THE FIRE OF GOD By Pamela Hatheway

Fire
“And let them be ready for the Third Day. For on the Third day the Lord will come down upon Mt. Sinai in sight of all the people… Now Mt. Sinai was completely in smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire.” (Exodus 19:11,18)
There is a cry issuing forth from the heart of the God’s people for the Glory of the Lord to be made manifest in the earth; however the manifestation of God’s glory MUST be preceded by an encounter of His fire. To know Him is to be consumed by Him, for the writer of Hebrews says, “My God IS a consuming fire.” (Hebrew 12:29)John the Baptist said of Jesus that He would come with the Holy Ghost and with fire and would thoroughly purge the threshing floor… the chaff of our lives must be consumed. Until now, the wheat and the tares have grown together, but we are coming to the day when the tares of our lives are gathered together and burned, so that the fruit of the harvest is all that will remain.What is at the heart of this fire if it is not the passion of God for His people? This fire is the unbridled and unapologetic passion that burns from the bosom of God toward us, His bride. Our flesh cringes at the thought of being exposed to that fire or passion, for in it we are brought face to face with our own inadequacies and limited notion of who He is, and in truth, who and what we are in Him. Yet it is the divine impartation of His love during this experience, that allows us to bring forth the light of God in our own lives. THE GLORY OF GOD IS THE CHILD OF FIRE BROUGHT FORTH IN THE LIFE OF THE BELIEVER. It radiates heavenward in our worship and adoration of Him and earthward in our newfound passion for His people as we allow ourselves to be used as vessels that dispense that same love and share in his ministry of reconciliation.

“Their appearance is like torches, and they flash to and fro like lightning flashes.” (Nahum 2:4)

“You are the light of the world…” (Matthew 5:14)

“For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent,

And for Jerusalem’s sake I will not keep quiet,

Until her righteousness goes forth like BRIGHTNESS,

And her salvation like a torch that is BURNING.

And the nations will see your righteousness,

And all the kings your Glory.” (Isaiah 62:1-2)

“Behold you will call a nation you do not know and A NATION WHO KNOWS YOU NOT WILL RUN TO YOU Because of the Lord you God, even the Holy One of Israel; for He has GLORIFIED YOU.” (Isaiah 55:5)

The Fire of God is the catalyst, the element of change that will transform us into the image of Christ. It was in the fiery furnace that we saw a fourth man appear “like” the Son of God (Daniel 4). It was the encounter with the Fire in the burning bush that transformed the disgruntled, unfulfilled shepherd of Midian into the Deliverer of a whole nation. It was the pillar of fire that would guide a nation through the wilderness to their land of promise it transformed them from a kingdom of slaves to a kingdom of Conquerors.

As it did with the Prophet Elijah, the fire provides the actual vehicle to our ascent into Him. Beloved, there is a Third Day people who are coming to experience a baptism of the Fire of the Holy Spirit. As the fire illuminates, heats and ultimately consumes the refuse of our lives, His ultimate purpose is to transform our lowly body, that it may be conformed to His Glorious (corporate) Body according to the working by which He is able to subdue ALL THINGS to Himself. (Philippians 3:20-21; also see Ephesians 5:26-27)

John saw a vision of the seven candlesticks, which typify the church in her fullness. In the midst of the candlesticks stood a Man, a corporate Man, identified by Fire. Like the burning bush He stands among the candlesticks and is not consumed. For He is not of flesh (Adam nature) but of Spirit (Christ nature). (See Leviticus 19:6). This Man speaks with the voice of a trumpet, a voice of many waters, that corporate prophetic voice issuing out of His mouth like a two-edged sword (vs. 16; Isaiah 49:2; Hebrews 4:12) declaring in perfect union the heart of God. He holds in his hands the keys of death and hell. He is the Overcomer. He is the Many-Membered Man.

“And I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day (the Day of the Lord, the Third Day) and I heard behind me a loud voice as a trumpet… Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lamp stands, and in the MIDST of the lamp stands ONE like the son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire; His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace (Malachi 3:2), and His voice as the sound of MANY waters (it is a corporate voice); and His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength (Malachi 4:1-2). And when I saw him I fell as dead. But he laid his right hand on me saying to me, Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last.” (Revelation 1:10-17)

This Man in the midst of the candlesticks is He who is appearing in the sight of all people. “When Christ who is our life appears, they YOU ALSO will appear with Him (in the splendor of) His Glory.” Colossians 3:4 AMPLIFIED

We have entered a new day, a new order; it is the day of His appearing. In this THIRD DAY, if we want to enter in to all that He has for us we must first encounter the Fire of God for, the Bible states that ANY FLESH that remains on the sacrifice the THIRD DAY must be burned with fire. (Leviticus 19:6) … and no FLESH shall glory in His presence (1 Corinthians 1:29)

Category : Life in Christ
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