The Fire of God

Hebrews 12:29 “For our God is a consuming fire.”

Today, I’d like to share a devotional on the fire of God that I found. Fire was considered by certain of the ancient pantheistic philosophers to have been the primeval element out of which all things had evolved, and this same myth is promulgated today by evolutionary cosmogonists in the form of their “Big Bang” theory. The fact is, however, that fire is a creation of God used both actually and symbolically as God’s vehicle of judgment on sin.

It is significant that both the first and last references to fire in the Bible mention both fire and brimstone used in flaming judgment on human rebellion against God. First, “the God rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven”. And finally, “the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone: which is the second death” (Revelation 21:8).

Hebrews 12:29 is a reference to Moses’ words to the tribes of Israel as they were preparing to enter the promised land after his death. Warning them against corrupting their faith through idolatry, he said: “For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God” (Deuteronomy 4:24). Its New Testament context is a grave warning against rejecting God’s Word: “See that ye refuse not him that speaks. For if they escaped not who refused him that spoke on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaks from heaven” (Hebrews 12:25).

In a sense, God’s Word is also God’s fire. Jeremiah 20:9  says, “His word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay”. It is better to be refined with the fire of God’s Word than to be consumed by His judgment fire.