Fear of God and Man
“Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops. “I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him! Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.” (Luke 12:2-7)
Jesus tells us that our approach toward God, as his children, should be marked by fear: “Fear him.” Why this fear? Because of the omnipresence of God. There is nothing that happens that is unknown to Him. God is the great revealer of secrets, the great tester of hearts, who will reveal everything at the proper time. Even what is said in darkness will be declared in light, and God will make whispers in private rooms so public that it could be shouted from housetops. Hence, because there is not a single human secret which can be hidden from Him, our conduct must be marked by fear.
This fear is motivated – in part – by the justice of God. Unlike humans, whose power over others is limited to this physical existence, the power of God is unlimited, crossing dimensions of space and time – he has authority to cast into hell. Jesus’ comment on this is emphatic – Yes, I tell you, fear him!
But suddenly it seems that Jesus changes his exhortation mid-thought, and launches in a completely new direction. If for a moment it seemed that Jesus was teaching us to cower under all-seeing eye of some terrifying deity, he then encourages us to “fear not.” What is going on here?
While it is the justice of God that brings us to fear, it is the fatherhood of God which leads us from terror. Though he does not specifically mention God as Father at this moment, Jesus implies that the unique relationship that we have to God indicates that there is no reason to live in slavish terror. Five sparrows are sold more two pennies – indicating that an individual sparrow is of such trifling value that it is almost worthless. Yet God does not forget about the existence of even a single sparrow. Every hair of your head is numbered – and, as Charles Spurgeon once noted, “God takes more care of us than we take of ourselves. You never heard of a man who numbered the hairs of his head.” Hence, for those who are in right relationship to him, we can go through life without terror of his judgment or fear of what he might do to us. Most of all, we can avoid fear of our circumstances and fear of others.
John Flavel put it this way: “Guilt is to danger, what fire is to gunpowder; a man need not fear to walk among many barrels of powder, if he have no fire about him.” So, should we fear gunpowder? Yes and no – yes, we must act with great care around it – but no, there is no reason to fear gunpowder, if we aren’t carrying fire. So it is with God. Fear him who has authority to cast into hell – but if you are in a right relationship with him – justified by the blood of Christ – there is no need to go through life with fear (of his judgment or of what others can do to you), for he cares for you.
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