Dusty

What exactly do you think this means ?

We should worship God with reverence because he is a consuming
fire! Mmm.
What does that mean? Is the focus on his holiness?
Does
this warn of judgment?
Is this an expression of his purity?
God is holy and pure and righteous.
Our
imperfections, flaws, failures, and sins stand out glaringly in
comparison to his perfection. Yet, rather than destroying us with
his holy fire, he can make us new and clean and more than what we
once were. So not only can we draw near to him because of Jesus, we
can stay near him as we live Jesus' life in our world (see Hebrews
13). That, dear friend, is reverential worship at its finest!

__________________

Trials prove a Christian

Love confirms a Christian

But death crowns a Christian

violet

God's_Child

I believe so too.

__________________
"For God ... giveth grace to the humble".
(1Pe.5:5)
"Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen".
(Eph.6:24)

Dusty

Yes , Yes and yes Violet.

The hebrew readers of this book needed encouragement to face persecution. They were called to follow the PERFECT example of Jesus who overcame difficult circimstances.

We should look for joy in difficult times and I know that is hard but He promises a way of escape. We can ask after the fact as to how others can benifit from my struggles and look beyond the pain of the difficulty that we are going through and find God's purposes for our struggles. Verse 12...... You have become weak, so make yourselves strong again. 13 ....Live in the right way so that you will be saved and your weakness will not cause you to be lost.

Look to to Jesus the author and finisher of our Faith. Bottom line.... The faith of the saints inspires us, but we look to Jesus as our example of Faith.

__________________

Trials prove a Christian

Love confirms a Christian

But death crowns a Christian

PreciousMessage

Hi Dusty,

I believe you’re on to something!

After reading some texts I found this quote:

“Our God is a consuming fire,� and He is from everlasting to everlasting. “A fire goeth before Him, and burneth up His enemies round about.� Ps. 97:3. But still He is the everlasting dwelling place of His people, who are able to dwell with the devouring fire, and with “everlasting burn*ings.� Isa. 33:14. The same fire that destroys the wicked will be a protection to the righteous.

When we understand that “the eternal Spirit� of God is the “eternal fire� that consumes the wicked, we can see how it is that the righteous can dwell in the midst of it. They will live in it for ever and it will be refreshing coolness to them, even the water of life; for the “Spirit of burning� is the “living water� that washes away the iniquity of all who believe in Christ.� End Quote

John

PreciousMessage

Hi Dusty, If interested here is the rest of the quote:

“Righteousness is everlasting: it is indestructible. Fire cannot consume it. But everything that is not exactly right has in itself the element of decay. Now God will never destroy anything that is good. his work is to restore and build up and make new. So He sends His Spirit now to all men, to burn up and wash away all their impurity. Those who fully believe and yield wholly to the transforming power of the Spirit of God, are made perfectly pure. They are tried by fire “as gold is tried” (Zech. 13:9); for the Lord “is like a refiner’s fire, and like fuller’s soap; and He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; and He shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.” Mal. 3:2,3.

Then when the Lord “shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting destruc*tion from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power” (2 Thess. 1:7-9), the righteous will be safe, for the fire will already have wrought its work in them. The object is only to purify, and they will have been purified. And it will still be doing the work of purifying, blotting out sin; only in the case of the wicked who have resisted the previous working of the Spirit, and have become wholly perme*ated with sin, and one with it, the blotting out of their sin means the blotting out of themselves from existence.

“Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father,” for the eternal Spirit of burning that has cleansed them and the earth will be their everlasting glory.” End Quote

John

Dusty

Thanks John..... Lots of meat to chew on and I have to go back and digest piece by piece.

WOW... Never thought of it that way. Blessings to you John.

__________________

Trials prove a Christian

Love confirms a Christian

But death crowns a Christian

Pastor Gary

Dusty - As PROPERLY translated from the 'street' Greek of the Original Manusript text, the entire chapter of Hebrews 12 (KJV) is talking about discipline and our committment to God through His son, Jesus Christ. To briefly recap, those who follow the godly orders and accept Christ as the Savior will have eternal life. And from Hebrews 12:28-29 (KJV), those who decide to rebuke God will end up in the Lake of Fire (along with Satan and his fallen angels). THAT is what is meant in that last line of the chapter when it says, "For our God is a consuming fire."

This can be fully verified by using a Strong's Concordance. Look up the word 'fire'. It will give you the Greek Word Number of 4442 which is 'pur' in the Greek. Go to the Greek Dictionary in the Strong's and you will see that the reference is to word meaning # 1 for word 4442:
I hope that this clarifies the word meaning for you. You can also use the New Living Translation as listed below for a better English language understanding of the entire chapter than what the KJV provides. Click on the following text link:

Hebrews 12:1-29 (NLT)

spiritlead

gold to become pure we must also go through the fire to become pure

PreciousMessage

Hi Dusty and all,

Let’s dig some more:

“Our God is a consuming fire� (Heb. 12:29). The verse does not say, He will be a consuming fire. It’s in the present continuous tense. He descended on Mount Sinai in fire (Ex. 19:18), and spoke to the people “out of the midst of the fire� (Deut. 4:12 & 22). “From His right hand went a fiery law for them� (Deut. 33:2).

The Lord “sitteth between [or upon] the cherubim� (Ps. 99:1). When He drove Adam and Eve out of the garden of Eden, “He placed at the east of the garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword, which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life� (Gen. 3:24). This was an indication of His own presence.

“Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple … Above it stood seraphim: each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew� (Isa. 6:1,2).

Saraphim—The Hebrew word is saraph meaning (the burning ones).

John Wesley-- a well known reformer stated—“As ministers attending upon their Lord. Seraphim - An order of holy angels, thus called from fire and burning, which this word properly signifies; to represent either their nature, which is bright and glorious, subtile, and pure; or their property, of fervent zeal for God's service and glory. Covered - Out of profound reverence.�

Remember also that God went before Israel, to guide them, in a pillar of fire by night and a pillar of cloud by day.

A quote of interest; read carefully, what is not “traditional� in the popular sense?

“So it is indeed eternal fire that consumes the wicked, but it is not fire specially created for that purpose, nor does the fact that it is eternal prove that those who suffer from it will live eternally, but just the opposite. All, both saints and sinners, will be in the midst of it, so that all will be treated alike, and God cannot be accused of injustice; but the nature of the individual will determine how the fire will affect him. Only those who have become transformed into the likeness of God, who have His life as their life, so that they are partakers of the Divine nature, sharers of the glory, will be able to come through the fire unscathed, and, in fact, to continue dwelling in it. They are of the same nature as the devouring flame, and hence can dwell in it and not be consumed. All others will perish. The mercy of God endures for ever, and that which perpetuates the existence of those who become assimilated to it, ends the existence of the rebellious. How pertinent, therefore, the message, “Fear God, and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment is come.� End Quote

blessings in Christ,
John