| September 28, 2011 |
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Fire is not only a sign of God’s fury, fire signifies God’s presence and purity.
Fire is not only a sign of God’s fury, but more importantly, fire signifies God’s
presence and
purity. In Genesis 15:17, the presence of God appears to Abram (Abraham) as a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch. In Exodus 3:2 The Lord (Yahweh) reveals himself to Moses “in flames of fire from within a bush.” These theophanies affirm that God is and will be present with his covenant. God protects them as a pillar of fire. The Spirit purges them so that they can become like God—holy!
The association of the Spirit of God with fire runs throughout the Bible. Fire is the most common symbol of the Holy Spirit found in Scripture, and it is a regular characteristic of theophanies in the Bible. Fire is an appropriate sign of God’s presence.
We should expect to experience purifying and transformative presence of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is like fire, a hedge of protection but also an ongoing sanctifying presence.
By way of comparison, fire suggests the following information about God’s character. First, just as fire purifies and destroys, so does God purify the righteous and destroy the wicked. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our ‘God is a consuming fire’” (Hebrews 12:28-29). Second, just as fire is mysterious and immaterial, so is God. The Spirit of God is incorporeal and mystifying. Third, just as fire is always moving, flickering and consuming, so too is God. God is the indefinable One who is beyond our human grasp. God as One yet Three reveals himself through his Spirit which cannot be contained by human reason nor defined by human experience. For the Lord Almighty says, it is “not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit” (Zechariah 4:6). Forth, fire, like God, consumes and transforms all it touches. “Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench” (1 Kings 18:38).
We should expect to experience God’s personal touch upon our lives. The Spirit does reveal the will of God to us.
We should expect to experience purifying and transformative presence of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is like fire, a hedge of protection but also an ongoing sanctifying presence. The Holy Spirit will convict us as well as comfort us. The Holy Spirit warms our hearts. “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship” (Romans 12:1). I pray that the Holy Spirit will set our hearts ablaze with the love of God. O Lord, send your fire just now!
Often in the OT we read that God manifests his presence in the form of a cloud. The cloud appears with Moses on Mount Sinai, at the tent of meeting, during Israel’s wandering in the wilderness, and with Solomon’s dedication of the temple. The cloud is the Shekinah glory of God.
The cloud imagery symbolizes both the immanence of God (God is presently working everywhere) and the transcendence of God. God is wholly other. That is, God is not of this world. God is separate from and distinct from all of creation. There is none or nothing like our God. The cloud obscures our vision of God; God is transcendent. Yet it simultaneously illuminates our vision of God. God is present; God is in our midst (immanence). The cloud symbolizes the living, saving presence of God, while simultaneously veiling the transcendence of God’s glory.
Tags: Biblical, featured, holy, imagery, metaphorical, spirit, symbols
Category: Spirit, Summer 2011
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