Inhabited or Engulfed?

“And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.” Exodus 3:2

Jehovah, the ‘existing One,’ appeared to Moses as a flame of fire that day in the desert. The bush, which was a created thing; even as we are His creation, was untouched; unconsumed by the fire although it burned.  No wonder that Moses turned aside to see this sight and why it was not burned. In the book of Daniel, we read about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They were cast into a fiery furnace, but what did Nebuchadnezzar say as he peered into the flame? “…Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.”  What can we say of this fire? Was it real? Yes, for the flames were plainly visible to the eye, and in the case of Nebuchadnezzar’s counselors, who falsely accused these three Hebrew men, they were later consumed by the flames. How was it that they survived?

In Hebrews 12:29, we are told our God is a consuming fire. However, in light of what happened to the bush and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, we can conclude that God protects what He inhabits. Anyone who is not in the furnace of trials and temptations with the Son of God (and, yes, I believe Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego joined Christ there, not vice versa) will be judged accordingly. In Deuteronomy 9: 3 it is written, “Therefore understand today that the LORD your God is He who goes over before you as a consuming fire. He will destroy them and bring them down before you; so you shall drive them out and destroy them quickly as the LORD has said to you.”

As God’s elect; even as Israel was chosen the least of all peoples on earth, God is an all-consuming fire that goes before His church, but each of us within the body of Christ has the duty to drive out our enemy, which is the ever lingering ‘old man’ of sin, and to resist the Devil, who is as a lion on the prowl, seeking whom he may destroy.  If we are God’s elect, then our entrance into the body of Christ is by justification by faith alone, and that through grace. We must keep in mind the words of Jesus, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.” John 15:16 And to justification’s end is our personal sanctification and works, which we learn from the Apostle Paul “Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it because it shall be revealed by fire, and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.”  1 Cor. 3:13

However, woe is fire for the wicked. “But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.” One may even assert that our sin, and the level of its accumulation, is the kindling that will set hell ablaze and keep it eternally fed. Consider merely what the Apostle James said of our tongues: “And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell.” Jas. 3:6

Hell is a furnace in reserve for ungodly men, which after judgment will be lit with the kindling of the person’s sin and will subsequently entrap him there. I cannot imagine living eternally with the memory of what might have been if only I believed. I pray that God chooses you this day, and if He inclines your heart towards Him, do not delay. Repent of your sins, and receive full assurance “…that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” Rom. 10:9