An Introduction To God Series

This divine saying concerning a life without fear is also preserved in LUKE 12:4-7. “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.”

If I fear God, knowing that He holds the power of life and death, I need fear no man. Teens wear tee shirts which proclaim their lack of fear. I tell you that the one who is fearless in this world is the Christian who refuses to bow to mere mortals. The one who stands unbowed is the child of God who knows God and lives in His presence. This is the fearless individual. Would that more of the professed people of God were fearless.

It is a shocking word which God pronounces through His servant Moses.

“See now that I, even I, am he,

and there is no god beside me;

I kill and I make alive;

I wound and I heal;

and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.

For I lift up my hand to heaven

and swear, As I live forever,

if I sharpen my flashing sword

and my hand takes hold on judgement,

I will take vengeance on my adversaries

and will repay those who hate me.

I will make my arrows drunk with blood,

and my sword shall devour flesh—

with the blood of the slain and the captives,

from the longhaired heads of the enemy.”

[DEUTERONOMY 32:39-42]

I KNOW THAT I AM RESPONSIBLE TO GOD. God has given me life; and to Him I must give an accounting. The Preacher wrote such a dark book in Ecclesiastes. At the end of that dark collection, the Preacher presents a sobering thought which each of us would do well to always remember. Consider his words now.

“Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near when you will say, ‘I have no delight in them’; before the sun and the light, the moon and the stars are darkened, and clouds return after the rain; in the day that the watchmen of the house tremble, and mighty men stoop, the grinding ones stand idle because they are few, and those who look through windows grow dim; and the doors on the street are shut as the sound of the grinding mill is low, and one will arise at the sound of the bird, and all the daughters of song will sing softly. Furthermore, men are afraid of a high place and of terrors on the road; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags himself along, and the caperberry is ineffective. For man goes to his eternal home while mourners go about in the street. Remember Him before the silver cord is broken and the golden bowl is crushed, the pitcher by the well is shattered and the wheel at the cistern is crushed; then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it. ‘Vanity of vanities,’ says the Preacher, ‘all is vanity’” [ECCLESIASTES 12:1-8 NASV]!