The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge:  but fools despise wisdom and instruction. 

Proverbs 1:7 

Within the heart of humanity there is the insatiable thirst for knowledge.  Throughout the course of history, the pursuit of knowledge has consumed the time, attention, and energy of a vast multitude.  If we trace history back to the origin of humanity, we find that there are indications of this thirst in our first parents.  When the serpent appealed to Eve, his selling point was that if she and Adam would eat of the tree they would become, ‘like God, knowing good and evil.’  The desire for knowledge was innate and Satan merely exploited it for his own ends.  If we are to achieve knowledge, where shall we start?  Our text for today provides us with the answer.  ‘The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of knowledge.’  This is not ‘fear’ in the sense of craven terror, but rather, reverence, respect, and regard for God.  If we would truly achieve knowledge, here is where it begins.  This beginning will lead us inevitably to Christ.  It is by Christ that God has spoken to us.  He is ‘the brightness of His glory and the express image of His Person.’  He ‘upholds all things by the word of His power.’  To honor and reverence God is to honor and reverence Christ.  Therefore, if we are to know, we must come to know God, and that means we must know Christ. 

Our Great and All-knowing God, 
we rejoice that You are willing to make Yourself known to us. 
We praise You, that as we seek Your Face, 
in reverence, You will by Your Holy Spirit, 
show us Christ. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction. 

Proverbs 1:7 

As the absence of light is darkness, so the absence of wisdom is foolishness.  If ‘the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge,’ to refuse to revere God is foolishness and ignorance.  The writer of Proverbs is very blunt.  He declares ‘fools despise wisdom and instruction.’  A writer in Psalms describes this rejection by saying, ‘The fool has said in his heart there is no God.’  This is not merely the person who declares that God does not exist, but includes the one who says, in essence, ‘there is no God for me.’  This is to ‘despise wisdom and instruction.’  This inevitably makes the person who rejects Christ a fool in the biblical sense. Christ said, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.’  He was not backward or equivocating in any way.  He proclaimed that to dishonor Him was to dishonor the Father.  For this reason, the knowledge of God must include and involve the Person and Work of Christ at every level.  To reject this is to reject the knowledge of God and thereby to become a fool.  This is not a good road for anyone to take.  Therefore, our appeal to you who read this little work is ‘believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved.’ 

Our Wise and Wonderful God, 
we rejoice that You have, in Your Wisdom,  
shown us Christ. 
We pray that by Your Spirit, 
You will continue to open our hearts, 
and illuminate our minds to understand more of Him. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.  

John 17:5 

Christ is clear about His being from eternity. Numerous passages of Scripture refer to this directly or indirectly. Our text derives from the High Priestly Prayer He uttered on the night before He went to the cross. As Christ is interceding for His people He refers to His relationship with His Father. He declares that He existed with the Father in glory, ‘before the world began.’ This is a statement of Christ’s eternity in the most natural context. The Son is praying to the Father. As He does, He refers to their common, shared experience of having glory together before creation.  Christ refers to that experience as a matter of fact. Thus He is not attempting to prove His eternity to anyone else. No one is there to question or challenge it. He is simply referring to a historical circumstance. We accept that fact. Everything else we know about Christ supports His eternity. Whether we cite John 1, Hebrews 1, Revelation 1, or any other supporting passage, all of them harmoniously agree He is eternal. Therefore our redeeming relationship is with the One Who was with the Father before the world was.  

Our Glorious, Living Christ, 
we rejoice that You have always been. 
We praise You that everything we know about you tells us, 
that You will always be. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,  
Though you are little among the thousands of Judah, 
Yet out of you shall come forth to Me 
The One to be Ruler in Israel, 
Whose goings forth are from of old,  
From everlasting.  

Micah 5:2 

Christ is eternal. He became a member of humanity at a certain point in human history, however, He existed as the essential, eternal Son of God well before His incarnation. Our text touches on this subject. Micah, the prophet, addresses Bethlehem, the city of Judah where Christ would be born. Micah declares that in spite of Bethlehem’s smallness in relation to the other, more impressive places in Judah, out of her would come the long-awaited Messiah, the King of Israel. This is the prophecy that points directly to Christ, His incarnation, and His birthplace. Micah goes on to add, ‘Whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.’ Micah understood that the eternal God was going to appear in due course of time. He was certainly not the only prophet who understood the incarnation. Isaiah had said, ‘Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.’ To that he added, ‘For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.’ From these passages, and others, we understand that Christ, the eternal God, has come in the flesh. It is most important for us to be clear about His eternity. We are consistently making much of Christ because He is the utterly unique individual Who, being God, has become truly human to accomplish redemption. Because we understand this we make much of Him Who is from everlasting.  

Our Great and Gracious God, 
we rejoice in Your Eternal Son. 
We praise You that in due course of time, 
You have sent Him forth for us. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning