Yesterday I meditated on four different names of God that overlapped or were similar to names I've already studied over the past two months. Today's name, however, was something completely different, and I confess that I didn't expect my writing about it would fill four whole pages in my journal.If I were to play a word association game, asking people what thoughts and feelings are evoked by the word fire, I suspect the answers would mostly be positive: warmth, light, security, comfort, home... Fire (the Hebrew word is 'ēš and the Greek word is pyr ) is probably a neutral or positive concept for most people - unless you lost your home in a house fire or you were once burned and badly injured by a flame.
Throughout scripture, fire often symbolises God's presence - such as when He appeared to Moses in the burning bush. (Exodus 3: 2, which clearly says that the bush burned with fire - 'ēš - but was not consumed - 'ākal).
One of the ways that God led His people during forty years in the wilderness was by a pillar of fire - 'ammûd 'ēš - at night. Exodus 13: 21 specifically says that this was, "to give them light," but I can imagine that it also gave them warmth during the cold desert nights, and gave them the comfort of knowing that He was guiding them - that they weren't lost or alone.
After three months of following the pillar of fire, the people gather at the foot of Mount Sinai, where God is going to give them His Law. Exodus 19: 18 tells us that God descended on the mountain in fire: there was lots of smoke and also an earthquake.
I can imagine that this time the sight was quite scary. These people had probably never heard of a volcano, but the sight of this burning, shaking mountain must have evoked a similar sense of awe and apprehension. Verse 16 says that they were trembling.
But, however awe-inspiring the sight, this was still not a "consuming fire" - akal esh. The mountain was not burned up or destroyed.
This phrase or name, consuming fire, is found only three times in the Bible: in Deut 4: 24, where the people are being warned against idolatry; in Deut 9: 3, where they are about to cross the Jordan and God is promising to drive out and destroy the wicked, idolatrous peoples who currently occupy Canaan; and in Hebrews 12: 29, where the writer is probably quoting one of the Old Testament scriptures, and the context is that God will one day shake the heavens and earth so that the shakeable is removed and only the unshakeable remains. Verse 28 says that we are being given an unshakeable kingdom.
So, knowing that God is a Consuming Fire - Akal Esh should be a reason for awe and respect, but not for fear. The verb 'ākal simply means to eat, to devour or consume, and when speaking of fire it usually refers to God's burning up of impurity and evil. In 1 Cor 3, for example, we are urged to be careful how we build our lives because our work will be "tested by fire" and the worthless things will be consumed. We're told, however, that the believer will still be saved, even if he or she loses some worthless building stuff in the fire.
So, the Consuming Fire is for destroying evil, not for destroying people. The only times it's a threat to people is when they're deeply entrenched in rebellion, idolatry and wickedness. This is what is being referred to in Deut 9: 3 and Ex 32: 10. Yet, even in that Exodus account, after the golden calf episode, God is glad to answer Moses' prayer and not to consume the people, even though they deserved it.
When "tongues of fire" fell on the believers in Acts chapter 2, the flames did not consume them, but rather empowered them and gave them boldness to share their faith. This is probably also what John the Baptist was referring to (in Matt 3: 11 and Luke 3: 16) when he said that Jesus would baptise believers "with the Holy Spirit and with fire."
So, knowing God as Akal Esh is not something to be dreaded but something to be embraced: He is able to eliminate all the impurities that hinder us in life, so that we emerge refined like gold, with nothing to be ashamed of.
