Fear Not, Thou Worm Jacob

The chapter from which this text is taken speaks to us of admonition and encouragement. In it the Lord warns against idolatrous ways and worship, and foretells the destruction of the wicked. They may prosper for a time, but the Lord shall give the victory to His people, although they may pass through trying times and great discouragements.

In verses 10, 13, and 14 we read, “Fear not.” How many times throughout Scripture the Lord has used these comforting words to encourage His poor and afflicted people! What a deep meaning is to be found in these words! It speaks of a people in great fear, a people who by the grace of God have been arrested by the Lord, and have been taught that they are nothing but sin and uncleanness. Nevertheless, they have learned to love the Lord in His justice and righteousness. In this way they feel themselves to be such poor, guilty, and unholy creatures, and have become truly humbled and unworthy.

It then becomes such a wonder in their life that the Lord does not cast them away forever, and they may say with Jeremiah in Lamentations 3, “It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not.” They may repeat with the psalmist in Psalm 48, “We have thought of Thy lovingkindness, O God, in the midst of Thy temple. According to Thy Name, O God, so is Thy praise unto the ends of the earth: Thy right hand is full of righteousness.”

The words “Fear not” are made richer when the soul may receive light and faith in the Person who speaks them, for they are the words of the exalted Christ to His lambs and sheep in the Mesech of this world. They are the words of Him who said in Matthew 28, “All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth.” It is in the words of Him who speaks and by the Holy Spirit who applies and gives faith that these words become a comfort and an encouragement that the Lord is with him, as we read in Psalm 73, “Nevertheless I am continually with thee; Thou hast holden me by my right hand.”

There are moments the wonder becomes too great for them, because they actually feel what the text confesses about them. It reads, “Fear not, thou worm Jacob.” What is a worm? A worm is accounted of no value and is stepped upon by everyone. That people learn that they are less valuable than a worm, not having answered the purpose of their first creation, much less of their second creation by grace. But the Lord says, “Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel.”

We live in a time when Jacob has become thin, and it seems that it will be swallowed up by the enemy. But the Lord says, “I will help thee, saith the LORD.” That is the amen upon the promise, and then there is added, “and thy Redeemer.” What rich words for poor, guilty sinners! What words of strength, power, and glory, for the Lord Himself continues, “the Holy One of Israel.”

When by faith the eyes might be lifted up unto Him, that blessed Immanuel, the Breaker, the Morning Star, the Captain of salvation, the Great Shepherd of His sheep, the Author and Finisher of faith, of whom the apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 1, “Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ,” then they may receive comfort in trial, affliction, and fear. This is told us in Isaiah 41:15, “Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff.”

There the Lord promises victory over all the enemies of the Lord and His people, over Satan and all his helpers. We can find this in Psalm 37, “Wait on the LORD, and keep His way, and He shall exalt thee to inherit the land; when the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it. I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree. Yet he passed away, and, lo, he was not: yea, I sought him, but he could not be found. Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace.”

The conclusion of the text reads, “and shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel.” The Lord shall take it up for His people and they shall glory in the Lord.

We read in Psalm 22, “But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.” Oh people of the Lord, it was the Lord who became a worm and was rejected and despised in the way of His deep humiliation. It was for the glorifying of the attributes of truth and justice of His Holy Father. It led to His exaltation, so that the attributes of grace and mercy could be exalted, the salvation of His people be found in a triune God, to the glory of all His attributes. Therefore through Him they shall conquer and be made conquerors.

May the Lord give that young and old may hasten for their life’s sake. The Lord is at hand.

Concerned souls, and those that may be more advanced in the ways of the Lord, may the Lord apply these words in this dark and fearful time. “Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the LORD, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.”

Rev. J. Spaans is pastor of the Netherlands Reformed Congregation of Norwich, Ontario.

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