God is Fire

If you want to know yourself, why you have the gifts you do, why you are where you are and what your purpose is then you need to get to know who God is, first. Who Jesus is. Get to know His personality and through that He will, in turn, reveal who He has made you to be.

This is the beginning of my 'God is' series. Over the next month, each one of my blog posts will be exploring a different element of God's majestic personality. Each post will reveal what the scriptures have to say about God and WHO He is. With these revelations, not only will we come to know our heavenly Father better, but we will also come to know ourselves better as we strive to look more like Jesus. 

The first personality trait I will be exploring, is the 'fire' of God. The fire of God appears in many different forms, in the Bible. And below, I have listed what those forms are and the scriptures that explore them. In many ways, the fire of God is a joyful, beautiful spectacle to behold. It represents God's beauty, His presence, His light in our lives and his glory. However, the fire of God also represents His power and His anger. That is the most important fact to consider, when reading the scriptures below. God is not just 'love', but he is also 'a consuming fire' (Hebrews 12:29). You cannot have a loving God, without also having a God worthy of your respect and faith. The fire of God reflects the very real fact that our God is also a jealous, powerful and faithful God. 

If you want to get to know who God really is, then you need to know what His fire represents and how he uses His fire to teach us, grow our faith and strengthen us.

God illuminates and directs:

'The Lord was going before them in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they may travel by day and night'

Exodus 13:21

God's presence:

'Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire'

Exodus 19:18

'And you said: "The Lord our God has shown us his glory and his majesty, and we have heard his voice from the fire"'

Deuteronomy 5:24

'There the angel of the Lord appeared to him (Moses) in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up'

Exodus 3:2-6

'To the Israelites the glory of the Lord looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain'

Exodus 24:17

God's majesty and glory:

'The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like a blazing fire'

Revelation 1:14

'Elijah answered the captain, "If I am a man of God, may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your men!" Then fire fell from heaven and consumed the captain and his men'

2 Kings 1:10-14

'So he drove the man out... he stationed the flaming sword at the east, which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life'

Genesis 3:24

'Our God IS a consuming fire'

Hebrews 12:29

God's anger:

'Smoke went up out of His nostrils, Fire from his mouth devoured; coals were kindled by it'

2 Samuel 22:9

'The fire from the Lord burned among them'

Numbers 11:1

God's wrath:

'How long, Lord? Will you hide yourself forever? How long will your wrath burn like fire?'

Psalm 89:46

'Moses stretched out his staff toward the sky, and the Lord sent thunder and hail, and fire ran down to the earth'

Exodus 9:23

'My wrath will go forth like fire and burn with none to quench it'

Jeremiah 4:4

In his authority, God destroys:

'When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, "Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?'

Luke 9:54

God consumes:

'And fire came down from the Lord and consumed them'

Numbers 16:35

'Then fire came out from before the Lord and consumed the burnt offerings'

Leviticus 9:24

God reveals, refines and tests:

'Their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person's work'

1 Corinthians 3:13

'God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels'

2 Thessalonians 1:6-7

His Holy Spirit and His power in us:

'John answered them all, "I baptise you with water. But one who is more powerful than I will come, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire'

Luke 3:16

'They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them'

Acts 2:3-4

In every single one of these scriptures, the fire, which the scripture speaks of, is coming directly from God. This confirms, unquestionably, that God represents all of the above and that His fire is a crucial part of His personality. 

He illuminates and directs, he is present, he is majestic and glorified, he gets angry and his wrath is to be feared, he destroys and consumes, he reveals, refines and tests and his Holy Spirit is with us and has power within us.

Whilst it is natural to fear God's wrath and anger, as we should, it is important that we understand His reasons for His fire. And it is simple, He loves us. He directs us because He loves us. He is glorified because His love is in us. He destroys evil because He loves us. He gets angry because He loves us. He reveals potential in us because He loves us. He refines and tests us because He loves us. And He baptises us with His Holy Spirit because He loves us. Whilst God is love, but not solely love, He does everything he does because He loves. And He loves us. You. Isn't that amazing?!