“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear,
because fear involves torment.” (1 John 4:18)
can’t let this month go by without talking about my favorite subject, Love. Unfortunately, due to the current national crisis, many people are experiencing feelings of fear rather than love.
What kind of love can calm our anxiety? Perfect love. The Greek word use to define perfect means: finished, brought to its end, and nothing else is necessary for completeness1. As Jesus Christ hung from the Cross, He proclaimed, “It is finished!” and with those words He bowed His head and gave up His life. Perfect love won and death has forever lost its sting for those who believe that His sacrifice fulfilled the requirements of God’s Law.
We know this already, yet every day believers continue to be overcome by doubt, worry, and fear. I believe this is partially because the assurance that nothing can separate us from the love of God hasn’t moved from our head to our soul. The soul is the seat of our emotions2 and fright is a negative based emotion. Therefore, this foundational truth must pierce our soul and not remain just something that we know.
I am convinced this will happen as God reveals the depths of His vehement love. You see, it’s not only about believing in what Jesus did at Calvary but believing in why He did it. Love is the power of the Cross; for love is what motivated Jesus to willingly be nailed to it. The reality of John 3:16 is that the Lord loves you so much He would rather die than live without you.
Love’s first appearance in the bible is in a remarkable location because it is found at the famous father and son duo, Abraham and Isaac (Genesis 22:2) which foreshadows God the Father and His Son, Jesus. The Hebrew word for love is ahava; its root is used as God said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” Here the word is referring to a father’s love for his only son that he willingly offered to be a sacrifice in the land of Moriah. Many scholars believe that Moriah is the land where Jesus was crucified.
As we read on in Genesis 22, we see it is also the first time where God’s name, Yehovah-Yireh is revealed. (vs. 14) You may have heard it translated, Jehovah-Jireh. This name is typically translated as “Provider,” however, the literal meaning of this name is, “Yehovah Sees.” In the name Yehovah-Yireh, God revealed Himself to Abraham as the God who sees the need and provides for it.
Foreshadowing Jesus Christ by carrying the wood for the fire on his back, Isaac looked to his dad and asked, “My father, where is the lamb for the sacrifice?” Abraham’s reply was, “My son, God will provide.”
I am purposely drawing your attention to this because it’s not just the hand of God that is revealed here, the heart of God is revealed as well. Provide is what God did but it was simply an outworking of His love. He saw the need of two people He loved (Abraham and Isaac), that’s why He did it. Perfect love has an unselfish demonstration; simply said, love gives.
Beloved, our heavenly Father loves us and sees what we are facing. He is intimately acquainted with all our griefs and He knows each unique physical and emotional need that we have. He provides for them because He loves us. His love is the only thing we can count on, and His love never fails! HalleluYah!
There is an interesting twist to all this. Scripture reveals that the Lord did all this to test Abraham in order to see what he feared. I don’t know how you look at it, but in my mind testing is equated to one thing, pass or fail. Mentally, this puts me into a downward spiral. I fear failing so I try harder, yet I just don’t have it in me so I fail, then I feel guilty because I failed, and feel like a hopeless hypocrite who is undeserving of the affection and attention of God. Round and around I go. Can you identify? However will we be free?
The answer is found in the Hebrew noun Yireh, which comes from the primary word used for fear. Considering that we are talking about love casting OUT fear, this appears to be a bit of a contradiction, but it’s not. Let me explain.
Loving God involves fearing God but not downright dread. In ancient Near Eastern literature “fear” and “love” are both terms that are associated with covenant loyalty. Hebrew uses several different words for fear not just one. One word may define dread and terror while another defines awe, reverence, and a trembling as a result of Holy fear. This type of fear is yireh and is associated with, “The fear of the Lord.” Typically we think of fear as a negative, but in Hebrew yireh has a much broader range of meaning from negative (dread, terror) to positive (worship, reverence) and from mild (respect) to strong (awe). (Strong’s #3374)
The fear of the Lord is not something that is to be cast out… it is something the Lord desires we have. Hear the cry of His heart in Deuteronomy 5:29a, “Oh that they had such a heart in them that they would fear Me and always keep all My commandments…”
Jesus said, “If you love Me, you will obey what I command.” (John 14:15 NIV) Obedience is an act of worship, an expression of love. The fear of God is expressed in humble submission and only perfect love can cast out terror while still allowing holy fear (yireh) to remain. Abraham must have understood this somehow or he would have never been able to lift his hand in this breathtaking act of obedience in order to sacrifice his beloved son.
I want that Holy fear, I need that Holy fear! So the next question is, how do we get it? The answer is in the name: Yehovah (God) Yireh (sees and provides.)
There is something very interesting to see when you observe God’s Name Yehovah Yireh spelled with the original Hebrew letters. The word Yireh that is used to express the Good God that sees and provides is spelled with the same four Hebrew letters that described the reverential fear (yireh) spoken of earlier. They are not the same words…but they are spelled exactly the same!! Coincidence? I don’t think so. Spiritually speaking, written right within God’s name, Yehovah Yireh, God provides the balance of love and reverential fear that is needed to love and obey.
It’s all in His Name. The Lord would never ask us to do something that is impossible. Just as it was possible for Abraham to be willing to slay his only son, so too could Jesus willingly go to the cross for they both knew and experienced that perfect love of God that overshadowed their fears.
