Skin for Skin

In an attempt to refill a service card for my phone, I drove to a Walmart store nearby. On entering the store I was pleasantly surprised, why? the shelves were bare. For two days we had snow, but the roads were opened and travel was not restricted. What caused the panicked buying?  Insecurity.  This is a repeat of earlier times in the pandemic when toilet paper and other commodities were gobbled up by an insecure multitude.  Insecurity brings fear, and fear, real or imagined causes torment.

What then is fear?
Fear is an emotion induced by perceived danger or threat, which causes physiological changes and ultimately behavioral changes, such as mounting an aggressive response or fleeing the threat. Fear in human beings may occur in response to a certain stimulus occurring in the present, or in anticipation or expectation of a future threat perceived as a risk to oneself. Wikipedia

We therefore can conclude that fear reveals that inner nature of mankind that often goes unnoticed for long periods of time. Fear can cause one to lie, steal and kill based on the perceived treat.  Fear is anti- God, for it causes those that are gripped by it to break the commandment of God. This need not be, “for love perfected drives out all fear” (1 John 4:8).  This love not only set you free, it makes you free. (See John 8:32).  It makes you a commandment keeper, standing for principles even in the face of death.  The Bible addresses the issue of fear numerous times.

(Isaiah 41:10 [KJV])
“Fear thou not; for I [am] with thee: be not dismayed; for I [am] thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness”.

Skin for Skin …all that a man hath will he give for his life.

Fear is a masterful tool in the hand of the enemy.  In a conversation with the Lord, the devil displayed his most effective tool.  “3 And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that [there is] none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? and still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause.¹  4 And Satan answered the LORD, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life”.
(Job 2:4 [KJV])

According to Satan when life is threatened a man will  put aside God’s law and do things contrary to all that he knows is right.  Unfortunately, his accusation has proven true too many times.
It was fear of death that caused Abraham to give away his wife twice. (See Genesis chapters 12 and 20) Naked fear came upon Jacob on his way home as he saw Esau coming. (Genesis 32) Fear caused Elijah to run forty days for his life to escape Jezebel. (See 1 Kings 19:1-8) It was fear of Saul that caused David to flee to the land of the Philistines.
(See 1 Samuel 27) It was fear that caused Peter to deny Christ (Matthew 26:69-75). We also saw a fearful set of disciples hiding in the upper room. (John 20:19)

We see then that fear causes the words and wonderful promises of God to be forgotten.
It is evident that fear is opposite of God, therefore, it is anti-God.  Yet in those biblical examples given above, God had already spoken and His words cannot be made void.  His blessings were on them, and nothing could alter it.  For God cannot lie. (Titus 1:2)

“For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself”. (Hebrews 6:13 [KJV])  “That by two immutable things, in which [it was] impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us” (Hebrews 6:18 [KJV])

In the second chapter of the epistle to the Hebrews, the apostle Paul clearly showed that he understood the power of fear.   “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage”. (Hebrews 2:14-15 [KJV])

Christ came to break that bondage, for it is clear from the Exodus experience that slaves cannot serve God. The mind must be free so it can make intelligent decisions.  Love perfected is victorious over fear, the Devil’s tool, because it purges it out of the heart. 

The people of God must get this victory over fear, for the greatest threat we face is yet before us. 
“And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.  And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name”. (Revelation 13:15-17 [KJV])

Are you preparing to stand against the Beast and his Image?  Will you be like the three Hebrew boys who stood upright when everyone else was kneeling, with the full understanding of the consequence of their actions?  (Daniel 3:12-30)  Where will you stand? Will fear cause you to deny God, or will you be one of those?
“And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death”.
(Revelation 12:11 [KJV])

 The great apostle to the Gentiles again made it clear in Romans 8; “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? [shall] tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8: 38-39 [KJV])