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Our Lord has been
know both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament as a Consuming
Fire. In Exodus 24 Moses went up into Mount Sinai where the glory cloud
covered it and the Lord called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud.
"The sight of the glory of the Lord was like a consuming fire on
the tope of the mountain in the eyes of the children of Israel."
(Ex. 24:17) This same attribute of God is written about in Deuteronomy
9:3 where Moses called on the people to see the future occupation of
Canaan as a gift of divine grace, not the result of any righteousness of
their own: "Therefore understand today that the Lord your God is He
who goes over before you as a consuming fire. He will destroy them (the
descendants of the Anakim) and bring them down before you, so you shall
drive them out and destroy them quickly, as the Lord has said to
you."
The New Testament
reference establishes this name as one related to the Majesty of God.
The very word "kingdom" indicates the presence of a King, Who
although He is loving and kind, our Father and our Beloved, He is still
King. "Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be
shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with
reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire."
(Hebrews 12:28, 29) While there are definitely occasions where our Lord
invites us to climb in His lap and when He wraps His arms around us, we
must never become so familiar that we ignore the breathtaking
awesomeness of His Majestic nature enthroned above all creation.
"Immediately I
was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat on
the throne. And He who sat there was like a jasper and a sardius stone
in appearance, and there was a rainbow around the throne, in appearance
like an emerald." (Revelation 4:2,3) Because the rainbow around the
King’s throne is emerald and because we worship Him with reverence and
holy respect as our Consuming Fire, desiring to receive this kingdom
which cannot be shaken, Consuming Fire is depicted on a green
background.
Lord, You have
always been and continue to be an all-consuming fire. Come and prepare
us, Your Bride, to be holy as You are holy. Purify our hearts and
motives, our words and our actions. Let nothing remain except the gold
and silver of our lives that is Your life in us. We gather around the
throne in the midst of the emerald rainbow and join the angels and the
elders in proclaiming Your holiness, exalting You as King. Be glorified
and may the kingdoms of our hearts become Your kingdom, O Lord.
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