We can never imagine that our God can be a consuming fire. But the book of Hebrews records this in chapter 12 verse 29 that Our God is indeed a Consuming Fire
Hebrews 12:29
Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire.
In the contemporary version
We should be grateful that we were given a kingdom that cannot be shaken. And in this kingdom we please God by worshipping him and by showing him great honour and respect. Our God is like a destructive fire!
What does fire do?
- Purifier
- Destroyer
- Brings judgement
- Empowers
- Transforms
MOSES AT THE BURNING BUSH
Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. Then Moses said, “I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn.”
So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!”
And he said, “Here I am.”
Then He said, “Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.” Moreover He said, “I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God.
And the Lord said: “I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites. Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to Me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.
I had to imagine myself standing and looking at the burning bush and the first thing that struck me would have been the colour of the fire, the bush not consumed, the fact that this was a new experience that I had not seen before and like Moses I stand to look at the bush that had fire on it and I am also looking in awe at what was going on with the bush.
I am also sure that this was not the first time Moses had gone to the desert to tend to his father-in -laws flock. So to now see this bush burning in the desert was definitely a new experience and the burning bush must have caught Moses's attention, and looking around there was no other bush burning except this one.
God is indeed an awesome God. He came down to show Himself to Moses and when the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob saw that He had Moses's attention, He spoke. God could have chosen to speak to Moses in a dream or with an audible voice or even through His prophets which He had done so many times before but He chose to appear to Moses in a different way. I believe the reason for this experience was to prove Himself to Moses and by doing this Moses would have no doubt in his heart that God is the all powerful God and He knows how to show up in our lives.
God is God and He is our Consuming Fire!
The bush was burning but was not consumed by the fire. And after God spoke the bush was still standing there and not destroyed. This means that God can remove in our lives everything that will not cause his glory to manifest in us and after He as done all he needs to do in our lives we are going to continue to stand and then His glory will be seen in every area of our lives.God came down because of the cry of his people and came to rescue them, God sees our cry as well and comes down to rescue us from the hands of our enemies.
Moses was used by God to deliver his children from the hand of the Egyptians and like God said He was with Moses throughout the journey.
1 Kings 18:20 - 38
ELIJAH'S MOUNT CARMEL VICTORY
So Ahab sent for all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together on Mount Carmel. And Elijah came to all the people, and said, “How long will you falter between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.” But the people answered him not a word. Then Elijah said to the people, “I alone am left a prophet of the Lord; but Baal’s prophets are four hundred and fifty men. Therefore let them give us two bulls; and let them choose one bull for themselves, cut it in pieces, and lay it on the wood, but put no fire under it; and I will prepare the other bull, and lay it on the wood, but put no fire under it. Then you call on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the Lord; and the God who answers by fire, He is God.”
So all the people answered and said, “It is well spoken.”
Now Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose one bull for yourselves and prepare it first, for you are many; and call on the name of your god, but put no fire under it.”
So they took the bull which was given them, and they prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even till noon, saying, “O Baal, hear us!” But there was no voice; no one answered. Then they leaped about the altar which they had made.
And so it was, at noon, that Elijah mocked them and said, “Cry aloud, for he is a god; either he is meditating, or he is busy, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is sleeping and must be awakened.” So they cried aloud, and cut themselves, as was their custom, with knives and lances, until the blood gushed out on them. And when midday was past, they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice. But there was no voice; no one answered, no one paid attention.
Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come near to me.” So all the people came near to him. And he repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down. And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, “Israel shall be your name.” Then with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord; and he made a trench around the altar large enough to hold two seahs of seed. And he put the wood in order, cut the bull in pieces, and laid it on the wood, and said, “Fill four water pots with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice and on the wood.” Then he said, “Do it a second time,” and they did it a second time; and he said, “Do it a third time,” and they did it a third time. So the water ran all around the altar; and he also filled the trench with water.
And it came to pass, at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near and said, “Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and I am Your servant, and that I have done all these things at Your word. Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that You are the Lord God, and that You have turned their hearts back to You again.”
Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood and the stones and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench. Now when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, “The Lord, He is God! The Lord, He is God!
This battle was between the prophets of Baal and the servant of God. The prophets of Baal was a lot and it was only Elijah that had to confront them. The prophets of Baal cried out to their god from morning till noon, Elijah even encouraged them to cry out more and that maybe their god was busy but the more they cried out and cried out they got no reply. But when Elijah repaired the altar of the LORD that was broken down with four water pots of water around the altar, after Elijah had done all this is what happened;
And it came to pass, at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near and said, “Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and I am Your servant, and that I have done all these things at Your word. Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that You are the Lord God, and that You have turned their hearts back to You again.”
Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood and the stones and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench. Now when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, “The Lord, He is God! The Lord, He is God!
God is a Consuming Fire!
When the prophets of Baal saw the powerful work of God they fell on their faces and confessed that The LORD, He is God! The LORD, He is God!
God will fight our battles for us as we confess Jesus as the LORD of our lives.
2 Chronicles 7: 1 - 3
SOLOMON DEDICATES THE TEMPLE
When Solomon had finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. And the priests could not enter the house of the Lord, because the glory of the Lord had filled the Lord’s house. When all the children of Israel saw how the fire came down, and the glory of the Lord on the temple, they bowed their faces to the ground on the pavement, and worshipped and praised the Lord, saying:
“For He is good,
For His mercy endures forever.”
We need the glory of God to come down whenever we pray, wherever we worship God the awesome glory of God should always manifest in our midst and as these happens every yoke of the enemy will be destroyed by fire in our lives. Solomon prayed like we pray and God came down, we are children of God and should always experience the fire of God in our lives.
Acts 2: 1 - 13
TONGUES OF FIRE ON THE APOSTLES
When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
The Crowd’s Response
And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven. And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language. Then they were all amazed and marvelled, saying to one another, “Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born? Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.” So they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “Whatever could this mean?”
Others mocking said, “They are full of new wine.”
This happened to the apostles because Jesus had told them to wait for the anointing of the Holy Spirit and the bible records that they were all with one accord praying, the apostles did not know what was going to happen, but they obeyed what Jesus had told them and the glory of God came down and from then on, the apostles lived a life of miracles, signs and wonders.
The power of God rested on all of them and every yoke was destroyed in their lives so that they could be used by God. The Holy Spirit came into their lives as a consuming fire to help the apostles in their ministry. The Holy Spirit is also our Helper to help us in our various call. We are called to carry out exploits so we need God's fire in our lives.
Our God is a Consuming Fire!
Matthew 3: 11 - 12
JESUS BAPTIZES US WITH HIS FIRE
I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.
Jesus is willing to baptise us with his fire. He wants us to be filled with fire and do his will here on earth. for us to be baptized by Him we need to receive Him into our lives as our Lord and Savior and to have a relationship with Him. Like He did for the apostles and after we know Him he will continuously fill us with fire.
The fire of God is unquenchable fire that cannot be destroyed by the enemy. The enemies see the fire of God in us and they are unable to touch us because of His fire in us.
Scriptures on Consuming Fire
2 Thessalonians 1:7
And give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels.
Exodus 19:18
Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, and the whole mountain trembled violently.
Luke 9:54
When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?”
Psalm 89:46
How long, Lord? Will you hide yourself forever?
How long will your wrath burn like fire?
Revelation 1:14
The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire.
Deuteronomy 5:24
And you said, “The Lord our God has shown us his glory and his majesty, and we have heard his voice from the fire. Today we have seen that a person can live even if God speaks with them.
Remain blessed in His presence and always remember that his presence is like a consuming fire.
Final scripture on fire
Exodus 24: 15 - 17
When Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud covered it, and the glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai. For six days the cloud covered the mountain, and on the seventh day the Lord called to Moses from within the cloud. To the Israelite's the glory of the Lord looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain.
