Fear of the Lord #2 – What Jesus Said
Fear of the Lord #2 – What Jesus Said
“Do not fear those who kill the body but are not able to kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” Mat 10:28
“I say to you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that can do no more. But I will warn you whom you shall fear: Fear Him who, after He has killed, has power to cast into hell.” Luk 12:4-5
How can this be true God is love, and Jesus came to bring peace and love and joy. But while these things are true, can we find a more clear and scary statement, a command really, to fear God, than that given above by the Lord Jesus Christ himself? I don’t think so!
If you look at the context, you will see these verses are from the same incident, but Matthew records Jesus statement a little differently than Luke does; we must take them together.
Firstly, Luke clearly tells us God kills people: “after he has killed, i.e. the body”. This is not a statement regarding death in general, but dare we say “execution”. God exacts judgment upon people, sometimes by adversity, sometimes by sickness, and sometimes by death; think of those upon whom the Tower of Siloam fell, and those whom Herod killed. Luk 13:1-5. Or “The Rich Fool,” to whom God said, “You fool! This night your soul will be required of you.” Luk 12:20. Or Herod, whom God killed using worms to eat his body. Act 12:20. Yes, those are unbelievers, people outside the church, but what about Ananias and Sapphira, whom God slew Act 5:1-11, and Jezebel in Rev 2 and 3, who while probably not Christians, but false Christians, were within the pale of the church, which is scary enough. But consider 1Co 11:30, which is clearly to believers, death being the price paid by some for misconduct in the church: “For this reason many are weak and unhealthy among you, and many die.”
As I write these things, I realize how little I consider the truth that “our God is a consuming fire” Heb 12:29 and it is therefore a “fearful thing to fall into his hands” Heb 12:31.
Secondly, we see that God casts people into hell. That is happening now! People die and go to hell. Today, people are in hell suffering the wrath of God. Think of the Rich Man and Lazarus; and note, this is not a parable! Luke is careful to introduce parables as parables, but here he says, “There was a rich man” Luk 16:19. At times Jesus describes hell as “outer darkness” Mat 8:12, 22:13, and 25:30; at times “fire” Mat 5:22, 7:19, 13:40, 18:19, and 25:41; and at other times as a place of pain and “gnashing and grinding of teeth” Mat 8:12, 13:42, 13:50, 22:13, 24:51, and 25:30; and these are just from Matthew’s gospel! Jesus said the Rich Man was being tormented in flames. This should definitely cause us to fear God.
Thirdly, notice this clearly states the body is cast into hell. The word “hell” is not used symbolically for suffering, it is a real place, where real people, suffer real pain, as punishment for real sins, with a real body, forever. All of the eternal good realities of heaven, have a corresponding bad realities in hell!
Fourthly, the soul is also cast into hell, meaning the person in the entirety of his/her personhood, is cast into hell. As the people in heaven will have emotions and memory, so too will the people in hell. The Rich Man regrets that he did not do differently; he remembers his brothers, and does not want them to end up in hell with him; and he has a plan to rescue them, and pleads that Lazarus be sent. This is a fully functioning human being, body and soul, suffering in hell, and regret is a huge part of the suffering.
That is why Jesus says, “Fear him!”
Do not make the mistake the Rich Man made.
Now is the day of salvation; the merciful God of heaven invites you to repent, confess you sins, turn to him for forgiveness and life, and be saved.
Later will be too late.
21 April 2024