Our Treasure
By J.P. Thackway
“The fear of the LORD is his treasure” Isaiah 33:6
Whose “treasure” is “the fear of the LORD” in the above verse?
Isaiah chapter 33 is in the time of good king Hezekiah of Judah. Sennacherib king of Assyria threatens to overwhelm Jerusalem. Hezekiah and the people pray: “O LORD, be gracious unto us; we have waited for thee: be thou their arm every morning, our salvation also in the time of trouble” (verse 2). These words are always a good prayer for us in times of need.
In verses 3-5 the Lord promises to answer this cry of deliverance from the Assyrian enemy:
At the noise of the tumult the people fled; at the lifting up of thyself the nations were scattered.
And your spoil shall be gathered like the gathering of the caterpiller: as the running to and fro of locusts shall he run upon them.
The LORD is exalted; for he dwelleth on high: he hath filled Zion with judgment and righteousness.
This is God scattering Sennacherib and his armies. As a result, Judah will have nothing to do but gather the spoil like devouring insects. The Lord fulfilled this when one angel slew 185,000 Assyrians, the rest fleeing, and Sennacherib returning home only to be assassinated by his own sons (Isaiah 37:35-38). It reminds us that we do not pray in vain. The Lord magnifies His faithfulness when He acts for His people.
Hezekiah’s
But whose “treasure” is this “fear of the LORD”? It could be Hezekiah’s, for he had this grace in his heart (2 Kings 19:14) and it brought blessing to the nation. Verse 6 describes the beneficial character of Hezekiah’s reign, wonderfully preserved by the destruction of the Assyrians:
And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times, and strength of salvation: the fear of the LORD is his treasure.
This applies to any nation that the Bible enlightens and improves. It brings understanding of God, good laws, ordered society, and stability with security. Notice the order: “wisdom and knowledge” – wisdom is knowledge applied for right and good ends. We have knowledge in many fields of expertise today – but where is the wisdom? It seems that the more we know the worse we become in pride, self-assurance, hedonism, immorality, addictions, crime, callousness – and the chaos and misery that sin leaves in its wake. This echoes the words of Jeremiah 8:9 “lo, they have rejected the word of the LORD; and what wisdom is in them?”
The Lord Himself
The treasure of godly fear could also refer to the Lord Himself, and what He sees in His people (Isaiah 33:5b). He prizes the fruit of His grace in believers, describes them as “a peculiar treasure unto me above all people” (Exodus 19:5), and in the final, coming day says He will “make up [his] jewels” [margin, special treasure] (Malachi 3:17).
It is something given to us by grace. He says, “I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me. Yea, I will rejoice over them” (Jeremiah 32:41). Bringing us to know Him as our covenant God like this is His work in us, and is precious to Him. He treasures His work in His people. Along with the gift of His Son, there is nothing more valuable to Him.
This cannot be said of any other than His people. As John Bunyan put it,
… this blessed grace of fear, which is here called God’s treasure. It is only bestowed upon the elect, the heirs and children of the promise; all others are destitute of it, and so continue to death and judgment.
Revealing
It is revealing to see how modern Bible versions translate this verse. Instead of leaving the possessor of the treasure open, as does the Hebrew and the Authorised Version – “his treasure” – the English Standard Version and the New King James Version come down on different sides. The ESV has “the fear of the LORD is Zion’s treasure;” the NKJV has “The fear of the LORD is His treasure” (the capital “H” meaning the LORD). To confuse the issue further, the New International Version has: “the fear of the LORD is the key to this treasure”!
Today’s Bible versions tend to interpret instead of translate. This goes too far, farther than the text itself. It confuses understanding of God’s Word: one says one thing, another says the opposite! The genius of the Authorised Version is its exact equivalence translation philosophy: that is, as far as is possible it keeps to a word-for-word translation, thus giving us a reliable and trustworthy English translation of Scripture. Who should want anything more – which actually gives less?
However, for the purposes of this article, we will take “the fear of the LORD is his treasure” to refer to what we have as the gift of His grace. Let us, then, consider,
1. Our Treasure
“The fear of the LORD is his treasure.” Next to the Lord Himself, godly fear is the most precious thing we possess. “Treasure,” because it is a grace that is rare, beautiful and lasting.
1] What this is not.
“The fear of the LORD” is not being frightened of God. “Servile fear” belongs to unbelievers. They know just enough of God not to be indifferent (Romans 2:14-16; Hebrews 10:27). They spend their time reassuring themselves that He is not real, making fun of religion, and bolstering each other against the claims of Christ. On the one hand they live in denial; on the other, any thought of God disturbs them. Such fear is no better than that of the devils, who “believe, and tremble” (James 2:19).
It is true that this kind of fear can be in the Lord’s people as well. Remaining sin in us sometimes surfaces in flawed understanding of God and His love. We can have less-than-Christian views of our gracious heavenly Father (Matthew 6:7,8). We struggle with a keen sense of sin instead of rejoicing in pardon and adoption (Romans 8:15,16). We can fail to have confidence in His “perfect love which casteth out fear” (1 John 4:17,18). God’s gracious Word, applied by the Spirit, keeps us free from this: “whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil” (Proverbs 1:33).
2] This is godly fear.
“The fear of the LORD.” It is a treasure that only His children have – sometimes called “filial fear.” Following on from Matthew 6:7,8 quoted above, comes the Lord’s Prayer: “Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name … thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven” (verses 9,10, emphasis mine). This tells us that filial fear is reverence leading to obedience (Ecclesiastes 12:13). Charles Bridges defines it accordingly:
But what is the fear of the Lord? It is that affectionate reverence, by which the child of God bends himself humbly and carefully to His Father’s law.
This childlike, loving veneration for God means we count it a serious thing to sin against Him, and conversely a serious concern to please Him. Another helpful definition is, “His frown is our greatest dread; His smile is our greatest delight.”
Zacharias Ursinus (1534–1583) distinguishes between “servile” and “filial” fear:
Servile fear, such as the slave has for his master, which consists in fleeing punishment without faith and without a desire and purpose of changing the life, being accompanied with despair, flight and separation from God — such a servile fear differs greatly from that which is filial.
1. Filial fear arises from confidence and love to God; that which is servile arises from a knowledge and conviction of sin, and from a sense of the judgment and displeasure of God.
2. Filial fear does not turn away from God, but hates sin above everything else, and fears to offend God: servile fear is a flight and hatred, not of sin, but of punishment and of the divine judgment, and so of God himself.
3. Filial fear is connected with the certainty of salvation and of eternal life: servile fear is a fear and expectation of eternal condemnation and rejection of God, and is great in proportion to the doubt and despair which it entertains of the grace and mercy of God. This is the fear of devils and wicked men, and is the commencement of eternal death, which the ungodly experience already in this life.
From https://heidelblog.net/2015/11/another-helpful-distinction-filial-versus-servile-fear, which is worth accessing.
2. Our Treasured Things
This godly fear involves some precious things:
1] A constant awareness of His presence.
Like Hagar, we say, “Thou God seest me” (Genesis 16:13), and we know that He is a God “at hand” (Jeremiah 23:23). Under that sense of His holy and loving presence, if grace is in our hearts, we want to live to please Him. He sees and knows everything, and this moves us to pray, in the words of the Anglican Collect,
ALMIGHTY God, unto whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid; Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of thy Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love thee, and worthily magnify thy holy Name; through Christ our Lord. Amen.
2] A tender conscience.
This keeps us sensitive to what pleases or displeases the Lord: “The fear of the LORD is to hate evil” (Proverbs 8:13). We hate what our God hates; we love what He loves. This develops as we go on in Christian experience. We probably look back to certain things we used to do which, upon deeper acquaintance with God, we no longer believe are right. We now take even “the little foxes that spoil the vines” (Song of Solomon 2:15) because we have a heightened sense of what pleases our Father.
It also means whenever we believe we have sinned, we at once confess it to the Lord in a “telegraph” or “arrow” prayer. We do not let “latest sins” build up, but keep “short accounts” with God to keep right with Him. This gracious sensitivity cannot bear that anything should come between the Lord and us, like a dark cloud obscuring the sunshine of His presence. And if it does, we thank God for the golden promise, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). And, far from making us presumptuous, such gratitude for pardon will only enhance this fear: “But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared” (Psalm 130:4).
3] A preserving grace.
Joseph showed it when resisting Potiphar’s wife’s advances, “thou art his wife: how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” (Genesis 39:9). To sin against the Lord who was with him, showing such love and blessing, was unthinkable. He does not speak of “dare not,” which would be servile; but “cannot” which is filial. Joseph Hart captures it helpfully,
This fear’s the spirit of faith,
A confidence that’s strong;
An unctuous light to all that’s right,
And a bar to all that’s wrong.
The same grace that won our hearts also preserves our hearts.
4] It keeps us prayerful.
Job’s friends alleged, “thou castest off fear, and restrainest prayer before God” (Job 15:4). Although they were wrong about Job, they were right that fearing God and praying to God go together. Godly fear promotes prayer. The holy sense of God upon our souls draws us out to Him because faith sees Him there. Being accessible, by the Spirit’s help (Romans 8:26), we keep in a prayerful frame and make our requests known. As we do this, He promises that, “He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him: he also will hear their cry, and will save them” (Psalm 145:19). Notice that is our “desire” – whatever answer comes, even if not the one we ask for, it satisfies. As Joseph Hall wrote, “Good prayers never come weeping home. I am sure I shall receive, either what I ask or what I should ask.”
5] It means devoted worship and service.
“Let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear” (Hebrews 12:28). We will take any service for God seriously and not do it “negligently” (Jeremiah 48:10, margin).
This includes the way we worship Him, knowing that it is for His acceptance and glory. The fear of the Lord is not only the beginning of wisdom but of reverence. The frivolity of contemporary worship, and the conformity to the world of new Calvinism, are polar opposites to this godly fear. Let us not only seek to grow in this grace ourselves, but contend for it in the church in a day of such departure from it. May the Lord make clear who is on the Lord’s side and who is not, and bring His people back to that worship according to the Scripture: “God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all [them that are] about him” (Psalm 89:7).
Some lines from John Needham (d.1786) summarise all this, and is a good prayer for us:
Happy beyond description he
Who fears the Lord His God;
Who hears His threats with holy awe,
And trembles at His rod.
Fear, sacred passion, ever dwells
With its fair partner, love;
Blending their beauties, both proclaim
Their source is from above.
Let terrors fright the unwilling slave,
The child with joy appears;
Cheerful he does His Father’s will,
And loves as much as fears.
Let fear and love, most holy God,
Possess this soul of mine;
Then shall I worship Thee aright,
And taste Thy joys divine.