No Fear For God's Children - Part 2

Revelation 6:12-17 - "And I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth, made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood; and the stars of the sky fell to the earth, as a fig tree casts its unripe figs when shaken by the wind.  And the sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.  And the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath has come; and who is able to stand?"


Question for you...do the people here sound like they are the children of God, based on the fact that sons of God cry out, "Abba!  Father!"  This passage is a description of the fear and terror that will grip the unbelievers hearts when Jesus returns.  This is a description of how they will react.  We as believers have no fear of the coming wrath of God.  Jesus bore God's wrath for our sin.  Luke wrote that Jesus instructs us that when we, God's children, see the sign in the sun, moon, and stars, signaling His return, we are to look up because our redemption is near.   Jesus is returning to gather us to Himself.  Luke records that unbelievers will faint from fear when the natural lights are turned off, because of the expectation of the things which are coming on the world; and we know from the Revelation 6 passage that it is God's wrath.  (See Luke 21:25-28 and Matthew 24:29-31)

I have another verse for you...

1 Peter 2:17 - "Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king."


Now wait a minute Kathy, you said in your previous post that there is no fear for God's children in coming to Him.  Sounds like a contradiction.

It's not.  Scripture is full of references to fearing God.  We are told to fear God.  This is basically a recognition of Who He is and realizing who we are in comparison to Him.  We need to give Him awe and respect because of Who He is - our Creator.  So while believers do not need to fear coming to Him because He will not pour out His wrath on us for our sin, we still need to reverence Almighty God.

May we always keep this in perspective.

(By the way, I've got a part three mulling around in my head...our works as God's children are going to undergo a quality control test by fire...stay tuned...)