Our God is a consuming Fire
Fire Is A Beneficent Agent
How shallow is the common view of "fire" as only or chiefly a penal agent. Fire, in Scripture, is the element of...
"Life"...Isa. 4:5
"Purification"...Matt. 3:3
"Atonement"...Lev. 16:27
"Transformation"...2 Pet. 3:10
And never ever of preservation alive for purposes of anguish.
And the popular view selects precisely this latter use, never found in Scripture, and represents it as the sole end of God's fiery judgments! If we take either the teaching of Scripture or of nature, we see that the dominant conception of fire is of a beneficent agent. Nature tells us that fire is a necessary condition of life; its mission is to sustain life; and to purify, even when it dissolves.
Extinguish the stores of fire in the universe, and you extinguish all being; universal death reigns. Most strikingly is this connection of fire and life shown in the facts of nutrition. For we actually burn in order to live; our food is the fuel; our bodies are furnaces; our nutrition is a process of combustion; we are, in fact, "aflame to the very tips of our fingers." And so it is that round the fireside of life and work gather: when we think of home we speak of the family hearth.
Fire Is The Sign Of God's Being
And what Nature teaches, Scripture enforces in no doubtful tone. It is significant to find the Great Source of life constantly associated with fire in the Bible.
Fire is the sign, not of God's wrath, but of His being.
When God comes to Ezekiel there is a "fire unfolding itself" (Ezek. 1:4, 27) and "the appearance of fire." (Ezek. 8:2)
Christ's eyes are a flame of "fire" (Rev. 1:14).
The seven lamps of "fire" are the seven Spirits of God (Rev. 4:5). So a fiery stream is said "to go before God," His throne is fiery flame, its wheels are burning fire (Daniel 7:9,10). His eyes are lamps of fire (Dan. 10:6); He is a wall of fire (Zeph. 2:5). At His touch the mountains smoke (Psl. 104:32). And God's ministers are a flame of fire (Psl. 104:4...Heb. 1:7). It is not meant to deny that the Divine Fire chastises and destroys.
Purification, Not Ruin Is The Final Outcome
It is meant that purification, not ruin, is the final outcome of that fire from above, which consumes–call it, if you please, a paradox–in order that it may save. For if God is Love, then by what but by love can His fires be kindled? They are, in fact, the very flame of love; and so we have the key to the words, "Thy God is a consuming Fire," and "Thy God is a merciful God" (Deut. 4:24-31). So God devours the earth with fire, in order that finally all may call upon the name of the Lord (Zeph. 3:8,9)–words full of significance.
So Isaiah tells us of God's cleansing the daughters of Zion by the spirit of burning (Isa. 4:4)–suggestive words. And, so again, "By fire will the Lord plead with all flesh." (Isa. 66:16) And Christ coming to save, comes to purify by "fire." (Mal. 3:2).
Fire A Sign Of Favourable Response?
Let us note, also, how often "fire" is the sign of a favourable answer from God; when God appears to Moses at the Bush it is in "fire:" God answers Gideon by "fire;" and David by "fire." (1 Chron. 21:26) Again, when He answers Elijah on Carmel, it is by "fire;" and in "fire" Elijah himself ascends to God. So God sends to Elisha, for aid, chariots and horses of "fire." So when the Psalmist calls, God answers by "fire." (Psl. 18:6-8)
And by the pillar of "fire" God gave His law. And in "fire" the great gift of the Holy Ghost descends at Pentecost."
Fire Is The Portion Of All
These words bring us to the New Testament. There we find that "fire," like judgment, so far from being the sinner's portion ONLY, is the portion of all. Like God's judgment again, it is not future merely, but present; it is "already kindled," always kindled: its object is not torment, but cleansing. The proof comes from the lips of our Lord Himself. "I am come to send fire on the earth," for it is certain that He came as a Saviour. Thus, coming to save, Christ comes with fire, nay, with fire already kindled. He comes to baptize with the Holy Ghost, and with fire.
Therefore, it is that Christ teaches in solemn passage (usually misunderstood, Mark 9:43) that everyone shall be salted with fire. And so the "fire is to try every man's work." He whose work fails is saved (mark the word saved), not damned "so as by fire," by consuming what is evil, saves and refines.
The antient tradition that represents Christ as saying, "He that is near Me is near fire," expresses a vital truth. So Malachi, describes Christ as being in His saving work "like a refiner's fire." And so, echoing Deut 4:24-31, we are told that "our God is a consuming Fire," i.e., God in His closest relation to us; God is Love; God is Spirit: but "Our God is a consuming Fire"–a consuming Fire, "by which the whole material substance of sin is destroyed."
When, then, we read (Psl. 18:12) that "coals of fire" go before God, we think of the deeds of love which are "coals of fire" to our enemies. (Rom. 12:20) Thus, we who teach hope for all men, do not shrink from but accept, in their fullest meaning, these mysterious "fires" of gehenna, of which Christ speaks (kindled for purification), as in a special sense the sinner's doom in the coming ages. But taught by the clearest statements of Scripture (confirmed as they are by many analogies of Nature), we see in these "fires" not a denial of, but a mode of fulfilling, the promise–
"Behold, I make all things new."
-Christ Triumphant-
Are our broadest hopes broad enough? Shall there be a nook or abyss, in all the universe of God, finally unlightened by the Cross? Shall there be a sin, or sorrow, or pain unhealed? Is the very universe, is creation in all its extent, a field wide enough for the Son of God?
It is amazing the things you can learn on Christian Boards!
F.L. has been in discussion with a wee lad who posts the Lord is not literally fire & suggests I know not what "literally" means.
My response=
"Our God is [a] fire." He is literally in essence fire! He is LOVE literally. He is Spirit literally. He is Light literally. He is Fire literally. He is Saviour literally.
lit·er·al·ly=
In a literal manner or sense; exactly.
Synonyms=
Exactly, precisely, actually, really, truly;
Used for emphasis or to express strong feeling while not being literally true.
Dear lad:
Are you suggesting the essence of our God is not literal? Perhaps His amazing love is not literal? You think He is a potential Saviour, and certainly must not in essence be Saviour, oh no, our God the Saviour of all mankind is not literal!
Our God is literally in actuality, exactly & precisely in essence,>>>>>>>
LOVE>>>>SPIRIT>>>LIGHT>>>>SAVIOUR>>>FIRE>>>ATONEMENT
Is it not strange the long seasons that can elapse on the back-side of the desert? Year by year falls into the great abyss, and at the juncture where we can no longer speak, and the great struggle to do the will of God vanishes into weakness and death, the Bush appears pulsating with Deity. It is there at the asamuth of death and weakness the Living One speaks.
"Take off your shoes from off your feet"
Holy ground! The place where dust and Divinity meet! It is there in absolute weakness and inability, the Lord manifests Himself as the God who raises the dead. The road into the Tree of Life is by way of the flaming swords swirling in every direction. Those who reach for the Tree will suffer the loss of the hand, the fingers, the grasp of all they are! And as the process of the swirling swords rage upon these ones, great loss is inflicted, for nothing, no one, comes to the other side the same as it enters..NOTHING!...NOTHING!...NOTHING!
The great stages of the Living One's glory must be in degrees of doxa. We are changed from one degree of glory to another and another! It requires a thought beginning in the mind of the caterpillar that ultimately leads to the building of a cocoon from which caterpillars become butterflies, and dust moves from the road of life into the Divine One, described as "the Living", the "I am", not the I was, the I AM.
It is this Heavenly Road that grasps us, the Heavenly One, the Source leading to the Road, the sustaining Guide of the Road, and the Goal of the Road. All things lead to Him, through Him and for Him! And by Him all things consist. It has taken me over 70 years to go a journey that could be accomplished in 11 days, but dust and Divinity must meet; the goal is not all the story, the path is of equal value in the I AM! Each of us are on different stages of our Father's drawing hand, some so wrapped up in themselves they cannot see the bush that is aflame and is not devoured. It is just a common bush for many, but
"Earth's crammed with heaven, and every common bush afire with God; and only he who sees takes off his shoes.... -Eliz. Barrett Browning-
I also suspect that God's light is caused from fire. Maybe even "lightning." Or vice versa.
The 2nd Death
"Orthodox theology holds the second death to be a state of endless torment in which the sufferers are held forever in conscious being by a continuous act of Divine preservation, with the soul object of a punishment without end. This however would in no sense be death. The second death does not perpetuate the hopeless condition of the sinner to all eternity.
What the Holy Spirit means by 'fire and brimstone' is 'divine purification,' or a judgment fire which consumes all that is antagonistic to divine law and love.
Before the Great White Throne, that vast throng, their naked spirits conscious now of the blazing holiness of God, will be subjected to the process of the second death. What those processes are, their intensity and their duration, we are not told. They will suffice, however, not in themselves to perfect, but to bring those who suffer them to that agreement with the judgment upon sin which they effect, and through the cross finally to reconcile them to God (Col. 1:20), in a subjection where He will be 'All in all.' When that acquiescence in judgment upon sin is reached, and applied in soul and spirit, then will be possible the final victory over death. Hence it is written that when this subjection is reached, then and only then, 'the last enemy, death, shall be destroyed.' " -A. E. Saxby
The Lake Of Fire & Divinity
Brimstone= theion
Root of theion= Theos
Theion= the breath of Jehovah/ Theos
The Lake of Divine Fire
Are our broadest hopes broad enough? Shall there be a nook or abyss, in all the universe of God, finally unlightened by the Cross? Shall there be a sin, or sorrow, or pain unhealed? Is the very universe, is creation in all its extent, a field wide enough for the Son of God?
Quote from: FineLinen on March 07, 2019, 09:07:17 PM
Our God is a consuming Fire
Fire Is A Beneficent Agent
How shallow is the common view of "fire" as only or chiefly a penal agent. Fire, in Scripture, is the element of...
"Life"...Isa. 4:5
"Purification"...Matt. 3:3
"Atonement"...Lev. 16:27
"Transformation"...2 Pet. 3:10
And never ever of preservation alive for purposes of anguish.
And the popular view selects precisely this latter use, never found in Scripture, and represents it as the sole end of God's fiery judgments! If we take either the teaching of Scripture or of nature, we see that the dominant conception of fire is of a beneficent agent. Nature tells us that fire is a necessary condition of life; its mission is to sustain life; and to purify, even when it dissolves.
Extinguish the stores of fire in the universe, and you extinguish all being; universal death reigns. Most strikingly is this connection of fire and life shown in the facts of nutrition. For we actually burn in order to live; our food is the fuel; our bodies are furnaces; our nutrition is a process of combustion; we are, in fact, "aflame to the very tips of our fingers." And so it is that round the fireside of life and work gather: when we think of home we speak of the family hearth.
Fire Is The Sign Of God's Being
And what Nature teaches, Scripture enforces in no doubtful tone. It is significant to find the Great Source of life constantly associated with fire in the Bible.
Fire is the sign, not of God's wrath, but of His being.
When God comes to Ezekiel there is a "fire unfolding itself" (Ezek. 1:4, 27) and "the appearance of fire." (Ezek. 8:2)
Christ's eyes are a flame of "fire" (Rev. 1:14).
The seven lamps of "fire" are the seven Spirits of God (Rev. 4:5). So a fiery stream is said "to go before God," His throne is fiery flame, its wheels are burning fire (Daniel 7:9,10). His eyes are lamps of fire (Dan. 10:6); He is a wall of fire (Zeph. 2:5). At His touch the mountains smoke (Psl. 104:32). And God's ministers are a flame of fire (Psl. 104:4...Heb. 1:7). It is not meant to deny that the Divine Fire chastises and destroys.
Purification, Not Ruin Is The Final Outcome
It is meant that purification, not ruin, is the final outcome of that fire from above, which consumes–call it, if you please, a paradox–in order that it may save. For if God is Love, then by what but by love can His fires be kindled? They are, in fact, the very flame of love; and so we have the key to the words, "Thy God is a consuming Fire," and "Thy God is a merciful God" (Deut. 4:24-31). So God devours the earth with fire, in order that finally all may call upon the name of the Lord (Zeph. 3:8,9)–words full of significance.
So Isaiah tells us of God's cleansing the daughters of Zion by the spirit of burning (Isa. 4:4)–suggestive words. And, so again, "By fire will the Lord plead with all flesh." (Isa. 66:16) And Christ coming to save, comes to purify by "fire." (Mal. 3:2).
Fire A Sign Of Favourable Response?
Let us note, also, how often "fire" is the sign of a favourable answer from God; when God appears to Moses at the Bush it is in "fire:" God answers Gideon by "fire;" and David by "fire." (1 Chron. 21:26) Again, when He answers Elijah on Carmel, it is by "fire;" and in "fire" Elijah himself ascends to God. So God sends to Elisha, for aid, chariots and horses of "fire." So when the Psalmist calls, God answers by "fire." (Psl. 18:6-8)
And by the pillar of "fire" God gave His law. And in "fire" the great gift of the Holy Ghost descends at Pentecost."
Fire Is The Portion Of All
These words bring us to the New Testament. There we find that "fire," like judgment, so far from being the sinner's portion ONLY, is the portion of all. Like God's judgment again, it is not future merely, but present; it is "already kindled," always kindled: its object is not torment, but cleansing. The proof comes from the lips of our Lord Himself. "I am come to send fire on the earth," for it is certain that He came as a Saviour. Thus, coming to save, Christ comes with fire, nay, with fire already kindled. He comes to baptize with the Holy Ghost, and with fire.
Therefore, it is that Christ teaches in solemn passage (usually misunderstood, Mark 9:43) that everyone shall be salted with fire. And so the "fire is to try every man's work." He whose work fails is saved (mark the word saved), not damned "so as by fire," by consuming what is evil, saves and refines.
The antient tradition that represents Christ as saying, "He that is near Me is near fire," expresses a vital truth. So Malachi, describes Christ as being in His saving work "like a refiner's fire." And so, echoing Deut 4:24-31, we are told that "our God is a consuming Fire," i.e., God in His closest relation to us; God is Love; God is Spirit: but "Our God is a consuming Fire"–a consuming Fire, "by which the whole material substance of sin is destroyed."
When, then, we read (Psl. 18:12) that "coals of fire" go before God, we think of the deeds of love which are "coals of fire" to our enemies. (Rom. 12:20) Thus, we who teach hope for all men, do not shrink from but accept, in their fullest meaning, these mysterious "fires" of gehenna, of which Christ speaks (kindled for purification), as in a special sense the sinner's doom in the coming ages. But taught by the clearest statements of Scripture (confirmed as they are by many analogies of Nature), we see in these "fires" not a denial of, but a mode of fulfilling, the promise–
"Behold, I make all things new."
-Christ Triumphant-
Are our broadest hopes broad enough? Shall there be a nook or abyss, in all the universe of God, finally unlightened by the Cross? Shall there be a sin, or sorrow, or pain unhealed? Is the very universe, is creation in all its extent, a field wide enough for the Son of God?
:faint: :faint: That was utterly perfect! :gsmile: (xcept for the phrase doom in coming
ages? (initial doom? expected? by those who rise still in their sins? ..By the grace of God there go I!) Which of course, ages are the millennium :dsunny: and then the age of "the judgment" when is the only time which can be completed (?/imo) Ps.22:27, and our Lord's drawing of all to Him, Jn.12:32... The 3 peaks of His long second advent are perfectly shadowed by His ancient Fall holy days of, TRUMPETS -- 10days/1000yrs later -- DAY
of ATONEMENT/Judgment -- 5days/500yrs later -- TABERNACLES (Rev.21:1-5, the "fiery" all in all event (third of 1 Cor.15:22-->28 [w/ Mt.13:33])
holy days - Lev.23
sorry :doh: for the CAPS.. I'm on tablet and that was the easiest..
Ab-so-lute-ly awesome article! :cheerleader: ..and utterly true!
P.S. ...it's the fire that makes the fine linen (of Revelation, in case someone should read and not know the Lord promises fine linen to His own who abide in Him, thus overcoming, Jn.15)
The way for all is through the fires, for fire is the great uniter and reconciler of all things; and things which without fire can never be united, in and through the fire are changed and become one.
Therefore every coming of Christ, even in grace, is a day of judgment. Therefore there are fires even for the elect both now, (1 Pet. 1:7, and 4: 12) and in the coming day; (1 Cor. 3:. 13, 15.) for “our God is a consuming fire;” (Heb. 12: 29.) and to dwell in Him we must have a life, which, because it is of the fire, for fire burns not fire, can stand unhurt in it.
Therefore our Lord “came to cast fire into the earth,” and desired nothing more than “that it should be already kindled;” (S. Luke 12: 49) therefore He says,
Mark 9: 49-
For this is the very “baptism of the Holy Ghost and fire,” (Matt. 3: 11) that “spirit of judgment and burning,” promised by the prophet, "with which the Lord shall purge away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and cleanse the blood of Jerusalem; after which He will create on every dwelling place of Mount Zion, and on all her assemblies, a cloud of smoke by day, and the brightness of flame of fire by night; and upon all, the glory shall be a defense; (Isa. 4: 4, 5) for “He is like a refiner’s fire, and like a fuller’s soap; and He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and He shall purify the sons of Levi as gold and silver are purged, that they may offer to the Lord an offering of righteousness.” (Mal. 3: 3). And as by the hidden fire of this present life, shut up in these bodies of corruption, we are able by the wondrous chemistry of nature through corruption to change the fruits and flesh of the earth into our blood, and from blood again into our flesh and bone and sinew; so by the fire of God can we be changed, and made partakers of Christ’s flesh and blood. In and through Christ we have received this transmutation; (Rom. 5: 11) and through His Spirit, which is fire, is this same change accomplished in us.
NOTE:
Numbers 28: 6. By this double sense a veil covers the letter, veiling yet revealing God’s purpose; for His purpose to the creature is through destruction to perfect it, and by fire to make it a bride unto the Lord. For a kindred reason some of the angels are called Seraphim, that is burning ones; for like the Lord, whose throne is flames of fire, (Dan. 7: 9,10.) they also are as fire; as it is written, “He makes His angels spirits, His messengers a flame of fire.” (Heb. 1: 7, and Psalm 104:4)
And as with the first-fruits, so with the harvest. The world to be saved must some day know the same baptism. For “the Lord will come with fire,” and “by fire and by His sword will He plead with all flesh, and the slain of the Lord shall be many.” (Isa. 66: 15, 16.) The promised baptism or outpouring of the Spirit must be judgment, for the Spirit cannot be poured on man without consuming this flesh to quicken a better life;
NOTE:
James 1: 20) works both righteousness and life, and is set forth in that “warfare of the service of the tabernacle” (See Numbers 4: 23, 30, and 8: 24, 25; margin: and compare 1 Tim. 1: eighteen) by which that which was of the earth was made to ascend to God through fire a sweet sacrifice.
http://www.auburn.edu/~allenkc/jukes2.html -Andrew Jukes-
Quote from: marie glen on March 08, 2019, 02:15:03 PM
P.S. ...it's the fire that makes the fine linen (of Revelation, in case someone should read and not know the Lord promises fine linen to His own who abide in Him, thus overcoming, Jn.15)
My dear lady: As the followers of the Lamb the manifold aspects of His mighty Person break upon us. It is an interesting fact that there are those (overcomers) who are not "hurt" by the second death. Why? They have been hurt over & over & over again until there is nothing left to hurt. Garments are so important in His covering, garments that come out of the Fire!
Are our broadest hopes broad enough? Shall there be a nook or abyss, in all the universe of God, finally unlightened by the Cross? Shall there be a sin, or sorrow, or pain unhealed? Is the very universe, is creation in all its extent, a field wide enough for the Son of God?
I LOVE IT
All pride of life shall be brought low ........... every knee will bow and tongue confess the LORD JESUS CHRIST our glory is in GOD and our new nature is fire and Light servants psalms 104 He makes winds his messengers, flames of fire his servants. setting the world on fire by Holy Spirit witnesses ...
even those whom have pierced Him though , names = spears
woe to those whom have gone in the way of Cain
a possession; a spear.
The first-born son of Adam and Eve , he let evil posses & rule over him , from the beginning
They bow down and will worship God when the Way of Truth sets them free .JESUS DIED FOR ALL MANKIND !! .
Lessons learned !! the Fire of GOD JEALOUSY and will Not give His glory to another , All are Gods possessions and GOD will be all in all in the end
Jesus took death and made LIFE come forth out of it and lets the captives go free :dsunny: :HeartThrob:
I watched a youtube video the other day.It was of an older gentleman who showed the whole process of sowing flax to to the finished
product of the linen thread ready for spinning wheel.heat,water,beatings,crimpings,shreddings,twistings,pullings.......andI think
of Christ's BRUISED FLESH[HEEL]and surely it is the lot of all in Adam..that we all take such a beating from the adversary/prince
of this world. But,no matter what the advesarydoes..no weapon formed against us shall succeed.
Wow! great thread! :thumbsup: Great insights!
I just had to come back and read that opening post again! It says it SO well!
Dear Marie: the depth of these men of God is quite overwhelming. When the operation of these mighty things break into us, the results reach into words that cannot be articulated. My dear lady, may the Lord continue to make His Face to shine upon us.
The Divine Fire
I. THE OPERATION OF THE DIVINE FIRE DEPENDS ON WHAT IT OPERATES ON. This is one of the most marked peculiarities of common fire. It scatters water; it melts wax; it destroys wood; it hardens clay; it purifies metal. It makes silver valuable; it makes dross worthless. And so with the Divine fire. The apostle dwells on its testing power (1 Corinthians 3:13); but here its actual moral effect on differing characters is indicated. Take classes of character in Malachi's time, and show the different effects which Divine dealings had upon them. Take types of character now, and show how Divine dealings soften or harden.
II. THE DIVINE FIRE IS DESTRUCTIVE OF THE FORMS OF THINGS, NOT OF THINGS. Science now explains that common fire destroys nothing; it only Changes the forms and relations of things. When the state of the wicked is irremediable by any existing moral forces, then their form and relation must be changed. As in the time of the Flood, humanity had to be put in new conditions. God's fire destructions always begin a new regime. - R.T.
https://biblehub.com/sermons/auth/tuck/the_divine_fire.htm
Very inspiring! ..."The divine fire".. gotta love that phrase.. :cloud9:
The fire/life of worship.. is in love, and in love poured out. ...The one eternal fire.. the fire of life's veins.. Forever rules.. "fear not little flock.. beneath are the everlasting arms.."
The LOVE being God Himself is the motive and moving force :HeartThrob:
I believe many of hearts are going to be set on fire by the HOLY SPIRIT !!! :dsunny:
Same hearts burning as Jesus Opens the Scriptures !!!
...31Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Jesus—and He disappeared from their sight.
32They asked one another, "Were not our hearts burning within us as He spoke with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?"
33And they got up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, gathered together...
Psalm 39:3
My heart grew hot within me; as I mused, the fire burned. Then I spoke with my tongue:
Mark 4:34
He did not say anything to them without a parable. But privately He explained everything to His own disciples.
Luke 24:45
Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.!!
Without Him we can do nothing of our own , but for this very purpose God has called out Living ones from among the dead ...
John 11 25Jesus said to her,
"I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies.
26And everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?"
The descriptive of JESUS IS ABLAZE in the scriptures He is the mountain [capstone ] that is GODS FIRE not made with human hands but by GODS HOLY SPIRIT
Daniel
Hebrews 12:18
For you have not come [as did the Israelites in the wilderness] to a [material] mountain that can be touched, [a mountain] that is ablaze with fire, and to gloom and darkness and a raging storm,
GOD SAID , This is by beloved Son ,,''Hear Him '' and LIVE !
18 You have not come to the place that can be touched (as Israel did at Mount Sinai)—to a mountain crowned with blazing fire, darkness, gloom, and a windstorm—
19 or to the blast of a trumpet and the sound of a voice—a voice and message so harsh that the people begged not to hear another word. 20 (They could not bear the command that was given: that if even a beast touches the mountain, it must be stoned. 21 The sight was so terrible that even Moses said, "I am trembling with fear.")
22 No, instead you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, to the heavenly Jerusalem, to heavenly messengers unnumbered, to a joyful feast, 23 to the assembly of the firstborn registered as heaven's citizens, to God the righteous Judge of all, and to the spirits of all the righteous who have been perfected.
24 You have come to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant between God and humanity, and to His sprinkled blood, which speaks a greater word than the blood of Abel crying out from the earth.
25 See that you don't turn away from the One who is speaking; for if the ones who heard and refused the One who spoke on earth faced punishment, then how much more will we suffer if we turn away from the One speaking from heaven—
26 the One whose voice in earlier times shook the earth now makes another promise: "Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heavens"?
27 The phrase, "Yet once more," means that those things that can be shaken will be removed and taken away, namely, the first creation. As a result, those things that remain cannot be shaken.
28 Therefore, let us all be thankful that we are a part of an unshakable Kingdom and offer to God worship that pleases Him and reflects the awe and reverence we have toward Him,
29 for He is like a fierce fire that consumes everything.
What if the hearts are a metaphor of a stony mountain in moses day [sealed up] as well as the lakes of fire in our day as the scriptures open up
Ecc 3
:Chinscratch: ...Amen! And love the verses Rosie! :thumbsup: :cloud9:
Quote from: FineLinen on March 09, 2019, 01:26:47 PM
Quote from: marie glen on March 08, 2019, 02:15:03 PM
P.S. ...it's the fire that makes the fine linen (of Revelation, in case someone should read and not know the Lord promises fine linen to His own who abide in Him, thus overcoming, Jn.15)
My dear lady: As the followers of the Lamb the manifold aspects of His mighty Person break upon us. It is an interesting fact that there are those (overcomers) who are not "hurt" by the second death. Why? They have been hurt over & over & over again until there is nothing left to hurt. Garments are so important in His covering, garments that come out of the Fire!
Are our broadest hopes broad enough? Shall there be a nook or abyss, in all the universe of God, finally unlightened by the Cross? Shall there be a sin, or sorrow, or pain unhealed? Is the very universe, is creation in all its extent, a field wide enough for the Son of God?
Beautiful and true....Truly beautiful.
"No one can deny that the New Testament contains a special revelation of the parental tie uniting us to God.
When we pray and say, "our Father," these two words convey the spirit of the whole Gospel.
Now, it is not too much to assert that the view generally held is an absolute negation of all that the parental tie implies. It robs the relation of all meaning.
We have the very spirit of popular Christianity conveyed in the well-known line which tells us that we are ever in the great Taskmaster's eye."
The great Taskmaster ---note the term, for it reduces to mockery the divine Fatherhood, though that is of the very essence of Christianity.
What, for instance, shall we say of such a Father's appeal to those who, as He knows, will never hear? To Him there is no future -all is present ; the "lost" are lost, and yet He calls them; they are, on the traditional creed, virtually damned; and He knows it, and yet invites them to come and be saved.
But all this difficulty comes from uniting two things absolutely irreconcilable -endless love and power, and yet endless evil. If we want to retain endless sin, let us return to the God of Calvin: nowhere else shall we find solid footing. This God at least is Lord and Master. He issues no invitations, knowing them to be in fact futile. He saves all whom He wants to save. His will must prevail. His Son sheds no drop of blood in vain, All for whom He dies are in fact saved, while the rest go to the devil. All this is hard -nay, cruel; but it is at least logical, intelligible.
Contrast with this system the flabby creed of our pseudo-orthodoxy.
Long ago it was shrewdly said by an old Calvinist, "universal salvation is credible, if universal Redemption be true." For it shocks the reason to be told of an universal Redemption, when all that is meant is an attempt at the redemption of all the race, which fails; it shocks the reason no less to be told of an unchanging love which wholly ceases the moment the last breath leaves the frail body." - Thomas Allin (Christ Triumphant)-
I do thank GOD for helping me change my mind / repent !! I love the mind of Christ and desire very much to fully embrace
Gods will and desire that none should perish :HeartThrob: :dsunny:
Hi everyone
A year ago I had this dream: I was holding a boy and a girl by my hands. I had to take them to kindergarten. Sunddenly, they had disappeared.I was very afraid . Then I saw a fire explode at school.
At that moment I decided to lie at their parents ; I would tell them that they were in school during the fire.Then, many people and I had taken refuge in a big building. We all feel that unisual something was going to happen.
I was looking at the sky through the large window because I heard noises. I saw an unknown craft that looked like a tank. suddenly it crashed . I realised at that moment we 're going to be burned.
I did not want to die this way. So I was looking for a way to commit suicide before the fire. At that moment, I thought I was athee.But I thought that Jesus might save me. I had seen a group of people dressed in white, next to them there was a sign that it was written spiritual beings. I asked them to help me. A personn of the group said me they intend to commit suicide. I had followed them. They went up by the stairs but at that moment, I hadn't seen them anymore. I was deseperate because I had seen fire falling from sky. When I realised I would die by the fire, I woke up.
A few days later I saw a film about the end of the world and the movie our lady of Fatima. For me, these events are not due to chance.
Now I inderstand I need the purification by fire. :dsunny:
Raouda.
no truth is ever a lie. God will and does remove His sons and daughters[littlechildren,spirits] before He will burn this earth and satan in
fire..
Jesus described this as'just in the days of Lot" When God removed Lot from Sodom and Gomorrha before He burned it[this world stored
up for fire] Contemporary with that time...Abraham and Sarah concieved Isaac[sonof laughter] Psalms 126;1-6]
WHENTHE LORD BROUGHT BACK THE CAPTIVES TO ZION.WE WERE LIKE MEN WHO DREAMED.OUR MOUTHS WERE FILLED WITH
LAUGHTER.OUR TOUGNES WITH SONGS OF JOY.THEN IT WAS SAID AMONG THE NATIONS..'THE LORD HASDONE GREAT THINGS FOR
THEM. THE LORD HAS DONE GREAT THINGS FOR US AND WE ARE FILLED WITH JOY
it is a lie to say he burns his little children[PARTAKERS OF FLESH/BLOOD]IN THE FIRE[IT NEVER ENTERED HIS HEART]
NOT A STONE WILL REMAIN UPON A STONE OF ANY BUILDING..BUT ONLY WHAT GOD BUILDS
MANY WILL SEEK DEATH[THROUGH SUICIDE EVEN]BUT NOT FIND IT..BECAUSE GOD SAYS O'DEATH I SHALL BE THY PLAGUES
jESUS COME AND WILLINGLY LAID DOWN HIS LIFE FOR ALL MEN THEN ASCENDED BACK UP TO THE FATHER....
THE ONLY FATMOTHER THAT I KNOW[FAT-I-MA]IS JERUSALEM ABOVE GREAT WITH CHILD[ren] WHO GIVES BIRTH TO A NATION
[ISRAEL OF GOD] IN ONE DAY..AND IT'S NOT OVER TIL SHE IS SINGING WITH JOY IN THE MORNING WHEN ALL HER SONSRISE
SINCE SIN IS A DEMON..THE REMOVAL AND BURNING OF THEM BY JESUS AND HIS ANGELS[TAKE AWAY ALL THEIR SIN]IN THE LOF
CLEANSES US FROM THE ACCUSOR AND HIM WHO HELD US CAPTIVE TO SIN WORKS[OF THE DEVIL]WHILE IN THIS
WEAK,CORRUPTIBLE SINFUL BODY OF DEATH.
WE NEED TO DIVIDE ARIGHT THE FLAMING SWORD FROM JESUS MOUTH,AND RIGHTFULLY APPLY THE TWO'EDGES'OF
THE CLOVEN TOUGNE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT..AS TO WHAT IS CONSUMED IN THE FIRE......HE MAKES HIS ANGELS AS MINISTERING
FLAMES OF FIRE TO THOSE WHO ARE TO INHERIT ETERNAL LIFE[ALLMEN]AND MENS SPIRIT ARE TAKEN INTO HEAVEN[BARN]..BUT
SATAN/DEMONS ARE TOTALLY CONSUMED IN THE LOF.
Enoch WALKED WITH GOD THEN HE WAS NO MORE,BECAUSEGOD TOOK HIM THAT HE SEE NOT DEATH..ELIJAH ASCENDED IN A
CHARIOT WITH HORSES OF FIRE[THE SPIRIT OF GOD BEING THE HORSES AND CHARIOTS OF ISRAEL]
REMEMBERING ELIJAH CALLING DOWN FIRE FROM HEAVEN ON THOSE WHO WOULD FIGHT AGAINST THE WORD OF GOD-THOSE WHO
SURROUND THE CAMP OF THE HOLY CITY[ALL MENS SPIRITS TEMPORARILY DWELLING IN CLAY VESSELS]
NOW THE ELIJAH OF THE FLESH SLEW THE PROPHETS OF BAAL[THAT SOUGHT TO BURN THE CHILDREN IN FIRE] AND SO TOO
JESUS SLAYS SUCH FALSE PROPHETS WITH HIS SWORD OF FIRE FROM HIS MOUTH.THE PROPHETS OF THE GROVES[ASHERAH POLES]
ARE ALSO SLAIN.AHAB AND JEZEBEL SIGNIFY SATAN AND BABYLON..
ASHERAH POLES=FAKE MOTHER GODDESS OF EL.. VERSUS JERUSALEM ABOVE ;SATAN=FAKE GOD THAT TRANSFORMS HIMSELF INTO
ANGEL OF LIGHT VERSUS THE ONLY TRUE GOD. :2c:
Quote from: violettera on June 01, 2019, 06:25:57 PM
Hi everyone
A year ago I had this dream: I was holding a boy and a girl by my hands. I had to take them to kindergarten. Sunddenly, they had disappeared.I was very afraid . Then I saw a fire explode at school.
At that moment I decided to lie at their parents ; I would tell them that they were in school during the fire.Then, many people and I had taken refuge in a big building. We all feel that unisual something was going to happen.
I was looking at the sky through the large window because I heard noises. I saw an unknown craft that looked like a tank. suddenly it crashed . I realised at that moment we 're going to be burned.
I did not want to die this way. So I was looking for a way to commit suicide before the fire. At that moment, I thought I was athee.But I thought that Jesus might save me. I had seen a group of people dressed in white, next to them there was a sign that it was written spiritual beings. I asked them to help me. A personn of the group said me they intend to commit suicide. I had followed them. They went up by the stairs but at that moment, I hadn't seen them anymore. I was deseperate because I had seen fire falling from sky. When I realised I would die by the fire, I woke up.
A few days later I saw a film about the end of the world and the movie our lady of Fatima. For me, these events are not due to chance.
Now I inderstand I need the purification by fire. :dsunny:
Raouda.
Now,I think this dream and thoses events were come from satan . Fortunalety, a few days later,I had the opportunity to meet the real Christ.Which allowed me to be more alert and not to follow anything.
Raouda.
Quote from: rosered on May 06, 2019, 06:14:51 PM
I do thank GOD for helping me change my mind / repent !! I love the mind of Christ and desire very much to fully embrace
Gods will and desire that none should perish :HeartThrob: :dsunny:
:thumbsup: :thumbsup:
Quote
ARE ALSO SLAIN.AHAB AND JEZEBEL SIGNIFY SATAN AND BABYLON.
I never thought of that! :thumbsup:
I've, recently, come to think of lake of fire in a certain way.. very interesting to me the 3 mentions in Revelation of "lake of fire" - at Jesus' return amidst (fiery) Armageddon "lest all perish" (2Pet.3:10-11).. Then next, at the final defeat of the adversary in Rev.20. And last right at the "all in all" event it seems to me - "the elements of heaven and earth melting in a furious heat, but nevertheless, we are awaiting the new heavens and the new Earth.. wherein rightness will dwell" (2Pet.3:12-13) and God Himself will "
Tabernacle"/dwell with mankind.. "ALL" having been born again and "the whole" being thoroughly convinced of/about sin/imperfection/"missing the mark" and its full results and end of (its wages) as the translators wrote it.. 2 Peter 3:10-13 marking the whole span of our Lord's long second advent. [Which begins when He returns at the last of the "
Trumpets" and we serve & reign w/ Jesus for a thousand years, and "after the thousand years" is the resurrection to the judgment/"Atonement" of "the rest of the dead" it being their "
Day of Atonement" and reconciliation.. of being salted with fire and baptized of the HS and born again, as today is our day for it.
:dontknow: I no longer see any evidence or hint of hell in God's Word.. nor punishment.. just psyche' and consciences coming to terms with Truth and being corrected.. as we are being corrected now. I can't speak for anyone else, but on my salvation and sanctification journey, there has been weeping and even, early on, some gnashing of my teeth a time or two.. and even some outer darkness.. (Which the comments about in Rev.22, I think is narrative outside-the-vision, and not prophecy of conditions in eternity nor in the New Jerusalem, as that cannot jive with other verses and truth revealed.. of ALL things being subdued.. :gsmile:
"..God knows how to preserve the unrighteous - not yet saved - for correction, on day of judgment" 2 Peter 2:9.
:2c:wemust never forget satan himself causing fire[strange]to come down from heaven. Because many people do not KNOW GOD OR
JESUS...[he sits in/on the temple of God[on men's bodys/churches/lively stones... as a lying spirit showing himself that he is'God"]
strange fire doctrines of demons such as hellfire/eternal death/ET of men.Those who push these doctrines do not know Jesus,nor does HE
recognize/acknowledge them before his angels.
Now,the LORD'S FIRE THAT COMES DOWN FROM HEAVEN IS LIKE THIS...Daniel fiery furnace that burns false doctrines that bind men
fiery pure truth 'WORD" refined that sets men free from doctrines of condemnation and hellfire judgement..and in Revelation
of Christ...the camp of the Holy city[men with the free gift of eternal life]surrounded by lying deceptive doctrines[satan deceived]
[because the wicked surroundeth the righteous[free gift]therefore wrong judgement[condemnation/hellfire/ETand ED doctrines go forth]
God's work is a strange work to those offering strange fire on the altar.
God's firey jealousy utterly consumes the lies and all things that would bind us or separate us from HIS LOVE. or our knowing it...
what is consumed?[ye sons of men are not consumed] Those that bind and attempt to consume us in fire]
PSALMS 58;9Before your pots can feel the heat of the thorns..........
SOS 2;2
Oh yes and the tongue can be a setter of things on fire! The huge fire from the sky in the sight of man (Rev.13:13) surely has to be a huge event.. but it's not seen because it is doctrinally believed to be pinpointing an individual. But what instead if it pinpoints an office? ..just that slight difference.. but the doctrine keeps things in confusion, whereas UR benefits from clarity.. even simplicity. ...But it's amazing how in the study of original words, things become so much more apparent.. But handed down doctrines hide so much! They too being a fire of error.. Fires of implosion, both individual and collective..
....at present there is an accounting of 'every word that comes out of your mouth"being doneby men allover the earth[judged of men}
pc/hate speech etc.Jesus..'the Father judges no man"I judge no man" as ye judge ye shall be judged..these words that I speakwill
judge ye in the last day. 2 Tim 2;23have nothing to do with stupid and foolish arguments..for you know they produce quarrels...
you must not quarrel,you must be kind to everyone. Gently instruct those who oppose inhope.......and escape the trap of the devil who
has taken them captive to do his will[for the captive church in Babylon..the lamb that speaks as a dragon...the turn or burn of
Constatine/the crusades..et all other and every manner/device of the adversary..
right now,the lamb that spake as a dragon [overcome churches]is being judged harshly for their'HATE"speech[ET/ED/Hellfire etc.]
corruption in the churches has been being publicly exposed since the 70's. and yes,there is the other extreme..that openly embraces
homosexuality/adulterery/theft/murder without being cognizant...that we all must be changed from our former selves.[but
that is what some of you formerly were]
Galations 5;15
and that CHANGE is called..NEW CREATURE/NEW HEAVEN/NEW EARTH....LOOK!I AM MAKING ALL THINGS NEW . :2c:
:thumbsup:
It seems strange to me that the fiery judgments of God, in the Old Testament were all earthly.. They were not afterlife. Then somehow the judgments of God were transformed into the afterlife torment visions of the nations. And now most Christians read the scripture with that assumption, projection and teaching in mind.. Perhaps what's needed is to return to the roots.. the OT views. Not the observing of the letter of the law/covenant w/ Israel, which is a red herring, and which every(?) NT letter clearly goes into. We are granted liberty to approach God "in a new and living way" - The Law "shows sin"/flawed behavior, Christ Crucified is the blood oath that we are pardoned and can freely receive that pardon and be born again.. "the seed" Jesus now to grow and mature in us.. Jesus fulfils the law, including within those who are His.
For example in the parable of the steward(s) when Jesus says "those servants found of the Lord at His coming, being disobedient, will be beaten with many stripes" is all too often assumed to be afterlife punishment.. But there's only the two resurrections.. the one of life (at Jesus' return) and the one "after the thousand years"/millennium, the one "of judgment". The believer, who is disobedient, "eating and drinking with the drunken" (and confused?) "and, or beating other members of the household" will "have their part with the unsaved" -- again read or projected as afterlife.. but didn't Jesus often talk about not being snared with the world at its judgment/consequences, called "the day of the LORD".
..."the Son of man will come in an hour you know not of" as opposed to "He does nothing unless He first tell His servants." (OT)
I've been reading Amos.. and the phrase used is "Iwill not hold back the punishment coming" upon nations named, including Judah and Israel, which history records those judgments, sometimes Yhvh called them "fire"
Also in Amos (3:5?15?) "shall a snare do its snaring if its spring is not sprung?" Cause and effect. Like Obadiah 16 says "your own works will fall upon your own head".
Amos lists how the poor were oppressed.. their garment or bed taken as pledge and supposed to be returned before nightfall, were instead kept.. even the dust of the poor person was coveted.. there was injustice and no mercy.. on and on the injustices were listed by the prophets.. But today the world takes pity on the oppressors.. oh how can God be so mean.. so vindictive? Hah! God will be proven SO right in all things.
"It is given unto men" even the wicked oppressor or predator, mass murderers, torturers, etc. "and then the judgment"
"For God knows how to preserve the unjust for correction on day of judgment" 2 Pet.2:9. They were not merciful, nor just.. but God is. Will man's world perish in a fiery burst (lake?) of fire.. created for (the use of?) the devil and his angels? And the results of mankind's own doings.. namely war (red horse & rider) "given a long/great sword"..
"Nevertheless we look for a new heavens and a new Earth wherein righteousness will dwell" and LOVE will rule, in all.. His law having been (painstakenly - God being life, suffers it all) written upon every heart.. all fully convinced "by His Spirit concerning sin"/"missing the mark".
God "is perfect" and "is the light/life that lighteth every man" - it is an ironclad natural law? that imperfection/"missing the mark" is a bottomless pit of potential.. is tribulation, apocalypse and then death. Imperfection being the opposite of perfect/God/life, so an ironclad natural law, which, ultimately preserves paradise/perfection. All fully convinced that that road cannot in any way be successfully traversed. Not ever. See how all in heaven and earth are learning this so important learning of good from evil all together? At once. HE is SO infinitely wise.
I no longer believe in afterlife punishment except inner or victims accusations upon that great day, and the resulting burning shame (followed by repentance - for He "will draw ALL").. GWTJ/the real DOA, which Lev.23:26-32 is the shadow/example of?
26 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 27 “Also the tenth day of this seventh month shall be the Day of Atonement. It shall be a holy convocation for you; you shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. 28 And you shall do no work on that same day, for it is the Day of Atonement, to make atonement for you before the Lord your God. 29 For any person who is not afflicted in soul on that same day shall be cut off from his people. 30 And any person who does any work on that same day, that person I will destroy from among his people. 31 You shall do no manner of work; it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. 32 It shall be to you a sabbath of solemn rest, and you shall afflict your souls; on the ninth day of the month at evening, from evening to evening, you shall celebrate your sabbath.”
Of course we KNOW ultimately NONE shall be cut off from the ppl, for Jesus said He will draw ALL ("every, all, the whole") to Himself, Jn.12:32. So thus, by end of GWTJ, no names not enrolled in the book of life? None left not "believing".. "Every tongue will (wholeheartedly, according to the Greek) confess Jesus is Lord" - Philippians 2:11.
"ALL the ends of Earth will remember/come to their senses(the Hebrew) and will turn to the LORD, and ALL families of the nations will worship/rejoice before Him" - Ps.22:27.. that great psalm of literal fulfilments..
:girlheart: