By the time Jesus and His disciples were making our Lord’s last trip to Jerusalem, a journey recorded for us in Luke 9:51–19:27, it was clear that our Lord and thus His followers would endure persecution and even death (Luke 9:21–27, 43b–45). Of course, the original disciples of Jesus did not fully understand this at the time, but surely they knew that our Savior’s harsh words for the Pharisees (e.g., Luke 12:1) would invite serious opposition from the Jewish leaders. In light of that reality, Jesus knew that His disciples would be tempted to fear those who hated them and to compromise the faith or even abandon their allegiance to Christ altogether if His disciples faced significant negative consequences for following Him. So as we see in today’s passage, our Lord prepared His followers for the suffering that can come for trusting and obeying Him.

Jesus told His disciples not to fear those who could inflict physical death, giving three reasons for this. First, those who persecute Christians cannot do everlasting harm to us. All they can do is kill the body; they cannot kill the soul (Luke 12:4). Human life extends past the grave, and God so loved the world that everyone who believes in His Son will have eternal life (John 3:16). As Martin Luther wrote: “The body they may kill, God’s truth abideth still; his kingdom is forever.” All those who trust in Christ alone for salvation are citizens of that kingdom and will live under God’s blessing forever.

Second, believers should not fear those who can kill the body because there is One greater whom we should fear, the One who can cast body and soul into hell—God Almighty (Luke 12:5). The consequences for not believing in Jesus or for professing faith and then later abandoning that profession are eternally severe (Heb. 10:26–31). We must fear God, obeying Him rather than men (Acts 5:29).

Third, we must continue following Jesus because our heavenly Father will provide for us (Luke 12:6–7). We should fear God’s power to cast the impenitent into hell, but we who trust in Christ should not cower in terror before Him. Those who fear Him as a child fears—respects and honors—his earthly father are the special concern of our Creator, who will meet their needs. Dr. R.C. Sproul aptly comments: “Fear God, but in that fear of God, don’t think that under the gaze of God you are reduced to insignificance. Even though God knows everything about you as a believer, He places a value upon you as His child that is incalculable.”