Our God Is a Consuming Fire

Once when I was a youth minister, we were studying 2 Peter. We came across 3:10 which says, “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.” 

A particularly inquisitive student had a translation that said the elements would be destroyed by fire. He asked, “If fire is an element, how can fire destroy all the elements?” Discipleship certainly has its fair share of fun challenges!

I encouraged him to think about how sometimes biblical writers have to use the language available to them to speak about things that are not of this world. For instance, there could be a heavenly “fire” that can destroy even the earthly element of fire.

However, there is another, perhaps more likely explanation for what Peter had in mind. I told the young man that the Lord God does not need to use earthy or heavenly fire to consume the world when He returns, for Hebrews 12:28 says that our God IS a consuming fire.

That’s kind of a strange concept, isn’t it? Our God is a consuming fire. To see some implications of this phrase – consuming fire – let’s turn to the early Christians.

A horrible place, of which the name is Gehenna … is always breathing out the raging fires of a smoking furnace, while the confined mass of flames is restrained or relaxed for the various purposes of punishment. Then there are very many degrees of its violence, as it gathers into itself whatever tortures the consuming fire of the heat emitted can supply. Those by whom the voice of the Lord has been rejected, and His control contemned, it punishes with different dooms; and in proportion to the different degree of deserving of the forfeited salvation it applies its power. – Cyprian 250CE, Volume 5, p. 1037-1038 [CD-ROM]

“Our God is a consuming fire;” … For what will God consume in respect of His being fire? … Let us reflect that God does indeed consume and utterly destroy; that He consumes evil thoughts, wicked actions, and sinful desires, when they find their way into the minds of believers; and that, inhabiting along with His Son those souls which are rendered capable of receiving His word and wisdom, according to His own declaration, “I and the Father shall come, and We shall make our abode with him?” He makes them, after all their vices and passions have been consumed, a holy temple, worthy of Himself. – Origen 225CE, Volume 4, p. 427 [CD-ROM]

To the early Christians, the consuming nature of the fire of God should be viewed as either a good or terrifying thing depending on one’s relationship to Him.

For those who reject the rule of Jesus, the fire of God should be feared, and should serve as an extreme warning against the destructive power of sin and rebellion. For those who have joyfully come under the authority of King Jesus, the fire of God should be viewed like a holy, cleansing bath from God that helps transform us into the image of His glorified Son.

So first of all, where are you in relationship to God’s kingdom… are you in or out? Second, if you’re in, what impurities needs to be burned away so that you can more purely reflect the image of the King?

As Peter wrote in his second letter, “The Lord … is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9).” So may we be diligent to live holy and godly lives as we look forward to the day of Jesus’ return, so that more and more people in our realm of influence will see Him in us and become a fully mature disciple of the King!