Come and stand at the threshold of holy wisdom, where the soul first learns to bow. "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding" (Proverbs 9:10). Solomon, the wisest of men, does not begin with intellect, eloquence, or the cleverness of this age. He begins on his knees. Before a single drop of true understanding falls upon the heart, there must come a holy trembling — a reverent dread of the God who is "of purer eyes than to behold evil" (Habakkuk 1:13). This is no slavish terror that drives the sinner to hide, but a sacred awe that draws the seeking soul to fall before a thrice-holy God and cry out for cleansing.
The world has lost its trembling. Men speak of God as a familiar friend and never bow, never weep, never shake before His majesty. But the saints of old knew better. Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up, and he cried, "Woe is me! for I am undone... for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts" (Isaiah 6:5). Job, who had heard of God with the hearing of the ear, at last saw Him, and abhorred himself and repented in dust and ashes. The fear of the Lord is the gate through which holiness enters the soul, for "by the fear of the LORD men depart from iniquity" (Proverbs 16:6). Where this holy dread is absent, sin grows bold; where it burns, sin withers and dies.
Beloved, this fear is the very thing that makes a heart hungry for entire sanctification. The pardoned sinner, born again by repentance and faith in the blood of Jesus, soon discovers a deeper need — the inbred root of the carnal nature still warring within. The fear of God will not let him rest in a half-cleansed condition. It presses him to the second definite work of grace, where "the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin" (1 John 1:7), purifying the heart and crucifying the old man. No soul that truly trembles before holiness can be content with a divided heart. Holy awe demands a clean temple, swept and garnished for the indwelling of the Spirit.
And it is into such a cleansed and consecrated vessel that the Holy Ghost comes in fulness and power. The baptism of the Holy Ghost, with the evidence of speaking in other tongues, is not for the proud or the careless, but for those who have feared God enough to forsake the world, separate themselves from its filthiness, and tarry until the promise falls. "Be ye holy; for I am holy" (1 Peter 1:16). The same fear that drives sin out makes room for the fire of Pentecost. Power for service, boldness for witness, victory over sin — all flow from a heart that reverences God and is filled with His Spirit.
So come to the altar, you who read these words. Do not trifle with the Holy One. If sin has crept back, if compromise has dulled the edge of your devotion, if the world has stained your garments, come and repent. Tarry there until the carnal nature is slain and the fire falls afresh. Consecrate every part — your time, your tongue, your treasure, your tomorrow — and seek the fulness of the Holy Ghost as for your very life.
For the Lord is coming soon, suddenly, as the lightning shineth from the east unto the west. "Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ" (Titus 2:13), let us purify ourselves, walking in the fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Ghost. Tremble now in holy reverence, that you may rejoice then in His appearing. Blessed is the man that feareth the LORD always.
"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding."
— Proverbs 9:10