Fire has a way of getting our attention. It is rather
fascinating. Around the campfire as a boy I played with fire. It burns fingers, shoes, and toes. Fire hurts! Fire burned down my uncle’s house when I was
9 years old. I learned young that fire destroys. Subsequently, I came to respect fire from an
early age but also enjoyed and appreciated its warmth and beauty around a
campfire on a cold evening. Shockingly, possibly to some, the Bible reveals God
as a “consuming fire” in both the Old and New Testaments.
What is God teaching us about Himself when Scripture
says in Deuteronomy 4:24 and Hebrews 12:29 that “God is a consuming fire”? By
meditating on the Scriptural contexts of this somewhat puzzling “God is”
statement, we can begin to grasp its meaning.
You could pause and read the chapters that form the context of this
phrase several times in order to do so. In Deuteronomy 4 God is reminding the children
of Israel of how He had
spoken his commandments “out of the midst of the fire” on Mount Horeb. He is warning them to obey, follow, and
worship only Him and receive His blessing or His judgment and chastening if they
forget and choose to disobey. God’s
pillar of fire had given them light by night in the wilderness and He had
spoken to them from the fiery mount, but He also would bring a fire of judgment
upon them if they turned from following Him to worship idols. In time they did turn from their LORD and God
sent stern warnings of His just judgment of fire:
Jeremiah 5:14, Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of hosts: "Because you have
spoken this word, behold, I am making my words in your mouth a fire, and
this people wood, and the fire shall consume them.
Ezekiel 22:30-31, And I sought for a man among them who should build up the wall and
stand in the breach before me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I
found none. Therefore I have poured out my indignation upon them. I have
consumed them with the fire of my wrath. I have returned their way upon
their heads, declares the Lord GOD.
In Hebrews 12 the message is also one of
warning: look to Jesus so you don’t faint in your faith, receive God’s fatherly
correction, don’t fail of God’s grace, and listen to His voice. The chapter
closes with an application and statement of who God is, “Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a
kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship,
with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.” Is this the
kind of respect you give God? Is you
worship acceptable? The fact that God is
a consuming fire should strike a healthy fear in our hearts. Every person will have to stand before God’s
judgment seat! The works of believers in
Christ will be judged by fire to determine reward, “for the Day will disclose
it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of
work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation
survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned up, he will
suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire” (I
Corinthians 3:13-15). Furthermore, the works of those who reject God and his
mercy will be judged (Revelation 20:12-15). They will receive their just
retribution and receive the fiery judgment of God in Christ as 2Thesalonians
1:6-10 reveals, “since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction
those who afflict you, and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as
to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in
flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on
those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the
punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from
the glory of his might, when he comes on that day to be glorified in his
saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our
testimony to you was believed.” Have you
believed the testimony of the Apostles and Prophets? It is a matter of fiery importance and eternity!
With Prayer, Mark
© January, 2013
Scripture quoted: ESV –
Emphasis added
Verses
for our meditation: God Is a Consuming
Fire
Leviticus 9:22-24, Then Aaron lifted up his hands toward the
people and blessed them, and he came down from offering the sin offering and
the burnt offering and the peace offerings. And Moses and Aaron went into the
tent of meeting, and when they came out they blessed the people, and the glory
of the LORD appeared to all the people. And fire came out from before the
LORD and consumed the burnt offering and the pieces of fat on the altar,
and when all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces.
Deuteronomy 4:23-24, Take care, lest you forget the covenant of
the LORD your God, which he made with you, and make a carved image, the form of
anything that the LORD your God has forbidden you. For the LORD your God is
a consuming fire, a jealous God.
Deuteronomy 9:1-4, "Hear, O Israel: you are to
cross over the Jordan today, to go in to dispossess nations greater and
mightier than yourselves, cities great and fortified up to heaven, a people
great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom you know, and of whom you have
heard it said, 'Who can stand before the sons of Anak?' Know therefore today
that he who goes over before you as a consuming fire is the LORD your God.
He will destroy them and subdue them before you. So you shall drive them out
and make them perish quickly, as the LORD has promised you. "Do not say in
your heart, after the LORD your God has thrust them out before you, 'It is
because of my righteousness that the LORD has brought me in to possess this
land,' whereas it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD
is driving them out before you.
1 Kings 18:22-24, Then Elijah said to the people, "I, even I only, am left a prophet
of the LORD, but Baal's prophets are 450 men. Let two bulls be given to us, and
let them choose one bull for themselves and cut it in pieces and lay it on the
wood, but put no fire to it. And I will prepare the other bull and lay it on
the wood and put no fire to it. And you call upon the name of your god, and I
will call upon the name of the LORD, and the God who answers by fire, he is
God." And all the people answered, "It is well spoken."
Ezekiel 22:28-31, And her prophets have smeared whitewash for them, seeing false visions
and divining lies for them, saying, 'Thus says the Lord GOD,' when the LORD has
not spoken. The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery.
They have oppressed the poor and needy, and have extorted from the sojourner
without justice. And I sought for a man among them who should build up the wall
and stand in the breach before me for the land, that I should not destroy it,
but I found none. Therefore I have poured out my indignation upon them. I
have consumed them with the fire of my wrath. I have returned their way
upon their heads, declares the Lord GOD."
Amos 7:4-6, This is what the Lord GOD showed me: behold, the Lord GOD was calling
for a judgment by fire, and it devoured the great deep and was eating up
the land. Then I said, "O Lord GOD, please cease! How can Jacob stand? He
is so small!" The LORD relented concerning this: "This also shall not
be," said the Lord GOD.
Zechariah 13:9, And I will put this third into the fire, and refine them as one
refines silver, and test them as gold is tested. They will call upon my name,
and I will answer them. I will say, 'They are my people'; and they will say,
'The LORD is my God.'"
1 Corinthians 3:10-15,
According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder
I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take
care how he builds upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that
which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation
with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw-- each one's work will
become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed
by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done.
If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a
reward. If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he
himself will be saved, but only as through fire.
2Thesalonians 1:5-10, This is evidence of the righteous judgment
of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you
are also suffering-- since indeed God considers it just to repay with
affliction those who afflict you, and to grant relief to you who are afflicted
as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his
mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not
know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will
suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the
Lord and from the glory of his might, when he comes on that day to be glorified
in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our
testimony to you was believed.
Hebrews 12:25-29, See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not
escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape
if we reject him who warns from heaven. At that time his voice shook the earth,
but now he has promised, "Yet once more I will shake not only the earth
but also the heavens." This phrase, "Yet once more," indicates
the removal of things that are shaken--that is, things that have been made--in
order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore let us be
grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer
to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a
consuming fire.
2 Peter 3:9-12, The Lord is not slow to fulfill
his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that
any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the
Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar,
and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the
works that are done on it will be exposed. Since all these things are thus to
be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and
godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because
of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies
will melt as they burn!
Revelation 20:12-15, And
I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books
were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead
were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had
done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the
dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to
what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire.
This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not
found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
First, as a handyman,
I was called into a home to deal with a mold problem. Somewhere in my
conversation with the home owner I mentioned that the Bible gives
detailed instruction on how to deal with mold (leprous disease) in a
home (see Leviticus 14:33-57). Knowing that I previously pastored a
church in our community, she said to me, “Then you are still doing God’s
work.” I smiled and said, “Yes!” She then commented that I probably
was able to help just as many or even more people as a Christian
handyman than a pastor. I find this true. While I am not in the
pulpit much anymore, I am able to help people with their physical needs
that often leads to helping them spiritually by giving Bible counsel and
praying together. If we are to do as common a thing as eat for the
glory of God, then we certainly can do our work for the glory of God (I
Corinthians 10:31).
