Fear, Terror, and the Believer

  As I sat in a service last week, a reference was made to “terrorist attacks” against a church or believers. It set me to pondering another aspect of fear. A while back I had began thinking about I Jn. 4:18 which speaks of perfect love casting out fear. And so as I began pondering terrorism against believers, it was within a framework of related thoughts. Consider the purpose of a terrorist attack; the purpose is to create terror/fear. Thus, a terrorist attack against a church is meant to create fear within the church. At this point, the passage in Phil. 1:27-28 came to mind which speaks of believers not being at all frightened by their opponents; and this lack of fear is a sign of salvation. There should never be such a thing as a “successful” (terror-producing) terrorist attack on believers.
   So, I set out to look at the topic more in depth. What should a believer fear Biblically, and what shouldn’t they fear? Here are the results of that further study. We are to fear the Lord God of heaven. This is a long, intricate discussion, so I will not delve into it completely. Consider two passages though: Ps. 25:14 which says that the friendship of the Lord is for the ones who fear Him. Also, Ps. 33:18 which speaks of the Lord watching those who fear Him, who hope in His steadfast love. The fear of the Lord is worth deep study to seek out the Biblical meaning; here are some additional relevant Scriptures (Deut. 6:13; Prov. 1:7; Job 1:8; Isa. 8:12-13). The fear of the Lord is the only fear that I find highlighted throughout Scripture. A proper fear of sinning is also mentioned (I Tim. 5:20). And Paul speaks of fearing that his time ministering among certain groups was pointless (throughout 2 Corinthians; I Thess. 3:5).
And what of the things that we need not fear? Ps. 23:4, we should not fear evil, because the Lord is with us. That is a highly significant statement; those who have the Lord as their protector never need to fear evil! We should not fear those who may attack us, if we have the Lord with us. There is nothing that they can possibly do without His permission (Ps. 27:1-3; 3:6; 118:6). And more specifically along these lines, we should not fear those who can kill the body (in context the persecution is for religious reasons)(Mt. 10:16-31; cf. Lk. 12:4). We should not fear death (Heb. 2:14-15). This is a major one, so take some time to look through Heb. 2 carefully. Christ destroyed the power of death with the purpose of delivering us from the fear of death!
   Two more highly relevant passages before a conclusion. Rom. 8:15 indicates that believers are set free from fear when they became children of God. They have a Father to cry out to for help, and thus, no need for fear. The second passage is 1 Peter 3:14-15 which says that when believers suffer for doing right, they should not be afraid of their persecutors, but rather to know that God will do what is right.
   As I was reading through these various passages I began to realize that the only basis that the believer is given in Scripture for a fear-free life is who God is. God’s character is the only anchor that can assure a purpose that nothing can hurt me. Psalm 91 and Isaiah 43:1-7ff are essentially discourses on how the character of God is the basis for a fear-free life. None of these passages promises an easy life; they simply say that God is in control and will certainly work all things out for the best and the ultimate security of His precious children.
   If you read this and are not certain of your relationship with God, God promises peace and freedom from fear only to those who put their trust in His Son, Jesus. He offers this gift to all freely, but for those who reject it there is much to fear. For God has said that everyone who rejects Him will face eternal judgment. Read and consider the various sections of the Bible that I mentioned and those that surround them for a fuller understanding of what God’s Word says to all of us.

*The Bible references that are italicized each have significantly more to say on this topic than I had space to present and they deserve careful study. Other major passages for study on this topic: Phil. 2:12; 2 Tim. 1:7; Prov. 3:21-26