Do You Not Fear God?

Do You Not Fear God?

²⁷ A large crowd of people followed him, including women who were mourning and lamenting him. ²⁸ But turning to them, Jesus said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and your children. ²⁹ Look, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the women without children, the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed!’ ³⁰ Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us!’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us!’ ³¹ For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?”

³² Two others—criminals—were also led away to be executed with him. ³³ When they arrived at the place called The Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals, one on the right and one on the left. ³⁴ Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, because they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided his clothes and cast lots.

³⁵ The people stood watching, and even the leaders were scoffing: “He saved others; let him save himself if this is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One!” 36 The soldiers also mocked him. They came offering him sour wine ³⁷ and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself!”

³⁸ An inscription was above him: This Is the King of the Jews. ³⁹ Then one of the criminals hanging there began to yell insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”

⁴⁰ But the other answered, rebuking him: “Don’t you even fear God, since you are undergoing the same punishment? ⁴¹ We are punished justly, because we’re getting back what we deserve for the things we did, but this man has done nothing wrong.” ⁴² Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

⁴³ And he said to him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
^{Luke 23:27–43 [CSB]}

“Don’t you even fear God, since you are undergoing the same punishment?

This man was speaking of OUR guilt, you know? Yes, his and the man who was nailed to the other cross.

Yet…

We truly… all of us… belong up there. NO, really.

Ever give that some thought?

Do you not fear God?

Some don’t—some don’t even give Him a thought. Maybe once they had a pange of guilt…but then nothing happens to them…so they were at ease thereafter…thinking they got away with it…that maybe God was not watching or not even there.

Yes, and many just cover up…

And…fill life with as many types of anesthesia that they can…

…that will numb…

…tonics of any sort… that they can get away with…as much distraction as they can stuff their days—legal or otherwise.

And they manage…they cope…they buzz their way through life…
All this at least until…until the end approaches—but even to the very last minute—like that guy on the other cross—they are trying to find anything to keep Him and His ways away—out of sight and out of mind.

King David asked in one of His Psalms: “Why do the heathen rage and these people plot in vain?”

He goes on to say that they wish to break all bonds that hold them back. Loose those fetters of good and right—and morals and ethics—them be blown away in the wind.

Yes, eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow…well, let’s not talk about tomorrow, please.

And so they don’t.

How true….

What is truth? Whatever we can get away with. Yes, even Christians try this—how much before God gets ticked off at us…before it is too late? Before tomorrow… does come.

Do you…do we even fear God?

Do so…before it is too late.

What if God requires your soul this very night? What then?

No, drown the old Adam, so that the new can arise daily and come forth to live before God in righteousness and purity forever.

Know that quote? Remember that quote? It is from your catechism… 4th chief part… Baptism.. Remember your baptism…

God will not be mocked. He did not die so that you can continue to live in sin…to live like pigs in slop to just stink up His creation.

Do you not fear God?

Jesus said not to fear man and what others can do in this life to your body. No, He said to fear God, who can and will throw both body and soul into hell.

King David, the Psalmist, goes on to complain about these who do not fear God—that they are seemingly properous in all they do—abound in sin and gain from it, even.

They maim, kill, steal…and then use and abuse. They take over and build empires—

But, David says, all the same, it is better to be a doorman in the Sanctuary of the Lord, than to revel in the tents of the wicked.

Because even empires are here today and gone the next. All very fast. Power is held but for a short time. Wealth is given to others. All of it is in vain. Empty and wasting away. Thin and fragile…toples by a breath—the breath of God Himself.

Then comes eternity. A brief breath… one little Word… then the end.

Do they then not fear God? Don’t they ever think and ask, what is next? What is after?

What happens with all of what they try and do…strive for…accomplish…all their attempts to do without Him…to make heaven here and themselves gods?

The Holy Spirit through the Psalmist tells us that God just laughs. They are the mice who roared. The ants who stormed the castle. Yet many think they will succeed. As if humanity and the world will get better—that THEY will make it a paradise again. Without Him.

…but it comes to nothing—so fast. It is funny, in a very patheitc and tragic way.

And the other funny part—the great irony of it all—is that it actually helps us—in the end. We gain and they lose.

God works it all for our good…and would for their’s too…only they won’t…

…so even if the good die young, they inherit the earth and eternal days to live on it. Even if bitterly do we live and die here. We have lost nothing if we are in Jesus.

All that the ungodly do and have, comes to nothing and is gone—all gone in the end…and then… what is good…it goes to us.

Yes, the bride of Christ, His Church, inherits all that Jesus has. Everything, in other words.

And these others…these haughty self-made userpers of God’s creation—they are at a loss. They meet their end.

The end for them comes quicker than does THE END—the end of all things. But this, THE END, is also at hand. The end of all their making trouble—all the devil’s purposed trouble. God does not delay.

When it comes all will see it and those who have not feared God…who ignored Him and His calling them back to Him…back home…who have seared their conscineces so that no guilt ever touches their hearts and minds…then they WILL FEAR…so much so that they will search for ways to hide from HE WHO COMES IN JUDGMENT.

As if all along they have ever been able to hide before. King David talks about this too. There is no place to hide—never was. God is there. God is here. All—everything and everyone is always before the face of God.

In Him we live and move and have our being…even those who don’t think so—they have their backs to Him and pretend that He is not there. They don’t acknowledge Him…and they stop their ears from hearing Him…

Even though He is always calling…Adam, where are you?

So, for a while they think they are hidden…like Adam and Eve thought…hiding in the bushes…covering up what they have done.

Then He will come—come on the clouds in glory. This time… though… not in grace and mercy.

Then they will want to find cover…quickly…any cover…even wishing that the mountains would fall on them to hide them.

Then those dry and dead…the lifeless ones who have spent themselves on evil…the chaff that is left…those branches brown and brittle…these will be cut off, picked up and thrown into everlasting fire.

All gone…all of it gone…all of them gone. THE END.

And then THE beginning… for His beloved…for us.

The start of life…new and green—brooks overflowing with the spring rains of righteousness…milk and golden honey reflecting the new day—the eighth day of the new creation.

Yes, Jesus will remember us—His chosen—in His Kingdom. Paradise on the new earth. He cannot forget His own—those whom He called…whom He chose and whom He Justified with His own blood. Those He washed and clothed. Those Jesus made alive again—holy and acceptable—to Him and His Father, by His Holy Spirit in Word, water, bread and wine.

He is talking about you—He is remembering you.

Then true life begins in earnest. Full life. Life as never lived before. Yes, in the Paradise of our God…

Lord, remember us in Your Kingdom… we pray…

Jesus tells you this day, Yes…He has and He will. All things are YES AND AMEN in Him… No one the Father has given Him can be snatched out of His hand.

Amen.

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