Jump Start # 214

Revelation 14:7 “and he said with a loud voice, “Fear God, and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come; worship Him who made the Heaven and the earth and the sea and springs of waters.”

  Our verse today is a statement made from an angel who is flying between Heaven and earth.  He says three things: fear God; give Him glory; worship Him. Wonderful concepts. Life changing decisions if we will but do them.

  Two thought I want to share with you. First, notice the emphasis upon the volume of the angel’s voice. The angel said this “with a loud voice.” It’s easy to read over that and to miss it. Reading to ourselves, or silently, as most of us generally do, doesn’t cut it with this verse. You just have to read this out loud. Try it! Now, try it louder! The angel spoke with a LOUD VOICE. He wanted to be heard. He had something to say. We do this all the time. You get a group of people together and everyone is in their little groups talking and the host wants everyone to know that the food is ready and it’s time to eat. Someone with a loud voice will speak up and catch everyone’s attention. Parents raise their voices when they are trying to get their kids attention. You throw in their middle name and that usually makes them stop and listen. Recently, I was preaching at a place and we had some mic and speaker problems. The real problem was I was preaching loud. The next night we didn’t use the mic and everyone heard me fine. One little boy put his hands on his ears and told his mother that my voice scared him. There are a lot of noises today. There are a lot of messages drawing our attention today. The message of God needs to be loud. We need to hear it above all other noises. We need to listen to God. Maybe the world doesn’t know God because it can’t hear God. The old hymn comes to mind, “Go tell it on the mountain…”

  Secondly, the expression, “fear God,” is interesting. We often interpret “fear” to mean “respect.” Be devoted or dedicated to God. The word fear can mean that in some places. But not here. The Greek word for fear is the same word we get “phobia” from. We know phobia—the fear of things. Some fear heights. Some fear spiders. Some fear snakes. I read a list of phobias once. There are hundreds of phobias. Many I never heard of, such as the fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth (it’s called, ‘arachibutyrophobia’). My favorite was phobophobia—the fear of fear. I have heard it said that in the New Testament, we are not to be “afraid” of God. This verse says otherwise. There are others:

• Heb 10:31 “It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”
• Mt 10:28 “Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in Hell.”

  Afraid of God—fearful of God. Now that needs some explaining. A person shouldn’t be afraid to come to God. If we were then prodigals would never come home. But we shouldn’t turn God into one of our buddies, either. He is God. He is upon the throne. He is not like us nor is He one of us. Casual and flippant conversations with God in prayer reveals a heart that does not fear God. God is powerful. He is mighty. A good dose of fear will keep a person from messing with the word of God. It will cause a person to realize what God could do to us if we don’t follow Him.

  I sense that modern religion has turned God into a good ole boy who’d go to Nascar races with us, sit on the couch and watch movies and enjoy being a bit foolish now and then. You don’t get that from the Bible. God is holy and majestic. God is supreme. When Cain offered God a different sacrifice, God rejected it. When Uzzah reached out and touched the ark of the covenant to keep it from falling, God struck him dead. When Ananias and his wife lied, God took their lives. The Bible says, “great fear came upon the church.” Elders who refuse to repent are to be rebuked before all, so the rest will be “fearful of sinning” (1 Tim 5). There is a place for fear. Those that work with dangerous equipment, wild animals or intense situations understand that fear keeps them on their toes. It is when they take things for granted that trouble arises. Fear God. Love Him. Honor Him. Follow Him. Let us not be causal in our attitudes, worship or conversation with God.

  When God spoke from the mountain, Israel was so afraid that they begged Moses to do all the talking. They were terrified at the voice of God. I wonder if a good dose of fear would make us sin less? We live in times when fear is not good. Counselors talk to us about our fears. Pills are given to help us forget our fears. We convince ourselves that fear is bad and not to have any fears. We don’t like living with fear. But the angel said, and in a loud voice, FEAR GOD.

  Give that some serious thought!

Roger