After Paul’s conversion to the Way Faith, the Nazarene assemblies that were strewn throughout the Judean region, including the Galilee and Samaria, enjoyed a season of relative peace and unity. (Act 9:31) Those coming into the Way Movement, a movement that many scholars believe the orthodox Jewish communities in the region treated as simply another Jewish sect (like the Pharisees, Sadducees, the Essenes), were being instructed in (1) the fear of Yehovah (i.e. learning to fear Yehovah through witnessing the movement of the Holy Spirit and by walking in Yeshua-centric Torah) and (2) the comfort of the Holy Spirit (aka the Ruach Kodesh). The King James Version describes members of the Nazarene or Way Movement operating within the broader Jewish Community as “walking” in the fear of Yehovah and in the “comfort” of the Holy Spirit. The Faith at that time was experiencing tremendous growth. It was truly a wonderful time to be a part of such a great move of the Holy Spirit, under the leadership of the Apostles. (Eph 2:20) In so many ways, the Kingdom of God (aka the Malchut Elohim) had once again intervened in the affairs of man and had established itself amid a set-apart people who were truly living the life abundant. (Joh 10:10)

Andrew Gabriel Roth’s commentary on this verse (i.e. Acts 9:31) points out an interesting contrast in what the Netsarim (aka the Jerusalem Messianics) were experiencing during this quiet but spiritually dynamic period in our Faith’s history: When the redeemed of Messiah fear Abba Yah they receive comfort. (Aramaic English New Testament) As Roth sees it, these extreme opposite emotional states are really one of cause and effect: fear God and receive God’s peace.

This historic situation established a Netsari/Messianic character trait that every subsequent generation of Yeshua disciples must adopt if they are going to be successful in their quest for the Kingdom of God/the Malchut Elohim. That essential character trait is having a true fear of Yehovah Elohim.

God Fearers

Those that truly “fear YHVH” such that they are obedient only to His voice and His ways — such that these take to heart the fundamental maxim that the whole duty of man is to fear Yah and keep His commandments (Ecc 12:13) — possess the Father’s Set-Apart Spirit (aka the Ruach Kodesh/Holy Spirit). The Spirit that operates in them creates in them an “I want to obey heart” (to borrow a phrase frequently used by Torah Teacher Gary Steven Simons of Triumph in Truth Ministries). And this is what the first-century Jerusalem brethren described in Acts 9 were doing: They were fearing Yehovah and living a Yeshua-centric Torah lifestyle. Because of this unique, Kingdom-driven way of life, these believers received God’s peace (aka the Shalom of Yehovah).

The Shalom of Yehovah

We frequently use the Hebrew term shalom when greeting and bidding goodbyes to one another. When our assembly leaders recite and confer Yehovah’s blessing upon God’s people with the Aaronic Blessing, there is an expectation by Yah’s people that Abba Yah will always have His face turned towards them and bestow His shalom upon them. (Num 6:26) I go into some detail about the Aaronic Blessing in my teaching entitled “The Deep Abiding Mysteries of the Aaronic Blessing.” (I will place the link to that discussion in this teaching’s transcript for your convenience.) But the shalom that flows from an obedient covenant relationship with Yehovah is not just about one having freedom from disturbances, but more so, it’s about one being whole in every aspect of their being.

Shaul (aka the Apostle Paul) describes this form of peace as a mystery (i.e. it surpasses human understanding). Yehovah’s shalom guards the Child of Yah’s heart and mind. (Phi 4:7) So, what is Yah’s shalom guarding the Child of Yah’s heart and mind from? It’s guarding their heart and mind against the wiles, slings, and arrows of the enemy (i.e. the enemy’s tactics, deception, and ploys). And don’t you know, beloved, that the enemy’s attacks are not always against our bodies, relationships, and material possessions? The enemy’s attacks are more times than not against our hearts and minds. (Eph 6:10-12, 15) And so, as the apostle wrote to his Philippian readers, it behooves them to receive Abba Yah’s shalom. It was, and remains even today, the only defensive weapon against the enemy’s attacks against their hearts and minds.

And if there is anything that we, as a people of the Malchut Elohim, need during these perilous times, both collectively and individually, is the Shalom of Yehovah.

Roth describes those first-century members of the Way Movement in Jerusalem as having found “peace and contentment of being.” (AENT; p. 331) And this biblical principle of Yehovah-fearers/God fearers possessing a peace that surpasses all understanding is just as applicable today as it was back then.

Sadly beloved, there is a drought of true God-fearers in this world, especially today. I’ll get into some reasons this is so later on in this teaching. But one of the main reasons the world today experiences a drought of true God-fearers is because of biblical illiteracy and the conditioning of believers to not fear the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Biblically Defining What it Means to Fear God

What does it mean to fear YHVH?

The traditional (let’s say Christian) teaching holds that to fear God is to revere or reverence Him; to adore Him; to be loyal and faithful to Him; to trust Him; and to obey the tenets of whatever church one is a member of. Some would call this being religious or being a person of faith.

Most teachers reject the idea that to fear God is to possess concern or dread towards God, or to be terrified of Yah. But to a lesser or greater extent, this is what true biblical fear of God looks like.

When we talk about fearing Elohim, we’re not talking so much about being terrified or frightened of Yah such that we run away and hide from Him because we fear for our lives. Indeed, Yehovah does not want that type of relationship for His chosen ones.

Abba Yah did not intend for us to pull away in terror of Him at the display of His irresistible power on the day that He revealed Himself to us on Mount Sinai and spoke to us His ten-commandments. But as Moshe explained, it was Abba Yah’s intent “that His fear may be in you, so that you do not sin. (Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society, Holy Scriptures: Tree of Life Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2015), Ex 20:20.) Yah wanted there to be implanted into our psyche such a mind of, what I will call here, fearful respect of Him that we would not transgress His Torah.

What Abba wants from His chosen ones is obedience, trust, love, and a substantive intimate relationship such that they are quite aware of Who He is and the great things that He can and will do for us if we remain true to Him, and what will happen to us when we cross and transgress Him and His ways.

Yes, Abba Yah wants His chosen ones to revere, be loyal, impressed by, faithful towards Him, and the like. But He wants us to truly fear Him because there is great benefit to be had by us when we have trepidation, apprehension, an uneasiness, and disquietude toward Him.

The Psalmist wrote that “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: A good understanding have all they that do His commandments: His praise endureth forever” (111:10; KJV; cf. Pro 1:7; 9:10).

We desperately need a measure of Godly wisdom in order to make it into the Kingdom. Our Master Yeshua came to impart His Father’s wisdom to us in a way that only He, as the Son of Yehovah, could deliver. That’s why it is imperative that we develop an intense hunger and thirst for Him and His Father’s righteousness such that we grow in Godly wisdom.

I believe when we turn a blind eye to what it truly means to fear Elohim, such as having trepidation, apprehension, an uneasiness, or disquietude toward Him, and we substitute the biblical meaning of “the fear of God” with milk-toast terms such as awe, reverence, loyalty, and the like, we leave open the door to making God into whatever image or likeness that we want Him to be.

Consider the practices of some of our Denominationalist brethren who place the entirety of their eternal security upon their warped understanding of “grace.” Their perverted grace doctrine has conditioned many of them to not fear Yehovah, as scripture teaches. To these, grace covers every fault they had in the past, that they have in the present, and that they will have in the future. Therefore, they erroneously rationalize that there’s no need to truly fear the Holy Creator of the Universe. And because there’s no need to truly fear the Holy Creator of the Universe, there is no need to obey His instructions in righteousness nor walk in our Master Yeshua’s footsteps. All one need do is to possess a cognitive understanding (i.e. believe) that Jesus died for his/her sins and ask Him to take up residence in their heart. To these, Yah has no expectation whatsoever of them. They’ve arrived and nothing Yehovah or Yeshua may say contrary to their erroneous beliefs will change the fact that they are guaranteed eternal life and a place in the Kingdom.

 Again, for the nominal Christian, there is no need to fear Yehovah. Sadly, this rejection of Biblically fearing Yehovah, I believe, has led to the gulf that exists between our Faith Community and Denominational Christianity. When we came into this beloved faith of ours and the scales of spiritual blindness fell from our eyes and the deafness of truly hearing Yah’s voice in our lives was unstopped in our ears, we gained an immediate fear of Yehovah. If you were like me, upon learning that we’d inherited lies, we feared the consequences of what our years of ignorant disobedience and rebelliousness would bring us if we didn’t straighten up and fly right. Our hearts were broken at the thought that we’d let our beloved Creator down because of our previous life of disobedience and rebelliousness. And it was that fear of Elohim that was finally ignited within us that led to us truly taking up our execution stake and following Yahoshua HaMashiyach for the rest of our lives (Mat 16:24; Mar 8:34; 10:21; Luk 9:23). We received, through Yah’s indwelling, Set-Apart Spirit, an “I want to obey” heart, mind, and soul. And we became fearfully sin-conscious, constantly searching for — asking Yehovah to reveal to us — those sinful elements in our lives that “doth so easily beset us” (Heb 12:1). Our greatest fear is that we will disappoint Yehovah and damage our loving, covenant relationship with Him because of some unreconciled sin. We always want to make things right with our God. So yes, we develop an perpetual, genuine fear of Yehovah.

True Biblical fear of Elohim affords those that would be His to come into His presence unimpeded (i.e. unimpeded by unreconciled sin) and commune with Him. The one who truly fears Yehovah knows that Abba Yah can see right through them as He is a discerner of the heart, the thoughts and intents of the human soul (Heb 4:12). Thus, he/she is careful when they come into Yah’s presence that they not be found by Him to be in an unclean state (i.e. an impure heart, mind, and body). We cringe at the thought that we may have crossed Him, disappointed Him, or worse, offended Him and transgressed His Torah. We take nothing for granted when it comes to our covenant relationship with the Creator of the Universe. So we go the extra-mile by seeking His forgiveness for unreconciled sin and petitioning that we once again be permitted to enter His divine presence. We petition Him to reveal to us those things in our being that displease Him and we ask His help to overcome those obstacles to our relationship with Him.

Yah’s greatness causes those that come into His presence to not just respect and revere Him, but to tremble at His presence (Exo 14:30-31; Deu 7:21; Psa 99:3).

We fear certain things that if not handled properly by us, may result in our harm: Fire, electricity, water/flood, structural integrity of our homes, the integrity of our relationships, the government, nature, and so forth. The fear of such things typically don’t cause us to avoid them outright because we know there is great benefit to be had if we are obedient to their proper use; that is, if we possess a healthy fear of them.

If we were children who were raised by moral and loving parents, we learned to fear them. Yes, we may have revered them, but we also feared them. We feared the consequences of what might happen to us if we crossed them or transgressed their house rules.

Those of us who are married and we love our spouses are careful to not cause upset to our relationship (e.g. do something that our spouse won’t approve of or will be injured by such as our cheating on them and so forth). We fear the consequences of what may happen if we wrong our spouses and transgress Yah’s Torah.

These same principles apply to our relationship with Yehovah. It’s one thing to reverence, respect, and adore Yehovah which we are compelled to do anyway. But we enter an entirely different level of relationship with Yah when we truly fear Him as He demands of us to do.

We are called to be “God-fearers,” not in the classic, orthodox Jewish sense that the title once served as a bone to Gentiles who simply wanted to serve and worship the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob but were led to take a pass on becoming a religious Jew. But a God-fearer from God’s perspective. Where we wake-up every morning and with firm resolve “work out our own salvation with fear and trembling” (Phi 2:12; 2 Cor 2:3). Where we serve Yehovah with fear and rejoice with trembling because we know Who He truly is: that He is sovereign and all powerful (Psa 2:11). We start to learn that we are not to fear people that can only kill our physical bodies, but we fear the Creator of the Universe that can completely destroy all traces of our being in the Lake of Fire (Mat 10:28; Heb 13:6). We tremble and fear Yehovah because we know the mighty and awesome work He has done in our lives and in the lives of His set apart people throughout the ages. As disciples of Yeshua Messiah, we recognize that our whole duty is to fear Yehovah and keep His commandments, and His commandments are our Master’s commandments (Deu 8:6; Ecc 12:13; Joh 14:15). We know that when we fear our Elohim, He will deliver us from our enemies (2 Kin 17:39). In fact, our fear of Yehovah becomes our confidence (Job 4:6).

We humans transgress our Creator’s ways and instructions when we lose (although most of us never had it in the first place) any and all fear of Yehovah. And how do we lose fear of Yehovah? We lose our fear of Yehovah when we stop believing Him and we instead start believing people over Yah. Genuine faith and belief in Yehovah and in His Son Yeshua induce genuine fear of Yehovah. When we believe Yehovah is Who He says He is and that He will do what He says He will do, then we are compelled to fear Him. It’s just that simple.

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Cornelius — The God-Fearer

Luke records Cornelius being the first “named” Gentile converted to the Netsarim (aka Nazarene) Faith. He is described as being a Caesarean native and a captain of a Roman army regiment. Spiritually, he was righteous, and he feared God, along with his entire household (Act 10:2). Cornelius “beseeched” or earnestly prayed to Yehovah throughout each day of his life. (Some have suggested that he was actually reciting Jewish liturgies as part of his daily routine.) Furthermore, Cornelius rendered many alms before the people (that is, he was a cheerful giver (2 Cor 9:7) to the local synagogue he attended and to the poor of his community). Indeed, given this character sketch, it is likely that Cornelius not only feared Yehovah in his person, but was a qualified “God-fearer” according to orthodox Jewish custom.

Many of us focus on the religious classification that the title “God-fearer” places on this man and his household, which I will not attempt to marginalize here. I do think that him being a God-fearer in the eyes of orthodox Judaism, that is a Gentile who takes up Judaism as a way of life but who chooses not to convert to Judaism (aka become proselytized which leads to physical circumcision and total conformity to the Jewish religion) for whatever reason, is a relevant factor in the storyline. But let us not be fooled into understanding the realities of the title God-fearer that Rabbinic Jews conferred upon certain classes of Gentiles. It was a porous barrier that permitted certain well-to-do Gentiles to take part in restricted worship of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob while maintaining “the middle wall of partition” between Jew and Gentile. The Apostle Paul (aka Shaul) recognized that Yehovah never intended for Gentiles to be excluded from worshiping and walking out a life of Torah. Yehovah used the Person and ministry of Yeshua, Israel’s Messiah, to break down the middle wall of partition that separated the Jew from the Gentile believer, bringing them together as one man. (Eph 2:14)

Denominationalists have feloniously failed to understand the meaning of the vision that led Peter (aka Kefa) to Cornelius’ home and to Cornelius and his family coming into a covenant relationship with Yehovah through Yeshua Messiah. The true meaning of the vision of the sheet knitted at its four corners holding several unclean animals descending to the apostle with a voice instructing Kefa to “rise, kill, and eat” has been feloniously misinterpreted by denominationalists for centuries, despite Kefa himself declaring the vision’s true meaning to any who has eyes to see and ears to hear. The denominationalists, as most of you know, have used Kefa’s vision of the sheet holding unclean animals to promote their anti-Torah agenda, this time focusing on Yehovah’s dietary Torah. (Lev 11:1-47; Deu 14:3-21) The truth of the matter is that Kefa’s vision was not about the free consumption of meat by God’s people, be those creatures clean or unclean. The Holy Spirit revealed to Kefa the true meaning of the vision:

(25) And it came to be that when Kefa entered, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and bowed before him. (26) But Kefa raised him up, saying, “Stand up, I myself am also a man.” (27) And talking with him, he went in and found many who had come together. (28) And he said to them, “You know that a Yehudi (aka a Jewish) man is not allowed to associate with, or go to one of another race. But Elohim has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean. (29) That is why I came without hesitation when I was sent for…(34) Truly I see that Elohim shows no partiality, (35) but in every nation, he who FEARS HIM AND WORKS RIGHTEOUSNESS IS ACCEPTED BY HIM.” (Act 10; The Scriptures ISR).

And of course, as the story goes, Kefa delivers unto Cornelius and his household the unadulterated Gospel message. Amid Kefa’s sermon, “the Set-apart Spirit fell upon all those hearing the world. And those of the circumcision who believed were astonished, as many as came with Kefa, because the gift of the Set-apart Spirit had been poured out on the nations also for they were hearing them speaking with tongues and extolling Elohim” (Act 10:45-46; The Scriptures ISR).

This historic event was followed up by Cornelius and his household being water-immersed by Kefa and his evangelistic team. (Act 10:48)

Let us not fall for Denominationalists’ false narrative that Cornelius and all non-Jews that followed him into the Nazarene Faith began living a lawless/Torahless life upon their conversion. Let us not overlook the reality that before Cornelius and his household officially transitioned to the Nazarene Faith, they feared God, which means they walked in Yehovah’s ways to the best of their knowledge and ability. They kept Torah to the best of their knowledge and ability. And although the Gospel record of Luke is silent on Cornelius’ life after his conversion, history bears out non-Jewish converts to the Way worshiped the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and walked in His ways right alongside their Messianic Jewish brethren in their local synagogue and in fellow-believers’ homes. (Act 2:42, 46)

This is a primer for our upcoming discussion on the Jerusalem Council’s Edict and its bearing on our salvation and inextricable link to Israel.

It is my hope, trust, and prayer, beloved, that we all learn to fear Yehovah in such a way that we walk blameless before our Elohim and receive His shalom over our lives.