For Our God Is A Consuming Fire

Our Response

Hebrews 12:18-29

Online Sermon: http://www.mckeesfamily.com/?page_id=3567

One day Esau returned famished from hunting. Whether Esau was truly starving and on the brink of death is hard to determine if one should take his claims literally or as a hyperbole. Upon returning to either home or more likely to a camp, Esau finds his brother Jacob cooking some delicious, red stew in and chooses to purchase it at the price of his birthright, which was a double portion of Isaac’s estate and “more importantly the head of his family and spiritual leader of his people.” In this one act Esau demonstrated not only indifference but utter contempt for all that God had promised to Abraham and his family line!” Even with the knowledge that a nation would be born from Abraham’s offspring that would inherit the land of Canaan and become God’s chosen people (Genesis 17), Esau despised this birthright so much that he was willing to sell these blessings for “the savory but passing pottage of this world.” Later in life Esau came to realize how foolish he was to despise (Genesis 25:34) and selling his birthright but it was too late, for not even his tears could “buy back” that which was so easily “given” away (Hebrews 12:15-17)!

Every time I hear this story, I can’t help but look upon Esau and see him as one of the most foolish men in the Bible! Esau did not have to sell off all he had to obtain the “treasure” or “pearl” of God’s blessings he only had to accept that which God had already given him. Lest we think too low of Esau and too high of ourselves, I wonder what we as Christians are doing with all the blessings God offers us? The Bible states God has provided us with “every spiritual blessing in Christ” (Ephesians 1:3). These are the kinds of blessings that are of infinite value for they are provided by a sovereign God whose generosity is not limited, not even by our imaginations (4:20)! For those who turn to Him God promises that his/her chains of sin will be broken (1 John 1:9; Hebrews 12:1), and death will lose its sting for while flesh and blood cannot enter the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 15:50, 55) a redeemed masterpiece of His grace certainly can and will (John 1:12; 3:16)! Despite all the glorious riches being offered to us can we truly say that the treasures of our hearts reflect a genuine motivation to give up that which we cannot keep, to obtain that which we cannot lose? The following sermon is going to review Hebrews 12:18-29 in order to help remind us not only of the infinite value of our blessings in Christ but also the warning that the tears of the foolish on that final day will not be able to put out the consuming fire of God!

The Mountain of Fear (18-21)

Before we can truly understand the value of the blessings being offered by God one must first understand how difficult it was for humanity to approach a holy God before the time of Christ. Those who approached the old covenant of Mount Sinai, a “place charged with the holiness of God,” all that one could hear was the “trumpet blast and the Voice of terrifying judgement!” This was the kind of mountain that could not be touched for it burned with fire, darkness, gloom and storm (verse 18). Due to their unworthiness should either man or beast lay foot on the mountain they were to immediately be put to death (Exodus 19:12-13). God’s voice spoke a warning out of the fire that cut through the darkness and penetrated the souls of those at the base of the mountain so terrifying that Israel begged Him to speak no more (verse 19, Exodus 20:10; Deuteronomy 5:25-27). “Fear of God’s just condemnation” for anyone who broke His laws was simply too much to bear! Even Moses whom courageously stood before Pharaoh and cried out God’s demand to “let My people go” (Exodus 8:1) in seeing that the “gap between humanity and God’s divinity” was infinite, freely cried out in the presence of Israel and this all consuming fire, “I am trembling with fear” (Hebrews 12:21)! If Israel was to be God’s people, the mark of holiness would not be negotiated but determined and enforced by the God who is sovereign and firmly in charge of all things seen and unseen (Colossians 1:16)!

Imagine for a moment what it must have been like to live in the Old Testament times! God created humanity in His image (Genesis 1:27) and placed eternity into our hearts so that our soul might seek, and forever be lost without Him (Ecclesiastes 3:11)! To those who witnessed or heard of the Ten Plagues of Egypt (Exodus 7-12), the manna from heaven in the wilderness (Exodus 16), the parting of the Red Sea and Jordan rivers (Exodus 14, Joshua 3:14-17), the fall of Jericho (Joshua 6:6-25), the sun and moon standing still long enough for Israel to destroy her enemies (Joshua 10:12-14) or Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego being saved from the fiery furnace (Daniel 3); it should not come as a surprise that they came to see God as the rock of their salvation, a mighty fortress in times of need (Psalms 62:6-7)! God’s blessings however did not come without a price, strict obedience to His commands! While God protects His own, He has no issue in disciplining His own! Those who witnessed Nadab and Abihu consumed by fire (Leviticus 10:1-2), being bit by poisonous snakes for grumbling against God (Numbers 20:1-5), or the execution of the prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18:30-38), soon realized that the breaking of any of the 613 commands of the Old Testament was an invitation to receive God’s mighty wrath! Even the way to be forgiven was difficult for it had to be done through the sacrifice of animals and only at a specific place and only by God’s chosen priests, the Levites! And if you happen to be a Gentile believer, you were not even permitted into the inner courts of the temple much less near to the Holy of holies!