Divine Horror

Sinful man in the presence of God is a more terrifying prospect than any other, with the exception of eternal separation from Him. The immediacy and completeness of our undoing were we, unchanged, to enter Heaven's throne room is incomprehensible and truly awful.

This is divine terror.

Modern man has shined the light of reason in every corner and proclaimed all of them empty of anything but matter, and so his fears are redistributed, refined, in many ways eliminated. If God isn't lurking in the dark, what is there to fear? Sickness, after all, can be cured; crocodiles can't outswim motorboats; airplanes are still the safest way to travel.

These were never the true fears of man, however. Man has always been afraid (and rightly so) of divine judgement, divine retribution, divine displeasure. God hates evil, and all humans not covered by the blood of Christ are subject to His wrath, and there is no fear more legitimate or more complete than the fear of holy destruction at the hands of a wrathful God.

We tend to think of horror in terms of darkness and evil, as though the most terrifying thing we can encounter is anything opposed to or condemned by God. This is a lie we tell ourselves to avoid the truth. The most terrifying thing we can face is God Himself.

Even the redeemed ought to fear God. If He is the ruler of all things, the creator of all things, and the ultimate authority of the universe, can we really expect it to be otherwise? In the Bible, those who confront Him are reduced to babbling, prostration, or ashes. He is the wholly other, the ultimately distinct, the all-powerful, and sinful, small man does right to fear Him.

It isn't stories of demons that should scare God's people: the name of Christ is sufficient to protect us from Satan's minions. We should fear, rather, displeasing God, disobeying Him, incurring in any way the wrath that is rightfully His.

And we should spread this fear like a righteous and miraculous disease among all people. The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, and we should desire all men to become wise. If we leave this out of our Gospel, we've left the true Gospel for a human one that robs God of His power, and ultimately incurs and deserves His wrath.