Will We Fear God in Heaven
00:00:00.000 | We close the week with an email today from a longtime listener named Pete Spradley. Pete writes in to ask this
00:00:06.920 | Quote I have now listened to every John Piper sermon on desiring God org
00:00:12.440 | That is that's quite an achievement Pete and I don't think I have heard my question answered
00:00:17.760 | Pastor John will we continue to fear God and tremble before him in our perfect glorified state in heaven?
00:00:25.600 | What would you say pastor John? Well, I don't I don't know if he's heard the answer to that either because I can't remember
00:00:31.800 | Whether I ever talked about it, maybe not. It's a good question. I think to answer
00:00:39.460 | The question carefully we have to ask what trembling
00:00:44.000 | actually is
00:00:47.240 | The first thing it is is the movement of the body
00:00:53.840 | so the muscles are quivering and
00:00:56.480 | Today in our scientific age we would say the nerves are
00:01:02.520 | Active in an increased way owing to some kind of chemical stimulus
00:01:07.600 | so
00:01:09.520 | in and of itself
00:01:11.520 | Trembling is morally
00:01:14.480 | Neutral it's neither a virtue nor a vice
00:01:18.680 | the motion of
00:01:21.400 | irrational inanimate matter
00:01:23.800 | like muscle
00:01:25.520 | Cannot be described as virtuous or morally evil
00:01:29.120 | but
00:01:31.840 | Trembling takes on moral dimensions when it is the the overflow of certain
00:01:39.120 | spiritual emotions or
00:01:42.040 | Affections that are either good or evil so we may be trembling
00:01:49.120 | Because we are about to be caught red-handed doing something evil
00:01:53.600 | or
00:01:56.320 | we may be trembling because we can hardly contain ourselves with excitement that
00:02:01.760 | The husband who has been away at war for two years is about to walk off that plane into the wife's arms
00:02:10.640 | In other words trembling may be the bodily overflow of something
00:02:17.560 | sinful or something good and my guess is that the
00:02:22.280 | participation of the body by trembling in something very good and very hopeful does not
00:02:30.440 | diminish the joy of
00:02:33.040 | The experience but intensifies it
00:02:35.520 | That may not always be the case, but seems to me sometimes
00:02:40.040 | Surely, that's the case all of that to say that trembling
00:02:46.280 | In and of itself is not something we might want to exclude from our glorified
00:02:52.760 | State in the age to come the question boils down to whether or not God will design our glorified
00:03:01.320 | resurrection bodies in such a way that trembling attaches to the
00:03:09.080 | Experience of joy so as to intensify it
00:03:14.240 | Now how might we answer that question might God do that or should we expect him to do that and one way to answer?
00:03:21.960 | the question
00:03:23.560 | would be to examine whether trembling in the Bible is
00:03:28.040 | always attached to terror and is only negative and
00:03:33.960 | that's clearly not the case as
00:03:37.240 | We survey the scriptures several texts
00:03:42.280 | mentioned trembling
00:03:44.280 | precisely in connection with
00:03:46.640 | Good experiences of God not bad experiences of God
00:03:51.560 | so for example
00:03:52.800 | Psalm 114 7
00:03:54.640 | tremble o earth at the presence of the Lord at the presence of the God of Jacob who turns the rock into a
00:04:02.760 | pool of water and the flint into a spring
00:04:06.960 | well, what an occasion for trembling or
00:04:11.240 | Psalm 96 9 worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness
00:04:16.280 | tremble before him all the earth
00:04:19.000 | splendor holiness or
00:04:21.840 | Isaiah 66 1 thus says the Lord heaven is my throne the earth is my footstool
00:04:28.680 | What is the house? What is the house that you would build for me?
00:04:32.560 | What is the place of my rest all these things my hand has made in other words?
00:04:38.380 | I'm the great creator of all things and so all these things came to be declares the Lord
00:04:45.080 | but this is the one to whom I will look he who is humble and contrite in heart and
00:04:50.080 | trembles at my word as I am revealed as the creator of all things or
00:04:57.320 | Philippians 2 12
00:05:00.320 | Therefore my beloved as you have always obeyed so now not only in my presence
00:05:05.520 | but much more in my absence work out your salvation with fear and
00:05:09.440 | trembling and
00:05:12.040 | Here's the ground cause
00:05:14.280 | fear and trembling
00:05:16.680 | Because it is God who is at work in you to will and to do his good pleasure
00:05:22.400 | There's nothing negative about that at all. There's nothing terrifying about that at all except
00:05:26.800 | God is in us
00:05:30.000 | What what the creator of the universe is at work in?
00:05:35.560 | you
00:05:37.480 | If you believe that I mean if you really believe that
00:05:40.520 | Fear and trembling would be a wonderful response
00:05:47.360 | Even if you thought he were the most kind loving galactic power in the universe
00:05:53.280 | so my conclusion would be that we have little reason to think or
00:05:59.160 | desire that God's
00:06:01.920 | Trembling that that trembling before God
00:06:04.440 | In our glorified resurrection bodies would be excluded little little reason to think they should be little desire
00:06:12.640 | Why should we desire that trembling would be?
00:06:15.780 | excluded perhaps
00:06:18.680 | the safest thing to say is if God knows that
00:06:23.520 | the physical experience of trembling in the glorified body
00:06:28.960 | Will increase and intensify our enjoyment of him and all that he does and all that he makes
00:06:36.520 | He will see to it that we are capable of such a wonderful
00:06:42.720 | Trembling the professor John is a really important connection to our eternal joy and delight in God forever
00:06:48.960 | Pete thank you for the question and speaking of good questions
00:06:52.520 | Probably no question is more common this time of year than the question over Santa Claus
00:06:57.240 | What should Christian parents do with old st. Nick will tackle that on Monday?
00:07:03.200 | You've been listening to the asbestos on podcast with longtime author and pastor John Piper
00:07:08.220 | You can find our audio feeds in our archive and you can find
00:07:11.480 | Your way to our inbox with your own questions all through our online home at desiring God org forward slash ask pastor
00:07:18.680 | John I'm your host Tony rank you will see you on Monday
00:07:22.160 | day.
00:07:22.680 | [BLANK_AUDIO]