The Consuming Fire

Who among us can live with the consuming fire?
Who among us can live with continual burning? – Isaiah 33:14

Isaiah sets before us a question.  It would be easy to read past this, as part of a prophecy toward Israel when it strayed, or another nation that is attacking Israel.  I will admit that I typically get lost in Isaiah….quickly.  But this part of the passage hit me with the clarity that only revelation can have.  Immediately my mind was drawn to this verse from Hebrews.

For our God is a consuming fire. – Hebrews 12:29

Adam was separated from God not only as a punishment, but as a protection.  God is perfect, pure and holy.  In essence, He is righteous.  And that righteousness just can’t abide with unrighteousness.  If you were to actually see God, you would die.  Even Moses, a friend of God, who had sat in His presence, seen the cloud of His glory, couldn’t actually look upon Him, but had to see Him from behind as He passed over.    How about John in Revelation?  He was “the disciple Jesus loved”, he spent 3 years on earth with Him, and then another 40 or so years walking this earth filled with His Spirit before the vision at Patmos.  If anyone knew Him at the time, it would’ve been John.  Yet when He beheld the Lord, not clothed in human flesh, he “fell at His feet like a dead man”(Revelation 1:17).  Isaiah saw Him on the throne and cried out “Woe is me, for I am ruined!”(Isaiah 6:5)

I have so much trouble finding the words to express what I know in my heart.  That God is so holy, so perfect, that we couldn’t even stand to be in His presence.  But, that’s exactly where He wants us.  To stand in His presence just as Adam once did.  His will is to restore us back to that place, but to do that is to invite the fire.  As Paul said, “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship”(Romans 12:1).  You see, God uses fire to cleanse us.  He burns away the chaff.

When the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and purged the bloodshed of Jerusalem from her midst, by the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning. - Isaiah 4:4

As we spend time in His presence, the impurities begin to burn out of us.  Unfortunately for most of us, we like many of those impurities too much and we hold on to them.  The act of turning from the Lord for something else when we know what is right will drive Him away.   When we choose another over Him, why should He stay near?  We may find ourselves in a time of His presence, where we feel so close to God, but so easily we let it go.  It just seems too difficult for us.  However, if we want to become what He wants us to be, we must learn to live in the fire.

Who among us can live with the consuming fire?
Who among us can live with continual burning?

He who walks righteously and speaks with sincerity,
He who rejects unjust gain
And shakes his hands so that they hold no bribe;
He who stops his ears from hearing about bloodshed
And shuts his eyes from looking upon evil;
He will dwell on the heights,
His refuge will be the impregnable rock;
His bread will be given him,
His water will be sure. – Isaiah 33:14-16

As so many things do, it comes down to our commitment to the Lord.  It’s not our strength, but our willingness that pleases the Lord.  Are you willing to do the right thing, no matter the cost?  Are you willing to give up your right to be bitter or grumpy just because of what you feel?  Are you willing to be fair to others when you could get more?  Are you willing to fill your mind with God rather than this world and to cleanse those things which are put into you?  Are you willing to say “yes”, no matter how you feel or how much you desire not to? 

The price is high and the fire is hot, but if you learn to live in it you will find yourself steady, unmoved by the world, with a surety of your provision.  God will provide all that you need.  It is not an easy path.  Set your mind upon the Lord, study Him, pray, spend time listening, and most importantly respond to His promptings.  When He leads, follow.  All too often the fire of us cleansing just becomes too much for us, and we seek our own comforts to relax in.  So many times I’ve been there, where I feel God is talking to me, but I just get tired of all the work to keep my feelings and my wills in submission to Him.  God only knows what opportunities we’ve missed by hiding in comfort.

An Inconvenient Jesus

You ever find Jesus inconvenient?  I have.  I say this as a sort of joke, but at the same time, I’m very serious.  The truth of Jesus can be very inconvenient, especially for a comfortable Christian. 

You see, I can be content where I'm at.  God has given me a good life, a great family, a church with life in it.  I don't mind doing my church service, greeting, putting meals together for others, even an occasional trip to help others out.  That I can work into my schedule.  What I can't is a God who is so big that compared to Him I'm just a speck, and with priorities that don't line up with mine.  You see, if I'm willing to really stop and consider what it means to have a God this big, who sent His Son to die for my sins, it would be decidedly inconvenient.  For the only response to this is that all I have is insignificant before the God before me, and my life is to be giving up wholly and completely as an offering to Him.  Those books I really want to read, secondary.  That show I like to watch, worthless.  The time I give to my desires, inconsequential.

Though many of the things I do are not sins in themselves, if any of them so much as dares to take the place of a God who stepped into our world to die while I sat by and watched, then it should be cut off like a gangrenous foot and sacrificed to a God who wants nothing less than all of me.  Our God is a jealous God.  To give Him anything less than all I can is to ignore what He’s done for me.

They will be known by their grief

The Lamb came.  He brought us grace.  He blessed us, He provided for us, He sheltered us.

However, time is running short, and the Lion is speaking.

In church today I was sitting before worship began and I focused my heart upon the Lord.  As soon as I began to focus upon Him, I had this overwhelming feeling of consternation.  It’s as if I could see Jesus looking down upon us and frowning.  As you would expect, this upset me.  I asked the Lord in my heart why He was upset, when His people were coming together to worship.  Sure we were right before the worship, and everyone was busy talking, laughing, telling stories etc.  I considered maybe He was upset that the people were not serious about Him, but I also know He loves our fellowship, and our love for each other.  We would focus upon Him as worship began.  So I tried to listen to what the Lord would tell me.

The impression I received is that Jesus was remembering the price He paid, and then looking upon us with frustration for how little we have valued it. 

Because you say, "I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing," and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. – Revelation 3:17

We have taken the “grace upon grace” which He has given to us, and used it to make ourselves wealthy.  We have squandered His mercy upon our desires, our happiness, and our feelings.  As Israel chose to stand away from the presence of the Lord and listen only to what Moses said, so have we followed those who will lead us, and do the things they say to satisfy our conscious, rather than seeking the word of the Lord for ourselves. 

Yet the time of Ezra and Nehemiah is returning.

And all the people gathered as one man at the square which was in front of the Water Gate, and they asked Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses which the Lord had given to Israel. Then Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly of men, women and all who could listen with understanding, on the first day of the seventh month.

They read from the book, from the law of God, translating to give the sense so that they understood the reading.  Then Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, "This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn or weep." For all the people were weeping when they heard the words of the law.

Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the sons of Israel assembled with fasting, in sackcloth and with dirt upon them.  The descendants of Israel separated themselves from all foreigners, and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers.

( Nehemiah 8:1,2,8; 9:1,2 )

The Lord is again making His ways known to those who will listen.  They will be known by their grief after seeing that their lives have not be pleasing unto the Lord, but unto themselves.

For those with ears to hear, the Lion speaks.  No longer can we walk in the doctrines of man.  To sit on our pews, serve in our committees, give our tithes, read our bibles, and delude ourselves that we serve the Lord.  The Lion calls us to more.  I am not against church, I love my church, and yet each of us must decide for ourselves what the Lord has earned from us.  We must give up the comfort we hold so dear, and stand solely upon our Lord.  Time is drawing short and the Lord is looking for His bride.  He’s looking for Sons of the Kingdom, and not members of the church.  He is moving, and can only use those who are truly given to Him, and not those who have come to delude themselves with the works they give.  Take heed that you are not “wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked”.

Why we share

Have you ever noticed how hard it is to get the church out witnessing?  Reaching the lost is one of our main purposes, but it seems like pulling teeth to try and get people out there.  I found this as a common theme among the churches I’ve been to;  I even understand the since I am often one of those that’s been difficult to get out.

How do we respond to this?  First we decide that our church just needs to be.  We preach sermons about witnessing. We use logic to show them what the Bible says about it.  We attempt to motivate them into reaching to others who are dying.  Eventually we resort to guilt that they aren’t living in what they are told to do.

Next we think, maybe the problem is not motivation, but knowledge.  Perhaps they are timid because they don’t know how.  So we give them workshop and training groups.  We teach them the Roman Road, Evangelism Explosion, and the four spiritual laws.  We send them out in groups to get experience from those who have done it more.

Next we decide that they are motivated, but like any good salesman, they need to be more excited.  So we make our church better.  We build nicer buildings, have contemporary services, and build up their pride.  We make the members proud of their church and encourage them to bring others in to such a wonderful place.

Many of these things can be useful, beneficial, and often they’ll help, but they all bypass the core of our problem.

“For we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty.” – 2 Peter 1:16

The early apostles shook the world.  When the Spirit came upon them, they couldn’t resist sharing this faith, for they were sharing what they had seen.  They witnessed our Lord Jesus Christ walk this earth, perform countless miracles, and change lives.  How could they not declare the wonders they had seen.  Yet the one who authored so much of the New Testament was not there to follow Jesus as one of His disciples.  Paul said:

For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man.  For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. - (Galatians 1:11-12)

The gospel Paul preached was not written by man.  His words were not a well-crafted pamphlet.  Paul spoke of what was revealed to Him by Jesus.  He did not follow Jesus around with the disciples, and yet the gospel he preached was by revelation from Jesus, not the teaching of man.  Things have not changed for:

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. – Hebrews 13:8

Our witness cannot be from our knowledge of the word or our scripted conversations.  The simple truth is that our witness is our experience.  Until you have experienced God for yourself, you won’t want to share with others. 

In the earlier part of my career I had to intend a set of sales classes.  The most important lesson I learned from them is that I’m not a salesman.  We would do these mock sales calls where I would pretend I’m meeting with a new customer and attempting to sell my products to them.  I quickly learned that I couldn’t try to sell to a person something I don’t believe in or that isn’t actually real.  It reminded me a lot of some evangelism training experiences I had been through.

What are we in fact trying to share with those around us?  We all know John 3:16.

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. – John 3:16

Yet I believe many of us don’t have a handle on what eternal life is.  You see it’s not about being in Heaven after you die.  Yes, that’s a result of it, but I don’t believe that is the main purpose of it all.  If you don’t want to believe me, then listen to Jesus.

This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. – John 17:3

This whole thing is about knowing God.  I’m not meaning that we know God because He has saved.  That’s like saying I know the president because he leads the country that protects my freedom.  I don’t know the president.  Now let’s say he invited me to a dinner, set a table before me and we spent time together.  If we were to do this regularly, I would come to know him.  That’s what God has done for those who are available.  

Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me. – Revelation 3:20

We’ve missed so much of the point about salvation; of course we’re not exuberant about it.  Jesus came and brought us back into a relationship with God.  We can talk to Him, hear Him, and come to know Him.  

The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. – Matthew 13:44

Are you like this man?  Willing to give up all you had to find the Kingdom?  Until we see the Kingdom as this man does, willing to sell all we had to gain it, we haven’t really grasped the gospel.  We can know the God who created it all, and He wants to have a relationship with us.  Until we can see this as a simple truth and grasp it rather than using it as a token phrase of our doctrines, we cannot witness for what we do not have.