"OUR GOD"

"For our God is a consuming fire."

HEBREW 12:29

The God of the Bible is a God of Judgement. Throughout the Bible, in the Book of Isaiah, the judgement of God is a prominent theme. But the Judgement of God is a disquiieting idea in the modern world. Some Christian cringe at the idea of Judgement as they contemplate their own sins. Others want a loving God in whom Judgement is absent. For non-Christians, the idea of judgement simply seems antique and at odds with the tolerant modern world.

  Judgement, we must remember, is intimately associated with Justice. Where there is no Judgement or punishment for the wicked there is no Justice and no righteous goverrnor. As Lord Peter wimsey said, "Justice is terrible, but injustice is worse" (Dorothy Sayers and Jill Paton Walsh, Thrones, Dominations, New York (St.Martin's Press,1998, p.131). Christians who believe in a God who is the righteous governor of the universe must also believe that God will uphold justice through judgement. To lose a just and judging God is to lose the God of the Bible.

  One of the God of the Bible speaks of God as judge is as a consuming" or "devouring" fire. That expression for God originated in Israel's experience at the foot of Mount Sinai:"the sight of the glory of the Lord was like a consuming fire on the too of the mountain in the eyes of the Children of Isreal"(Ex. 24:17).This vision of God become a characteristic way of speaking of God. Deuteronomy 4:24, for example, concludes a call to obedience and a warning against idolatry with the words, "for the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God." And those words are quoted in Hebrews 12:29, showing that the character and revelation of God as judge have not changed from the Old to the New Testament.

  The same words are echoed by Isaiah. When the prophet speaks of the judgement of God, he uses thr image of fire: "Behol, the name of the Lord comes from afar, burning with His anger, and His burden is heavy; His lips are full of indignation, and His tongue like a devouring fire" (Isa. 30:27). Fire bevome a characteristic way of thinking of judgement, as we see in Peter's second letter: "But the heavens and the earth...are reserved for fire until the day of judgement... The element will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will burned up" ( 2 Peter 3:7).