Scripture foretells of a fiery end to the presence of sin in this world, but what is the cause of this fire? Is it an arbitrary choice by God, of a means of destruction? Is it the eruption of God’s pent-up anger towards sinful humanity? There are many different ideas in the minds of men, some of which cause even the devout Christian to tremble in fear when they think of that day. But what does the Bible say?

Below are excerpts from a series of articles by E. J. Waggoner, published in a Christian magazine called The Present Truth, between June 15 – June 29, 1899, which bring out beautiful Biblical light on this important question.

Song of Solomon 8:6 “… For love is strong as death … the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame.”

 

The Life-Giving, Consuming Breath

“Gracious are the promises of God, and everlasting and infinite is His love; yet that does not mean that wickedness will be allowed to continue for ever. “Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished.”  Those who persist in doing evil according to the hardness of their own impenitent hearts, are but treasuring up to themselves wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render to every man according to his works. (Romans 2:4-6) But in the visitation of punishment, there is no change in God. He is still the same God of love. “His mercy endureth for ever.” The destruction of the wicked is only the natural, inevitable result of the rejection of the infinite love of Him whose favour is life. Take notice that it is the breath of God that kindles the fires of Gehenna. “He shall smite the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips shall He slay the wicked,” yet “righteousness shall be the girdle of His loins, and faithfulness the girdle of His reins.” (Isaiah 11:4, 5) That breath which destroys the wicked, is the breath of life—the very same breath which is now given to all mankind, wicked as well as righteous, and without which there would be no life on earth. How then can it be that it will finally consume the wicked?—Simply because they will not accept it for what it is. Not recognizing God in the air that they breathe, they do not allow it to do the work for them which God designs, namely, to remove all iniquity from them. The breath of God is at work every moment in all the earth, consuming impurity, and making it possible for men to live. Every where and all the time God is showing us for what purpose breath is given: it is to purify and cleanse, and give life. Then when men identify themselves with vileness and sin, it is inevitable that they should be consumed by that which would be their life, if they were willing.

Hebrews 12:29 “For our God is a consuming fire.”

The very same fire that purifies the gold burns up the dross. Everything therefore depends upon how we stand related to God. Shall we receive Him as our life indeed, by allowing Him to redeem us from all iniquity, or shall He be to us the devouring fire? “Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him.”

[…]

A Vital Question

Isaiah 33:14 “The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?”

One would naturally say that such a thing is impossible; but the Lord says that some can and will do it. Who are they?

Isaiah 33:15-17 “He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil; he shall dwell on high: his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure. Thine eyes shall see the King in his beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off.”

It is the one who walks in righteousness, even “the righteousness which is of God, by faith” (Phil. 3:9), who speaks right things, who will have nothing to do with anything gained by fraud, who cannot be bribed, and who will not hear of bloody deeds, or look upon evil. Such an one can live in eternal fire, and be at ease amid the devouring flame.


No Future for the Wicked 

Take particular notice that only the righteous can dwell with everlasting, devouring fire. The wicked will suffer the vengeance of eternal fire—they will be cast into the fire that never shall be quenched—but they cannot abide there; the fire will consume them as chaff. “As thorns cut up shall they be burned in the fire.” (Isaiah 33:12) There is therefore no eternity for the wicked.

Psalm 37:38 “The transgressors shall be destroyed together; the end [literally, “the future time”] of the wicked shall be cut off.”

So to the oft-repeated question, “Where will you spend eternity?” there can be but one answer. Those who spend it anywhere will spend it in the presence of God, dwelling in Him and His light; those who do not live in His righteousness, dwelling in the secret place of the Most High, will spend eternity nowhere.

Obadiah 16 “They shall be as though they had not been.”

Psalm 38:10 “For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be; yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be.”

Malachi 4:1 “For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.”

Yet the righteous will dwell in that same fire in safety, and will bask in its grateful warmth throughout eternity.

Psalm 15:1-5 “Yahweh, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill? He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart. He that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbour, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour. In whose eyes a vile person is contemned; but he honoureth them that fear Yahweh. He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not. He that putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward against the innocent. He that doeth these things shall never be moved.”

Psalm 24:1-5 “The earth is Yahweh’s, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. For he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods. Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive the blessing from Yahweh, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.”


The Fire of God’s Presence

By comparing Isaiah 33:14-16 with Psalm 15:1-5 and 24:1-5, it will be seen that the people who dwell with the devouring fire and the everlasting burnings, are the same people that “ascend into the hill of the Lord,” and abide in His tabernacle. Thus it must be that the everlasting, devouring fire is in the tabernacle, the secret place, of God. That is exactly the case. Let us collect a few texts of Scripture that show this.

Isaiah 33:11 [according to Lowth’s reading] “My Spirit, like fire, shall consume you.”

This agrees with Isaiah 11:4: “He shall smite the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips shall He slay the wicked,”and 2 Thess. 2:8, which says that the Lord shall consume “that wicked” “with the Spirit of His mouth.”

“Our God is a consuming fire.” He descended on Mount Sinai in fire (Exodus 19:18), and spoke to the people “out of the midst of the fire.” Deut. 4:12.

Deuteronomy 33:2 “From His right hand went a fiery law for them.”

The Lord “sitteth between [or upon] the cherubim.” (Psalm 99:1) When He drove Adam and Eve out of the garden of Eden,

Genesis 3:24 “He placed at the east of the garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword, which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.”

This was the indication of His own presence; to this place Adam and his family came to worship, and from here Cain went out from the presence of the Lord.

The Lord reigns in righteousness, and “a fire goeth before Him, and burneth up His enemies round about,” and the hills melt like wax at the presence of the Lord. (Psalm 97:1-5) So when Christ comes, it is “in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (2 Thess. 1:8) So at the last, when the wicked are all gathered together to do battle against God and His people, fire comes down from God out of heaven, and devours them. Rev. 20:8, 9. In Isaiah 30:33 we have read that “the breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone” kindles Tophet.

God covers Himself with light as with a garment (Psalm 104:2), and dwells in light that no man can approach unto. (1 Tim. 6:16) When Isaiah saw the Lord, sitting on His throne, “the house was filled with smoke” (Isaiah 6:4), indicating the presence of fire; and this is still further indicated by the fact that the beings that stand above His throne are the “Seraphim,” that is, “the burning ones.” Remember also that God went before Israel, to guide them, in a pillar of fire by night and a pillar of cloud by day.

In this Presence, amid this fire, the saints of God will dwell throughout eternity, but in order that they may do this, they must here become accustomed to the glory of God, of which the whole earth is full. By beholding it they become changed into the same image “from glory to glory,” even by the Spirit of the Lord. (2 Cor. 3:18) The presence of the Lord consumes everything that is evil, and so their dwelling with God in this time fits them for His unveiled glory. The sunlight, which destroys disease germs, is a daily proof to us of the fact that the glory of God consumes evil. But those who refuse to recognize God as He is now revealed, will not be able to abide the day of His coming, and will be consumed.

So it is indeed eternal fire that consumes the wicked, but it is not fire specially created for that purpose, nor does the fact that it is eternal prove that those who suffer from it will live eternally, but just the opposite. All, both saints and sinners, will be in the midst of it, so that all will be treated alike, and God cannot be accused of injustice; but the nature of the individual will determine how the fire will affect him. Only those who have become transformed into the likeness of God, who have His life as their life, so that they are partakers of the Divine nature, sharers of the glory, will be able to come through the fire unscathed, and, in fact, to continue dwelling in it. They are of the same nature as the devouring flame, and hence can dwell in it and not be consumed. All others will perish. The mercy of God endures for ever, and that which perpetuates the existence of those who become assimilated to it, ends the existence of the rebellious. How pertinent, therefore, the message, “Fear God, and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment is come.”