Holy Boldness

Holy Boldness Accessing the Moral Courage to fulfill your unique destiny through the fear of the Lord

By Charles Brian Harrison

Table Of Contents

Chapter 1 Chapter 2

The Return to the Fear of the Lord

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The Humanity of Jesus and the fear of the Lord

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Part 1 Preparing the Way in the Fear of the Lord

2 5

Chapter 3.

Cooperating with Divine Initiative:

the story of Mary and Joseph

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27

Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7

Giving Birth to Messiah

39

The Challenge of Raising Jesus

49

. The Baptism of Jesus- Fulfilling All Righteousness ....57

The Temptations of Jesus and the Fear of the Lord ...65

Chapter 8

Establishing a Ministry

Platform in the fear of the Lord

79

Chapter 9

Finding Family in the fear of the Lord

. 87

Chapter 10

Choosing the Twelve

9 3

Part 2 The Sermon on the Mount: Establishing Character in the fear of the Lord

99

Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13

The Beatitudes

10 1

Bringing the Scriptures to fullness .

11 5

The Power of Secret Devotion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16

The Lord’s Prayer

12 7

Overcoming Mammon through the fear of the Lord . 1 31

Judgment, Honor, Discretion in the fear of the Lord 1 43

Chapter 17

The Final Four

15 5

Part 3 Advancing the Kingdom . . .16 5 Authority Explained and Demonstrated

Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20. Chapter 21 Chapter 22

16 7 18 5

Apostolic Protocols Matthew 10

The last dance with John the Baptist

and the old order - Matthew 11

203

Becoming Like Children .

215

The Lord’s True Friends

22 3

Introduction I woke up from a restless sleep and immediately looked into the face of a lion who was roaring at me. It was a long sustained roar. Within seconds I knew exactly who He was and what He was roaring about. It was Jesus, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, and He was roaring about a fear that I was carrying inside of me. My family and I were facing some transition issues. We were either going to have to move or believe God for what seemed like an impossible solu tion and I was troubled about how to move forward. When I woke up, there He was roaring, not at the circumstances we were facing, but at the fear and anxiety that I was carrying. He began to speak to my mind, “My son, I cannot allow you in my kingdom while you are wearing that (fear).” Then He added, “I don’t even have a shelf for it.” Then He turned and walked away. The encounter did not last very long but I knew exactly what I had to do. The fear had to go. I know it sounds funny, but I rolled over and went back to sleep. When I woke up an hour later, peace had settled on me. I knew that I could never go back and pick up the fear again. Later that morning I went out into the woods and drove a stake in the ground. Something changed that day and I have never been the same. The prob lem I was facing remained, but I had no fear. Within a month our circumstances changed, the pieces fell into place, we transitioned into a new grace, settled into our new accommodations, and began a fresh journey in the purpose of God. Since then I have come to realize again that walking by faith is a daily challenge, simply part of the overcomer’s lifestyle. “Without faith, it is impossible to please Him ”. (Hebrews 11:6) God is not afraid to ask us to do the impossible! If we could see all that God has called us to do, we just might be intimidated. If we do not learn to believe God, our destinies individually and corporately will remain out of our reach because no one can fulfill their destiny without God’s

assistance. Getting God in our game happens when we believe Him and follow through with deliberate acts of obedience. Often that requires action without any clear awareness of how it will work out. Consider the fact that Jesus challenged His disciples to give 5000 people some thing to eat when they had nothing but five loaves of bread and two fish? They were likely overwhelmed with the task but Jesus was with them and calmly demonstrated partnering with the will of God and experiencing His assistance. He gave thanks, broke the bread and fish, and watched it multiply till all were satisfied. Such simplicity and such profundity. In like manner, the Israelites were commanded by God to march into Canaan, and occupy the land God had given them. Unfortunately, they failed to inherit the land because they could not overcome the obstacles and wandered for 40 years in the wilderness. They were not blocked by the Canaanites. They were blocked by fear and unbelief. Much of the church has been stifled in its forward motion for the same reason. When there is a lack of the fear of the Lord, the fear of everything else stops all forward motion. The Fear of the Lord equips us to receive, process, and execute our divine assignments. None of us knows where our destiny will lead us. But the scriptures make it clear that it will take courage to finish the race. Just as God repeatedly exhorted Joshua to “be bold and courageous” (Joshua 1: 6, 9) as he prepared to enter the promised land, so God is exhorting the church in this hour to take courage. Jesus came into the world to get all of mankind back in rhythm with God’s ultimate plan: Discipling nations, governing kingdoms, filling the earth with His glory. The Church is at a crossroads. Amid great shaking, a great opportunity is rising for those who possess the moral courage to seize the opportu nity. We are perched upon one of the greatest opportunities in our lives to be a part of one of the greatest moves of God the world has ever seen. However, it will take the fear of the Lord to fully engage all that God has intended. The fear of the Lord grants a person the wisdom, the focus, and the moral courage to face the giants in the land . This courage will come as we cultivate the fear of the Lord. For that to happen, something must change inside of God’s people. A different perspective and attitude and focus must be established that will

lead us into our purpose. The greatest advance of the Kingdom of God in history is right in front of us. As we stand on the verge of a new era, we must consciously cultivate the fear of the Lord because without it we will lose our nerve in the heat of the battle. The Example of Jesus It may be a new concept for many but Jesus was fully human and therefore operated out of the principle of the fear of the Lord. It was the backdrop to all that He did and every critical decision He made. It was a critical agent in His moral apparatus. It undergirded His extraordinary life and mission. This book is a study of Jesus’ life example and teaching on the fear of the Lord. It was a recurring theme in everything he did and said. He prepared His followers to be world changers and over-comers by culti vating in them the fear of the Lord. It is our purpose to show how Jesus himself grew in the fear of the Lord, how he leaned on it during some of His most challenging moments, how he leveraged it in confrontation with His adversaries, and how he taught His disciples to live by it and walk in it. If a person understands the foundational importance of the fear of the Lord and cultivates it, everything else will become easier and one’s discernment will increase incrementally. The fear of the Lord is developed in a person when loving God through obedience becomes the highest motivation. The fear of the Lord is the initial platform for one’s eternal purpose. “Come, my children, listen to me, and I will teach you the fear of the Lord. ” Psalm 34: 11 I want to appeal to you, the reader, to give yourself time to read and meditate upon this book. It is not a quick study. But if you will be patient with it, you will be richly rewarded and find a deeper meaning to your life and expression as a believer and follower of Jesus.

Chapter 1 T he R eturn to the F ear of the L ord

Life demands courage. The fear of the Lord is an internal work of grace, a cultivated disposition towards the Lord, that forms the foun dational platform for the kind of holy boldness that will be necessary for each person to fulfill his or her destiny. The fear of the Lord has many expressions and facets and carries out numerous functions. The deeper this characteristic is cultivated the greater and broader a foundation will be established for fulfilling the will of God. This is because the fear of the Lord establishes the priority of God’s interest over all others. A self-cen tered church will never fulfill the divine mandate to make disciples of all nations. The will of God must take on a new significance for the church to begin to make headway in the nations. I want to begin our journey by simply outlining foundational elements of the fear of the Lord. This is not exhaustive but it will give us a basic definition that we will expand upon as we continue our study of Jesus. The life and words of Jesus will confirm everything that we write here. So what exactly is the fear of the Lord? 1. The fear of the Lord is rooted in a profound awareness of the presence of God and a belief in His inherent goodness. • It is a reverence for who God is. • It is a deep heartfelt sense of honor for the person and glory of God. • It is a deep appreciation of who He is and a thankfulness for Him. • It is the opposite of presumption, familiarity, and casualness. • It is to tremble in His presence but also to celebrate His good ness.

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2. The Fear of the Lord is an aggressive commitment to knowing and agreeing with what God is thinking and saying. • It orients our life towards God before anything else. • It suspends our wants and interests until His are made clear. • It is to align our life with God and not around ourl desires or ambitions. • It is to seek a place in His agenda instead of expecting Him to acquiesce/concede to ours. • It is to consider His interests above our own. • It is to evaluate all of life and its events in light of Him. • It is to be wary of proceeding without His knowledge and approval. 3. The fear of the Lord is deeply relational. • It is to make “knowing God” the highest good. • It is the key to finding our true identity. • It is to recognize and call God our father, i.e.the source of our identity. • It is the delight of pleasing God, rather than the fear of pun ishment. • It is to love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength. 4. The fear of the Lord is the opposite of the fear of man. • It is “God-centered” as opposed to “man-centered.” • It is to live for divine approval over man’s approval. • It is to esteem what God thinks over man’s opinion. • It is to give God supreme authority over our life. • It is to shape our life and character around the known will and character of God.

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• It is to give honor to whom honor is due. 5. The fear of the Lord directs one’s heart towards obedience and agreement towards God and away from self-willed stubbornness and independence. • It changes a person’s internal focus from self-centeredness to God-centeredness. • It creates an atmosphere of awareness of God’s pleasure or displeasure of certain attitudes and activities. • It makes a person more keenly aware of God’s thoughts about events and people. 6. The fear of the Lord lays the foundation for true under standing, wisdom, knowledge, and discernment. • It is the key to all essential learning. • It is the essential key for discerning truth from error. • It is protection against manipulation and control. • It is the source of true judgment vs. unrighteous judgment. 7. The fear of the Lord is the realization that God is intimate ly interested in all that we say and do as a loving father but also as a judge. • It is to realize that God is for us and wants us to prosper. • It is to recognize that we must give an account for our life. • It is to live before Him in profound delight but also reveren tial fear. • The fear of the Lord is to make knowing, serving, and loving God our single highest priority and greatest delight. • The fear of the Lord is a foundation for all of life. Those who fear the Lord will know God and be known by God. The fear of the Lord makes doing the will of God the highest priority which simplifies one’s life and releases joy and achievement. The fear of the Lord is to be a man or woman after God’s own heart.

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• Seeking out the Fear of the Lord The fear of the Lord is something that must be sought out, asked for, and persistently pursued. Consider these verses from the book of Proverbs. Proverbs 2:1-5 (1) My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments within you, (2) making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to under standing; (3) yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, (4) if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, (5) then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God. The Bible clearly states that the fear of the Lord is not something casually obtained but must be sought after by every person. But who will seek it if it is not valued? For the Israelites, the knowledge of God was their greatest treasure. To know Him, the creator of the universe, and to be found in His favor was the highest good. Therefore, they valued the fear of the Lord as a great treasure that would lead them into ever greater discoveries. How do we go about seeking the fear of the Lord? In light of our ex tensive definition above, discovering the fear of the Lord involves a deep and heartfelt commitment to the truth. That can be challenging. Frankly, some people would rather be left in the dark than to know the truth. Our culture values convenience, comfort, and pleasure above almost anything else. It rewards avoidance, belief in lies, willfulness, selfishness, and almost everything that is opposed to the truth. To discern the fear of the Lord requires a deep heart resolve to know things as they truly are rather than being given comforting words that are not true.

Cultivating the Fear of the Lord

The fear of the Lord brings a true discerning of people, events, and causes. It involves looking below the surface of a matter to see sources

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and motivations. However, such a grace must be discovered and appre hended by focusing on the Lord and seeking to please Him. As we give ongoing attention to seeking God’s approval, a growing awareness of what God values begins to take shape. The fear of the Lord begins to grow and forms a spiritual apparatus for discerning the truth in every situation. People’s opinions and approval cease to dissuade us from the truth. The fear of the Lord causes a person to see through deceit and ulterior motives in people’s actions. This is why a person’s discernment grows because they are no longer dancing through the minefield of public opinion. The fear of the Lord is only apprehended when a person makes it a priority. In contrast, Satan offers his rewards without any cost or process. He only asks that you compromise truth and seek your own interests. But obtaining anything worth having demands a process. As the book of Proverbs so succinctly states, “An inheritance gained hastily, in the beginning, will not be blessed in the end.” (Proverbs 20:21) This is the nature of truth itself. Truth has layers. Deep understanding is a process. The fear of the Lord is something that gets established in the heart over time and through commitment to the truth. When we compromise with the world we lose our discernment but when we are awakened to our need for true understanding, the fear of the Lord will gain preeminence. In the following pages, we will show that the fear of the Lord was a key component of Jesus’ moral compass and that we must follow suit if we are going to display our loyalty to Jesus, as well as effectively and uncompromisingly carry His message to the world. Many mistakenly think that the Fear of the Lord is an Old Testament concept and no longer applicable in the age of grace . But as we consider the life of Jesus and His teaching, it will become clear that it was a central tenant of His understanding. It forms the backdrop of the entire gospel. Once a person begins to see the centrality of the fear of the Lord in the life and teaching of Jesus, it becomes readily apparent everywhere in the New Testament and becomes central to the mission and understanding of the Church.

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Chapter 2 T he H umanity of J esus and the fear of the L ord

“ Unto us, a child is born; unto us, a son is given.” (Isaiah 9:6) “ For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son …” (John 3: 16a) “ God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in a son…” . (Hebrews 1: 1, 2a) The plan of God to change the world was through the giving of a son . Not an angel, not a supernatural being, not a prophet, not merely a servant, not a miracle worker, not a politician, or a charismatic leader, but a son would be given. The primary assignment of Jesus was to live as a son among men and in so doing restore the intimacy of man with God through revealing the true nature of sonship. But Jesus did not come out of the womb of Mary as a full grown man. “Unto us a child was born…”. He was born as a real child and He had to grow up into His calling like every other child. There was a time when Jesus was not ready to be the savior of the world. Jesus’ upbringing was in the context of the fear of the Lord. It included teaching and submission to His parents and learning how to interface with people and family. As we will see, Mary and Joseph were steeped in the honest and humble culture of the Jewish nation that was committed to the purpose of God being fulfilled in the earth. Jesus was raised in the culture of the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord was a primary expression of Jesus and as we will show, it was critical to His accessing the fullness of His calling. He was brought up in it. He lived it. He taught it. It was literally in the

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background of everything He did. The first line of the “Lord’s Prayer”, “Our Father, which is in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name,” (Matthew 6:9) is a cry for the fear of the Lord. This is exactly what we would expect because the Messianic prophesies that Jesus fulfilled describe the coming Messiah as someone immersed in the fear of the Lord. But this aspect of Jesus’ humanity is rarely emphasized in most Christian circles. Lack of emphasis on Jesus’ humanity is a major deficiency in much of the church’s teaching. Jesus not only came to die for the sins of humanity but He also came to restore mankind’s mandate to represent God in the earth. Mankind was created to bear the image of God, to be His representative in the earth, to govern the earth as His royal ambassadors and to steward the earth’s resources until the entire planet was fully subdued and infused with God’s glory. 1 But that extraordinary mandate was forfeited in the garden through Adam and Eve’s rebellion and disobedience. Jesus came not only to forgive mankind’s sins but to restore the original mandate by restoring the original image of God in man. Jesus became the way back to the Father and incidentally the way back into sonship as heirs of the Kingdom. Tragically, that divine purpose ceased to be an emphasis in much of the church. Within the first hundred years, the church’s focus shifted from making disciples who lived and thought like Jesus to arguing over the deity of Christ and other doctrines of orthodoxy. The heresy of Gnosticism distracted the church and became a major battleground. As the church gained political power it lost the moral high ground, and used doctrinal conformity to evaluate its membership. The church made believing the right doctrines the test of orthodoxy rather than conformity to the image of Christ. Meanwhile, the emphasis upon actually pursuing and doing the will of God was set aside. 2 In the first 400 years of Christianity, there was a great controversy The Lost emphasis of Jesus’ humanity

1 See Genesis 1: 26, 27 and Numbers 14:21 2 For a detailed history of the loss of the church’s focus on the Gospel see The Torch of ine Testimony , John W. Kennedy, Seedsewers Publishing

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over the question of Jesus’ divinity versus His humanity. The great conflict revolved around a heresy known as Arianism . Global councils were called to discuss this doctrinal matter and there were massive religious and political implications from the outcome. Once the dust cleared, one was hard-pressed to find any emphasis on the humanity of Jesus. Some of the early church fathers were so focused on defending the deity of Christ that in some cases they inflicted the penalty of death upon those who opposed it. Predictably, any emphasis on the humanity of Jesus got lost in the discussion. The danger of losing Jesus’ humanity in favor of His divinity is that it limits our understanding of what Jesus came to accomplish. When the church lost its emphasis on the humanity of Jesus and His full identi fication with mankind it forfeited the full purpose of His coming, focus ing on His sacrificial death and the forgiveness of sins and yet failing to understand His role as the restorer of sonship and with it the restoration of the original purpose of man. This loss of emphasis on Jesus’ humanity was foreign to the New Testament. The New Testament affirms both the humanity and the deity of Christ. The early church heresy called Gnosticism denied the human ity of Jesus provoking Paul and John as well as the author of Hebrews to address it. John’s Gospel takes dead aim at this misconception by decisively declaring that Jesus came in the flesh.

John 1:1, 14

(1) In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and was God. The same was in the beginning with God…. (14) And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John reasserts this truth again in his first letter to the church.

1 John 4:2-3

(2) By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,

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(3) and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.

The Spirit of anti-Christ

Jesus Christ coming in the flesh dignifies humanity. The radical implications of Christ becoming one of us changes the game in every conceivable way. The anti-Christ spirit seeks to deny this ultimate reality. Why? Because Satan hates man. He propagates the lie that God is too holy to engage man. He seeks to alienate mankind from its father/ creator and to create obstacles for him ever seeking to return. The incarnation, Jesus being born in the flesh, declares God’s in tention not to abandon mankind to its plight but to come into the midst of humanity in the most intimate way possible and redeem it. This is God and man together and it functions as the bedrock of the Gospel. It means that God, though immeasurably holy and high and lifted up, nevertheless seeks to engage mankind in the most tangible and intimate way possible. It means that God has dignified the flesh of mankind with Himself. Apparently, God is not offended by man’s flesh. “Immanuel, God with us” is the gospel in a nutshell. But as John says, the spirit of the antichrist seeks to deny this reality. If the devil can rob the church of this truth then it practically nul lifies the Gospel. Satan is forever seeking to alienate the human race from its creator. The Gospel seeks a complete reconciliation. Once the full intention of God through Jesus is realized and implemented, the world will be transformed. I am not suggesting that this is a simple process. I am only asserting the astounding implications of Jesus coming in the flesh as a man. His mission and all He accomplished are still being fully worked out by His followers. The book of Hebrews also goes to even greater lengths to insist on the humanity of Jesus, stating that Christ was “made like His brethren.” (Hebrews 2:17) This assertion was critical to the entire logic of the book of Hebrews which focuses upon Jesus’ role as high priest; a role which he could not have assumed unless he was actually a man . Any priest, no matter who he is, must be one with the people he represents. As a man, Jesus experienced everything that it means to be a man, “…yet without sin.” (Hebrews 4:15)

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In Hebrews 2 the author writes, “Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself (Jesus) likewise also partook of the same…. Therefore, he had (it behooved him KJV) to be made like His brethren in all things so that HE might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people, For since He himself was tempted in that which he has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted.” (Hebrews 2:14-18) The primary argument of Hebrews was that Jesus became fully identified with mankind and joined the struggle in order to lead mankind back to the original blueprint. He came to lead “…many sons to glory…” . (Hebrews 2: 10). Jesus became like us so that he could come to our aid and genuinely redeem us. Jesus fully engaged the human struggle. There were no shortcuts. He did not slide by with special privileges. The game was not “fixed” in His favor. He endured all the hardships of mankind and still overcame them. He lived His life, not as some ultra-privileged superstar who had secret access to supernatural powers unavailable to the rest of mankind. He lived in our skin and faced our difficulties and the enemies of our souls. And yet He did access supernatural powers that were part of mankind’s inheritance but had been lost because of sin and blindness resulting from it. The author of Hebrews goes on to further describe Jesus journey in chapter 5, “ In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His godly fear.” (Hebrews 5:7) Consider the fact that Jesus prayed. What are the implications? The answer is that Jesus appealed to God the Father in prayer for assistance. He did not live independently nor do things on His own but was obliged to cry out to God for help. This is very simple but also highly significant. Jesus prayed! And so must we. He has given us an example. Hebrews states that Jesus’ prayers were heard “…because of His Godly fear.” Jesus’ attitude of reverence toward the Father, His desire to please the Father, his attitude of the fear of the Lord gave Him authority in prayer. The fear of the Lord was a contributing factor to Jesus’ prayers getting answered. If Jesus’ prayers were affected positively because of His “Godly fear”, why would that not be true for the church?

Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which

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He suffered. And having been made perfect He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation being designated by God as a High priest according to the order of Melchizadek.” (Hebrews 5:8-10) The second highly significant phrase is in vs. 8, “Although he was a Son, He learned obedience through the things which He suffered.” Jesus “learned obedience…” That implies that Jesus went through a process! Jesus entered into the world in humility and meekness. He was not born as a mature man but as a baby. He suffered the indignity of traveling through a birth canal. He was raised by a mother and father in Galilee. The scriptures reveal Jesus to be a man who grew in His understanding of all things by listening to, submitting to, and learning from His parents, His teachers, the scriptures, experiences, and ultimately from God him self. Finally, the amazing statement, “having been made perfect…” clearly points to the exercise that Jesus endured to enter fully into His high calling. That the ultimate equipping, the “being made perfect” , was essential to His task of being our mediator and redeemer as a man. This does not mean that Jesus was “imperfect” before but that the process was incomplete until He walked out His obedience through profound and unparalleled suffering which fully qualified and completed Him to be our Lord and Christ , (Acts 2:36) A postle and High Priest (Hebrews 12:1)! In the face of every kind of assault on His person, His dignity, His life, His testimony, His humanity, and divinity Christ was proven, vindicated and justified by living a life of holiness without sin. At the same time, the scriptures affirm that Jesus was the unique, divine Son of God. He existed in relationship with God before the foundations of the world. The scriptures affirm Jesus’ pre-existence and declare that Jesus was one with God before He became flesh. He and the Father were one, face to face, in an ongoing dialog. (See John 1:1ff) But when “…the word became flesh” , something changed. Jesus stepped out of eternity and entered into the humble form of a man in Mary’s womb and became united with mankind. Paul alludes to this mystery in Philippians 2: 6, 7. “Although He existed in the form of God, he did not regard equality with God something to be grasped but emptied himself, taking the form of a bondservant and The Deity of Christ

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being made in the likeness of men.” The point of this and numerous other scriptures is that Jesus descended into our humanity to become one with mankind. To accomplish that, He had to leave something behind, namely, His glory. He was still divine, the son of God, but in expression, He laid aside the display of His deity to fully take up life as a man. He became one with the human race, “in the likeness of sinful flesh…” (Ro mans 8:7) with all its brokenness and limitations. This is one of the most astounding aspects of the Gospel. Why did He do this? I’m repeating myself but let me say it again… Jesus’ first purpose was to become as we are and to fully identify with humankind as a man. He was baptized into our humanity and weakness. But it was all for a priestly purpose . He came to redeem mankind from his bondage to “fallenness” so that the race of men might experience again an intimacy with the Father that would allow them to re-connect with their destiny. His ultimate purpose was to fully restore the image of God to mankind and to lead humanity back to its original mandate as image-bearers and representatives of God. He came “bringing many sons to glory…” (Hebrews 2:10) Through obedience and submission to God the Father, Jesus became the pattern of what it means to be a son of God and to bear God’s image. Not through rigid adherence to the law, but through the relational dynamic of father and son, Jesus put intimacy with God on display within the boundaries of the law while still fulfilling the deepest desire of the Father. Jesus was more than “a law-abiding Jew”. His obedience went beyond merely keeping the law. It involved a deeply intimate relationship with the Father. Jesus fully engaged the high calling of mankind from the beginning and did not fall short of the glory of God. Jesus re-lived and walked out Adam’s original mandate. That is why Paul calls Jesus “the last Adam,” meaning that he picked up and finished where the original Adam failed. 3 Jesus did not heal the world by a snap of His fingers or a twitch of His nose. He did not practice magic. He did not wield supernatural power as a god. He walked out man’s destiny as a man. He brought healing as a man and He ministered to people as a man. He listened. He prayed. He served and He spoke and He healed and He performed miracles but never through supernatural privilege as “God” but as a man empowered by the Spirit. His miracles were “in the power of the Spirit.” (Luke 4:14) His reading of people’s thoughts was a combination of prophetic anointing and naturally empathetic insight into men’s souls. 3 See Romans 5:12-19

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His discerning of the will of God was through prayer by the Spirit and by the fear of the Lord. Jesus did not “work the program” or follow “four easy steps.” He walked in freedom and originality and spontaneity all in submission to the Father’s will. When the people started chasing Him for the wrong reason or tried to make Him king, He hid from them or rebuked them. He taught and He challenged. He rebuked and exhorted and wept and… He died on the cross at the hands of sinful men jealous and threatened by His influence. He laid in a tomb for three days and then God confirmed the life and testimony of Jesus by raising Him from the dead. He was appointed as the Son of God through His resurrection from the dead “… by the Spirit of holiness.” (Romans 1:4) The resurrection of Jesus from the dead was a clear sign of divine approval of all that Jesus said and did. The resurrection was also God’s deliberate act of vindicating and confirming Jesus as His son. (See Psalm 2:7 and Acts 13:33). Through the resurrection, God declared once more, “This is my beloved son; listen to Him!” (Mark 9::7) The life of Jesus modeled what God intended for man’s life. Even though He was unique among men, He nevertheless was sent to restore the true meaning of manhood. As such, if the fear of the Lord is critical to our walking in righteousness then we should find Jesus living by it and teaching it. He came to show us the way back into our divine purpose. And though He was the Son of God, there were no shortcuts to the salvation of mankind. We must allow the fact that Jesus walked in our shoes which means that he was genuinely subject to limitations of knowl edge and experience. He endured weakness and hunger and even dread or fear. 4 He grew into maturity. He learned obedience through suffering. By His admission, He had to “overcome the world” (John 16:33) and this was essential to His mission. He felt the weight of His calling. It was not a shoo-in that He would overcome. It was taxing upon Him. It was challenging. He was tempted The mission of Christ challenged Him to the core of His being. It cost Him. The life of Christ was not a superfi cial victory. It took courage in the extreme. Consider these words from the book of Luke, “I have come to cast fire upon the earth, and how I wish Jesus’ Model of living in the fear of the Lord

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See Luke 22:44

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it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is accomplished!” (Luke 12:49, 50). The word translated as “distressed” means “ to be pressed, constrained, to have pressure from every side.” 5 Jesus felt keenly the weight of His assignment. We must allow Christ to be a man or we will not be able to look to Jesus for clues as to how to walk in the fear of the Lord. The book of Hebrews says that Jesus sympathized with our weaknesses and was tempt ed in all things. Jesus is the pattern for so much more than most believers realize. Significantly, the disciples only gradually came into a revelation of who Jesus was. This further confirms His humanity. They did not know that He was God’s “only begotten son” until it was revealed to them over time. Even the concept of “messiah” was unclear in first-century Judaism. There were many opinions about what the “Christ” was supposed to be. One can read the debates about it right in the Gospel accounts. (See John 7:40-52) Even though the Old Testament prophesies concerning the Messiah were explicit, they were rarely understood by people of first-century Judaism. Jesus did not announce His messiahship in so many words, know ing that the Jews held many expectations of what Messiah was supposed to be. Part of the offense towards Jesus was that after people came to believe He was the promised Messiah, He did not meet their assumptions of what Messiah should be. Jesus needed the fear of the Lord in His own life to walk out His unique understanding of Messiahship as there was tremendous pressure from all sides for Him to conform to popular expectation. Many were confused by Jesus’ actions. At a certain point, John the Baptist sent a delegation of his disciples to Jesus asking if He was “the one,” i.e. the Messiah, “or should they look for another.” (see Matthew 11) Even Jesus’ closest disciples challenged the idea that He was going to be killed by the Jews. They sought to persuade Him in another direction. Up until the final hours before the cross in the garden, Jesus was in prayer seeking the way through, asking if there was any other way other than the cross that would lead to the redemption of man. (Luke 22: 42-44). But Jesus was

5

Abbot-Smith, G. Manuel Greek Lexicon of the New Testa

ment, Charles Scribners Sons, 1936 p. 428

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resolute and did not deviate from His calling to live and die as a man fully submitted to the will of God. All of these challenges were processed through the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord gave Jesus the clarity of thought, the resolu tion of will, and the holy boldness and courage to fulfill His divine mandate. This study is meant to introduce the concept of the fear of the Lord not only as a foundational concept of the Old Testament but as a fundamental component of Jesus’ life and a key to understanding Jesus’ call to discipleship. Jesus taught the fear of the Lord to his disciples. He rooted them in this essential understanding. If the church of the 21st century is going to partner with Jesus for the incoming harvest, she must be rooted in the fear of the Lord. Jesus’ life journey was governed by the fear of the Lord and there fore, understanding this concept is critical to every believer’s life journey.

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Part 1: P reparing the W ay in the F ear of the L ord

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Chapter 3 C ooperating with D ivine I nitiative : the story of M ary and J oseph

“Behold, a virgin shall be with child and bear a son and she will call His name, Emmanuel.” Isaiah 7:14

Unto us, a child is born, Unto us, a son is given And the government shall rest upon His shoulders. Isaiah 9:6 God uses men and women to accomplish His agenda on the earth. This heavenly protocol is critical to His plan. He never intended to do the job without mankind’s voluntary cooperation. God is certainly capable of forcing issues but he forces no one to play along. He always tells someone what He is about to do and enlists their cooperation. “Surely the Lord God does nothing unless He reveals His secret counsel to his servants the prophets.” (Amos 3:7) Man’s cooperation with God is what this whole grand scheme of the Kingdom of God coming to the earth is all about. God initiates; man cooperates! Those who fear the Lord will be those enlisted and empowered to discern and cooperate with Heaven’s initiative to invade the earth. The birth of Jesus was a kingdom initiative. Mary and Joseph became major players in this movement because they were steeped in the culture of the fear of the Lord. One can see it in the few stories we have about them. The birth narratives are extraordinary in their own right but they are also full of little details that reveal much about the main char acters. It is safe to say that without the fear of the Lord, those involved would not have had the moral courage to live the story. The fear of the Lord was critical to their remaining on the path down which they were led.

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A Place to Sow the Seed

The pre-incarnate Jesus was the word, a seed that needed to be sewn into the race of men. God found this perfect soil in the humble hearts of Mary and Joseph. Though it might have been a great honor to have been the parents of the Messiah, the task of being Jesus’ parents and raising him was fraught with unforeseen difficulties and consequences. From the very beginning Joseph’s and Mary’s lives were filled with contro versy, peril, and adventure as they embarked upon the journey into one of the greatest mysteries of the world: the mystery of God becoming flesh. Their stories are told in the early chapters of the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. Though this story is one of the most famous and beloved of all the stories of the Bible, I want us to read it again to discern the significance of the fear of the Lord manifesting in Mary and Joseph’s actions and decisions. Throughout their story, one can see that Mary and Joseph’s journey was one of profound trust amid great trial and risk. Both were required to trust God implicitly to walk out their journey of obedience. Without their profound cooperation, there would have been no story to record. Matthew’s account gives specific details of Joseph’s journey and Luke focuses more on Mary’s. I intend to walk through this story as if you had never heard it before. Come with me. Our story begins in the rural setting in the rural region of Galilee in a humble Jewish city called Nazareth where the angel Gabriel was sent with a message to a young unmarried and yet betrothed (engaged) virgin maiden named Mary. We get a hint of who Mary was very quickly through the greeting she received from the angel, Gabriel, in the first chapter of Luke, “Hail, favored one, the Lord is with you.” (Luke 1:28) This is not a general greeting of goodwill but specialized favor and honor. It was an extraordinary greeting, made all the more so by the fact that it was delivered by an angel. When Mary pondered the angel’s greeting, he restated it even more strongly. “Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God.” (v.30) This time, Gabriel calls Mary by name, a rare occurrence. 6 The announcement that Mary had found favor with God 6 In contrast, in the story of Samson in Judges 13, the name of his mother is never given even though she also conceived him after being prophesied to by an angel. Mary’s Side of the Story from the Gospel of Luke

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was not a mere statement of God giving grace to an underserving person but was rather a personal encouragement to one who had attracted God’s attention. Gabriel’s announcement of divine favor was akin to when Samuel stated in reference to David, “The Lord has sought out for Himself a man after His own heart…”. (1 Samuel 13:14) It means that Mary was more than a random pick on God’s part but had been someone who captured His attention and won His favor. Though Gabriel’s greeting of Mary was powerful and unusual, the message he came to deliver was truly unprecedented. Gabriel told her she was going to become the mother of a great son, who would become the king of Israel. Gabriel articulated the prophetic message in eight specific details: 1. You will conceive in your womb 2. and bear a son 3. and you shall name Him Jesus; 4. He will be great 5. and will be called the Son of the Most High, 6. and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David 7. and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, 8. and His kingdom will have no end. 7 Imagine trying to get your mind around such a word. Every statement is packed full of implications and could be cross-referenced with many other scriptures and prophetic promises. Essentially, in one sentence Gabriel touched the core of all of Israel’s messianic expectations and landed them all in the lap of a single child. But much of what Gabriel said seemed to be lost on the young maiden, Mary. She got stuck on the first line, namely, “You will conceive in your womb…” Mary was perplexed by the announcement because she was a virgin and so she humbly asked how it could be possible that she would become pregnant being a virgin. The meekness and humility expressed in the question gives insight as to why Mary had found God’s favor. In simple, non-explicit terms Gabriel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you, and for that reason, the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.” (v.35) Gabriel then confirmed the viability of his prediction by saying that Mary’s cousin, Elizabeth, who had been considered barren, had also conceived

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Luke 1:31-33

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in her old age, adding, encouragingly, “For nothing will be impossible with God.” (v. 37)

How to Receive a Word from the Lord

After this simple explanation and encouragement, Mary ex claimed, “Behold the handmaiden of the Lord. Be it done unto me according to your word.” (v. 38). This has got to be one of the most courageous responses ever given to the Lord. There was no precedence in the scrip tures for a virgin birth. An obscure text in Isaiah 7 gives a veiled reference to it. What Gabriel proposed to Mary was something never considered before among men until his words reached Mary’s ears. But Mary, with only the most basic of explanations concerning the mystery, said she was willing and in a dramatic simple statement presented herself before the Lord. This is the way to receive a word from God; with meekness and humility, we must invite God’s word to come to pass in our own lives even if we do not understand it. The nature of a prophetic word of God is that its implications, like icebergs, are mostly hidden from view. The significant part of Mary’s response is that the word’s fulfillment could not come into being without her very real and profound involvement. It is one thing to believe that a prophecy is going to come to pass. It is another thing when that word’s fulfillment depends upon your willingness to accommodate its coming with your own body. The angel’s word to Mary could not have been more personal. It involved her intimately and directly. Divine initiatives must have someone’s cooperation. This is why trust is so critical to everything that God does in and through man. Perhaps Mary was too dumbfounded by the encounter to have conceived of all the implications of her agreement and willingness to be used in such a way. There were certainly many details and situations for which she received no instruction. Did she think of what it would mean for her to become pregnant before she and Joseph were married? Apart from the supernatural aspect, consider the social factors. In the short run, it meant that there would be questions that could not be answered, circum stances that betrayed any explanation. It meant misunderstanding and perhaps shame and embarrassment. Nevertheless, through this response, Mary was utterly submitting herself to the will of God and all its conse-

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quences.

This is what the fear of the Lord looks like. The fear of the Lord places God’s needs above one’s own. Mary did not ask, “What will I tell my fiancé?” Mary left all the details and explanations in the hands of the Lord and she simply embraced the word of promise and counted it a privilege. Few people take the time to really think about the ramifications of the virgin birth of Christ. Miracles are wonderful until a person tries to explain them to others. Imagine what it would have been like to walk out this wonderful miracle. Miracles occur in the context of real life, where families watch and talk. Miracles bring their own unique set of challeng es and conflicts. Sometimes the resulting warfare over a work of God can do great damage. Some miracles make life easier and some come at a great cost. Mary had a genuine miracle manifesting in her womb. Once God’s word starts to manifest in one’s life, there are always adjustments to be made. Miracles bring disruption. Are you ready to receive your miracle? As the Angel spoke with Mary, he deliberately mentioned her cousin Elizabeth who was also pregnant through divine intervention in her old age. This was more than a casual reference but rather seemed to be a hint of where Mary needed to go to get the encouragement she would need in the early days of her pregnancy. Luke tells us that Mary immediately went to go stay with her cousin. The early stages of things can be very unsettling and vulnerable. It seems as if God orchestrated Mary’s and Elizabeth’s coming together as can be seen through the sign that emerged at their greeting. As soon as Mary reached Elizabeth’s house and called out, the baby whom Elizabeth was carrying- the future John the Baptist- leaped in her womb, and simultaneously she (Elizabeth) was filled with the Holy Spirit. She began to cry out with a loud voice prophesying over Mary and “the fruit of her womb,” the future Jesus of Nazareth and Messiah of Israel. Mary in turn also began to worship and broke out into a prophetic declaration of her own, quoting, incidentally, the Psalms and the scriptural words of Hannah, the once barren mother of the prophet Samuel. (Luke 1:39-55, 1 Samuel 2:1-10) The Encounter between Mary and Elizabeth

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Israel’s legacy of Supernatural Births

Mary and Elizabeth were both women from the tribes of Israel and therefore would have been raised knowing the stories of divine interventions often initiated with some kind of supernatural birth. Israel’s story is filled with this kind of heavenly intrusion. Beginning with Abraham and Sarah and the supernatural birth of Isaac in their old age, and then on to Rebecca and Rachel. All three wives of the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were barren women whose womb God opened up after prayer. But it did not stop there. The birth of Moses was also considered a providential birth during a time of great distress due to Pharaoh’s decree to kill all the male children of Israel. His parents knew that he had a special calling from the moment he was born and so they hid him. But then there are many others: Hannah was barren and gave birth to Samuel. Samson’s mother was also barren but then she was visited by an angel, told she would have a son and that he was to be a Nazarite. Divine intervention through the giving of sons was such a prominent theme in ancient Israel that several of the prophets began to announce that God’s promises would be fulfilled through the giving of a special son. “For unto us a child is born; unto us a son is given and the government shall rest upon His shoulders. Isaiah 9: 6 This theme ran deep in the hearts of the Jewish people. “Sing O barren woman”, wrote Isaiah, “for the sons of the desolate one will be more numerous than the sons of she who is married.” (Isaiah 54:1) Pregnancy was considered the work of God which played a role in seeing the king dom of God come to the earth. Mary and Elizabeth were two unexpectedly pregnant women caught up in a spirit-filled divine encounter with each other releasing an outburst of prophetic expression as they celebrated the implications of carrying in their wombs the future of the nation of Israel, the forerunner prophet, John the Baptist, and the savior of the world, Jesus.

Finding the right fellowship in the early stages

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