January 8, 2023: Luke 1:50 - His Mercy is on Those Who Fear Him

“And His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation.” - Luke 1:50

Fear. If there is anything that has gripped the world in the past three years, it is fear. But fear of what? Is it fear of Almighty God who holds your life in His hands, who knew you before you were formed in your mother’s womb, the One who created the universe and everything in it? No, the majority of the world has a misplaced fear. What does the Bible, God’s word, tell us? Below are some verses that tell us whom we should fear and what or whom we should not fear.

Fear God

- Proverbs 1:7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

- Proverbs 8:13 The fear of the LORD is to hate evil; pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverse mouth I hate.

- Matthew 10:28 “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” - Jesus Christ

- Ecclesiastes 12:13 Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all. For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil.

Do Not Fear

- Isaiah 41:13 For I, the LORD your God, will hold your right hand, saying to you, “Fear not, I will help you.”

- Joshua 1:9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.

- 2 Timothy 1:7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

- John 14:27 “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” - Jesus Christ

- Psalm 23:4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

- Philippians 4:6-7 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Until my mid-40’s, before I accepted Jesus as my Savior, I lived my life in fear. Yes, I still functioned as a wife, mother, and at my work, but I had this sense of dread over me constantly. I had a fear of what would happen to our children if something bad happened to them, what if I lost my job, what if our nation was attacked again but on a bigger scale, what if… It took me years after turning to Jesus that I could see that He was working on me, through the power of the Holy Spirit, to show me that I needed to fear only Him, with a reverent fear, and trust in Him, in everything.

When COVID hit in 2020 and all that has happened subsequent to it, I think I would have lost my mind if I had not been saved by the precious blood of Jesus Christ and had made progress - through His Holy Spirit - in tackling my spirit of fear. I had the working and applied knowledge of His guiding word and His power within me to know that COVID was not - and still is not - anything I need to fear, nor is anything else that will arise.

God, who is all knowing, know that sinful men and women crave power and authority. It’s been like that since the beginning. That is especially true in our world today as we see global leaders puffing themselves up and calling themselves as “the elite.” They use fear as leverage over those they want to control to promote their agendas, forcing certain restrictions on the masses but they themselves do not adhere to them. Why? Because they have rejected Him and have aligned themselves with the Devil, whether knowingly or unknowingly. They want to be like god but reject the One true God.

When we reject Jesus’ free gift of salvation repeatedly, and we do wicked in the sight of God constantly, there comes a point when He will give us over to that which we crave - a life without Him here and a life without Him in our eternity. In the book of Romans 1:18-32, it states three times that God gave them up: “God gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts (v24); God gave them up to vile passions (v26); And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting.” I believe we see many people in our world today who have been given up by God to their sinful desires and lusts. Can they still be saved if they turn to Him, I believe the answer is yes, but like Pharaoh had hardened his heart many times as described in the book of Exodus, because of that, God Himself then hardened Pharaoh’s heart. The Bible does not tell us that  Pharaoh repented and turned to God.

Why do I mention all of this? Because as children of God - who include only those of us who have been born again by believing in Jesus Christ as our Savior - we are not to fear the world, the world leaders, or what will soon come upon them and the whole earth. As the Bible tells us, we are fighting a spiritual war that is a war for the souls of mankind. Those who are not saved because they reject Jesus’ free gift of salvation will be forced to worship the final antichrist when he comes and take his mark or the number of his name - 666 - or be killed.

Everything that is happening in our world today is spiritual, and for those of us saved by Jesus, we must put on His whole armor in order to fight against this war and resist the urge to fear. Ephesians 6:10-20 tells us exactly what we are fighting and how to fight against it. “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:12)

How do we not fear? We do it first by being saved through faith in Christ Jesus, and we let Him be our strength: “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” (Ephesians 6:10-11)

Next, we put on the whole armor of God. Each piece of armor is described in verses 14-17. As any soldier in a war knows, we must put on all the armor, not some of it. “Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand…” (Ephesians 6:13)

Finally, as stated in verses 18-20, we pray, we watch, and we persevere with our brothers and sisters in Christ, and we tell others about His saving power of grace through faith in Him. God doesn’t want any to perish, to die in their sins,  and go to hell when they die. That is why He sent His only begotten Son: “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” - Jesus Christ; John 3:17. Notice it doesn’t say, “but that the world through Him will be saved” but “might be saved.” We all have a choice to believe in Him or not. Jesus is coming a second time, this time not to offer the way out of sins through belief in Him but to judge all the wicked in all their unrighteousness.

As the apostle Peter foretold in 2 Peter 3:1:4, “Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle (in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder), that you be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior, knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, ‘Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep [died], all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.’ “ And in v9, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”

In summary, I ask you to think about what or whom you are fearing. If you are not saved by believing in Jesus as your Savior, the things you have seen happen thus far are nothing compared to what is coming during a 7-year period know as the tribulation period, the time of Jacob’s trouble. Jesus described this time period as, “For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh wound be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened.” (Matthew 24:21-22) Revelation 9:6 describes just one of the 21 judgments of God on a wicked world that hated Him and loved evil as, “In those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will desire to die, and death will flee from them.”

For those of us saved by the loving and merciful gift of God - Jesus Christ -we have nothing to fear, for our fear is a properly placed fear - in Him. For those who aren’t saved, they have everything to fear and will experience that fear for eternity, in a place they can never escape. Jesus told His disciples what will happen to those who choose to reject His free gift of salvation from sins and choose to go it their own way, that they will be divided as sheep - believers - on His right hand, and as goats - unbelievers - on His left hand: “Then He [Jesus] will also say those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels…’ ‘and these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.’ “ (Matthew 25:41, 46)

“And His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation.” ✝️

So I ask you again: in whom or what do you fear?