Consuming Fire

In Hebrews 12:28-29, the author quotes from Deuteronomy 4:24 when he writes, “Since we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful and please God by worshiping him with holy fear and awe. For our God is a consuming fire.”  I have often struggled with how different God appears to be in the Old Testament. When his people where living under the old covenant, He seemed much harsher, dealing with infractions against his law swiftly, and often with fire. Throughout time, fire has been thought of as a gift from God providing warmth, light, protection and a means to prepare raw foods.  It also was integral in the cleansing, sacrificial system, “consuming” the prescribed offering for the remittance of sin.  Without fire, it would have been difficult, if not impossible to maintain spiritual or physical  life. When Jesus came, to be our perfect offering, a new covenant was written, in his blood, but the previous one is still binding, and from this passage we should be aware that the standards God set then, are still in effect today.  Ungodly behavior, and lifestyles”, then and now, won’t deter His supernatural, cleansing fire from consuming them. While God is LOVE, he continues to demand a higher level of behavior from his own children.  Don’t you expect the same from your kids?  The argument that other children were disrespectful to their parents, never held up in our household, and it sure won’t with God. My husband always reminded our kids that they should be proud of the Zerrusen name, and never bring shame to it.  If we truly call ourselves God’s children, we can depend on his constant love, but we must live your lives in such a way that brings honor to him and the family name.