"And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly." (Exodus 19:18 KJV)

The scene of the giving of the Law on Mt. Sinai was surely an awesome spectacle. It is understandable the people were intimidated by such an appearance of the Lord. What they saw and heard so terrified them they wished not to see it again. Some might chide them with accusations of being superstitious but those who have any inkling of the holiness of God understand such a response.

In this brief study, I want us to focus on the idea of fire. It is a significant element in the history of Old Covenant Israel which should not be neglected. It is a motif which runs from the very beginning of the story to its end. The burnt offering Noah made following the flood is the first burnt offering mentioned in scripture. It may be a precursor of the nature of the covenant God would make with Abram, but to claim it as such would be highly speculative.

Nevertheless, when God made the covenant with Abram, the element of fire is in clear view. His presence passed through the pieces of the sacrifice as a smoking oven (Gen. 15:17). Hence, the covenant was entered into by fire. Abraham underwent a trial by fire in the sacrifice of Isaac. God dealt with Sodom and Gomorrah by means of fire. Moses was called to be the deliverer of the people by means of a bush burning with the fire of God which did not consume it. Among the plagues visited upon Egypt was hail and fire (probably some form of lightning). As the people came out of bondage, they were led by a pillar of fire by night.

We see the element of fire repeatedly in the history of the old covenant people. The book of Leviticus alone mentions fire 74 times in reference to the ministrations of the priests before the Lord. The author of Hebrews confirms what Moses wrote in Deuteronomy 4:24, "...God is a consuming fire...."

As the High Priest entered the Holy of Holies he passed the Altar of Incense on which holy fire was to burn continuously. You probably remember the story of Nadab and Abihu. They were Aaron's sons and it was their duty to keep the fire kindled but they allowed it to burn out. Rather than confess their lack of diligence and seek God's solution to the dilemma, they offered "strange fire" and they were indeed consumed by it.

The prophets called down fire to consume the enemies of God and fire was the means by which the elect remnant would be refined. The fiery ordeal experienced by Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego demonstrated for all to see that God dwells in unapproachable light (or fire as the original may be translated).

I'm outlining a future book on this subject, but there just isn't space to fully develop the theme here. Nevertheless, I encourage you to pay attention to the image of fire as one of the key elements of the old covenant. It will prove most instructive as you seek to better understand what God was doing with His chosen people.

It is no coincidence the announcement of the birth of John the Baptist came as Zacharias was burning incense. The prophet who would prepare the way of the Lord could have hardly come any other way. It is also no surprise that among his proclamations regarding Messiah was the telling, "...He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire." (Matthew 3:11) In verse 12, John speaks of that fire as "unquenchable."

In the parable of the tares (Matthew 13), Christ leaves no doubt about the future of those who infest the harvest of God and act as stumbling blocks to those coming to the kingdom. They would be gathered and cast into the fire at the end of the age. The parable of the wedding feast in Matthew 22 has a similar element. When the invited guests made light of their invitation, their city was burned and the king sent his servants into the byways to call any who would come.

Warning of the coming judgment, Christ said, "It was the same as happened in the days of Lot: they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building; but on the day that Lot went out from Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. It will be just the same on the day that the Son of Man is revealed." (Luke 17:28-30)

It should not escape our attention that when the Holy Spirit was given at Pentecost (Acts 2), He was manifested as "tongues of fire" about the heads of the apostles. Peter then announces the event to be the fulfillment of Joel's prophecy for the last days which would herald "the great and terrible day of the Lord."

In keeping with Isaiah's "refiner's fire" imagery, Paul admonishes the Corinthians to faithfulness because of the coming fiery ordeal which will try their works (1 Cor. 3). He promises the Thessalonians that God will come "in flaming fire" to give them relief from their oppressors (2 Thess. 1:7).

In a glorious contrast, the author of Hebrews tells believers, "For you have not come to a mountain that may be touched and to a blazing fire...But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the general assembly and church of the first-born who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel." (Hebrews 12:18a, 22-24)

The change of covenant removed believers from the covenant of fire! Why the excitement? Turn to 2 Peter 3.

Though believers were certainly undergoing a "fiery ordeal" they would not perish in the fiery end of the Old Covenant system. 2 Peter 3 is largely misunderstood by Christians because they misunderstand the significance of the "heaven and earth" of which Peter speaks. We've discussed this in some detail previously but remember the heaven and earth in view here is not the physical planet. If you need to refresh your memory, revisit Isaiah 51:16 and its context. You will recall that God, speaking through Isaiah, described the covenant He made with Israel as establishing the heavens and founding the earth. We need to read 2 Peter 3 with this fact in view because Peter writes of three heaven and earths (vss. 5, 7, 13).

Pay particular attention to the first heaven and earth. Note he says it was formed out of water and destroyed by water. Question: was the physical heaven and earth destroyed in the flood? The answer is obviously "No" since Noah and his family survived and lived on the planet. It was the corrupt and evil world which was swept away. God was starting over. In grace, God saved Noah. His acceptance of Noah's burnt offering marked a new beginning. The new creation would, as we have seen, not be one of water, but of fire.

In keeping with the pattern, Peter said in verse 7 the creation of fire was "reserved for fire." Just as the world of water perished by water, the world of fire would perish by fire. Again, he is not talking about the planet but the covenant world order which had been corrupted and was about to be removed.

Revelation is punctuated with fire references and history records that Peter's "present heavens and earth" (vs. 7) were burned up in A.D. 70, thus signaling the end of the age. The destruction of Jerusalem ushered in the Messianic age which continues to this day and which will never end (Ephesians 3:20). History also records that the faithful remnant did not perish in that destruction but lived to enjoy the "new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells." (vs. 13)

In 1 Peter 4:17 he had written, "It is the appointed time for the judgment to begin with the household of God...." The sure hope he gave them in his second letter must have been extremely comforting to them. Such comfort would be impossible if the events he described are yet in our future.

When we begin to see ourselves as new creations inhabiting the new heaven and earth, we can rejoice with those first believers in knowing we have escaped the covenant of fire and just maybe we will begin to believe that righteousness can overcome the world through faith. Let us live in the confident assurance that, "Of the increase of his government and peace, there will be no end." (Isaiah 9:7)

And the people of the Lord say... AMEN!

© Copyright 2004 ~Jim Wade

Posted 06/25/04