BiblicalInsights.net

God evokes a sense of wonder for many reasons related to His nature, power, and mighty acts.  The wonder of God is: “inquisitive awe in search of an understanding of all of the perfections of His excellent majesty.”  In Hebrews 12:29, the Holy Spirit declares, “Our God is a consuming fire.”  The figure is graphic–a raging fire consumes everything in its path.  It is a destructive force.  It is a power to destroy.  This phrase is a reference to the unleashing of the power of God against the forces of evil, sin, and sinners.  It captures the essence of the punitive power of God.  In Revelation 14:10, God’s Word affirms, “The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb.” Such is the fate of the person who worships the beast and his image (v. 9).  It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God! (Heb. 10:26-31).
God’s Revelation Of Himself
In Exodus 19 and 20, the LORD reveals Himself to Israel.  Israel (the nation) was encamped at the foot of Mt. Sinai.  God had just delivered Israel from Egyptian bondage.  He did this through the ten plagues brought against the Egyptians and by destroying Pharaoh’s army in the midst of the Red Sea.  God now wants to reveal His Covenant Will to the people.  He commands Moses to make preparations.  Moses is to set boundaries at the foot of the mountain that would permit the people to approach but not go up into the mount (19:12).  The people were required to sanctify themselves (wash themselves and their clothes).  They were not to engage in sexual contact with their wives (19:15).  On the third day, in the morning, there were thunderings and lightenings and a thick cloud upon the mount.  The people heard the voice of the trumpet (Ram’s horn) exceeding loud.  All of the people in the camp trembled (19:16).  When the LORD descended upon the mount, the whole mount was on fire and the smoke ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly (19:18).  God’s presence revealed His fearsomeness.  The result was that the people feared greatly.  In our quest to know God, we must understand His fearsomeness and His wrath.  The people, including the priests, were required to sanctify themselves before approaching God.   They were restricted in their approach to the mount.  Beginning in Exodus 20:1, God spake to them all the words of the covenant He desired to make with them.  God identified Himself in an unmistakable way–as the God who had delivered them from Egyptian bondage.  Then, He commanded them to have no other gods before Him (20:3).  Nor to make unto themselves any grave images, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.  God forbade them from bowing down to them or serving them.  God proceeded to give them the rest of the Ten Commandments.  The people did not want God to speak to them directly. They asked Moses to intercede in their behalf with God.  God gave commands to the people of Israel to honor Him as the only true and living God.  God will not share His glory with another.  The present covenant relationship with God is to be informed by His past mighty acts against the Egyptians.  God was revealing Himself to His people.  Know and understand that the LORD thy God is a fearsome God!
The Fear of the LORD
The people of Israel feared and trembled at the presence of God on the Mount.  Fear is the emotional response of the human heart to the display of the fearsomeness of God.  Fear produces restraint within the human heart from disobeying God and facing His wrath.  God’s wrath is His justice manifested in righteous judgments.  God possesses punitive power which is directed toward the defeat and destruction of evil in all of its forms.  The people said, “All that the LORD hath spoken will we do” (19:8).  Moses told the people that God came to prove them and that His fear may be before their eyes so that they would not sin (Ex. 20:20).  Moses clearly indicates the reason God revealed His fearsomeness.  God desired obedience to His commands.  The fear of the LORD produces compliance to the Will of God.  Solomon states that the whole duty of man is to fear God and keep His commandments (Eccl. 12:13).  The absence of the fear of the LORD will certainly lead to the proliferation of evil in the hearts of human beings.   The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge and wisdom (Prov. 1:7).  Just as Israel pledged to keep the commandments of God, the wise man today hears and keeps the sayings of the LORD Jesus Christ (Mt. 7:24,25).  Jesus taught us to fear God, “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Mt. 10:28).