Fear Fell On Them All

This became known both to all Jews and Greeks dwelling in Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.
Acts 19:17

Our text today follows on the heels of our passage last week. After seven men who took Christianity lightly were brutalized by a demon (see last week’s post), “fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified”. This account is reminiscent of Acts 5 when Ananias and Sapphira were killed for lying to God. The result of this judgment upon them was that “great fear came upon all the church and upon all who heard these things” and “believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women”. (Act 5:11, 14) In both accounts, when men had a proper fear of God, the Lord was glorified.

Inevitably, when you start talking about the fear of God, someone will quote 1Jo 4:18: “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.” This verse is a glorious one and is reason for rejoicing! The Lord Jesus has delivered all who trust in Him from fear. Heb 2:14-15 reminds us that He died so that “through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” Praise God for that truth! If we were always conscious of the great love that bought salvation for us, how could we every be fearful? All improper fear, therefore, should be rejected as we fix our eyes on Christ; however, the Scripture repeatedly reminds us that the fear of the Lord is the one fear which must remain.

The two apostles which we have primarily followed as we have studied the book of Acts are Peter and Paul. Both men instructed the church to maintain a proper fear of God. In 1Pe 1:17, Peter wrote, “And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work,  conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear”. An awareness that we will all stand before God and give account to Him should prompt us to live daily in the fear of the Lord. Paul said true salvation always includes it: “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” (Php 2:12-13) If the Spirit is at work in us, the fear of God will be there!

In case you’re wondering, the Greek word translated “fear” in our verses above is the word from which our English word “phobia” is derived. Some may try to water the term down, but you do the word a disservice if you only say it means “reverence” or “respect”. Certainly those terms are included, but this term is nothing less than real fear. It is healthy because it is proper fear. It will help keep us in line as we walk through this life. It will prompt us to strive for holiness. It will encourage us to obey. As Proverbs reminds us, it is “by the fear of the Lord one departs from evil” (16:6), and the “fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (9:10). We desperately need it in a day when so much foolishness goes on in the name of Jesus Christ. May we properly fear before Him and find our experience to be the same as that of the church in Act 9:31: “And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, they were multiplied.”

Jamie

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