“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding” (Proverbs 9:10)

And Ecclesiastes 12:13 says, “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.”

The fear of the Lord is believing and accepting what God has said above anything or anyone else. It is to place Him, and Him alone, on the Throne of Glory as the Lord and King of Glory!

Knowing that He (God) is completely pure in Himself, and anything other than that is impurity; this is to understand who God is, He is Holy!!

Not only is there no impurity in God, but He is the one responsible for doing away with all impurities. And when we are shown by Him that there are some impurities in us, then we experience “The Fear of the Lord.” Anyone who has experienced this fear should consider themselves wise.

Sin is impurity; God has one sure penalty for sin:

“For the wages of sin is death…” (Romans 6:23a)

Everyone who is born and has seen death, I believe, has the fear of death; whether we say we do or not. And just as it is natural to have this fear, it is just as natural for us to try to figure out a way to escape death.

But Hebrews 9:27 says:

“And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:”

We see things around us, other than people, that we become connected with over time die as well. And we make the attempt to stop those things from dying as well.

In the knowledge of the Holy, we have the understanding that God is the Judge who is Just. He is the One responsible and able, not only to administer death (spiritual) for our impurity (our sin), but also to administer life (spiritual) for putting away our impurity. He is the God of Grace and Mercy!

“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)

We fear the Lord because He is Holy; because as the Most Holy God, He cannot overlook sin. And because He is the Most Holy, He can and will deal with sin on our behalf. He did just that by coming to earth as His Son Jesus to die for our sins, so that we might have life.

It would be wise to respond to the Fear of the Lord by accepting the knowledge of this this truth by faith.

“But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:” (1 Corinthians 1:30)