We Will Not Fear
We Will Not Fear
As our global environment becomes more and more turbulent, it is imperative that believers do not give way to anxiety and live out of a center of fear. As the Bible puts it, we are not to be afraid even though the earth gives way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea. We are told that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ - that trouble, famine, hardship, government or sword cannot harm and that even death itself has lost its sting.
If we are to accept and alert others to the signs of the times, it is essential that we live in the deep revelation that God is our refuge and fortress-an ever present help in times of trouble-and that we therefore have absolutely nothing to fear. This goes beyond head knowledge and must enter the realm of the heart. It comes only from experiencing the profound, personal relationship we have with the Father through His Son Jesus Christ. As Jesus said, ‘peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid’ (John 14: 27).
It is from this experience of God’s reassuring and enfolding love that we should look at the events concerning the end times. We must not look on global circumstances from a default setting of fear or foreboding. On the contrary, we should observe them with a certain joy and eager anticipation as we come to realize that these events are the gateway to one of the greatest events prophesied in Scripture-the glorious second coming and return of the Messiah - The King of Kings, Jesus Christ the Son of God. This prospect is one that should bring enormous comfort to every believer’s heart for, as the Apostle John wrote, in that day God will wipe away every tear from our eyes. In that day there will be no more death, sorrow or crying and no more pain (Revelation 21: 4). In that day we will be invited to live in a city without death.
Let’s look again at Psalm 46.
‘God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, even though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though its waters roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with its swelling. There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High. God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved; God shall help her, just at the break of dawn.
The nations raged, the kingdoms were moved; He uttered His voice, the earth melted. The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Come, behold the works of the LORD, who has made desolations in the earth. He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two; He burns the chariot in the fire. Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth! The LORD of hosts is with us; The God of Jacob is our refuge.’
Here the Psalmist writes, we will not fear. Even though mighty earthquakes strike, resulting in mountains falling into the seas, we will not fear. Even though tsunamis break upon shores and cities, altering the coast line forever, we will not fear. Even though nations may rise up against nations to destroy each other with devastating cruelty, we will not fear. Why will we not fear? We will not be afraid because, as the psalmist says, God is our refuge. He is a very present help. Our God is with us.
Think about it for a moment. Though every edifice on the planet may be shaken and fall, God’s fortress will never so much as tremble and certainly will never collapse.
God’s fortress is mighty, sturdy, permanent, fixed and safe.
And it is into that high tower, that holy refuge, that believers are called to run. Oh that we could have a revelation of the wonderful truth that not only God dwells in this refuge and fortress, we are invited to dwell there too!
The heroes of faith knew this.
When Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego stood before King Nebuchadnezzar after they had refused to bow to the king’s image, they boldly proclaimed on hearing of their certain death by fire, ‘the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.’ (Daniel 3: 17b-18 NKJV). These three Hebrew men hid in the fortress of their God and said, ‘we will not fear.’
Daniel was thrown into a pit of hungry lions. His faith rested in the full knowledge that God was his refuge. Indeed, such was the peace of God upon Daniel that those ferocious and ravenous lions were not tempted so much as to scratch him, and they became as peaceful as Daniel himself. Daniel had chosen not to fear. His peace extended even to the lions!
Stephen, as he was being stoned to death, was overwhelmed not by the rocks that violently pounded and broke his body but by a vision of Jesus Christ standing in an open heaven beckoning and welcoming him to His side. Such was Stephen’s fearless sense of security in God that at the point of death he cried out before his murderers, just like his Master Jesus did, ‘Lord do not charge them with this sin.’ Stephen found a place of refuge where terror could find no foothold.
The Apostle Paul also hid in this high fortress of God’s peace when he was afflicted. He experienced many hardships; he was beaten, stoned, shipwrecked three times and lost at sea, went hungry, thirsty, cold, naked and was imprisoned, yet he wrote that the ‘God of all comfort, comforts us in all our tribulation’ (2 Corinthians 11: 25; 2 Corinthians 1: 3-6). Paul knew what it was to run into the high tower of God’s mighty presence and peace.
All these men and many more proclaimed at the point of pressure and in the place of persecution, ‘WE WILL NOT FEAR!’
And that is what believers today need to learn to do.
How do we do this?
The Psalmist helps us once again when he says - ‘God will help her at the break of dawn’ and ‘the God of Jacob is our refuge’.
Why does the Psalmist here describe God as, ‘the God of Jacob’ and not ‘the God of Abraham?’ It is because he wants to draw attention to a powerful lesson about our ability to ‘rest,’ even when all hell is breaking out around us.
You see, it was Jacob who wrestled with God until the break of day, when he rested. Could it be that through much wrestling (i.e. seeking God with all our heart) we are able to find that place of rest where in God nothing can harm us, regardless of the circumstances raging all around us?
In Proverbs 18: 10 we read that ‘the name of the Lord is a strong tower and the righteous run into it and are safe.’ As soldiers under fire are protected in a strong tower or fortress, so we can take refuge and find protection inside of our ‘God-tower’, so to speak.
The revelation of this wonderful and blessed truth, that God is our refuge and high tower, and that we can run into our God and become totally hidden and safe in Him, is of paramount importance for living the Christian life in the end of the ‘end times.’ It empowers us to embrace every hardship with the perfect knowledge that in that difficulty we can dwell safe inside God. We are taken to a place of rest as we experience the true peace of God that the Apostle Paul said surpasses all understanding, and guards our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus (Philippians 4: 7 NKJV).
At the end of this book, then, I have to return to the beginning.
Remember what I wrote in chapter 1? All my investigations began with the visitation of an angel who carried a message in just one word, and that word was ‘love.’
Love is the key. As I wrote there, if we are to embrace the alarming realities of the earth’s final facts (as prophesied in Scripture), then we must live out of a center of love not fear.
As the apostle John declared, ‘perfect love drives out fear.’
If you have any fear or anxiety in your life about the gathering storms across the globe, then with all sincerity ask your heavenly Father to give you a revelation of his perfect love. By his Holy Spirit, he will surely give it to you (1 John 3.1) and from this you will know that you are a child of God with nothing to fear (Romans 8.15-16).
Without the revelation of God’s love, found only in his Son Jesus Christ, there will always be fear in our hearts.
But as soon as we hear Jesus’ words, ‘the Father himself loves you dearly’ (John 16.27, NLT), then all fear is cast out.
Once again it is the psalmist who declares how we should live in these climactic hours of history.
He says, ‘be still and know that I am God.’
The safest place in the universe is in the arms of your Father God.
He wants you to know him - not in some intellectual, abstract, or religious way, but in that personal and relational way that Jesus knew the Father.
He wants you to be certain of his love and confident in Him, whatever the circumstances.
To know God in this way, you and I must understand that this kind of relationship is only available through Jesus.
Jesus alone has the keys to the fortress, the high tower, the refuge that is our God.
If you do not yet enjoy this kind of relationship with God, take a moment to be quiet before the Lord and pray a simple prayer in which you say sorry for your sins. Thank God that in Jesus’ death you receive perfect forgiveness. Ask Jesus Christ to come into your life as your Saviour and Lord. Finally, ask that the peace of God will come and rest upon your heart and mind and that you will instinctively draw upon the strength of the Lord when trouble and hardship come.
You could end your prayer time by saying something like this:
“Lord Jesus, I come before you now, and acknowledge that you are the God of refuge. Here in this moment I thank you for being my strong tower of protection in every difficult situation that I face. Enable me Lord through the power of your Holy Spirit to live in this reality every day of my life, in Jesus name, Amen.”
Now finally remember what the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 8: 35-39:
‘Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: ‘For your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.’ Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.’ Let this great truth bring serenity to your soul and with all your brothers and sisters in Christ throughout the earth make this your decree:
‘WE WILL NOT FEAR!’
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