All Consuming Fire

Fire consumes. It destroys.  As I’m writing this, the Smokehouse Creek fire in the Texas Panhandle has burned more than a million acres. Uncontrolled, fire is terrifying.

Yahweh appeared as a consuming fire at Mt. Sinai during the Exodus. I can’t imagine how terrified the Israelites were.

And to the eyes of the sons of Israel, the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a consuming fire on the mountain top. -Exodus 24:17, NASB

We can see the remnant of this event today in Saudi Arabia at Jabal al Lawz. Two great documentaries on it are The Search for the Real Mt. Sinai from Bob Cornuke  and Journey to Mount Sinai from Patterns of Evidence.

In Deuteronomy, Moses gives the Israelites his final instructions and admonitions. He calls them to be holy, telling them,

Yahweh your Elohim is Esh Oklah, El Kanna. Deuteronomy 4:24.

Yahweh is an all consuming fire, a jealous God.

Fire purifies.

 For no one can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw, each one’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each one’s work. If anyone’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet only so as through fire. – 1 Corinthians 3:11-15, NASB

Our Yahweh is jealous for our affections, calling us to holiness. He uses the fire of trials to purify us. But he is with us in the fire.

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
And through the rivers, they will not overflow you.
When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched,
Nor will the flame burn you. – Isaiah 43:2

More on that next week!

Another oldie, but a goodie! Kent Henry’s “All Consuming Fire.”

This blog series inspired by Ann Spangler’s Praying the Names of God For 52 Weeks