by Garry D. Pifer

Most of us would not normally associate the word “fire” with the Creator Himself.  Our first thoughts would probably be Hellfire, the Lake of Fire, or Sodom and Gomorra.  It may be surprising to many, if not most of us, that the word “fire,” and its attributes of “light” and “heat” speak more of the Creator and His goodness than of a destructive force against His enemies.

Clearly, the writers of the Bible employed the use of fire in many different ways, however, when it came to the spiritual use of fire, they usually attributed fire to God.  YHWH manifested Himself in various forms of fire on many different occasions. Let’s look at a few of those.

One of the first such example recorded for us is the making of the covenant with Abraham found in Genesis 15:17.  “And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces.”  The marginal rendering is “a lamp of fire.”  Other translations have it as “a flaming torch” and “a blazing torch.”

Most of us are familiar with the account of YHWH appearing to Moses in the burning bush.  Exodus 3:2-6, “And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush [was] not consumed. And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.  And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here [am] I. And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest [is] holy ground. Moreover he said, I [am] the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God.”

At Sinai YHWH came down onto the mountain to make a covenant with the people. Look at how He came down.  Exodus 19:18, “And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly.” 

In Judges chapter 13 we read the account of the angel of God appearing first to the wife and later to Manoah, a Danite.  The wife was barren and she was told she would bear a son and that he was to be a Nazarite.  When he was born he was named Samson and we are familiar with him.  But during the discussion with the angel of God Manoah was told that if he was to offer a burnt offering he was to offer it “unto the LORD.” Let us look at a few verses, beginning with verse 19.  “So Manoah took a kid with a meat offering, and offered it upon a rock unto the LORD: and the angel did wondrously; and Manoah and his wife looked on.  For it came to pass, when the flame went up toward heaven from off the altar, that the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar.  And Manoah and his wife looked on it, and fell on their faces to the ground.  But the angel of the LORD did no more appear to Manoah and to his wife.  Then Manoah knew that he was an angel of the LORD.”

Most of us are familiar with the story of Elijah and the priests of Baal.  Elijah put forth the challenge that the God that answered by fire would be God.  Notice a couple of verses from 1 Kings 18.  First, verse 24,   “And call ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the LORD: and the God that answereth by fire, let him be God. And all the people answered and said, It is well spoken.”  Then verse 38, “Then the fire of the LORD fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that [was] in the trench.”  God answered by fire and the people acknowledged that He was God, verse 39, “And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, the LORD, he is the God.”

When God instructed the Israelites in presenting sacrifices and offerings (including incense which represented the prayers of the people) they were to be made by fire.  The instructions regarding the Egyptian passover, which we find in Exodus 12, shows that the remnants were to be burned with fire.  Exodus 12:8-10, “ And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; [and] with bitter [herbs] they shall eat it. Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast [with] fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof. And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire.”  In the first chapter of the book of Leviticus we read the instructions regarding offerings to God.  Lev.1:1-9, “And the LORD called unto Moses, and spake unto him out of the tabernacle of the congregation, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, If any man of you bring an offering unto the LORD, ye shall bring your offering of the cattle, [even] of the herd, and of the flock. If his offering [be] a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish: he shall offer it of his own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the LORD. And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering; and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him. And he shall kill the bullock before the LORD: and the priests, Aaron’s sons, shall bring the blood, and sprinkle the blood round about upon the altar that [is by] the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And he shall flay the burnt offering, and cut it into his pieces. And the sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire upon the altar, and lay the wood in order upon the fire: And the priests, Aaron’s sons, shall lay the parts, the head, and the fat, in order upon the wood that [is] on the fire which [is] upon the altar: But his inwards and his legs shall he wash in water: and the priest shall burn all on the altar, [to be] a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD.”

In a number of passages we find that fire often meant the acceptance of a sacrifice by YHWH.  Just a couple passages for examples.  First, Judges 6:21, “Then the angel of the LORD put forth the end of the staff that [was] in his hand, and touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes; and there rose up fire out of the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes. Then the angel of the LORD departed out of his sight.”  And, 1 Kings 18:38 that we looked at earlier, “ Then the fire of the LORD fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that [was] in the trench.”  Another account is found in 1 Chronicles 21:26, “And David built there an altar unto the LORD, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and called upon the LORD; and he answered him from heaven by fire upon the altar of burnt offering.”  One more that we can look at is found in Leviticus 9:24, “And there came a fire out from before the LORD, and consumed upon the altar the burnt offering and the fat: [which] when all the people saw, they shouted, and fell on their faces.”

In the instructions regarding the offerings we find that the fire on the altar was to be continually burning.  Leviticus 6:12-13 shows us this. “And the fire upon the altar shall be burning in it; it shall not be put out: and the priest shall burn wood on it every morning, and lay the burnt offering in order upon it; and he shall burn thereon the fat of the peace offerings. The fire shall ever be burning upon the altar; it shall never go out.”

While YHWH’s answer by fire was usually a positive act, there were times when His manifestation in fire, or the use of fire, was used as a correction or destruction of evil. One account we are all familiar with is that of Sodom and Gomorra.  Notice verse 24 of Genesis 19, “Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven;”

Let us look at a few other examples.  We read of one of the plagues God brought on the Egyptians prior to bringing the Israelites out.  Exodus 9:23, “And Moses stretched forth his rod toward heaven: and the LORD sent thunder and hail, and the fire ran along upon the ground; and the LORD rained hail upon the land of Egypt.”  When the people complained during the time in the wilderness we see that God used fire.  Numbers 11:1, “ And [when] the people complained, it displeased the LORD: and the LORD heard [it]; and his anger was kindled; and the fire of the LORD burnt among them, and consumed [them that were] in the uttermost parts of the camp.”  At the time of Korah’s rebellion the earth swallowed them up but there were 250 men that offered incense.  Notice how God dealt with them, Numbers 16:35, “And there came out a fire from the LORD, and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense.”

It may seem rather unusual to us but God states that His ministers are flames of fire. Psalms 104:4,  “Who maketh his angels spirits; his ministers a flaming fire:”

In the cases of wicked and evil sexual sins we find that God ordered the offenders to be burnt with fire.  Leviticus 20:14,  “And if a man take a wife and her mother, it [is] wickedness: they shall be burnt with fire, both he and they; that there be no wickedness among you.”  And,  Leviticus 21:9,   “And the daughter of any priest, if she profane herself by playing the whore, she profaneth her father: she shall be burnt with fire.”

Joshua chapter 7 recounts the story of Achan, who “took of the accursed thing.”  You can read the story for yourself, but notice just a couple of verse.  Verses 24 and 25, “And Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the garment, and the wedge of gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his asses, and his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had: and they brought them unto the valley of Achor.  And Joshua said, Why hast thou troubled us? the LORD shall trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones.”

Throughout the Bible we find that fire is also used  figuratively of God’s glory.  Notice one verse found in the book of Daniel, chapter 7 and verse 9, “I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment [was] white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne [was like] the fiery flame, [and] his wheels [as] burning fire.”

Fire is frequently used of God’s holiness.  Look at Isaiah 33:13-15. “ Hear, ye [that are] far off, what I have done; and, ye [that are] near, acknowledge my might.  The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?   He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil;”

Fire is used in relationship of God’s protection for His people.  Just a couple of passages.  2 Kings 6:17,   “And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain [was] full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.”  Zechariah 2:5, “For I, saith the LORD, will be unto her a wall of fire round about, and will be the glory in the midst of her.”

Fire is used of God’s jealousy for His sole worship.  Deuteronomy 4:24, “For the LORD thy God [is] a consuming fire, [even] a jealous God.” Hebrews 12:29, “For our God [is] a consuming fire.”  Psalms 79:5, “How long, LORD? wilt thou be angry for ever? shall thy jealousy burn like fire?”

God’s wrath is often shown through fire.  A few verses which show this:  Deuteronomy 9:3,  “Understand therefore this day, that the LORD thy God [is] he which goeth over before thee; [as] a consuming fire he shall destroy them, and he shall bring them down before thy face: so shalt thou drive them out, and destroy them quickly, as the LORD hath said unto thee.”  Psalms 18:8, “There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it.” Psalms 89:46, “How long, LORD? wilt thou hide thyself for ever? shall thy wrath burn like fire?” Isaiah 5:24, “Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, [so] their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the law of the LORD of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.”

The power of God’s word is shown through the use of fire.  Jeremiah 5:14, “Wherefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.”  Jeremiah 23:29, “[Is] not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer [that] breaketh the rock in pieces?”

God reveals that His Word and Truth are as fire.  Jeremiah 20:9, “Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But [his word] was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not [stay].” Jesus came to speak and live by the Word of God.  Luke 12:49, “I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled?”

Isaiah spoke of the fire that guides men. Notice a couple of verse from chapter 50, verses 10 and 11.     “Who [is] among you that feareth the LORD, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh [in] darkness, and hath no light? let him trust in the name of the LORD, and stay upon his God. Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that compass [yourselves] about with sparks: walk in the light of your fire, and in the sparks [that] ye have kindled. This shall ye have of mine hand; ye shall lie down in sorrow”.

Even the Holy Spirit is likened to fire. Notice what was said of the Spirit when it was given on the day of Pentecost.  Acts 2:3, “And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.”

Christ in His glory is shown as fire.   Revelation 1:14, “His head and [his] hairs [were] white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes [were] as a flame of fire;”

The apostle Paul tells us that if we are to extend love toward our enemy it will be like fire to him. Romans 12:20, “Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.”

Scripture speaks of trials and suffering as fire.  Several verses to consider:  Psalms 66:12, “Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water: but thou broughtest us out into a wealthy [place].” Isaiah 43:2, “When thou passest through the waters, I [will be] with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.” 1 Peter 1:7, “That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:” 1 Peter 4:12, “ Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:”

Evil is frequently referred to as fire.  Proverbs 6:27, “Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned?”  Isaiah 9:18, “For wickedness burneth as the fire: it shall devour the briers and thorns, and shall kindle in the thickets of the forest, and they shall mount up [like] the lifting up of smoke.”  Isaiah 65:5, “Which say, Stand by thyself, come not near to me; for I am holier than thou. These [are] a smoke in my nose, a fire that burneth all the day.”

Several passages of Scripture refer to lust or desire as a fire.  Hosea 7:6, “For they have made ready their heart like an oven, whiles they lie in wait: their baker sleepeth all the night; in the morning it burneth as a flaming fire.”  1 Corinthians 7:9, “But if they cannot contain, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn.”

Greed is spoken of as a fire.  Proverbs 30:16, “The grave; and the barren womb; the earth [that] is not filled with water; and the fire [that] saith not, [It is] enough.”

James speaks of the tongue as a fire.  James 3:5-6, “Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!  And the tongue [is] a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.”

John, in vision sees God’s heaven, having fire and light.   Revelation 15:2, “And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, [and] over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.” Revelation 21:22-23,   “And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.  And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb [is] the light thereof.”

When we begin looking at the ways fire plays such a significant role in the Bible it isn’t really surprising.  As we read earlier, God, the Creator, Himself is described as a “consuming fire.” Notice again.  Deuteronomy 4:24, “For the LORD thy God [is] a consuming fire, [even] a jealous God.” Deuteronomy 9:3, “Understand therefore this day, that the LORD thy God [is] he which goeth over before thee; [as] a consuming fire he shall destroy them, and he shall bring them down before thy face: so shalt thou drive them out, and destroy them quickly, as the LORD hath said unto thee.”  Hebrews 12:29, “For our God [is] a consuming fire.”

This seems strange to most of us in our understanding to call the Creator a consuming fire.  Rarely do we ever associate fire with the creation process.  We usually associate it with destruction.

Yet fire has played perhaps one of the most significant roles in the advancement of civilization.  Practically no manufacturing would be possible apart from the use of fire to break down and shape materials for our use.  Our very lives depend upon the energy given by the biggest fire near the earth, the sun.

To truly understand our English Bible translation, we need to know something about the culture of the people who God used to write the original in their languages–Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic.  These languages are highly figurative, extremely expressive languages, full of many kinds of idiomatic expressions and figures of speech.  Many of those , and the customs of the people used in writing the Scriptures are quite foreign to us.  And, yet to really understand much of what is contained in the pages of the Bible we need to understand how different words and phrases were used.  This is especially true of the word “fire.”  We need to know how these people used the word if we are to understand the meaning of this word in the Bible.

Fire, is first and foremost, a symbol of divinity in the Semitic Middle East.  It is a symbol of YHWH Himself.  God manifesting in physical fire could be a favorable judgment as when He came to consecrate Solomon’s temple or a negative judgement as when He swallowed up Aaron’s son for offering up “strange fire.”  But, as humans we have a tendency to dwell on the negative side of things and so usually we associate divine fire with wrath.  We have a difficult time seeing fire as a positive symbol of God.  We usually view fire as meaning Hell, the Lake of Fire and everlasting punishment. 

It helps to understand the spiritual application if we understand the physical.  Fire usually takes dense matter composed of different atoms and breaks them apart into simpler elements, usually gases.  When fire consumes a log in your fireplace it does not destroy any of the elements within the log, it merely changes their form.  Combustion is the process by which chemicals combine to form new chemicals.  A tree is cut down, sawed into firewood and burned.  When the wood is burning the heat causes the chemicals of which the wood is composed to vaporize, mixing with the oxygen in the air to form new chemicals, including water and the gas carbon dioxide.  So what was formerly a tree is no longer identified as the form of a tree, but the substance thereof is now simply CHANGED into a DIFFERENT FORM and exists in its new form within the atmosphere as water, carbon dioxide, etc.  Thus, to burn, means to CHANGE.

Fire changes things.  And a major change that fire makes is that it PURIFIES.  We probably don’t even realize that many of our English words speak of this.  The Greek word for fire is pur (poor) Strong’s #4442.  This Greek PUR is the root of many of our English words; PURe, PURity, PURify, PURge, PURification.  Hebrews 12:29 uses this same word (pur) to discribe the same purifying character of God, “For our God [is] a consuming fire.”

Let’s look at prophecy that was written regarding the fire of Christ.  Malachi 3:1-3, “Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts.  But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he [is] like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ 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.”

Hopefully we can begin to see the similarities of the natural fire and those of the Spirit.  Mainly they both change and purify.  The natural flames change the form of the natural things while purifying them in the process, and so does the spiritual fire of the Holy Spirit of God.

We looked at the passage in Acts when the Holy Spirit came in the form of tongues of fire.  We perhaps have never thought of the Holy Spirit being fire, fire of God to purify us.  Notice a familiar passage,  Matthew 3:11, “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh 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:”

I have heard this explained that there were two groups or classes of people that John was talking to.  But if we look at the Greek we can see something very interesting.  The word “AND” generally indicates to us two different things or thoughts.  But, in the Greek the word has several different meanings, depending on usage.  The Greek word is kai (Strong’s #2532) It is used over 9000 times in the N.T., most often as “AND” but it is also accurately used as “EVEN,” “ALSO,” “BOTH,” “THEN,” “SO,” “LIKEWISE,” etc.  If we use one of these other, but also accurate, renderings the meaning becomes clearer. “... he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, EVEN fire.”

With this understanding we see in verse 12 that it is through the Holy Spirit that the chaff, the impurities, are burned up.  We, and all people, will be refined and purified.  Verse 12,  “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 apostle Paul gives us further understanding in 1 Corinthians chapter 3.  Notice verses 12-15,   “Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;  Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.  If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.”

Paul’s words are very clear.  It isn’t the individual that is to be “burned up” but the works of the flesh.  The works that are works of the spirit will “abide.”  It is through the refining fire that the works are refined and purified.

This is just a very brief look at the subject of “fire” in the Bible. We won’t go further in this study but another time we will look at the most often referred to and thought about fires, Gehenna fire, Hell fire, the Lake of Fire.  With this background and understanding of the spiritual usage of “fire” I believe we will see an entirely different picture than most of us have ever seen or understood.