Consuming Fire

by Chadwick Brewer

“Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:28-29).

The Hebrew writer has spent considerable time telling us that Jesus is a great High Priest. In fact, He is the greatest High Priest who could ever be. He was born in the flesh and thus knows our frame. He lived as a man, knows the power of temptation, and sympathizes with our weakness. He has made the perfect sacrifice for sin that can fully and utterly cleanse us.
Knowing this, and seeing the great love with which He loves us, we can be lulled into a false sense of security, believing God to be tame and harmless. The Hebrew writer saw this pitfall and warned us: “Our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:29). He warned us earlier, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay” (Hebrews 10:30) and, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31). He reminds us how God dealt with sinners in the Old Testament and then tells us that He “is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). The same God who invites us near is not safe to treat lightly.

“Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in His kindness” (Romans 11:22).

“Thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe” (Hebrews 12:28),.