The Love of God

1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

My last meditation saw that the remedy for the fear of man in our culture is to grow in the “fear of God,” which moves from terror, to awe, to faith. My thoughts now take me from faith to the love of God, but first I retrace my steps back to the starting point of the fear of God. It starts with terror, as one recognizes both the power of God and His Holy wrath against all ungodliness. When God gave the law to the Israelites through Moses at Mt. Sinai the mountain trembled, and the people witnessed a display of power greater than any 4th of July fireworks celebration. The Israelites experienced terror because they knew that God is Holy, they were not. And God had the power to punish those who fall short. This was the same “terror” (sometimes translated as “awe”) that the centurion at the foot of the cross experienced when he heard Jesus, dying on the cross, cry out, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” The centurion saw that Jesus was a righteous man, but instead of calling down God’s Holy wrath upon His tormentors, as Jesus could have done, He prayed to His Father to forgive them. Again, the earth shook as it had at Sinai, where it was the power of God’s Holiness that caused the mountain to tremble. But here at Calvary, as Jesus died, the perfectly just for the unjust, it was the power of God’s Mercy that caused the earth to shake and the veil in the temple to be torn in two. And it was God’s love that flooded the soul of the centurion as he praised God and exclaimed, "Surely this was the Son of God!" Fear had moved to faith. The centurion knew, without a doubt, Who Jesus was, and as John wrote in his first epistle, “If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God” (1 John 4:15). God has put His Spirit into such a person. The result is that he will walk in God’s statutes, loving God and loving other people. God’s love is perfected in the born again believer who no longer needs to fear God’s judgment because he knows his sins are forgiven and God’s Spirit lives within him. This is how God’s perfect love drives out fear. The power of this kind of love to overcome the fear of man will be the subject of my next meditation.