The Lord God who is to be served by us, even as our covenant God, is a “consuming fire.” In love he is severely holy, sternly just. We hear people say— “God out of Christ is a consuming fire,” but that is an unwarrantable alteration of the text. The text is “Our God,” that is God in Christ is a consuming fire. “Our God” means God in covenant with us; it means our Father God, our God to whom we are reconciled to, even our God, is still a “consuming fire.” A large proportion of nominal Christians do not believe in this God. They profess to reverence a merciful God, but the moment you preach his justice they are indignant; the God who is a consuming fire is not accepted by this proud “nineteenth century.” —C. H. Spurgeon, Sermon #1639, 1882
A. Scriptural References: Deut 4:24 Heb 12:28-29
II. GOD'S FIERY CONSUMPTION IN PERSPECTIVE & APPLICATION
The consuming fire of God's nature is directly connected to His being a jealous God (Deut 4:24), and therefore, His just wrath and righteous anger are distinct and set apart because God is holy. The consuming fire of His nature, being directly related to His holy justice, thus contains all His attributes, but most prominently, God's mercy, grace and love.
The consuming fire of God's nature is applicable to all His creation, most especially to both the unbeliever and believer.
A. Righteous Judgment Psa 97:5; 2 Pet 3:10-12
B. Effective Evangelism Psa 97:3; 1 Ki 18:1-40
C. Acceptable Worship (Behavior) Heb 12:28-29 (Lev 1:9; 6:9-10)
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Jon Cardwell was saved by God’s grace on June 3, 1985 while serving in the military as a deep sea diver in the U.S. Navy. The call to ministry came 8 years later when he was invited to serve the Lord in the Philippine mission field. Jon’s entry into pastoral ministry came...
