Fear is just another word for worship or adoration. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Prov. 9:10). It’s having a reverence of God.
As R.C. would say, the greatest need of any human being, believer or unbeliever, is to know God. Until you know the fullness of God, you don’t know what it means to fear God fully. The ability to fear God correlates to how much you know about Him. The more you have imbibed the wisdom and revelation of God ’s character found in Holy Scripture, the more glorious He becomes to you. The more you see His beauty, the more you will have awe and fear and worship Him.
This transcript is from a live Ask Ligonier event with John MacArthur and has been lightly edited for readability. To ask Ligonier a biblical or theological question, email ask@ligonier.org or message us on Facebook or Twitter.
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John MacArthur
Dr. John MacArthur is pastor/teacher of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, Calif. and chancellor and professor of pastoral ministry at The Master’s Seminary. He is the featured teacher on Grace to You and author of numerous books, including The Gospel According to Jesus.
