What does fire represent in the Bible?

Fire is the constant emblem of wrath and judgment, not of an arbitrary character, but that which is necessary and essential. All life is based upon heat, and all heat is in its last analysis a form of fire. "Our God is a consuming fire" (Heb. 12:29). Fire speaks of intense energy, of which God is the only source. As fire, it must burn up all that does not abide its test. Thus God must consume in judgment all that is opposed to His righteous and perfect will. Of this there will be eternal witness in the "lake of fire," where His wrath will necessarily burn against those who have made it necessary for that wrath thus to act.

But there could be no life without heat; so there could be no moral, spiritual life without, God's judgment. Those who plead for the elimination of this character from our God, would plunge all creation into absolute death. It cannot and will not be. The fire must do its work, which even in judgment will display God's goodness as well as His righteousness. But we will gather up a few scripture statements as to fire.

God was early revealed in fire. The searching character of His righteous judgement was thus set forth, whether in the acceptance of good or the condemnation of evil. When Moses at Horeb approached the burning bush he was cautioned not to draw near, but to remove his shoes, for the ground was holy. God spake to him out of the burning bush. Ex. 3:1-6. On Mount Sinai "the sight of the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire." Ex. 24:17. Moses declared to Israel, "The Lord thy God is a consuming fire." Deut. 4:24. When Aaron began his ministrations in the tabernacle fire came out "from before the Lord, and consumed upon the altar the burnt offering and the fat." Lev. 9:24: cf. 1 Kings 18:38; 1 Chr. 21:26; 2 Chr. 7:1-3. Nadab and Abihu offered 'strange fire,' and fire went out from the Lord and consumed them. Lev. 10:1-2. Thus God manifested Himself in fire to Moses. He showed His acceptance of the sacrifices by fire from heaven; He vindicated His servant Elijah, when he stood alone against the prophets of Baal, by consuming the sacrifice, the wood and the stone, by fire from heaven (1 Kings 18:38); and He vindicated His own honour by fire, by destroying those who were disobedient in approaching to Him. The general idea in 'fire' is that of judgement.

In the N.T. it is repeated, "Our God is a consuming fire" (Heb. 12:29), to consume the dross in the Christian, as gold is tried and purified in the fire; and to judge and punish the wicked with unquenchable fire; who are also described as being BAPTISED WITH FIRE. Matt. 3:11-12. One of the most awful things connected with this word is the description of the place of eternal punishment as THE LAKE OF FIRE. Rev. 19:20; Rev.20:10, 14, 15. What mercy to be delivered therefrom!

The nature of this judicial doom is explained to be the second death. The first death pronounced, as the penalty on Adam's transgression, meant far more than the death of the body. The moral use of the word in the phrase "dead in sins" proves beyond a doubt that it signifies, in its essence, the separation of the soul from God, together with the state of the soul as being without a single movement of life towards God. This interpretation is confirmed by the statement in Romans, that "by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin" for it is clearly the state of man which is thus indicated. (See also 2 Cor. 5:14.) This, rightly understood, throws great light upon the term here employed — "the second death." "Death," then, will keep its meaning — the absolute separation of the soul from God, its total exclusion from the source of all light and life, and its confinement for ever in the region of darkness; for as light and life, so darkness and death are in their very nature indissolubly connected. Then we have the additional element, "the lake of fire." "Fire" in Scripture is the symbol of the holiness of God as applied in judgment. This may be easily traced through the various books of the Bible, as, for example, in the fire that consumed the sacrifices, and, as again, in the statement that "our God is a consuming fire." (Heb. 12:29.) The second death therefore is the moral exclusion of the soul for ever from God, or rather, it should be said, the separation of the whole man (body, soul, and spirit) from God, under the infliction of His judicial wrath. This is the lake of fire, God's eternal judgment, according to the standard of His own immutable holiness, as visited upon those who refused His grace, rebelled against His authority, and chose death rather than life. It is into this "lake of fire" that every unconverted one, as this scripture plainly teaches, will be, if dying impenitent, finally cast; for it is there that all this multitude find their doom.

Before developing, with the Lord's help, these two sides of the truth, I should like to say a few words about the baptism of the Holy Ghost, for, I am persuaded, that in the minds of many dear children of God, there is great confusion as to that which God would have us glean from this expression. If we turn to the first place in Scripture, where the statement comes in, I think we shall get light. I ask you therefore to turn back to the third chapter of Matthew, and there from the lips of John the Baptist we first hear about it. In the eleventh verse, addressing those who had come out to him, repentant, and to be baptized, he says, I indeed baptize you with water to repentance but he that comes after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire. Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." The Baptist predicts of the coming One — the Lord Jesus, — that He would have a ministry of a double character. He would baptize with the Holy Ghost, i.e. blessing, and with fire — judgment. Now, many people think the fire means power. Not so! A fire has no power except to destroy, and that is not what you want. You do not want destructive energy. Fire is always the symbol in Scripture of judgment. You have the two sides of the Lord's ministry here. He was to baptize with the Holy Ghost, and that is the richest and deepest blessing possible. He was also to baptize with fire. That is in a future day, yet to come.

The Baptist explains his words as he goes on to say, "whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." The distinct thought, in Scripture, as to fire, is testing, and destroying that which cannot stand the fire. For instance, we get in the third chapter of the 1st Corinthians, "Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed in fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is" (1 Cor. 3:13). All is to be tried by fire, and the gold, and silver, and precious stones — doctrines as well as men, wrought in by God's grace — will stand it; while the wood, hay, and stubble — what is false, those who are, though professors of Christ, still only in the flesh — will be burnt up.

Now, it is admitted that fire is the common figure of judgment; yet when it is said, "The fire shall try every man's work, of what sort it is," we have another thought from that of wrath. "Our God is a consuming fire," — not, surely, of wrath to those who can truly say, "Our God," — but of holiness, yea, jealous holiness. It is this that implies of necessity His wrath against sin: it is no mere governmental display, but the result of His own nature — of what He in Himself is. But this holiness the Lord met indeed (as seen in all sacrifice) in the place of sin, and therefore of the wrath due to sin. All death all blood shed in this way therefore was in atonement. Of the burnt-offering it is especially said, it shall be accepted for him, to make atonement for him." And of all blood connected with the altar it is said, "I have given it upon the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul." (Lev. 17:11.) But while this is true of all sacrifice therefore, it is a very different thing to assert that judgment as distinguished from death is found in every offering, even where death was not and could not be. On the contrary, it may be maintained that death as the great public mark of divine judgment was what was kept prominently before the eves of men in a dispensation which appealed to sight and sense, as all did more or less until the Christian. But then the judgment in this was not the judgment after death, but only the shadow of it: it was not judgment as distinct from death, surely. The blood was the atonement, so the law said; not the altar-fire which consumed the victim.

The victim was flayed, cut into pieces. His inwards and his legs were washed with water. The head and the fat, as well as the other parts including the inwards and the legs, were put in order on the wood upon the altar. It was then completely consumed by fire and rose up a sweet savour unto the Lord. All has its typical meaning. All is exposed to the Divine gaze and all witnesses to the perfection and excellencies of Him who gave Himself. The fat is typical of His internal excellencies. The inwards and the legs washed in water apply to Christ's holy character in His affections and in His walk in perfect accord with the Word (the water). The wood tells of His humanity which He took on for the suffering of death. The fire was the fire from heaven. It is not, as often taken here, the symbol of Divine wrath consuming the sacrifice, but it has another meaning. It is the figure of God's perfect delight in the devotion of His ever blessed Son. God rested in Christ and found His fullest satisfaction in Him. The Hebrew has different words for burning. The one that is used here is the same as used for the burning of incense. This in itself shows that it has no connection with wrath. The continual fire upon the altar in connection with this greatest of all the offerings, tells us of God's perpetual delight in the work of Christ, what He is and what He has done.

The burning bush is the picture of the suffering people, the wretched slaves in Egypt . It was a thornbush. Thorns being the results of sin, it typifies the sinfulness and worthlessness of the people. The fire is the symbol of their suffering and tribulation. It has the same meaning as the "smoking furnace" Abraham saw in his vision. Later God called Egypt the "iron furnace" (Deut. 4:20). The thornbush, however, is not consumed. All the fires of persecution and tribulation could not consume Israel . In the flame of the fire in the midst of the burning bush the angel of the Lord appeared. This was the secret of the preservation of the bush; God was there and kept them. "When thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee" (Is. 43:2). He is with all His people in their affliction; He preserves them and carries them through the fire. But the fire is also the figure of God's consuming and purifying holiness. All that is unholy must be consumed by the fire. "Our God is a consuming fire."

On the day of Pentecost ‘there appeared to them parted tongues, as of fire, and it sat upon each one of them’ (Acts 2:3). This sign accompanying the coming of the Holy Spirit shows two aspects of His operation: (i) the purifying effect through judgment of evil (fire); and (ii) the power for testimony (cloven tongues): not to the Jews only but also to Gentiles.

On the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit descended upon the believers, “there appeared to them cloven tongues as of FIRE and it sat upon each of them.” Here we get a plain intimation of the holiness of God’s indwelling the believer by the Spirit, that the Spirit is there to consume that which is of the flesh. This is done by bringing the believer into exercise by the Word and by the discipline of the Father to self judgment as to ways and things about us not worthy of God, refusing them in our lives, leaving the Spirit free to be engaged in His delightful occupation of guiding us into all truth.

God is the refiner of His people, as the precious metals have to be separated from the dross that clings to them. Prov. 25:4 (where the A.V. has 'finer'); Isa. 48:10; Zech. 13:9; Mal. 3:2-3. So God tests the believer's heart (1 Thess. 2:4), and his faith, which leads to endurance. James 1:12; 1 Peter 1:7.