“…Bless the Lord, …O Lord my God…who makes His angels spirits; His ministers a flaming fire.” Psalm 104:1,4
Dear Ones:
The fire in the burning bush that Moses saw, and the fire revealed by the chariots and horses of fire that Elijah witnessed, …are the same in nature…they were of God…indeed, the revelation of the holiness of God. When we see Jesus glorified, as revealed to us in the vision in the book of Revelation, we see Him with “eyes of fire.” Why the revelation? And why are His ministers, His angels and those sent forth by Him, the “ministers of fire?” And lastly, the day of Pentecost, why do we have revealed the “tongues of fire” that came to rest upon ALL the disciples? It is because this God whom we serve is a holy God, a “consuming fire.” And yet, that fire speaks of His mercy and grace towards us. What does fire do but, not only reveal to us its true, particular nature, but it consumes that which is perishable. It is for this reason that the hymn writer penned this prayer: “…burn up the dross of base desire and cause the mountains to flow.” That same fire is revealed by the zeal that consumed the Lord Jesus, in His desire and will to love and serve faithfully His Father.
The day of Pentecost, when the Spirit was given by the Father, there was the revelation by the Spirit of “tongues of fire,” the disciples consequently declaring with liberty and power the “…wonderful works of God.”(Acts 2:11) Their physical tongues were loosed from lesser things, to be empowered to declare the greatness and goodness of God, and this to the extent that many were amazed, and eventually saved. What is the common thread of truth that we must grasp here when we consider chariots of fire, the burning bush, “ministers of fire,” and a Pentecostal empowering to proclaim the testimony of God? It is this: God is holy, and that holiness is revealed in the quietness, and yet, demonstration of power, in empowering the will and heart of man to embrace the eternal will and purpose for his or her existence. The Lord Jesus is our supreme example of this “burning.”
It was especially from the moment when the Spirit came upon Jesus the day of His baptism, that we see in the quietness of that moment, the fire come. There would be the consequent strength and power to face every obstacle, every challenge, and to traverse and overcome it. There is the power of God the Father, given by the Spirit, to daily go about His Father’s business, doing His will. He would embrace a life of constantly going about “doing good,” ever deriving all from His Father to do so. The supreme act of this “burning,” this quiet manifestation of that empowering, is the moment when on the cross, the Lord Jesus would declare: “It is finished.” He would have traversed the terrible moments of Gethsemane, and Calvary, to cross the finish line in victory. That victory was nothing less, and nothing more, than doing the WILL of God, His Father. In doing so, His burning zeal would acquire for us an eternal salvation, that is unalterable.
Dear Father, grant us this blessed “fire” that filled the Lord Jesus, that blessed quiet burning in our hearts for Thee. “Burn up the dross of base desire, and cause the mountains to flow.” Deal with that which is less than Thyself, so that all of Your blessed purposes will be revealed in and through us. We thank Thee for the blessed fire of heaven, revealed to us by the Spirit. Burn brightly in us this day, for Jesus’ sake and thy glory. We thank Thee in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Love, Dad