GOD IS TERRIBLE!

God is terrible: 5 Come and see the works of God: he is terrible in his doing toward the children of men. Psalms 66:5 (KJV)

We serve a terrible God: 5 3Say unto God, How terrible art thou in thy works! through the greatness of thy power shall thine enemies submit themselves unto thee. Psalms 66:3 (KJV)

These are terrible times: 6 And men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts: and I will declare thy greatness. Psalms 145:5-6 (KJV)

The great and terrible of the Lord Come: 30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. 31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come. Joel 2:29-31 (KJV)

We do terrible things through Christ Jesus: 10 And he said, Behold, I make a covenant: before all thy people I will do marvels, such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation: and all the people among which thou art shall see the work of the Lord: for it is a terrible thing that I will do with thee. Ex 34:10 (KJV)

I began this meditation some time ago after just reading a few verses. And it came upon me today to do some further research on this matter. Every once and a while someone would ask me how I was doing, and being that they were Christian, and seemed able to bear the thought, I said terrible! I continued: God is terrible, we serve a terrible God, these are terrible times,

and we do terrible things. One guy answered me with, I serve an awesome God and the enemy can't defeat me! And I answered, what did I say? Obviously he got it. Sometimes I ask have if they ever did a word study. This is what a word study on the word terrible revealed .

I used Bible Explorer 4 an important computer tool for searching, and searched for all the Old Testament Scriptures that contain the word “terrible.” I also used its Strong's Concordance for the Hebrew definitions. Sometimes a Hebrew word is translated to other words in the King James.

English Words “Terrible” and the number of times it is translated in KJV:

fear 188
afraid 78
terrible 23
terrible thing 6
dreadful 5
reverence 3
fearful 2
terrible acts 1 miscellaneous translations 8
[Total Count: 314]

The Hebrew word is translated fear 188 times. The Hebrew Word is ‏יָרֵא‎ the transliteration is yārēʾ and its phonetic pronunciation is yaw-ray.
-Strong's Talking Greek & Hebrew Dictionary
The definition according to the Strong's Talking Greek & Hebrew Dictionary part of Bible Explorer 4 is: a primitive root; to fear; moral to revere; causative to frighten :- affright, be (make) afraid, dread (-ful), (put in) fear (-ful, -fully, -ing), (be had in) reverence (-end), × see, terrible (act, -ness, thing).

As I scanned each verse I got something out of each one. And something began to build up in me. I made discovery after discovery. I got to a point where I wanted to define what terrible was. I was going to go to my Young’s concordance for the one or two words that book gives. Most of the time that

is inadequate for my purposes and I have to seek other sources. But something told me to hold on, to wait. Sometimes you just have to let the Bible define its own terms and it will often do so. Not with a definition like a dictionary would, but it will draw a picture in your mind, and your spirit is set a flame, and a crescendo goes off as the revelation hits you. The key to understanding the Bible after much study God reveals the knowledge therein. Parables are not meant to be understood by everyone.

At a moment like this you have to set the Bible down, turn off the music, and try and recover from the affect of the power of the almighty, as he just touched you with his word. And this might take a while. All I could say was Whoa! I wanted to write right away, but I couldn't. I couldn't even sing and shout. I couldn't even dance. After a while, I don't know how long I was able make some biscuits and sausage. Then I was able to play some high praise and worship that called him, as my Dad said, Holy about forty times. I replied to my Dad, she hits you with it! I played it one-and-a-half times, and I was finally ready to begin this Short.

I am going to write the excerpts I got from the Scriptures and understandings, and then write the verses that gave me the crescendo. I don't know, but perhaps it will have some if not the same affect on you. And the thing is I just read them in the order they are in the Bible. There is a term called progressive revelation, whereby God is revealed slowly over the ages through partial revelations of himself. Perhaps that is what just took place with me. I got that revelation! What it means to be a terrible God.

Exodus 34:10 - And he said, Behold, I make a covenant: before all thy people I will do marvels, such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation: and all the people among which thou art shall see the work of the LORD: for it is a terrible thing that I will do with thee.

Deuteronomy 7:21 - Thou shalt not be affrighted at them: for the LORD thy God is among you, a mighty God and terrible.

Deuteronomy 10:21 - He is thy praise, and he is thy God, that hath done for thee these great and terrible things, which thine eyes have seen.

2 Samuel 7:23 - And what one nation in the earth is like thy people, even like Israel, whom God went to redeem for a people to himself from Egypt, and to make him a name, and to do for you great things and terrible ... If you did not get it, God was out to make a reputation for himself through his people. And he did great and terrible things to build it!

Nehemiah 1:5 - And said, I beseech thee, O LORD God of heaven, the great and terrible God.

Nehemiah 4:14 - ... Remember the Lord, which is great and terrible and fight for your brethren.

Nehemiah 9:32 - Now therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the terrible God.

Job 37:22 - ...With God is terrible majesty.

Now here is the crescendo I was talking about. This afternoon I talked to my study partner about this mornings experience and I read him these verses. He is well studied and has had similar experiences. He said he liked the one about the horse the best. So do I. Then I read it again and paraphrased it for

emphasis and clarity as a preacher would do. Let’s see if I can duplicate the effort.

Job 39:18-25 - What time she lifted up herself on high, she scorned the horse and his rider. She is the world, the horse and the rider are terrible. Hast thou given the horse strength? Hast thou clothed his neck with thunder? Like Samson at times he was terrible when the Spirit came upon him. The world does not have this power and can not comprehend it. Canst thou make him afraid as a grasshopper? Even thou Elijah did terrible things when he came against 500 Baal prophets. Afterward the LORD made him afraid like a grasshopper and he ran to the LORD. But Samson never feared. The LORD wanted him there the whole time. The glory of his nostrils is terrible.

The Horse:

The example of a Horse, Job 39: 21-25. He dug his hoofs deep into the earth as he galloped full force through the valley. He felt his power and strength and rejoiced in it as he plunged forward to meet the armed men. He mocked at fear, and was not affrighted for no fear was in him. Neither did he turn back from those who were yielding swords, those with quivers of arrows that came against him, and those with the glittering spear and the shield.

He swalloweth the ground with fierceness and rage: And when the enemy sounded the charge against him with the trumpet he didn't believe it. There was no power behind the sound. They were powerless against him. He said among the trumpets, Ha, ha, and he smelled the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting. O the sweet smell of victory!

The Hawk and the Eagle:

It continues with the example of a hawk and a eagle, Job 39:26-30. This one is a little more subtle. Yet it is still terrible. If I did not have the insight, I may have missed it.

Doth the hawk fly by wisdom, and stretch her wings toward the south? Doth the eagle mount up at thy command, and make her nest on high? She dwelleth and abideth on the rock, upon the crag of the rock, and the strong place. From thence she seeketh the prey, and her eyes behold afar off. Her young ones also suck up blood: and where the slain are, there is she.

This may not seem like as much when you read it. But I happened to observe a bird of prey seeking her prey from afar off. This was shown on television. The narrator did not even mention what I saw. She was perched high upon a tree and the prey was below her on another. She took to flight, captured it, and flew away with the prey captured in her claws a meal for her and her young ones. Big deal huh?

Well, what I noticed was, and there was no commentary for, was that the prey did not just sit there. The prey saw the bird coming in its direction and it tried to dart out of the way and escape. And to my utter amazement, the bird caught the prey without even altering its flight path! The bird had accurately determined where they prey was going to be at the exact time of impact! Now that is a terrible thing. She will provide for her young. Where the slain are, there she is.

Well, these verse might not excite you. These verses might not move you. You might not realize who the Horse, the hawk, and the eagle represent. God! An awesome and terrible God, depicting in nature, at war with enemy of God and providing for the children of God.

In theological terms which means the study of God, when God's characteristics are portrayed as animals they are called anthropomorphism's.

God is not an animal but these are parables. A parable uses human words to describe many spiritual meanings. In these parables God is depicted through the use of animals or anthropomorphism's the destruction His enemy and providing for the children of God.

If you understand parables they can be very exciting and invoke humor because of the impotent, and totally lack of understanding of people who are not lead by the Spirit of God, but of the flesh, there own devices, or intelligence.

In philosophy classes they are still trying decide if the glass is half empty or have full instead of drinking the water. Another philosophical discussion is “I think therefore I am.” If they would take to a spiritual level, like a parable, they would understand the truth in this statement. Who did Moses stand before after removing his sandals, because he was standing on Holy ground, before a burning bush, who's fire can not be quenched? I Am or God! Ergo, we exist, and think because of I Am, therefore I Am. In short I think therefore I am. Proof text of the existence of God. How many in the field of academics in our colleges and universities understand this. They can't take all of Christianity out of America's school system. Its even in our common language.

The excitement comes through understanding God, theology. The humor comes from knowing man and woman in their folly. They walk by the flesh only. They do not follow the Spirit of God nor do they understand things of the Spirit.

We, on the other hand understand the flesh and the Spirit of God.