“There Is No Need To Be Afraid Of God” — another look at
freedom — in the larger setting of the great controversy over God's character and
government.
To be afraid of our Heavenly Father is to deny what He paid such a price to reveal.
Though infinite in majesty and power, God values nothing higher than the freedom of His
intelligent creatures, that their love and trust may be freely given. He gave His life to
make this eternally clear. Surely such a God is worthy of our deepest reverence and
willingness to listen and obey.
If God were the kind of person his enemies have made Him out to be — arbitrary,
vengeful and severe — there could be no real freedom, and our worship and obedience
would be tarnished with our fears. Sadly millions have been turned away from God by
Satan's perversion of the truth. But Jesus came to bring the truth that sets us free, the
truth about God that even makes it possible for us mere mortals to be His friends.
Bible passages included:
Revelation 14:7. "Fear God and give him glory, for the hour of
his judgment has come." (RSV)
Psalm 128:1, 2. "Blessed is every one who fears the Lord... You
shall be happy, and it shall be well with you." (KJV)
Proverbs 9: 10. "'The fear of the Lord is the beginning of
wisdom." (KJV)
"To be wise you must first have reverence for the Lord." (GNB)
Exodus 20:18-20. "The people were afraid and trembled; and they
stood afar off, and said to Moses, 'You speak to us, and we will hear, but let not God
speak to us, lest we die.' And Moses said to the people, 'Do not fear, for God has come to
prove you, and that the fear of him may be before your eyes, that you may not sin.'"
(RSV)
Hebrews 4:13. "There is nothing that can be hid from God;
everything in all creation is exposed and lies open before his eyes. And it is to him that
we must all give an account of ourselves." (GNB)
Ecclesiastes 12:14. "God is going to judge everything we do,
whether good or bad, even things done in secret." (GNB)
1 John 4:16-18. "God is love, and whoever lives in love lives in
union with God and God lives in union with him. Love is made perfect in us in order that
we may have courage on the Judgment Day... There is no fear in love; perfect love drives
out all fear. So then, love has not been made perfect in anyone who is afraid, because
fear has to do with punishment." (GNB)
John 5:22. "The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment
to the Son." (RSV)
John 14:7, 9. "If you had known me, you would have known my
Father also... He who has seen me has seen the Father." (RSV)
John 16:26. "I need make no promise to plead to the Father for
you, for the Father himself loves you." (Phillips)
John 3:19. "And this is the judgment, that the light has come
into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light." (RSV)
John 12:47, 48. "If any one hears my sayings and does not keep
them, 1 do not judge him... He who rejects me and does not receive my sayings has a judge;
the word that I have spoken will be his judge on the last day." (RSV)
Romans 1:25, 28. "Because they exchanged the truth about God for
a lie... God gave them up to a base mind and to improper conduct." (RSV)
Revelation 22:11. "Let him who does wrong continue to do wrong;
let him who is vile continue to be vile; let him who does right continue to do right; and
let him who is holy continue to be holy." (NIV)
Revelation 14:10. "He also shall drink the wine of God's
wrath...and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone...for ever and ever." (RSV)
Jude 7. "Sodom and Gomorrah...serve as an example by undergoing a
punishment of eternal fire." (RSV)
Exodus 21:6. "He shall serve him for ever."
(KJV)
Exodus 24:17. "Now the appearance of the glory of the Lord was
like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain." (RSV)
Hebrews 2:15. "...and free those who all their lives were held in
slavery by their fear of death." (NIV)
John 8:32. "You will know the truth, and the truth will set you
free. (GNB)
John 15:15. "No longer do I call you servants, for the servant
does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have
heard from my Father I have made known to you." (RSV)
Exodus 33: 11. "Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to
face, as a man speaks to his friend." (RSV)
©1984 Graham Maxwell
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