There is no fear in love

Deuteronomy 1:6-7 (ESV)
"The LORD our God said to us in Horeb, ''You have stayed long enough at this mountain. [7] Turn and take your journey, and go to the hill country of the Amorites and to all their neighbors in the Arabah, in the hill country and in the lowland and in the Negeb and by the seacoast, the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates.

You have stayed long enough at this mountain. Israel had come to Mount Sinai on the third month after they had left Egypt. In Mount Sinai lsrael had received the Ten Commandments, and the covenant of works was confirmed by blood according to the words of the Law. Afterward Moses was in the mountain forty days and forty nights, to receive the tablets of stone and other rules and statutes. Yet while Moses was away this short time, Israel quickly began to break the commandments of God, and made a golden calf to worship. Afterward God desired to destroy them all, but Moses interceded for them, and asked that God take not His presence away from them. God heard the prayer of Moses. The tabernacle was first erected while they were still in Mount Sinai, and Moses received other ceremonial laws in the tent of meeting. And on the second year, on the second month, on the twentieth day, Israel left Mount Sinai to begin their journey again to the promised land. Therefore Israel stayed on Mount Sinai for about 1 year.

Sinai was not a short stop for Israel. It was an extensive, grueling 1 year course on the laws and the commandments of God. God likewise must take all His people to Mount Sinai of condemnation before He can take them to the promised land of justification. God must show His redeemed people the sinfulness of their sins before He can show them what Jesus Christ has done for them. A man who claims to be a Christian, yet does not appreciate what Christ has done on the cross, is either not a Christian at all, or has not yet visited Mount Sinai that is burning with fire of God's wrath.

When Israel came to Mount Sinai, they were afraid and trembling because of the voice of God that spoke the commandments through the fire and the smoke. God had descended on the Mountain with His holy and just wrath against all the unrighteousness of the world, against all lawlessness, lovelessness and evil of the land. It was a preview of the Judgment Day of God. For read the similarities between that Day, and when God came down upon Mount Sinai:
Zephaniah 1:14-16 (ESV)
The great day of the LORD is near, near and hastening fast;the sound of the day of the LORD is bitter; the mighty man cries aloud there. [15] A day of wrath is that day, a day of distress and anguish,a day of ruin and devastation, a day of darkness and gloom,a day of clouds and thick darkness, [16] a day of trumpet blast and battle cry against the fortified cities and against the lofty battlements.

People of Israel knew that Hell itself came down upon the Mountain of God. They felt that His just wrath was going to consume their souls like fire consumes the stubble. They knew that they, being sinners, would not withstand this blazing fire called God's righteousness. They condemned themselves, agreeing with God and their consciences that they deserved this fire, eternally. By His grace God was giving them a pre-judgment, they they would fear, stop sinning, and enquire diligently how they could become right with God on that Last Day and not be condemned forever:
Exodus 20:20 (ESV)
Moses said to the people, "Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin."

It is therefore because of God's grace that He gives His people previews of the Judgment and of Hell. It is not because He hates His people that He terrorizes them with these things, but because He loves them:
Revelation 3:19 (ESV)
Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.
Contrariwise, if God does not show a person previews of Hell, wrath or judgment, it may very well be the the sign of God's hatred of him, not love. Therefore, we must be thankful to God if God makes us know of our condemnation before that Day, that we may repent, and trust in Jesus Christ as our salvation before it is too late. It is because of His love that He gives us warnings and shows us our sin. A loving father would do everything possible to stop His child who attempts to jump off a cliff. If that loving father would terrify the child by describing to him the gruesome detail of what would happen if he did fall off the cliff, you would not say that the father was being unloving. You would agree that it is what any right-minded fathers would do. It is likewise with God when He terrifies His own children with warnings. If His enemies run towards the cliff, what is it to God to warn them of their death? In His anger He would keep His silence against them, that they may fall off and die. Thus we ought to be afraid of God's silence more than anything, and be thankful if He does speak these things to us.

But it is not God's will that He leave His children to be oppressed under the fear of Mount Sinai forever. In Mount Sinai Israel could not worship God close, but had to worship Him from afar, for they were afraid lest His wrath and anger break out upon them:
Exodus 24:1 (ESV)
Then he said to Moses, "Come up to the LORD, you and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship from afar.
But this is not God's true heart, that His children be so far from Him because of fear. Firstly, this is because fear of God alone does not produce the fruits of righteousness that God requires. Israel feared so terribly when God spoke the Ten Commandments on the Mount, but how quickly did their fear cease and they began breaking God's Law? Fear-driven righteousness does not last long. Herod also feared John the Baptist, but fear alone did not make him repent of his adultery with Herodias, nor from ultimately delivering John over to death:
Mark 6:20,27 (ESV)
for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he kept him safe. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed, and yet he heard him gladly.
[27] And immediately the king sent an executioner with orders to bring John's head. He went and beheaded him in the prison

It is not fear that produces true righteousness, but a revelation of God's love. As it is written:
1 John 4:16-19 (ESV)
So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. [17] By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. [18] There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. [19] We love because he first loved us.
We cannot love God without first having a grand revelation of God's love for us. When we are always terrified of God, we cannot love Him, but we hate Him. We run away from His presence, and wish that mountains would fall upon us to hide us from His presence. But when the Holy Spirit comes upon us, and reveals to us His love for us, and what He has done for us in Jesus Christ because of His love, we are rescued from slavish fear of Him, and become confident in our righteous standing before God. And in light of His unconditional love towards us, we begin to love Him back, and do that which is pleasing in His sight, keeping His commandments, not in order to be loved, but because we are loved. For imagine if Herod not only feared John, but also had loved him as Jonathan loved David. Herod would have done anything to preserve the Baptist's life. But because Herod had no love for John, he killed him. Likewise, when we fear God only without loving Him, we will commit great sins against Him. Thus we need to ask God for a revelation of His great love for us.

We human beings are only capable of reciprocal love. Only those who have received love from God and have seen this love in the face of Christ can love God and others. We are not capable of originating any love from ourselves, because only God is love. Therefore we need a revelation of God's love for us everyday. We need to know afresh what it is that Christ has accomplished for us on the Cross, and why. Only in this way we will become imitators of His love, and produce in us lasting, good fruits of righteousness.

God also does not want His children to be far from Him, because He loves us. It is a wonder why He loves us, since we have not done anything deserving of love. But He loves us, and desires to be close to us. God wants us to draw nearer to Him, not trembling as Israelites were on the Mount, but as Jesus Christ approaches His Father. We can go to God confidently through Christ, knowing that God sees us through the blood of His Son. We know that there is no more wrath, since Christ drank it all down, once for the lifetime of our sins. We don't need to be afraid that God will crush us, for God crushed His own Son. We need not tell Him we deserve Hell, for as far as God is concerned, we deserve eternal life, because Christ had died for us. What can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus? What can harm us, and what can stand between us and God? The obstacle has been removed by the blood of His Son.

Let us then go to Him, knowing that there is no more Mount Sinai for those who have come to the Mount Zion, the Mountain where Christ has been anointed King. Let us worship Him there, knowing that God has forgiven us of all transgressions. Shall we not believe in the love that God has for us? If we have been long condemned by our consciences, God says to us, 'You have stayed long enough in this Mountain'. It is time for us to lift the drooping hands and feeble knees and run into the arms of God, putting our trust in Jesus. God will not refuse those who come to Him by the way of Jesus. Amen:
Hebrews 10:19-22 (ESV)
Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, [20] by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, [21] and since we have a great priest over the house of God, [22] let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.