With today’s technology man’s imagination has gone wild with things to scare people.  Visual media has become more  gruesome and frightful.  What scares you the most?  Is it movie monsters, things that go “bump” in the night, shocking visuals, or nightmares.  

The Bible warns us of things that should bring real fear to our hearts.  The Old Testament prophets often spoke of the “fierce anger” of the Lord:  “O Lord, correct me, but with judgment:  not in thy anger, lest thou bring me to nothing” (Jeremiah 10:24).  In Deuteronomy 28 Moses lists many of the horrible calamities that were to befall Israel if they persisted in rebellion to God.

In the New Testament, the Hebrew writer portrays God as  “a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:29).  To consume is to “use up utterly, destroy.” Jesus taught that we should not fear what man can do to us but rather “fear Him that is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28).  II Thessalonians 1:9 speaks of an “everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord.”  The word  for destruction in these verses does not convey the idea of a loss of being but rather a loss of well-being (W.E. Vine’s Expository Dictionary).  Elsewhere Christ describes hell as “outer darkness” where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 25:30) a place where “the worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:44) and a “furnace of fire” (Matthew 13: 42).  

The apostle Paul even reminds us of the “severity of God” (Romans 11:22).  “Severity” here means “to cut sharply, enact the provisions of  a contract to the fullest.”  His judgment is exact and terrible.  It is the knowledge of this “terror of the Lord” that motivates us to persuade souls to obey Him (II Corinthians 5:11) .

There are many things more frightening than our imagination or some gruesome sight.  There is eternal fear and God’s endless power to enact total, unrestrained judgment upon mankind.  These we  should learn to fear more and not what some man may do to us!

Larry Albritton