too may suffer persecution for adhering to the Word of God and seeking to be faithful to Him.
The Coming Kingdom
Finally, in the same chapter 12 of Luke, we find our Lord saying “fear not” concerning the coming kingdom. We have already pointed out that Luke’s gospel is more concerned with souls and their needs than with the kingdom, yet the Lord Jesus knows that many were looking for a visible kingdom. They were disappointed when it did not appear and felt as if their hopes were being dashed to the ground. Would there be a kingdom? Yes, there would be, and in a coming day the godly remnant of the nation of Israel will inherit it. Thus the Lord says to them, “Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32).
However, at the same time the Lord weaves into His words to them the clear thought of heavenly blessing. There was something even more wonderful than the coming kingdom — the preciousness of laying up treasure in heaven. Then, if their treasure were up there, they would find that “where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Luke 12:34). Whether it is you and I today, as part of the church, or those among the godly Jews in the tribulation, the encouragement is the same. If death by martyrdom should overtake us or them, both we and they will surely inherit the kingdom on the heavenly side.
In summary then, we are not promised anything in this world; our only future is glory. The love of God revealed in Christ is our bulwark against fear, and Christ’s delivering power is there for us, whether in circumstances down here or even in death, if God should allow that to happen to us.
W. J. Prost
Fear in the Unbelieving World
While much of the fear in this world may not be obvious publicly, yet there are distinctive signs and subtle nuances in the behavior of people that betray their inner feelings. Over a year ago, when the COVID-19 pandemic was at a high point, a sampling of people in the United States was asked what their greatest fears were. Some that were mentioned most frequently were civil unrest, the fear of a loved one catching COVID-19, getting seriously ill from some other cause, corrupt government officials, pollution of the environment, cyber terrorism, and economic collapse. More recently, with the COVID-19 pandemic subsiding and the war in the Ukraine assuming serious proportions, the fears have shifted, with many being more concerned now about the possibility of increased shortages of fuel and food, and a World War that may include nuclear weapons. However, along with all this there are seemingly multiple things going on at the same time and a general decline in every sphere of society. A state of fear can trigger outrage, a demand for action, and a disintegration of trust and even civility. We are seeing all of these in the world today, including an increase in things like general incivility, going all the way up to road rage. More than this, here in North America we are seeing an increase in mass shootings, generally by those who are either angry or simply tired of all the inconveniences and annoyances of life. They want to end it all, but take as many as possible with them. The anger within them is “boiling over,” and they are taking it out on anyone and everyone who happens to be available to them.
Lack of Vision
We are reminded of the lack of vision that is spoken of in the Word of God and the solemn consequences of it. “Where there is no vision the people cast off restraint” (Prov. 29:18 JND). In his day, Jeremiah could lament the state of things in Judah, and say, “Her prophets also find no vision from the Lord” (Lam. 2:9).
In the past, people in many Western countries have relied on a worldly vision — a vision that included only this world and did not extend beyond that horizon. This kind of vision is typical of Cain’s world — a vision that tries to arrange as much pleasure as possible in a world that is spoiled by sin. However, God is left out in all this, and His claims are forgotten. With some of the most productive economies the world has ever seen, particularly in the United States, the Western world has enjoyed prosperity and “the good life” for many years. This goodness of God has, in turn, induced a sense of complacency into the minds of those born and brought up under this sublime atmosphere. A sense of entitlement, coupled with the feeling that this prosperity will go on indefinitely, has produced a mindset that cannot understand how all this has rather suddenly started to crumble. Some have been able to cope with the changes, while others, unable to manage under the difficulties, have thrown off restraint and resorted to bad behavior of various kinds. This bad behavior may include simply the incivility we have already mentioned and a rather “who cares?” attitude toward responsibility, or it may escalate into immoral conduct and even violence.
A Higher Vision
What is the problem? The problem is that the vision has not been high enough. A vision that is limited to the horizons of this world will never be able to sustain the storms of life. That kind of vision may work in “fair weather,” but it will never stand up in a tempest, and it will never stand up in death. The natural man at his best thinks of “making this world a better place” and perhaps of leaving a legacy of good that will guarantee that his name will be remembered. But a view that is centered only on this world is not enough.
The kind of vision spoken of in the Word of God is a vision founded on the Lord Himself — a vision that looks on to eternity, and not merely at our time in this world. Man was created for eternity, not for time, and his art, music and poetry are basically a lament for the loss of something that is eternal. When I attended university, one of the professors of philosophy (a subject I did not study) apparently remarked once in a lecture that if there were a God, why did He create a world where everything eventually had to die? The only answer is found in God’s Word, for God did not create such a world. “As by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (Rom. 5:12). That professor had no vision, for he rejected not only the Bible, but the existence of God Himself. Yet man cannot get away from his makeup, for he longs for that which is eternal. The difficulty with fallen man is that to embrace an eternal view of things necessarily involves the recognition of God’s claims over him, and this he does not want.
The Antidote
The antidote to the fear present in this world is a vision of eternity and the promise of a life beyond this world. Man may reject that thought, but deep down, each one knows that he or she has been created, not only for time, but for eternity. Each one knows that he or she must meet God someday and answer to Him. As another has said, the conscience of man never goes atheistic.
We who belong to Christ ought to pray that all the sad events today and the general deterioration of the “good life” to which we have become accustomed will draw souls to Christ and cause them to think seriously about what lies beyond this life. Instead of bringing about the casting off of restraint, such developments ought to produce a solemn reverence for the God who has allowed them, for God never brings down judgment on man without giving a warning. We are seeing those warnings today, and our prayer ought to be that they will be heeded.
W. J. Prost
Fear in the Hearts of Believers
In another article in this issue, we have looked at fear in the hearts of unbelievers—the source of it and the answer to it. But what about fear in the hearts of those who belong to Christ? Is such fear ever justified, or is fear in the heart of the believer always wrong?
On the one hand, Paul could clearly tell his spiritual son Timothy that “God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Tim. 1:7). The circumstances under which Paul gave this exhortation are important, for he did not feel it necessary to say this when things were in order in the church and when the saints were generally going on well. Rather, he says this when he was in prison for the last time and when the signs of decline in the church were becoming all too evident. In this same chapter, he has to tell Timothy, “All they which are in Asia be turned away from me” (2 Tim. 1:15). In the second chapter, he has to tell him that separation from “vessels to dishonor” would be necessary, and this would sometimes mean separation from a fellow Christian who was walking badly. It is under these sad conditions that Paul reminds Timothy that God has not given us the spirit of fear; rather He gives us the spirit of power, love, and a sound mind (wise discretion).
The Spirit of Fear
In this exhortation we see real encouragement, for although Paul recognized the declension that was coming in and warned Timothy about it, yet there is not one hint of discouragement in the whole epistle. Paul was confident in what he had been given by the Lord and what he had preached. He had nothing to regret, and he reminds Timothy that the Lord was the same, even if some were giving up the truth Paul had preached. The word used here for love is the word frequently used for divine love, and the word used for power is the word often used for God’s power. It is the root word from which we get our English word “dynamite.” Then there is the caution of “wise discretion,” which means showing divine love and using divine power in the right way, under the guidance of the Spirit of God.
In the Old Testament we have the warning that “the fear of man bringeth a snare, but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe” (Prov. 29:25). There is the danger of our having the fear of various events going on around us, and perhaps the general declension of things, but to have the fear of man is also wrong. The fear of man can cause us to abandon our courage to stand firm for the Lord and to honor Him in spite of the difficulties. Rather, we should have the attitude taken in Psalm 118:6 and repeated in Hebrews 13:6: “The Lord is my helper; and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.” Many dear believers down through the ages have boldly stood for the Lord and have suffered the consequences of their faithfulness.
Let Us Therefore Fear
However, I believe that according to the Word of God, there are times and situations under which the believer can and should fear. The first of these is the fear of ourselves. The Spirit of God could say, “Let us therefore fear, lest a promise being left us of entering into His rest, any of you should seem to come short of it” (Heb. 4:1). Also, the Apostle Peter writes to the Jewish believers in his day, “Pass the time of your sojourning here in fear” (1 Peter 1:17).
This kind of fear is good for a believer, for it means that we do not trust in our own strength, but rather depend on the Lord. Peter knew very well how overconfidence in his life had caused him to fail and eventually deny His Lord with oaths and curses. He was ready to go into death for the Lord Jesus, but our Lord’s comment was, “The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matt. 26:41). Later he was happily restored and was a useful servant of the Lord, because he learned not to trust in his own strength. He did, in fact, give up his life for the Lord when he was older.
We meet many kinds of difficulties around us today, and as the state of the world grows more sinful and contrary to the believer, we need more and more to rely on the Lord’s strength in order to be faithful to Him. When we go out in His strength and in godly fear, we will get the victory.
The Fear of the Lord
Coupled with this is what Scripture calls “the fear of the Lord,” and this expression is used many times in the Word of God. Proverbs 22:4 reminds us that “by humility and the fear of the Lord are riches, and honor, and life.” This was, of course, written when earthly blessings were a sign of God’s favor, but the principle remains the same. A healthy humility is connected with the fear of the Lord, which means that we recognize our place as creatures, and thus our responsibility toward God. If we are tempted to fall into sin, the fear of the Lord will restrain us and make us realize two things. First of all, we will realize that the Lord wants our good and our blessing and that sin can only bring trouble and sorrow into our lives. Happiness in our lives as Christians is connected with obedience. Second, we will realize that there is a government of God that will not let us get away with sin. There are consequences to bad behavior, and the fear of the Lord will remind us of this. We do not lose our salvation if we sin, but we lose our enjoyment of Christ, and we lose His blessing in our lives.
Also connected with the fear of the Lord is the fear of taking a step without His guidance. Sometimes we have confidence in our own judgment, and it is true that we are expected to have spiritual discernment in considering the questions that come up from time to time. However, our own minds and natural intelligence can easily lead us astray, unless they are under the control of the Spirit of God and guided by the Word of God. Spiritual discernment comes from God, and this can only be obtained with humility and a walk in the fear of the Lord.
Fear While Not Walking Well
Third, there is a fear that is not normal for a believer who is walking with the Lord, but is allowed of the Lord for our eventual blessing. This kind of fear can also occur in an unbeliever, and the Lord may use it in blessing in this case too. I am referring to the kind of fear that results from what is unjudged in our own hearts.
When Adam and Eve sinned, they hid among the trees of the garden, and Adam’s excuse was, “I was afraid, because I was naked” (Gen. 3:10). When Cain murdered his brother Abel, he complained to the Lord that his punishment was greater than he could bear. He assumed that every one who found him would kill him. But why this assumption? It does not appear that anyone had threatened to kill him. Rather, his fear was because of what was unjudged in his own heart. He had murdered, and he projected his sin onto others. Many years later, God could hold up Job before Satan as being a good man, and it is noteworthy that Satan did not argue with God nor bring up accusations against Job. Yet, when trouble came upon him, he could say, “For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me” (Job 3:25). Why was Job afraid? God Himself had pronounced him a good man, yet evidently there had been fear in his heart even when all was going well with him.
The difficulty with Job was the same as that with Adam; he realized that his heart was not totally right before God. Adam was in a more serious position, for he had disobeyed a direct command; his being naked was not the real problem. Job was a good man, but despite all his goodness, he feared the sinfulness of his own heart and the pride that took credit for his goodness, rather than giving God the glory. Again, the Lord can and does use this kind of fear to bring men to repentance, whether as sinners or as saints.
Holy Fear of Sin
Finally, we mention a fear with great reverence, realizing that we tread on holy ground. We read in Hebrews 5:7 that our blessed Lord, in the Garden of Gethsemane, “offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto Him that was able to save Him from death, and was heard in that He feared.” Here was a fear that no other could have — the fear of being “made sin.” Here was One who could not sin, and thus need have no fear of falling into sin, yet He shrank back from being made sin for us. He had no fear of man, nor did He fear the physical sufferings of the cross, although He felt them as any other man would. But He feared being made sin and going into death, for death was the wages of sin. This was a godly fear, although a fear no other could have.
In summary then, we see that there are kinds of fear that are wrong for a believer, but some that are right, and they are used of the Lord to keep us from sin and in blessing to our souls.
W. J. Prost
Fear Not Man, but Fear the Lord
In the Lord’s teaching, in Luke 12, He sets the consciences of His disciples directly in the light of the judgment-seat. “I say unto you, My friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear Him, which after He hath killed, hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear Him” (Luke 12:4-5). “The fear of man bringeth a snare” (Prov. 29:25) and is closely connected with “the leaven of the Pharisees.” But “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Prov. 9:10) and causes a man always so to carry himself as if he were in the full light of Christ’s judgment-seat. This would impart immense dignity and elevation to the character, while it would effectually nip, in the earliest bud, the spirit of haughty independence, by keeping the soul under the searching power of divine light. The effect of divine light is to make everything and everyone manifest. There is nothing which so tends to rob the disciple of Christ of the proper dignity of his discipleship as walking before the eyes or the thoughts of men. So long as we are doing so, we cannot be unshackled followers of our heavenly Master. Moreover, the evil of walking before men is morally allied with the evil of seeking to hide our ways from God. Both partake of “the leaven of the Pharisees,” and both will find their proper place before the judgment-seat. Why should we fear men? Why should we regard their opinions? If their opinions will not bear to be tried in the presence of the One who has power to cast into hell, they are worth nothing, for it is with Him we have to do. Paul could say, “With me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man’s judgment” (1 Cor. 4:3). Man may have a judgment-seat now, but he will not have it then. He may set up his tribunal in time, but he will have no tribunal in eternity. Why, therefore, should we shape our way in reference to a tribunal so frail and evanescent? Oh! let us challenge our hearts as to this. God grant us grace to act now in reference to then — to carry ourselves here with our eye on hereafter; to look at time in the light of eternity.
Confidence
“If I thus rise above human thoughts and human opinions, how shall I get on in a scene where those very thoughts and opinions prevail?” This is a very natural question, but it meets its full answer from the Master’s lips. It would even seem as though He had graciously anticipated this rising element of unbelief, when, having carried His disciples above the hazy mists of time and set them in the clear, searching, powerful light of eternity, He added, “Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows” (Luke 12:6-7). Here the heart is taught not only to fear God, but also to confide in Him; it is not only warned, but also tranquilized. “Fear” and “fear not” may seem a paradox to flesh and blood, but to faith it is no paradox. The man who fears God most will fear circumstances least. The man of faith is, at once, the most dependent and independent man in the world: dependent upon God; independent of circumstances. The latter is the consequence of the former; real dependence produces real independence.
The Father’s Care
And mark the ground of the believer’s peace. The One who has power to cast into hell, the only One whom he is to fear, has actually taken the trouble to count the hairs of his head. He surely has not taken this trouble for the purpose of letting him perish either here or hereafter. By no means. The minuteness of our Father’s care should silence every doubt that might arise in our hearts. There is nothing too small, and there can be nothing too great for Him. The countless orbs that move through infinite space and a falling sparrow are alike to Him. His infinite mind can take in, with equal facility, the course of everlasting ages and the hairs of our head. This is the stable foundation on which Christ founds His “fear not” and “take no thought.” We frequently fail in the practical application of this divine principle. We may admire it as a principle, but it is only in the application of it that its real beauty is seen or felt.
Liberty of Testimony
Now, we find, in this Scripture before us, that bold and uncompromising testimony for Christ is connected with this holy elevation above men’s thoughts and this calm reliance upon our Father’s minute and tender care. If my heart is lifted above the influence of the fear of man and sweetly tranquilized by the assurance that God takes account of the hairs of my head, then I am in a condition of soul to confess Christ before men (see vss. 8-10). Nor need I be careful as to the result of this confession, for so long as God wants me here, He will maintain me here. “When they bring you unto the synagogues, and unto magistrates, and powers, take ye no thought how or what thing ye shall answer, or what ye shall say: for the Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what ye ought to say” (vss. 11-12). The only proper ground of testimony for Christ is to be fully delivered from human influence and established in unqualified confidence in God. So far as I am influenced by or a debtor to men, so far am I disqualified for being a servant of Christ, but I can be effectually delivered from human influence only by a lively faith in God. When God fills the heart, there is no room for the creature, and we may be perfectly sure of this, that no man has ever taken the trouble to count the hairs of our head. We have not likely taken that trouble ourselves, but God has, and therefore I can trust God more than anyone. God is perfectly sufficient for every exigency, great or small, and we only need to trust Him to know that He is. True, He may and does use men as instruments, but if we lean on men instead of God, we bring down a curse upon us, for it is written, “Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord” (Jer. 17:5). The Lord used the ravens to feed Elijah, but Elijah never thought of trusting in the ravens. Thus it should always be. Faith leans on God, counts on Him, clings to Him, trusts in Him, waits for Him, ever leaves a clear stage for Him to act on. It does not obstruct His glorious path by any creature-confidence, but allows Him to display Himself in all the glorious reality of what He is, leaving everything to Him. Moreover, if it gets into deep and rough waters, it will always be seen upon the crest of the loftiest billow, and from thence gazing in perfect repose upon God and His powerful actions. Such is faith — that precious principle — the only thing in this world that gives God and man their respective places.
C. H. Mackintosh (adapted)
Perfect Love
Nothing is more marked in the history and experience of souls than the tendency to look in upon self, instead of looking out upon Christ. It has been well remarked that “faith is the soul’s outward, not its inward look.” This is most true, and, assuredly, it would be well if it were more fully borne in mind. The object on which faith fixes its gaze is always outside of ourselves. The moment we look in upon self for the ground of faith, we lose the comfort and peace which it is our privilege to enjoy.
This prevailing habit of looking in, instead of out, has had the effect of robbing many of the divine beauty, preciousness, and power of 1 John 4:17 — “that we may have boldness in the day of judgment.” It has set them upon the dreary and perplexing business of examining their love, in order to find perfection in it. This is a hopeless task, for a poor, helpless, unworthy sinner, groping amid the darkness of his own heart, cannot find anything “perfect.”
Perfect Love Casts Out Fear
Nothing could be further from the mind of the Spirit than the thought of our perfect love, and this is clear from the simple reading of 1 John 4:17: “Herein has love been perfected with us that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, that even as He is, we also are in this world” (JND). Now, how could our love to God ever be sufficiently “perfect” to give us “boldness in the day of judgment”? How could we ever look forward with unclouded confidence to the judgment-seat, if we were resting on the perfection of our own love? How could our love ever be of such a character as to cast out all tormenting “fear” from our hearts? Impossible.
What, then, does the Apostle mean when he says, “Perfect love casteth out fear”? He means that God’s perfect love, as manifested to us and “perfected with us” in the precious blood of His own dear Son, completely banishes fear from our hearts. If I know that God loves me perfectly, I have no cause to doubt or fear. And how has He told out His love to me? In the blood which flowed from the pierced side of a crucified Christ. That blood has not only satisfied God’s claims as to my sins, but also expressed His perfect love toward my perishing soul. Sin had been judged and eternally put away by that blood which has told forth the deep secrets of love that dwell in the bosom of God toward lost sinners. What, therefore, will the “day of judgment” do for the believer? It will make manifest, in the view of heaven, earth and hell, that there is nothing against him. The light of “the judgment-seat of Christ” will show that there is not so much as a speck upon that “white robe,” which owes all its purity to the power of the blood. The judgment-seat will be every whit as favorable to the believer as the mercy-seat is now. This is an amazing truth—one divinely calculated to drive out “fear” from the heart and impart boldness instead.
As He Is, So Are We
But let us specially note the manner in which God’s love is perfected with us. “As He is, so are we in this world.” This, truly, is the perfection of love. As the Judge is, so are we. “We are complete in Him” — “accepted in the Beloved” — “in Him that is true” — part of Himself. He is the Head and we are the members. Christ took our place on the cross. He was made sin; He was judged in our stead. He took our place that we might take His. He went down into the very deepest depths of our condition, in order that we might be raised to the very loftiest heights of His position before God. “As He is, so are we in this world.” Thus it is that God’s love is “perfected with us,” in order “that we may have boldness in the day of judgment.” Assuredly, the Judge will not condemn Himself. But He is my righteousness. He will not find a flaw in His own work. But that is the very ground of my confidence. He has made me what I am and set me where I am. “He that has wrought us for the selfsame thing is God” (2 Cor. 5:5).
No Fear
Hence it follows that if the thought of “the day of judgment” awakens a single “fear” in our hearts, it is a proof that we do not believe that God has perfectly loved us or the blood of Christ perfectly cleansed us. God has found all He wants in the cross. He Himself has settled the whole question of sin. He has perfectly satisfied Himself as to that. He knew the need and has met it. He knew the demands and has answered them. He measured the guilt and has canceled it. He has put away sin in such a way as to meet His own infinite purity. Sin is perfectly and eternally put away; the sinner who believes is perfectly and eternally brought nigh. The one could never be let in; the other can never be cast out. Seeing that all hangs on the perfectness of the love of God, the efficacy of the blood of Christ, and the truth of the testimony of the Holy Spirit, a single doubt is an insult to the Holy Trinity.
There are some who think that doubts and fears are signs of spiritual life. They may be so, in the same way that rheumatic pains are signs of natural life, but who would covet such signs? Who would desire perpetual torture as an evidence of his being alive? The Apostle emphatically declares that “perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love” (1 John 4:18).
“We have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him” (1 John 4:16).
C. H. Mackintosh (adapted)
The Spirit, Not of Fear, but of Power
Such exhortations as we get in 2 Timothy 1:3-8 are never given unless there are circumstances to require them. They are intended to meet some tendency in the flesh, that we may guard against it in the Spirit. It is well to remember how the Lord deals with us, just as we are; how, in all His ways, He takes into account the circumstances we are in and does not, like philosophy, take us into other circumstances.
With regard to our cares and trials, Christ does not take us out of them. “I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world” (John 17:15). While He leaves us in the world, He leaves us liable to all that is incidental to man, but, in the new nature, teaches us to lean on God. The thought with us often is that (because we are Christians) we are to get away from trials, or else, if in them, we are not to feel them. This is not God’s thought concerning us.
The theoretical Christian may be placid and calm; he may have fine books and nice sayings, but when he has something from God to ruffle his placidity, you will find he is a Christian more conscious of the difficulties there are in the world and of the difficulty of getting over such. The nearer a man walks with God through grace, the more tender he becomes as to the faults of others; the longer he lives as a saint, the more conscious he becomes of the faithfulness and tenderness of God and of what it has been applied to in himself.
The Example of the Lord Jesus
See the Lord Jesus in Gethsemane; what do we find? Never a cloud over His soul, uniform placidity. You never see Him off His center; He is always Himself. But if we look at the Psalms, do we find nothing within to break the placidity? The Psalms bring out what was passing within. In the gospels He is presented to man as the testimony of the power of God with Him, in those very things that would have vexed man. He walked with God about them, and so we find Him in perfect peace, saying with calmness, “Whom seek ye?” “I am he.” How peaceful! How commanding (for peace in the midst of difficulties does command)! When by Himself, in an agony, He sweats as it were great drops of blood; it was not placidity, for He did have heart feelings within. He felt the full trial, in spirit, but God was always with Him in the circumstances, and, therefore, He was uniformly calm before men.
We cannot expect never to be exercised, troubled or cast down, as though we were without feeling. “They gave Me also gall for My meat; and in My thirst they gave Me vinegar to drink” (Psa. 69:21). He thoroughly felt it all. The iron entered into His soul. “Reproach,” He says, “hath broken My heart.” But there is this difference between Christ in suffering and affliction, and ourselves; with Him there was never an instant elapsed between the trial and communion with God. This is not the case with us. We have first to find out that we are weak and cannot help ourselves; then we turn and look to God.
The Apostle Paul
Where was Paul when He said, “All men forsook me”? His confidence in God was not shaken, but looking around him, by the time he got to the end of his ministry, his heart was broken because of the unfaithfulness. He saw the flood of evil coming in (2 Tim. 3-4), and the danger of Timothy’s being left alone, looking at the evil, and feeling his own weakness. Lest Timothy should get into a spirit of fear, he says, “Stir up the gift of God which is in thee ... for God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of the Lord, nor of me His prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God” (2 Tim. 1:6-8). If we have got the spirit of fear, this is not of God, for God has given us the spirit of power. He has met the whole power of the enemy in the weakness of man, in Christ, and Christ is now set down on the right hand of the majesty on high.
A Partaker of Afflictions
“Be thou a partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God” (2 Tim. 1:8). What! a partaker of afflictions? Yes. Of deliverance from the sense of them? No — a partaker of afflictions that may be felt as a man, but “according to the power of God”! This is not in avoiding the pressure of sorrow and weakness. Paul had a “thorn in the flesh” (2 Cor. 12:7), and did he not feel it? Yes, he felt it daily, and as “a messenger of Satan to buffet him” withal. And what did he say? “Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities [in those things in which I am sensibly weak], that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” The power of God coming in on our side does not lessen the feeling to us, but we cast all our “care upon Him, for He careth for” us. Not that at the very moment we refer it to God we shall get an answer. Daniel had to wait three full weeks for an answer from God, but from the first day that he set his heart to understand and to chasten himself before his God, his words were heard (Dan. 10). With us the first thing often is to think about the thing and begin to work in our own minds, before we go to God. There was none of this in Christ. “At that time, Jesus answered and said, I thank Thee, O Father” (Matt. 11:25). We weary ourselves in the greatness of our way.
Be Careful for Nothing
“Be careful for nothing” (Phil. 4:6). That is easily said. But what! not be careful about the state of the church, or about the pressure of a family? “Be careful for nothing.” Whatever produces a care in us, produces God’s care for us; therefore “be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.” Then “the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus,” not your hearts keep the peace of God; but the peace that God Himself is in — His peace, the unmoved stability of all God’s thoughts, keep your hearts.
Further, when we are not anxious, the mind set free, and the peace of God keeping the heart, God sets the soul thinking on happy things. “Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest—just—pure—lovely; of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.” God is there the companion of the soul: not merely “the peace of God,” but “the God of peace.”
When the soul is cast upon God, the Lord is with the soul in the trial, and the mind is kept perfectly calm. The Spirit of love, the Spirit of Christ, is there; if thinking of myself, this is the spirit of selfishness.
J. N. Darby
No Fear -Godly Fear
“There is no fear in love, but perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment.”
But there is a godly fear, which nips in the bud many an evil thing; a fear which, if a saint were saying, “I should like to do this or that,” would make him feel “but the eye of God will be looking at me, and I shall give it up.”
The Young Christian, Vol. 33
Thy Testimonies Are Very Sure
In Psalm 93:5, we read these words, “They testimonies are very sure.” In connection with this truth, nearly 2000 years ago, our Lord Jesus Christ (surveying with the all-seeing eye of omniscient God just what the conditions would be on earth prior to His coming back to this world with power and glory) defined most clearly the state of things in these words:
“... upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity [that is, having no way out, no solution]; the sea and the waves roaring; men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken” (Luke 21:25-26).
In all things our Lord Jesus is to have the preeminence; already the prophets of this “present evil world” are paying unwitting tribute to Him. Some years ago, one of its own prophets wrote a book entitled, “The Outline of History,” a book that ignored what God has had to say in His Word as to man’s origin and destiny, a book that exalted the creature and forgot the Creator. This same man, H. G. Wells (after surveying the swiftly moving course of events in later years), reversed himself in statements that startled even his own admirers. We quote him:
“This world is at the end of its tether.
“The end of everything we call life is close at hand and cannot be evaded....
“People are discovering a frightful queerness has come into life. Even unobservant people are betraying, by fits and starts, a certain wonder, a shrinking, fugitive sense that something is happening so that life will never quite be the same....
“... Writers are convinced there is no way out, around or through the impasse. It’s the end....
“Hitherto, events have been held together by a certain logical consistency as the heavenly bodies, as we know them, have been held together by the pull of the golden cord of gravitation.
“Now it is as if the cord has vanished and everything is driving anyhow to anywhere at a steadily increasing velocity.
“The limits of the orderly, secular development of life... has been reached and passed into hitherto incredible chaos....”
[H. G. Wells was a secular, non-Christian writer, historian, and journalist whose life covered the latter half of the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth — 1866-1946.]
Let us hear once more the voice of Scripture: “We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star [the hope of the Lord’s coming for His own as a realized thing in the soul] arise in your hearts” (2 Pet. 1:19).
Christian Truth, Vol. 28
'Tis I … Fear Not
’Twas darkest night upon the lake;
The stout hearts of the men did quake;
They saw a spirit—so they said;
Their hearts were filled with awesome dread:
When, lo: “’Tis I; be of good cheer,”
Composed their minds, dispelled their fear.
We, too, can hear some false alarm,
Which loudly speaks of coming harm;
Our hearts can cry with dark dismay
At sudden changes on life’s way,
Until, perchance, His voice we hear—
“’Tis I! Fear not! Be of good cheer!”
So oft He comes in strange disguise—
It seemeth so to mortal eyes;
To finite wisdom, human sense,
He, blessings, strangely does dispense;
Thus dark enigmas—black as night—
Are changed when robed with heaven’s clear light.
J. D. Smith