“It’s a sobering vision, especially the end. It’s even hard to hear. These
chapters in Revelation 8 and 9 are yet another vision that paint another
horrific picture of the wrath of God being poured out in judgement against
those who reject him…Every translation uses this word ‘fear’. Do you know
why? Because that’s the word they used in the original language. We are to
fear God…Where does that fit in with ‘there is no condemnation for those
who are in Christ Jesus?’ The answer is those who fear God do not be afraid
of him. Now, that’s my lingo, my interpretation. But this is what that
means: those who fear God do not need to fear this wrath. It’s exactly like
what we teach our kids about a stove or a campfire. we don’t need to be
afraid of a campfire because we fear fire…Likewise, we can boldly come into
the very throne room of God, even though he is absolutely Holy, because we
know by which we have proper relationship with Him. This doesn’t mean we
don’t fear him, we should fear him! Our God is a consuming fire! Handle
with care! He’s not tame! We have to respond to God in the way He commands
himself to be responded to. But we don’t have to be afraid that we are
going to be the ones who receive this wrath, unless we are the ones who are
pretending to live for God and are in fact living for ourselves…”