THE FIRE OF GOD
While many Christians already celebrated Pentecost as the time of the pouring out of the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) on the Church, few realize that this special day originates in a Jewish holiday or why this is significant.
We are blessed at Shavuot to celebrate the outpouring of the Ruach ha Kodesh upon the first believers almost 2000 years ago that shook the foundations and marked the entrance of the Church Age!
The working of the Ruch ha Kodesh has not ceased following the first Shavuot and now as we find ourselves as believers alive in this most exciting time in history, we need to experience as never before the fire of God to change, transform and overflow in every one of us!
This is something that comes at a cost when we allow Him to purge everything that contaminates or blocks fellowship with Him. Are we prepared for the Lord to shine His searchlight and burn everything that would hinder, even those things that are legitimately ours? Yes, for a true believer, this is an inescapable part of our walk with God. John the Baptist, made this point very clear when he said, “I baptize you with water, but One is coming—One far more powerful than I, One whose sandals I am not worthy to untie—who will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.”
We need to look in the right place in order to find buried treasure but there is only one place to find the Treasure of Treasures where the fire of God is manifested. There is a saying that: “Fire hides in the ashes. If you dig deep, you’ll find it. Yet, one who seeks fire in the mountains will find only wind and air.”
I have shared before that sometimes, our ‘fire’ can burn out and all that is left seems to have turned to ashes. Too many people have been discouraged at this point and have allowed the winds to blow them away into the emptiness of the mountain heights. Yet, we need to know where to rekindle the fire and should not forget that the embers lie directly beneath the ashes!
It has only been in recent years that we have discovered that fire never really permanently destroys or annihilates anything. Fire just stirs up the molecules until they reach a point of agitation great enough for atoms within a molecule to be released from one another.
Fire divides. The same thing happened when Yeshua sent forth the fire of which He spoke. He presented a seed (spark) of faith which broke the stranglehold of tradition. In Luke 12, Yeshua warned: “49 “I have come to set the earth on fire. And how I long for every heart to be already ablaze with this fiery passion for God! 50 But first I must be immersed into the baptism of God’s judgment, and I am consumed with passion as I await its fulfilment. 51 Don’t think for a moment that I came to grant peace and harmony to everyone. No, for my coming will change everything and create hostility among you. 52 From now on, even family members will be divided over me and will choose sides[k] against one another. 53 Fathers will be split off against sons and sons against fathers; mothers will be against daughters and daughters against mothers; mothers-in-law will be against brides and brides against mothers-in-law—all because of me.” (Passion)
Some people were motivated to serve in His kingdom. Others stayed behind and became the ashes, or remains, of a burnt-out, legalistic system. While the workings of the Mosaic System in one sense failed through the impossibility of it being perfectly implemented by the best that was on offer by humanity – the Levitical priesthood – in its wake was introduced God’s Divine solution to this dilemma to provide us with One who stood in for every person who is by nature flawed. “Yeshua who knew no sin became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God.” (2Cor. 5:21) Through this, the Law was likened to a “schoolmaster” as Paul explained in Gal.3:24 “Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Yeshua, that we might be justified by faith.” This by no means renders the Law obsolete, it simply places things in perspective through alignment with the incredible grace of God made possible through the blood of Yeshua shed for us! The fire of God loosened a force that changed the course of history through Him. Yet amazingly, even the ashes of this fire found purpose in God’s eternal plan. Look what Paul wrote in Rom.12: “It’s the same way in the present age: there is a remnant, chosen by grace. 6 (Now if it is by grace, it is accordingly not based on legalistic works; if it were otherwise, grace would no longer be grace.) 7 What follows is that Isra’el has not attained the goal for which she is striving.” …
11 “In that case, I say, isn’t it that they have stumbled with the result that they have permanently fallen away?” Heaven forbid! Quite the contrary, it is by means of their stumbling that the deliverance has come to the Gentiles, in order to provoke them to jealousy. 12 Moreover, if their stumbling is bringing riches to the world — that is, if Isra’el’s being placed temporarily in a condition less favored than that of the Gentiles is bringing riches to the latter — how much greater riches will Isra’el in its fullness bring them!”
In order to appreciate the fire of God from a biblical perspective, we need to examine the various usage of the word “fire”. This word is used throughout the Bible of God manifesting in physical fire in both positive ways such as in the consecration Solomon’s Temple or negatively when He swallowed up Aaron’s sons for offering up “strange fire.” When God expressed His desire to dwell among the children of Israel, He concealed Himself within a cloud and fire. God wanted the Israelites to commune with Him. However, they were so fearful of coming into His presence, they wanted instead for Moses to speak with Him, “lest they die.”
It is indeed a fearful thing to come into the presence of a holy God but look what we read in the Book of Hebrews: “19 So, my friends, Jesus by His blood gives us courage to enter the most holy place. 20 He has created for us a new and living way through the curtain, that is, through His flesh. 21 Since we have a great High Priest who presides over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with true hearts full of faith, with hearts rinsed clean of any evil conscience, and with bodies cleansed with pure water. 23 Let us hold strong to the confession of our hope, never wavering, since the One who promised it to us is faithful.” (Heb.10:19-24_
Many believers are fearful of entering into close fellowship with God like the Israelites because of the cost factor – the fire of God. Yet, those who invite God into their lives unreservedly, understand His fire in a different light. Many are called but few are chosen because few are willing to choose this pathway, yet for those who do, lies a great reward!
Those who truly love Him are not fearful of being destroyed by the fire, and allow Him to purify, correct and cleanse us from every hindrance. God’s fire produces ‘first love’ which is a bridal identifier of a true believer who longs for more of Him. And the closer we grow to God, the more earnestly we desire to be conformed to His image, and therefore the less we will fear His fire. Paul echoed this whilst incarcerated in jail for his faith declaring, “I want to know Him and the power of His resurrection and fellowship of His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death that somehow I might arise to the resurrection of the dead!”
Natural fire usually takes dense matter composed of different atoms and breaks them apart into simpler elements, usually gases and we notice that flames naturally flicker upward with the ignited gases producing the flame.
This helps explain the statement Paul made as just quoted. He was not a masochist by speaking about the “fellowship of Yeshua’s sufferings” and “becoming like Him in His death.” He understood clearly that when we allow the fire of God to consume us, we become purified like silver in the refiner’s fire, transformed into His likeness!
God cloistered Himself in fire on many occasions in Scripture. Lets take a look at a few examples:
- The burning bush (Ex. 3:2-4)
“The angel of Adonai appeared to (Moses) in a fire blazing from the middle of a bush. He looked and saw that although the bush was flaming with fire, yet the bush was not being burned up. 3 Moses said, “I’m going to go over and see this amazing sight and find out why the bush isn’t being burned up.” 4 When Adonai saw that he had gone over to see, God called to him from the middle of the bush, “Moses! Moses!” He answered, “Here I am.”
There were good reasons for selecting the thorn bush as the vessel for a Divine vision. First, it was ‘clean’ for the heathen could not use it to make idols. Second, God choosing to dwell in the stunted thorn bush conveyed the knowledge that He suffers along with Israel. Furthermore, God demonstrated that there is nothing in nature, not even the insignificant thorn bush, that can exist without Him.
To give Moses an illustration of His humility, God descended from the exalted heavens and spoke to him from a lowly thorn bush instead of the summit of a lofty mountain or the top of a stately cedar tree.
The thorn bush may be taken as a symbol for Israel in several respects. As the thorn bush is the lowliest of all species of tree, so the condition of Israel in exile was the lowliest as compared with all the other nations. But, as the thorn bush releases no bird that alights upon it without lacerating its wings, so the nations that persecute Israel will be severely punished. And as a garden hedge is made of the thorn bush, so Israel forms the hedge for the world which is the garden of God, for without Israel the world could not endure.
And the leaf of a thorn bush consists of 5 leaflets, the number representing grace, to indicate that God had resolved to redeem Israel by His grace. (Extract from “Legends of the Jews Vol.2” – Louis Ginsberg)
- Pillar of fire (Exodus. 13:21)
“Adonai went ahead of them in a column of cloud during the daytime to lead them on their way, and at night in a column of fire to give them light; thus they could travel both by day and by night.”
This is a beautiful illustration of the manifold presence of God who covered, protected and led the Israelites through the harsh desert places and all times, night and day, with the prerequisite that they followed His leading which, by the way, despite all the shortcomings and failures of Israel, in this respect they did faithfully and consistently throughout their 40-year sojourn. The cloud and the fire is representative of the throne room of God as we see in the visions of Ezekiel and Isaiah: “Beyond the solid surface above the heads, (of the living creatures) there was what seemed like a sapphire, in the form of a throne. High above on the form of a throne was a form with the appearance of a human being. I saw a brilliance like amber, like fire, radiating from what appeared to be the waist upwards; and from what appeared to be the waist downwards, I saw what looked like fire, giving a brilliant light all round. The radiance of the encircling light was like the radiance of the bow (rainbow) in the clouds on rainy days. The sight was like the glory of Yahweh. ” Ezek1:26-28
And in Isaiah:
“6 In the year that King Uzziah died, I clearly saw the Lord. He was seated on his exalted throne, towering high above me.His long, flowing robe of splendour spread throughout the templet. 2 Standing above him were the angels of flaming fire, each with six wings: with two wings they covered their faces in reverence, with two wings they covered their feet, and with two wings they flew. 3 And one called out to another, saying:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God,
Commander of Angel Armies!
The whole earth is filled with his glory!”
4 The thunderous voice of the fiery angels caused the foundations of the thresholds to tremble as the cloud of glory filled the temple!”
- God answering by fire (1 Kings 18:24, 38)
We see a good example of this with the confrontation between the prophet Elijah and false prophets of Baal. Elijah challenged them: 24 You, call on the name of your god; and I will call on the name of Adonai; and the God who answers with fire, let him be God!” All the people answered, “Good idea! Agreed!”
Long story short, the confrontation ended in dismal failure for the prophets of Baal, and God was (as always) vindicated: “38 Then the fire of Adonai fell. It consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones and the dust; and it licked up the water in the trench.”
The false prophets were subsequently put to the sword, and the story well illustrates the victory we have in God who triumphs over all His enemies, through the power and authority we hold in the name of Yeshua. The fire of God will devour our enemies and be trodden down underfoot. In Him, “No weapon formed against us will prosper but every tongue that rises up against us we condemn, in His name for our righteousness is in Him!” (Isaiah 54 paraphrased)
I would like now to consider the purifying process that we have seen occurs when the fire of God touches our lives. This is of critical importance because the primary purpose of God’s fire is to transform not entertain. Let’s examine its application as we take for an example a damp piece of wood and ask ourselves the question, “How does one light a damp piece of firewood?”
The first option is through draught or heat. It may take days or weeks to dry wood out this way, depending on the weather conditions. People who have sin problems, and especially those disconnected from their hearts, can metaphorically take years to dry out sufficiently before they are ready to be kindled and ignited by the love of God. The elements of the weather are similar to the trials and challenges of life.
Wood that is left outside in the open needs to be dried for some weeks before being brought inside and stacked for use. If it rains while the wood is outside, then the process of drying can take much longer. Many people wander through life rejecting Yeshua until driven by harsh circumstances, until finally receiving their salvation sometimes out of sheer desperation!
Sometimes people present themselves to Him as a whole tree trunk. However, the smaller the pieces of wood, the easier it is to light. That’s why when you start a fire you start with newspaper or tinder because this is easy to ignite. Before we are ready to receive God He must first ‘cut us down to size.’
But there is a second method to ignite a damp piece of firewood which is by far the quickest and most effective. If you want to get a piece of wet wood to ignite in just a few minutes put it into a blazing fire. Then the damp wood is soon vaporised and becomes dry. Indeed the outside will have caught fire even while it’s still wet inside.
One of the best ways for a ‘damp’ person who is closed to God, to have his heart opened, is to throw him/her into a group of people who are burning with love for Yeshua and one another. The closer one puts a piece of damp wood to a burning one, the quicker it will dry out and ignite. The burning wood will suffer loss briefly as it comes into contact with the damp wood, and its flame will diminish, but at length, when the damp wood is dry, both will burn even more brightly together.
The fire that Yeshua kindles in our lives is manifested by the fruit of Ruach ha Kodesh poured out as burning coals upon our enemies heads. How so? In Rom 12:20 Paul stated, “20 …if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on his head.”
Some commentators note that this may refer to an ancient Egyptian custom in which a penitent person carried a bowl of burning embers on his head to show his shame and guilt. God’s love displayed through the manner in which we conduct our lives will always triumph over evil! In the same context, Yeshua commanded us to pray for our enemies. This is the character of agape love that opens unregenerated hearts to the conviction of sin through the fire of the Ruach ha Kodesh. (Thoughts adapted from writings by Jeff Bonner – The Ancient Hebrew Research Center www.ancient-hebrew.org
The fire of God is a cleansing fire, pure and holy. And I want to conclude with some thoughts on this because of its importance in a believers life even as Scripture states, “14 Pursue … holiness without which no one will see the Lord,” (Heb. 12:14) and in the words of Yeshua, “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.”
A. W. Tozer noted that to be holy God does not conform to a standard. He is that standard. He is absolutely holy with an infinite, incomprehensible fullness of purity that is incapable of being other than it is. Because he is holy, all his attributes are holy, and this makes him, “Holy, holy, holy”.
When the fire of God descends upon us, He purges us of the sin that lingers and lurks in the shadows of our lives and we experience His cleansing and holiness.
The fire of God defines the character of holiness. The true believer does not seek first to be happy but to be holy. When he does so, he gains both! Yeshua promised that when we, “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, all these things will be added unto you.”
Tozer once said that “…the whole purpose of God in redemption is to make us holy and to restore us to the image of God. To accomplish this He disengages us from earthly ambitions and draws us away from the cheap and unworthy prizes that worldly people set their hearts upon.” www.preceptaustin.org
Let’s not limit the unlimited God by closing the door of our hearts when He alone is the fulfilment to every godly desire. Let’s not reduce God to a theological formula for that is merely cheap grace. Oswald Chambers expressed it this way: “(God) is not an eternal blessing machine for men; he did not come to save us out of pity; he came to save us because he had created us to be holy. The holy person is the most humble person you can meet. The holiest person is one who is most conscious of what sin is.”
Ultimately, this is one of the deepest and most vital truths we need to apprehend at Shavuot. This is what the fire of God is all about that is summed up so beautifully in the words of the song, “Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me. Break me, melt me, mold me, fill me.”
All other parallels of Shavuot holding spiritual significance pale in comparison because without the fire of God all that remains are the residual embers.
In view of everything, let’s rekindle the flame and allow God unconditionally to invade our lives. And may He bless us and fill us with a double portion of His Ruach ha Kodesh as we eagerly await His soon appearing to gather us to Himself when we shall rule and reign with Him throughout eternity!
Raphael ben Levi
