Table of Contents
Introduction
The phrase “The Lord is a consuming fire” is one of the themes that appears in the Holy Scripture with regard to God’s divine judgment and God’s glory. In this article I will address the theology behind the phrase on selected scriptures. I am well aware that true doctrine is what guide genuine worship.
The usage of “The Lord is a consuming fire” in the Bible
a) God is the just judge and justly pours out His wrath
The theology behind “The Lord is a consuming fire” is that God is a just Judge that should be dreaded by all things in heaven and on earth. He is the judge of both men and angels. He repays back with more dreadful judgment all those who reject and despise His grace and continue doing that which is evil, but those who accept His grace find rest in His salvation and are taught to resist evil continually till the coming of Christ our Lord.
The following verses are here to help us understand more about the truth of God’s holy judgment.
In Deuteronomy 4:23-24 “consuming fire” appears with another phrase “a jealous God.” The be verb “is” in “The LORD your God, is a consuming fire” helps us understand that it is in God’s nature to act justly and judge evil. The people called by the name of God should avoid that which the Lord forbids them because He will not pervert justice in all His ways even on how He treats His people. His judgement consumes like fire. The phrase “a jealous God” is used along with “consuming fire” to show how God jealously never shares His glory with idols. Therefore, those who trade God’s glory with idols, God consumes them in His wrath. Just as fire consumes straws so the Lord consumes His enemies in His just wrath.
In Isaiah 29:6 “consuming fire” is one of the phrase signifying the terrifying appearing of God in punishing Ariel which is Jerusalem and making the plans of those who wage war against her into nothing, “From the LORD of hosts you will be punished with thunder and earthquake and loud noise, with whirlwind and tempest and the flame of a consuming fire (NASU).” In Isaiah 30:27-31 “God’s lips are filled with wrath (v.27)” and ‘His tongue is like a consuming fire’ signifying the terrifying judgement coming out from the mouth of God against the nations (v.28). ‘His arm comes down with raging anger and consuming fire’ (v.30 NIV) signifying the the authority and power of God in His just wrath and consuming judgement against the nations. In Leviticus 10:1-3 the phrase “consuming fire” is not used but we see the phrase “fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed them (v.2).” This fire which consumed both Nadab and Abihu was God’s instant Judgment for them for offering unauthorized fire before the Lord.
In Deuteronomy 9:3-6 Moses assures the children of Israel that God, the “consuming fire” is the one going before them. Even though the Anakites were tall and the wall of the cities so reaching the sky, God “will destroy them; He will subdue them before you (Deut 9:3, NIV).” With justice, the LORD will wage war against those nations and drive them away. Why Justice? In Gen 15:16 God told Abraham that “In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure (NIV).” So God as a consuming fire will drives away those nations which dwelt in the Promised Land on account of their wickedness against God, not on the account of the righteousness of the children of Israel for they were stiff-necked people (v.5-6). Moses warns the children of Israel against pride over the work done by God. He said, “It is not because of your righteousness or your integrity that you are going in to take possession of their land; but on account of the wickedness of these nations, the LORD your God will drive them out before you, to accomplish what he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob”(Deut 9:5, NIV).
In Psalm 18:7-8 (2 Sam 22:1-2) we see the Lord as the consuming fire against those who fight against His people. The LORD defends the oppressed and their oppressors are consumed in the anger of the Lord. “David sang to the LORD the words of this song when the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul” He said: “The earth trembled and quaked, and the foundations of the mountains shook; they trembled because he was angry. Smoke rose from his nostrils; consuming fire came from his mouth, burning coals blazed out of it (Ps. 18:7-8, NIV).”
b) The glory of God like a consuming fire
i. The unapproachableness of God’s glory
Because of God’s Holy Judgement against sin, the phrase is also used to shows the unapproachableness of God’s glory. This is because the glory of God destroys the sinful man. In Exodus 24:17-18 the glory of God was like the “consuming fire” to the eyes of the children of Israel. “Consuming fire” intensifies how terrifying the glory of God is. It is terrifying that no man can force his way to it. When God descended on Mount Sinai in the cloud He called unto Moses and told him “Go down and warn the people so they do not force their way through to see the Lord and many of them perish (Ex 19:21, NIV).”
In such glory only those upon whom the Lord has mercy can dwell therein with the most high God and communion with Him. If the Lord has not called unto Moses, he would have perished if he made his way unto God on His own terms. In Isaiah 33:10-14 because of the terrifying judgement of God towards sinners and the godless, there is a cry “Who of us can dwell with the consuming fire? Who of us can dwell with everlasting burning?” The cry is intense in the heart of man because God consumes sinners and godless people like fire consuming straws. This is God’s answer of who dwells in the consuming presence of God “He who walks righteously and speaks what is right, who rejects gain from extortion and keeps his hand from accepting bribes, who stops his ears against plots of murder and shuts his eyes against contemplating evil — 16 this is the man who will dwell on the heights, whose refuge will be the mountain fortress. His bread will be supplied, and water will not fail him (Isa 33:15-16, NIV).” The Lord is not only the consuming fire but an everlasting burning which means He hates that which is evil everlastingly. He judges those who hate Him and practice evil and remove them from His face everlastingly.
A Sinful man unworthy of such a glorious presence God perishes before the Lord if not his sins atoned for by the Lord. We are like straw to be consumed before the Lord in our sinfulness. “All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath” (Eph 2:3,NIV).
ii. Through Christ there is good news about dwelling in unapproachable glory of God
The Bible says
Because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions — it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast (Eph 2:4-9, NIV).
The New covenant calls for more reverence of God because of Christ, just the old covenant called for reverence because of the revelation of God to the people. The Lord who is the consuming fire and His presence an everlasting burning, the judge of those who rebel against Him and the defender of those belong to Him is the Lord who has given us the riches of His grace through Christ so that we may share in His divine nature and receive a kingdom from God and Christ our King who is now at the right hand of God. In this kingdom will dwell with the Lord forever in His everlasting burning, “since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, 29 for our “God is a consuming fire” (Hebrew 12:28-29, NIV). He is a consuming fire because
“He is the God of both covenants but though now revealed in Jesus Christ, and offering all the privileges of the new covenant (Heb 12:22-24), His anger burns against those who reject these privileges.”
Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
Barnes on the comment on Hebrews 12:29 says,
For our God is a consuming fire: This is a further reason why we should serve God with profound reverence and unwavering fidelity. The quotation is made from Deut 4:24. “For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.” The object of the apostle here seems to be, to show that there was the same reason for fearing the displeasure of God under the new dispensation which there was under the old. It was the same God who was served. There had been no change in his attributes, or in the principles of his government. He was no more the friend of sin now than he was then; and the same perfections of his nature which would then lead him to punish transgression would also lead him to do it now. His anger was really as terrible, and as much to be dreaded as it was at Mount Sinai; and the destruction which he would inflict on his foes would be as terrible now as it was then.
From Barnes’ Notes, Electronic Database Copyright © 1997, 2003, 2005, 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved. Accessed on 3/4/2020 4:57 AM
Applying the truth to daily life
We need hold on to this truth of God being a consuming fire. He is a just Judge that should be dreaded by all things in heaven and on earth. He repays back with more dreadful judgment all those who reject and despise His grace. But those who accept His grace find rest in His salvation. This salvation is what the Bible wants us to see in Christ and believe Him because in Christ the total severity of God against sin is fully revealed and His wrath is fully satisfied in the sacrifice of His Christ on the cross. With such a great salvation given in grace, when people despise and reject that grace the Bible says, “How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Heb 10:29-31, NIV).”
Apostle Paul encourages us “behold then the kindness and severity of God; to those who fell, severity, but to you, God’s kindness, if you continue in His kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off (Rom 11:21-23, NASU).” It is of great importance that we who are called by the name of God dread the living God and never take the grace of God given so abundantly in Christ for granted. We know the kindness of the living God to us in Christ. Therefore, we should love righteousness and continue resisting sin with grace God has given us in Christ. If God’s response’s toward sin is so terrifying, that Christ suffered on the cross for our sins, we should be even more afraid to think of satisfying the desires of the flesh.
Matthew Henry put it this way
God is the same just and righteous God under the gospel that he appeared to be under the law. Though He be our God in Christ, and now deals with us in a more kind and gracious way, yet he is in himself a consuming fire; that is, a God of strict justice, who will avenge himself on all the despisers of his grace, and upon all apostates. Under the gospel, the justice of God is displayed in a more awful manner, though not in so sensible a manner as under the law; for here we behold divine justice seizing upon the Lord Jesus Christ, and making him a propitiatory sacrifice, his soul and body an offering for sin, which is a display of justice far beyond what was seen and heard on mount Sinai when the law was given.
From Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible, PC Study Bible Formatted Electronic Database Copyright © 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All Rights reserved. Accessed on 3/4/2020 4:57 AM
A humble heart and sincerity in daily prayer, reading of God’s word, meeting with believers at church and submission to the Lord, the Holy Spirit within us is of great importance in our battle against sin in this sanctification.
It is God's will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; 4 that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, 5 not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God; 6 and that in this matter no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him. The Lord will punish men for all such sins, as we have already told you and warned you. 7 For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. 8 Therefore, he who rejects this instruction does not reject man but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit (1 Thess 4:3-8, NIV).
When we fall into a sinful habit which makes us fail to recognize God’s severity toward sin, God pursues us with a very severe discipline so that we may be awakened again to the truth that He is a consuming fire. It is right for the Lord to consume us in our sins with His discipline because He loves us. “God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness (Heb 12:10-11, NIV).” Because of this, the author of Hebrew says,“In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son” (Heb 12:4-6, NIV).”
Lastly, we also learned that even though we are being persecuted daily by our enemies, God will surely rescue us because He is our defender and the righteous judge. He will consume our enemies in judgment either here at our rescue or in the age to come when God shall take a seat of judgement to judge all men who rejected His grace according to what they have done and sentence them to their final destination and that is the lake of fire which is the second death.
To God be the glory…
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Amen