Dancing in the Fire

I'm wearing a pair of shoes that don't match any more. One shoe is almost new; the other is worn out and blackened, with holes in the nylon mesh and crusty shoelaces. Let me explain...

Saturday was a very windy day in Katy, and much colder than the day before. We had four grandchildren at the house along with their parents, and we had a charcoal grill ready to go. I had cleaned the grill with some paper towels soaked in cooking oil while the fire was hot, and tossed these in the trash bag in the garage. After dinner we wanted to have a fire in the fire pit and enjoy what would probably be the last cold day before summer, which starts early in this part of the world.

Hurriedly I put the grill away and got out the fire pit. In my rush I dumped the fire pit ashes in the trash bag, thinking they were cool. You can probably guess the rest of the story, or not.

About ten minutes later, while I was watching the grandkids madly running around the back yard, my younger son looked in the garage and shouted, THE GARAGE IS ON FIRE. I bolted to the garage to see a nine-foot-tall blaze reaching to the ceiling and quickly filling the garage with smoke. The fire was starting to engulf the front of my wife's car and spreading across the indoor-outdoor carpet in all directions. The only thought that crossed my mind was to keep the flames from getting under the car, and without really thinking clearly I decided to try to stomp the fire out with my right shoe. The first step or two were wildly risky, but thankfully the flames were quickly reduced to knee-high flames and my other son came to the rescue with the garden hose just in time to save me from setting my clothes on fire.

When all this commotion finally came to an end, I was a nervous wreck. It didn't take long to realize what a miracle had just occurred. That flame could have easily brought down our house if it had gone unattended for even one more minute. Only a few feet away I had a gasoline can with a gallon of fuel mix in it. When I looked around I realized that NOTHING had been damaged except about ten square feet of indoor-outdoor carpet, and one almost-new sneaker. I was deeply humiliated about my hurried decisions that led to this conflagration. I could not believe the grace of God that spared me the terrible damage it could have caused.

For just a few moments it might have looked like I was dancing in that fire. I thought about the story in the book of Daniel where the Hebrew children were walking around in the flames unharmed. I know the Son of God was with me because not a single hair on my body was singed. Yes my right shoe was partially melted, but that's just a reminder to me of God's protection and mercy that was extended to me absolutely undeserved. As King Nebuchadnezzar said,

"Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego,

who has sent his angel and rescued his servants!"

Daniel 3:28

Isaiah 30 - Apocalypse in a Nutshell

I want to focus on Isaiah 30 in this post, because it pertains to the church (Zion, the kingdom of God) and the threat posed by the resurgent Islamist head of the beast (Assyria).

BEHOLD, HE IS COMING WITH THE CLOUDS,

and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him;

 and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him.

So it is to be. Amen.

Revelation 1:7

For behold, the Lord will come in fire,

and his chariots like the whirlwind,

to render his anger in fury,

and his rebuke with flames of fire.

Isaiah 66:15

Both Jews and Christians recognize Messianic prophecy embedded in the writings of Old Testament prophets, even in prophecies that were fulfilled long ago. Such is the case with most of the book of Isaiah.

The Ungodly Alliance

Through a land of trouble and anguish,

from where come the lioness and the lion,

the adder and the flying fiery serpent,

they carry their riches on the backs of donkeys,

and their treasures on the humps of camels,

to a people that cannot profit them.

Egypt’s help is worthless and empty;

therefore I have called her

“Rahab who sits still.”

Isaiah 30:6-7

The LORD admonishes Israel not to go to Egypt for help against the Assyrian armies. Against God's advice, the stubborn and rebellious children of God will carry out an ungodly plan, and make an ungodly alliance. They make an alliance with those who cannot possibly help. Does this sound familiar today? The alliances made by the western powers cause them to make ungodly compromises on the battlefield and lead them into treaties with untrustworthy nations that undermine their true friends in the region.

Rebellious People

And now, go, write it before them on a tablet

and inscribe it in a book,

that it may be for the time to come

as a witness forever.

For they are a rebellious people,

lying children,

children unwilling to hear

the instruction of the LORD;

Isaiah 30:8-9

There is no doubt that this prophecy is to be carved in stone for a distant time in the future. Thus the prophecy applies now. The children are those who have been set aside by covenant with the LORD, who have become rebellious and rejected God. Today this would be the apostate church.

A Thousand Shall Flee at the Threat of One

Because you despise this word

and trust in oppression and perverseness

and rely on them,

therefore this iniquity shall be to you

like a breach in a high wall, bulging out, and about to collapse...

For thus said the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel,

“In returning and rest you shall be saved;

in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.”

But you were unwilling, and you said,

“No! We will flee upon horses”;

therefore you shall flee away...

A thousand shall flee at the threat of one;

at the threat of five you shall flee,

till you are left

like a flagstaff on the top of a mountain,

like a signal on a hill.

Isaiah 30:13-17

Because of their rejection of God, the rebellious children are subject to terror. The idea that multitudes will flee from the threats of a few people is the very definition of terrorism. It can only be defeated as spoken of GOD, by "the strength that comes from repentance and faith." I fear that my generation lacks the faith of our fathers, and many who don't "bug out" and run to the hills will simply compromise with the beast and take his mark on their heads and hands.

Judgment Begins in God's Household

For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God;

and if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome

for those who do not obey the gospel of God?

I Peter 4:17

At the end of this season of testing, God's wrath will be turned away from his children and focus on those who will be eternally judged.

Therefore the LORD waits to be gracious to you,

and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you.

For the LORD is a God of justice;

blessed are all those who wait for him.

Isaiah 30:18

This final time of tribulation will bring the world to its "last and greatest harvest." For those who remain faithful, those with wisdom will shine like stars in the darkness. They will lead many to righteousness, but the wicked will become more wicked. The church will put away their idols and again be led by the Holy Spirit. I believe even many of the children of Abraham will be revived in this great harvest of souls. When those who dwell in Jerusalem cry out, the Lord will hear their cry and no longer hide from them, but their eyes will see his face and their ears will hear his voice.

When the Towers Fall

And on every lofty mountain and every high hill

there will be brooks running with water,

in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall.

Moreover, the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun,

and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, as the light of seven days,

in the day when the LORD binds up the brokenness of his people,

and heals the wounds inflicted by his blow.

Behold, the name of the LORD comes from afar,

burning with his anger, and in thick rising smoke;

his lips are full of fury,

and his tongue is like a devouring fire...

Isaiah 30:25-27

In the final day, the Day of the Lord, this chapter says the sun will shine seven times brighter as the LORD approaches, burning with anger and shrouded by clouds of thick smoke. John also mentions that the sun will burn with intense heat before the Lord returns. The world may not know it, but when the Lord comes with the fiery seraphim of heaven, all that light and heat is just a preview of what is to come. The return of the Lord will be a day of comfort and rejoicing for those who suffered at the hands of the beast, but a day of terror for the terrorist. The king mentioned at the end of this chapter is the beast, the spawn of Satan, the one who will be cast alive into the lake of fire. 

The Assyrians will be terror-stricken

at the voice of the LORD, when he strikes with his rod.

For a burning place has long been prepared;

indeed, for the king it is made ready,

its pyre made deep and wide,

with fire and wood in abundance;

the breath of the LORD, like a stream of sulfur, kindles it.

Isaiah 30:31,33

Refining Fire

Today I visited a church in Ingram, Texas with a good friend and brother-in-Christ. I was blessed because of what the pastor spoke about - seeking and seeing God's face.

He started with Exodus 33:20:

"But," he said, "you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live."

The pastor asked if that were true, why did Exodus 33:11 say "The LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as one would speak to a friend?"

I had been studying Exodus 24 just this past week where it says that the elders of Israel "saw the God of Israel; and under His feet there appeared to be a pavement of sapphire, as clear as the sky itself. Yet He did not stretch out His hand against the nobles of the sons of Israel; and they saw God, and they ate and drank."

As the pastor pointed out, why is the Bible full of admonitions to "seek God's face" if seeing God would bring death? His point was that the verse in Ex 33:11 only applied to that one time. But I saw a larger point.

I also studied the meaning of the word "fire" last week (at a friend's request). I found some interesting things about fire. Fire consumes the sacrifices laid on the altar before God. The Bible says God himself is a "consuming fire". In that same chapter of Exodus 24, "to the eyes of the sons of Israel the appearance of the glory of the LORD was like a consuming fire on the mountain top."

Moses and the elders of Israel passed through this consuming fire and returned alive. If this can be the case, why does the Bible say that no man can see God and live? Put another way, what dies in the presence of God?

The Greek word for fire is "PYR" or "PUR". This Greek root is found in English as "pyre" and "pyromania" for example. I believe it is also at the root of the word "purify", as when a refiner purifies metal in a fire.

If it's not obvious by now, being in the presence of God will destroy our flesh and energize our spirits. This is why we are admonished to seek God's face, to allow his intense glory to burn away the dross in our lives and expose the precious mettle of Jesus! Glory to the God of heaven whose burning majesty will consume his enemies! Jesus said "he who loses his life for my sake will find it." Paul said to "offer your bodies as a living sacrifice" to be consumed by the blaze of his glory on the altar of this earthly life. It is a terrible wonderful thing to come into God's presence: terrible if we come in the flesh, but wonderful to know that what separates us from God is dying there in His presence just the same. If we dwell in His presence, one day we will "shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven" when there is no more flesh to burn away.