A Consuming Fire

For our God is a consuming fire.

Hebrews 12:29

Two young boys straddled an old wooden bench pretending it was their spaceship. Space suits woven with imagination enabled them to explore “Jupiter” and “Mars.”

“Now, let’s fly to the sun” said one to the other, “it will be fun to walk around in the flames.”

A chuckle came from the other room and with it the voice of authority, “You’re going to burn up.”

“Don’t worry, Dad,” retorted the young voice, “our space suits are made out of that fire-proof stuff.”

“That doesn’t matter,” came the final word. “The sun’s so hot that your whole spaceship would melt away before it came within a million miles of the sun.”

“OK,” said the boy, “we will go to the moon.”

God’s holiness is also taken very lightly. It’s seldom remembered that He is completely unapproachable for sinful man. He is a consuming fire. No sinner alive can even stand before the glorified Christ. Both Ezekiel and John had short glimpses of Jesus’ fiery splendor, but fell down as dead men when they saw it.

When Christ came to earth as the Savior, He veiled His glory for a short time to redeem fallen man. However, He will retain His radiance for the rest of eternity never again to lay it aside. It is only because He clothes His ransomed creation with His own glory that there will be fellowship in heaven forever.

To believers, Christ is our Refuge, Stronghold, and Fortress. We have nothing to dread or fear. To those who refuse to believe, at the great white throne, the Lord Jesus will be seen as a consuming fire. Now is the time to be concerned and do something about that.