We
are now on the path of Matthew 17:6. It is also set
in the context of the transfiguration of Jesus s mentioned in Matthew 17:1-7.
The gist of the verse
is:
The disciples reacted
to God’s voice in fear.
I am inclined to
believe that the reaction of the disciples represented mankind’s erroneous
perception of God. While God is holy, He
loved sinners. He only has an axe to
grind with sin. The beloved Son of God
came in the flesh as Jesus of Nazareth to reveal to us what God is really
like. In Matthew 17:7, we see Jesus
immediately assuring the fearful disciples to not be afraid. This is what God has been trying to tell
us. While we respect God and hold Him in
high esteem as we would a loving Father, we do not need to fear Him in the
sense of Him being all out to get us. As
a loving Father, God will discipline us but it is always for our own good. We do not take Him lightly or flippantly but
not to the extent of fearing Him in the negative sense. The Bible says that fear involves torment. It
also tells us that God is love. In Hosea 6:6, Living Bible. God Himself
says that He wants our love and He demonstrated His great love for us through
Christ crucified. I sometimes feel that
God is trying to show us that He is worthy of our love. Perhaps it is for this reason that the Bible
says that we love God because He first loved us (1 John 4:19, Living Bible).
We have been taught to
fear (Colossians 2:20-23). “Do not handle this. Do not taste that.
Do not even touch it”. Does this not bring to mind what Eve added to
the Word of God in Genesis 3:3? This was covered in detail in Volume 1
of this series. The element of fear has
been used as a tool of control. Remember
how our parents used to warn us to behave or the police would arrest us? How about God will punish us if we do this or
that? Fear. Do not let it come near!
To learn more of what
the “judgment of God” means, read the section on “The Origin of Sin” in Volume
1 of this series.
Comments
Post a Comment