Articles
Do You Tremble?
The main definition of the word tremble is to “shake involuntarily, typically as a result of anxiety, excitement, or frailty,” or to “be in a state of extreme apprehension.” This dictionary definition does not include a reference to fear, but all of these definitions may be found to apply to various people in the Bible who trembled with fear.
Moses and the children of Israel trembled when they heard the voice of God from Mt. Sinai, an event without precedent (Hebrews 12:19-21). There are several Old Testament examples of such fear or “extreme apprehension.” In the New Testament, we have the example of the guards who were placed at the tomb of Jesus to prevent His disciples from stealing the body. They trembled in fear, when God’s glorious Angel appeared and rolled away the sealed stone (Matthew 28:2-4).
Our God, as revealed in the Old Testament, was often angry, and ready to punish. This provoked responses to Him, such as this one in Psalm 119:120, “My flesh trembles for fear of you, and I am afraid of your judgments.” But, fear of God can be properly directed, as the psalmist writes in Psalm 2:11-12, “Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled.” But, the passage continues, “Blessed are all who take refuge in him.”
Fear of the judgments of the Lord can make us tremble, if we fall away like those in 2 Peter 2:9-10, who “indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority. Bold and willful, they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones.” But, “kissing” the Son, and taking refuge in Him, because of respectful fear, counsels us to “rejoice with trembling.”
People often proclaim their bravery, and in some things bravery is proper and approved. When a soldier is outnumbered 10 to 1, he has a right to fear the outcome of the fight, and he may even tremble. Likewise, the fear and trembling of those who deal with God is justified, in view of His almighty power.
However, in the Old Testament there is another side of God which He describes as “showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments” (Exodus 20:6). And, God also says, “...this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word” (Isaiah 66:2b).
God’s admonition for us who live under the New Covenant is expressed by the Apostle Paul, who wrote, “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling...” (Philippians 2:12). Trembling in obedient “fear” of God can contribute to our salvation, and can motivate us in the same way that “keeping the commandments” of God and Christ is an expression of our love (John 14:15, 21
