God the Consuming Fire

Since the holiness of God is such an important emphasis of Scripture, we have been considering the divine attribute of holiness from a number of different angles. Today we will finish our look at divine holiness by considering the metaphor used in Scripture of God as a consuming fire (Heb. 12:29).

Fire appears throughout Scripture and is frequently associated with the presence of God and His worship. For instance, God confirmed His covenant with Abraham when He appeared as “a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch” passing through animal pieces (Gen. 15:17–21). The Lord spoke to Moses from a bush that was burning with fire but that was not consumed by the flames (Ex. 3:1–2). In Ezekiel 1, the prophet sees a vision of the Lord, and fire is a prominent motif (see v. 27). Of course, fire was used in the old covenant worship of God every time a sacrifice was offered to the Lord.

One author notes the aptness of fire as an image for God. The flickering flames of a fire are always changing shape and moving this way and that; in a similar way, God’s ways are inscrutable and we can never fully hold on to Him in the sense of fully understanding Him. In the sky sits a fire that is the sun (see Rev. 16:8) and on which life depends; in an even greater sense, all things depend on God. When it comes to the association of fire with divine holiness, however, God is a consuming fire because our holy Creator both purifies His people of sin and destroys impenitent evildoers.

God’s use of fire to purify His people appears in texts such as Zechariah 13:9, where we read that He will purify a third of His people so that they will call on Him and take Him alone as their God. Just as fire refines metal and removes impurities, so God purges idolatrous affections from His children. First Corinthians 3:10–15 says that the Lord will test the works of His redeemed people, with the works approved by Him passing through the fire unscathed but those He does not approve of being burned up.

As disappointing as it is that some of our good works will not pass through the fire of testing, even worse will be those who face God, our consuming fire, as impenitent sinners. All those whose names are not written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, who have not trusted in Christ alone, will be cast into the lake of fire and endure unending punishment forever. Satan and even death itself will be cast there as well (Rev. 20:7–15).