The Self-Feeding Fire

Dearly beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, WIRED magazine recently had an article on forest fires. This article talked about the conventional wisdom on forest fires, how their direction and speed can be predicted, and so on. And it talked about how that conventional wisdom has been shattered in recent years with the rise of mega-fires, gigantic blazes that cover dozens of square miles and suck in air and even fuel from all directions. These fires create their own hot, dry weather and can burn in directions that the conventional wisdom was totally unable to reckon with. And they are coming, the article emphasized, to a forest near you. Well, our text this evening exploits the image of fire to tell us something about God. The Angel of Yahweh, it says, appeared to Moses as a flame of fire. Some translations say "in," but I think that "as" is likely a better translation here. The divine fire came down on a bush, and Yahweh spoke to Moses from the midst of the fire. This was how God chose to address the suffering of His people, suffering that had no political solution. He came to Moses in fire that did not burn up the bush. Why? Because our God is a consuming, living, self-feeding fire, as His name indicates. (We'll get to that name in a few weeks.) What I hope to show you tonight is that our God is a fearsome holy fire, that He has a history with your family, and that His "firepower" (sorry; bad pun) is powerful enough to burn up even death.