No fear
“Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come to save you.” (Isaiah 35:4)
Whether they want to admit it or not, everyone has fears. They may be fears of people, things or events on this earth (snakes, small spaces, flying in an airplane, natural disasters, etc.) They might be fears of things that they themselves failed on or feel they cannot do. There is no denying the effect of fear which living in a sinful world brings to our lives. It causes us undue stress, anxiety, loss of sleep and many other such effects.
However, our verse for this week reminds us that there truly is something which everyone of us should be afraid of and it is greater than any fear we might have here on earth – that is the fear (the very real and eternal fear) that we might be separated from God forever in hell.
Notice the first two words which God led Isaiah to use in this verse – “Be strong.” What a wonderful assurance that no matter what we face in this life or headed to eternity, we can be strong because God will be there for us.
I’d like you to think for a moment about if you are wearing a cross right now or about any crosses you have hanging in your office, home, car or anywhere else. Are they mere decoration or are they meant to be a reminder to you and to everyone who sees them that you are strong and do not have that real and eternal fear of hell because of what Jesus did for you and for everyone else?
This verse was originally written as a prophecy helping people who lived in the Old Testament time before Jesus came to know that there was someone who was coming to take away their real and eternal fear. We could really rewrite the last half of this verse and say it this way “your God has come, he came to save you.” Putting it that way helps us to remember that what Jesus did is a completed fact and the results of our fear of hell being taken away are completed and accomplished.
Here is a video of a song written by two friends of mine which speaks of how Jesus takes away not only our greatest fear, but all the fears we might have – take a watch and a listen – https://vimeo.com/286981024?ref=fb-share.
I will be honest with you, I’ve listened to that song several dozen times in the last few weeks since it was posted. The tune is catchy, but even more than that, the lyrics are powerful and remind us that we truly can live with joy and confidence, because in Christ we have everything.
That alone is the reason we have no fear. Believe and live it!