Consuming Fire part 1
There are a lot of different pictures of God in the Bible. Probably because He is so multi-faceted. Because LOVE is so mulit-faceted. It (HE) comes in so many shapes, and sizes, and colors. I was sitting in a parking lot in my truck today with my kid. And he laid his head on my shoulder. I said, "There's lots of ways to tell someone you love them, huh Bub." He goes, "Mostly with hugs." Point being, you don't have to say the word Jesus (or God) in order to be talking about Him. Or expressing Him. Now. Having said all that I want to say this: one of my favorite pictures of God in the Bible is the consuming fire. I like that idea a lot. Just a Holy Ghost wildfire sweeping across the land, burning up everything except itself (Himself). Growing as it feeds on itself (Himself). So that's what I want to talk about for the next few days. And there are three times that that phrase is used in the King James Version. I want to put them down here for you as a reference, as a foundation for this Rant series. Deuteronomy 4:24, "For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God." Deuteronomy 9:3, "Understand therefore this day, that the LORD thy God is he which goeth over before thee; as a consuming fire he shall destroy them, and he shall bring them down before thy face: so shalt thou drive them out, and destroy them quickly, as the LORD hath said unto thee." And Hebrews 12:29, "For our God is a consuming fire." I'm really looking forward to getting into that second verse in Deuteronomy, because I think there's a lot there. Maybe tomorrow. But for today I want to simply compare and contrast the first and third verses. And I want to simply say this: In the Old Covenant--without the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth that leads and guides us into all truth--there was a lot of man making God in his own image going on. We, as a human species, had a very limited idea of who God really was. Remember Moses and the people of Israel? God dwelt in a cloud. They couldn't see Him. Adam and Eve were created in the image and likeness of God, but believed the lie that said they had to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil in order to be like Him. There was a distance. A disconnect. All we could see was ourselves in the mirror. Surface stuff. Flaws. Mistakes. So that's how we saw God. We saw Him as angry and distant. A taskmaster who punished His people if they stepped out of line. But then when you move into the New Covenant... God is still a consuming fire, but the part about Him being jealous is left out. I've long said that God is a happy God in large part because through the cross He got what He wanted. We think He's out to get us, but in reality He already got us. His heart's cry all throughout the Old Testament was that He wanted to be our God and He wanted us to be His people. Then, in Revelation 21:3 (MSG) we see, "I heard a voice thunder from the Throne: "Look! Look! God has moved into the neighbourhood, making his home with men and women! They're his people, he's their God!" He got what He wanted. Which, again, is simply a relationship with us. He consumed everything else. There's nothing for Him to be jealous of. The fire of love consumed everything BUT love. And now all that's left IS love. And love isn't jealous. Love is generous!