Don't Get Burned

I've long thought that one of the most striking passages in the New Testament is Hebrews 12:29: "For our God is a consuming fire."  Such compelling images this brings to mind!  What does it mean?  Does the passage refer to the "fire" of a zealous servant of God, or the fire of His judgment?  Some of both, perhaps, but examination of the context suggests that it's probably more of the latter.

Let's see the passage in context:

Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: For our God is a consuming fire. (Hebrews 12:28, 29)

The writer here quotes Moses' admonition to his people in Deuteronomy 4:

Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which he made with you, and make you a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, which the Lord thy God hath forbidden thee.
For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.
When thou . . . shall corrupt yourselves, and make a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, and shall do evil in the sight of the Lord thy God, to provoke him to anger: . . . ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye go over Jordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed.  (Deuteronomy 4:23-26)

How, then, to avoid that "consuming fire"?

But if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul. When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the Lord thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice; (For the Lord thy God is a merciful God;) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them.  (Deuteronomy 4:29-31)

The lesson seems quite clear: If we turn away from God to worship other things--ourselves, our selfish needs and desires--and pursue evil, God's guidance and protection will not be with us, and we will ultimately suffer destruction and death from the forces of this world. But if we seek God diligently and obey His voice, serving Him "acceptably with reverence and godly fear," in the words of Hebrews, the Lord will not forsake us in the hour of tribulation, but preserve us in His unmovable kingdom.  That this critically important lesson from the Old Testament is repeated in the New puts to rest any idea that our salvation through Christ releases us from the moral obligations of the Law, as some kind of license to sin. While God is very merciful and loving, he will not overlook willful disobedience, but will bring to destruction those who despise His commandments.

So, let us do as Hebrews enjoins and "have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear." Let us do His will faithfully and humbly, honoring Him by obeying His commandments and serving others before ourselves. Then, the "fire" that consumes us will be that of God's love and of true zeal in His service!

Tom Fleming
Songs of Praises