The verse comes after coming to Mount Zion and the heavenly Jerusalem with its innumerable angels and assembly, and after the promise to shake heaven and earth to remove what can be shaken so that the unmovable kingdom remains, calling those who receive that kingdom to serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear and not to refuse Him who speaks from heaven. Its plain meaning is that God is a consuming fire to sin wherever it is found, destroying evil while His power refines all who submit to Him, purging away dross and sin without consuming the person, as the unconsumed burning bush showed. Life is had only in communion with Him as the fountain of life through surrender of the will, but whoever clings to sin and refuses to separate from it becomes identified with it and chooses death, so His presence must consume him with his sin. His glory imparts life to the righteous yet slays the wicked, so only those purged from sin and pure in heart can abide in His presence, while at the second advent the wicked are destroyed by the brightness of His coming and the wicked find heaven itself torture because their hearts are out of harmony with holiness. Their exclusion is therefore not arbitrary punishment but their own choice in separating from life, which makes urgent the work of confessing sin, humbling the heart, and walking humbly in obedience before it is too late.
Setting and Summons
The declaration belongs to those who have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels. It belongs to coming to the general assembly and church of the firstborn which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect. It belongs to coming to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant and to the blood of sprinkling, and to receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved after the shaking and removing of the things that are made.
His voice then shook the earth at Sinai, but He has promised once more to shake not earth only but also heaven. That once more signifies the removing of the shaken things that are made, so that the things which cannot be shaken may remain. Him that speaks from heaven must not be refused, for if those who refused him that spoke on earth did not escape, those who turn away from the heavenly voice will much less escape and will face grave consequences.
Those receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved must have grace to serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear, because God is a consuming fire. That acceptable service is bound to the unshakable kingdom, while the saints' final transformation and reception of immortal, incorruptible bodies belongs to Christ's coming, not to this life. Those who hope to meet Christ in peace at His coming must therefore walk humbly and meekly before God in this life, in harmony with the truths He has given.
Fire That Destroys and Refines
God is a consuming fire to sin wherever it is found, for He destroys evil, and His power is a refining fire that in all who submit to Him and believe in Him consumes the dross and purely purges away sin without consuming the human agent, as the burning bush that revealed His presence to Moses without being consumed made known. He is the fountain of life, and life is had only in communion with Him through surrender of the will, which alone lets Him impart His life to overcome hidden sins of the heart that may be buried and concealed from human eyes but cannot stand in His presence. If a person clings to self, refuses to yield to His will, chooses sin and refuses to separate from it, he becomes identified with it and chooses death, so that presence which consumes sin must consume him with his sin.
When Jacob's transgression was forgiven and his sin purged he could endure the revelation of God's presence, but wherever men come before God while wilfully cherishing evil they are destroyed. It is better to sacrifice whatever causes the soul to stumble and enter into life maimed than to be cast into the fire that never shall be quenched. His glory imparts life to the righteous but slays the wicked, so only those purged from sin and pure in heart can abide in His presence, and at the second advent the wicked shall be consumed with the Spirit of His mouth and destroyed with the brightness of His coming.
His very presence and glory is a consuming fire to Satan and those who join him in rebellion and to the wicked whose hearts are out of harmony with God and holiness: the glory of the God who is love destroys them, they cannot find joy in His presence and would experience heaven as torture, longing to flee and welcoming destruction to be hidden from Him who died to redeem them. Their hatred of God, truth, and holiness makes heaven's purity and peace unbearable to them, so their exclusion from heaven is their own choice and not an arbitrary decree or arbitrary punishment but the result of choosing sin and separating themselves from the fountain of life. His judgment is just and merciful, and the fires of the final day declare that they are incurable and will not submit to divine authority.
At Sinai the people were kept away from the mount when His glory appeared as He wrote His law again, lest they be consumed, and the wicked who have rejected His authority and transgressed His commandments will not be able to bear His burning glory when they meet the Lawgiver over His broken law. He is terrible in holiness and His glory is a light that would dissolve or strike unholy people out of existence if it came near them, so to live in His sight, especially through the time of trouble, people must be holy and be made like Jesus, and few realize how holy they must be. He is a devouring fire to those who break His law and transgress it, while He is a safe shelter and a sun and shield to His people, who pass unharmed through pestilence, tempest, and earthquake and abide safely in the holy city during the earth's fiery destruction and final cleansing.
When His vengeance burns the earth the fire consumes the wicked, destroying them root and branch and carrying out the law's full penalty, and purifies the earth, removing every trace of the curse, while those who share in the first resurrection are beyond the power of the second death. His holiness makes it fearful to fall into His hands when His day of recompense comes, acting in punishment against those who exalt the man of sin in place of Jehovah and worship an idol sabbath instead of the Lord's Sabbath. His consuming fire can also act as judgment and chastisement in history: after prolonged opposition to holy principles He sent consuming fire upon the institutions in Battle Creek, and continued resistance would bring a still more severe stroke of judgment.
Reverence in Life and Preparation
In the setting of the shaking and removal of what can be shaken, that God is a consuming fire calls for approaching and serving Him with reverence and godly fear and presses the urgency of confessing sin, humbling the heart, and seeking purification before it is too late. Those who hope to meet Christ in peace at His coming must therefore walk humbly and meekly before God in this life, in harmony with the truths He has given, serving Him acceptably with reverence and godly fear. That acceptable service belongs to receiving an unshakable kingdom, while the saints' final transformation and reception of immortal, incorruptible bodies takes place at Christ's coming, not in this life.
God destroys evil and must be served acceptably with grace, reverence and godly fear by those who have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn written in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant and to the blood of sprinkling, and who receive a kingdom which cannot be moved after the shaking and removing of things that are made. That truth bears with weight on the course of action, forbidding heedless moves that start a train of evils beyond control and throw into humanity a grain of thought that Satan keeps alive as a root of bitterness, meaning any kind of evil, by which many are defiled. Ministers and stewards of God's grace in any line of service must not mingle the common with the sacred, with the resulting defilement charged to them.
God is a consuming fire against sin, which is transgression of His law. His acceptance of obedience takes account of the circumstances of the sun-rising and sun-setting world, and obedience — not exact calculations of Sabbath minutes and hours — is the test of honoring and glorifying Him.
The verse comes after coming to Mount Zion and the heavenly Jerusalem with its innumerable angels and assembly, and after the promise to shake heaven and earth to remove what can be shaken so that the unmovable kingdom remains, calling those who receive that kingdom to serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear and not to refuse Him who speaks from heaven. Its plain meaning is that God is a consuming fire to sin wherever it is found, destroying evil while His power refines all who submit to Him, purging away dross and sin without consuming the person, as the unconsumed burning bush showed. Life is had only in communion with Him as the fountain of life through surrender of the will, but whoever clings to sin and refuses to separate from it becomes identified with it and chooses death, so His presence must consume him with his sin. His glory imparts life to the righteous yet slays the wicked, so only those purged from sin and pure in heart can abide in His presence, while at the second advent the wicked are destroyed by the brightness of His coming and the wicked find heaven itself torture because their hearts are out of harmony with holiness. Their exclusion is therefore not arbitrary punishment but their own choice in separating from life, which makes urgent the work of confessing sin, humbling the heart, and walking humbly in obedience before it is too late.
Setting and Summons
The declaration belongs to those who have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels. It belongs to coming to the general assembly and church of the firstborn which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect. It belongs to coming to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant and to the blood of sprinkling, and to receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved after the shaking and removing of the things that are made.
His voice then shook the earth at Sinai, but He has promised once more to shake not earth only but also heaven. That once more signifies the removing of the shaken things that are made, so that the things which cannot be shaken may remain. Him that speaks from heaven must not be refused, for if those who refused him that spoke on earth did not escape, those who turn away from the heavenly voice will much less escape and will face grave consequences.
Those receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved must have grace to serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear, because God is a consuming fire. That acceptable service is bound to the unshakable kingdom, while the saints' final transformation and reception of immortal, incorruptible bodies belongs to Christ's coming, not to this life. Those who hope to meet Christ in peace at His coming must therefore walk humbly and meekly before God in this life, in harmony with the truths He has given.
Fire That Destroys and Refines
God is a consuming fire to sin wherever it is found, for He destroys evil, and His power is a refining fire that in all who submit to Him and believe in Him consumes the dross and purely purges away sin without consuming the human agent, as the burning bush that revealed His presence to Moses without being consumed made known. He is the fountain of life, and life is had only in communion with Him through surrender of the will, which alone lets Him impart His life to overcome hidden sins of the heart that may be buried and concealed from human eyes but cannot stand in His presence. If a person clings to self, refuses to yield to His will, chooses sin and refuses to separate from it, he becomes identified with it and chooses death, so that presence which consumes sin must consume him with his sin.
When Jacob's transgression was forgiven and his sin purged he could endure the revelation of God's presence, but wherever men come before God while wilfully cherishing evil they are destroyed. It is better to sacrifice whatever causes the soul to stumble and enter into life maimed than to be cast into the fire that never shall be quenched. His glory imparts life to the righteous but slays the wicked, so only those purged from sin and pure in heart can abide in His presence, and at the second advent the wicked shall be consumed with the Spirit of His mouth and destroyed with the brightness of His coming.
His very presence and glory is a consuming fire to Satan and those who join him in rebellion and to the wicked whose hearts are out of harmony with God and holiness: the glory of the God who is love destroys them, they cannot find joy in His presence and would experience heaven as torture, longing to flee and welcoming destruction to be hidden from Him who died to redeem them. Their hatred of God, truth, and holiness makes heaven's purity and peace unbearable to them, so their exclusion from heaven is their own choice and not an arbitrary decree or arbitrary punishment but the result of choosing sin and separating themselves from the fountain of life. His judgment is just and merciful, and the fires of the final day declare that they are incurable and will not submit to divine authority.
At Sinai the people were kept away from the mount when His glory appeared as He wrote His law again, lest they be consumed, and the wicked who have rejected His authority and transgressed His commandments will not be able to bear His burning glory when they meet the Lawgiver over His broken law. He is terrible in holiness and His glory is a light that would dissolve or strike unholy people out of existence if it came near them, so to live in His sight, especially through the time of trouble, people must be holy and be made like Jesus, and few realize how holy they must be. He is a devouring fire to those who break His law and transgress it, while He is a safe shelter and a sun and shield to His people, who pass unharmed through pestilence, tempest, and earthquake and abide safely in the holy city during the earth's fiery destruction and final cleansing.
When His vengeance burns the earth the fire consumes the wicked, destroying them root and branch and carrying out the law's full penalty, and purifies the earth, removing every trace of the curse, while those who share in the first resurrection are beyond the power of the second death. His holiness makes it fearful to fall into His hands when His day of recompense comes, acting in punishment against those who exalt the man of sin in place of Jehovah and worship an idol sabbath instead of the Lord's Sabbath. His consuming fire can also act as judgment and chastisement in history: after prolonged opposition to holy principles He sent consuming fire upon the institutions in Battle Creek, and continued resistance would bring a still more severe stroke of judgment.
Reverence in Life and Preparation
In the setting of the shaking and removal of what can be shaken, that God is a consuming fire calls for approaching and serving Him with reverence and godly fear and presses the urgency of confessing sin, humbling the heart, and seeking purification before it is too late. Those who hope to meet Christ in peace at His coming must therefore walk humbly and meekly before God in this life, in harmony with the truths He has given, serving Him acceptably with reverence and godly fear. That acceptable service belongs to receiving an unshakable kingdom, while the saints' final transformation and reception of immortal, incorruptible bodies takes place at Christ's coming, not in this life.
God destroys evil and must be served acceptably with grace, reverence and godly fear by those who have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn written in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant and to the blood of sprinkling, and who receive a kingdom which cannot be moved after the shaking and removing of things that are made. That truth bears with weight on the course of action, forbidding heedless moves that start a train of evils beyond control and throw into humanity a grain of thought that Satan keeps alive as a root of bitterness, meaning any kind of evil, by which many are defiled. Ministers and stewards of God's grace in any line of service must not mingle the common with the sacred, with the resulting defilement charged to them.
God is a consuming fire against sin, which is transgression of His law. His acceptance of obedience takes account of the circumstances of the sun-rising and sun-setting world, and obedience — not exact calculations of Sabbath minutes and hours — is the test of honoring and glorifying Him.