Because they have forsaken Me and have made this (city of Jerusalem) an alien place and have burned sacrifices in it to other gods, that neither they nor their forefathers nor the kings of Judah had ever known, and because they have filled this place with the blood of the innocent and have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, a thing which I never commanded or spoke of, nor did it ever enter My mind; therefore, behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when this place will no longer be called Topheth or the valley of Ben-hinnom, but rather the valley of Slaughter. Jeremiah 19:4-6 NASB1995 (emphasis added)
We begin our post with what should not by any means be a controversial assertion: Father is NOT a hypocrite; that is to say, He does not have one set of laws for us, and another set of laws governing His own activities. (We apologize to our insider friends who believe that Father regularly disregards the laws that he gave through Moses, not to mention through the Lord Jesus, and believe that He is not Himself bound by the same laws. Have you considered that would effectively make Father a hypocrite?) No, Father follows his own laws because they reflect His own nature, and He cannot deny His own nature.
In our opening passage, Jeremiah is stating Father’s judgment against the city of Jerusalem for burning their sons alive with fire. It is repeated in Jeremiah 32:35, where the city residents had added Molech to their list of false gods to “worship” with the same practice. Jeremiah is quoting Father’s judgment against them because burning one’s children is a detestable and disgraceful act, setting aside the fact that it is also murder! So, we may see at the outset that for God to condemn the city of Jerusalem and its inhabitants for burning their children, and then to eventually burn His children would be the epitome of hypocrisy. We hasten to say that He would also be a liar, since He has Himself stated it was “a thing which I never commanded or spoke of, nor did it ever enter My mind“.
The tormenting and torturing fire is attributed to Father by the proponents of the Hideous Doctrine allegedly because of His holiness! According to some proponents of the Hideous Doctrine, Father is required by His holiness to punish certain outsiders by burning them, as their just desserts. Needless to say, we disagree with the idea that such a thing could remotely be inspired by any concept of holiness, and certainly not by Father’s holiness! We re-iterate that such an accusation against Father is terrible, slanderous, and has its origins in the morbid imaginations of those who do not know Him as He really is.
At last we come to the discussion of the purpose and restorative effects of Father’s fire. Miles Monroe has somewhat famously taught “If you do not know the purpose of a thing, abuse of that thing is inevitable.” We agree completely with this teaching and begin with a consideration of whether the fire of God is literal, or figurative. Then, we will turn to its purpose.
As the children of Israel were completing the required 40-year journey in the wilderness, Moses gave a blessing to them just before he died. As a part of the blessing, Moses recounted the fiery law that was in God’s right hand for His saints, or literally, “holy ones“. See it below:
2 And he (Moses) said, The Lord came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; he shined forth from mount Paran, and he came with ten thousands of saints: from his right hand went a fiery law (Hebrew: esh-dawth) for them. Deuteronomy 33:2-3 KJV
This law-fire is not literal, but figurative, and the implication is that it is intended to be a beneficial (not destructive) contribution to his holy ones. Notice, it is “for” them. We may further conclude it is beneficial because it is from Father’s right hand, which is always the hand of mercy and forgiveness. This is indeed why Yeshua/Jesus sat down at the right hand of Father and from there makes intercession for us.
We recall with fondness one of the favorite stories of our friend, Dr. Harold Lovelace. Dr. Lovelace related that once, during a commercial airlines flight, he was reading from his Bible in James 3:6. A lady seated next to him looked over at the text and commented about it. Here is what he was reading:
6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.
His question to the lady was simple: did she believe the writer was saying the tongue was literally on fire? Or that it set the course of nature literally on fire? To which the lady responded, no, obviously it is intended to be figurative, not literal. Dr. Lovelace then replied in the inimitable fashion that made him such an excellent ambassador of universal reconciliation: “then we may safely assume that the last phrase ‘set on fire of hell’ is figurative and not literal also!”
We maintain that in the first instance, Father’s heavenly fire is not literal but is the reality of which actual, earthly fire is an imperfect prophetic picture. We note, again, that the Greek word for fire, pyr, (pronounced “poor”) is the etymological origin for many of our English words such as pure, purify, and purebred. The part of the type that points toward purification and purity is the correct application. Even the destructive part of fire, understood correctly, points to the removal of spiritually damaging thoughts and actions. Look at the following passage which states that Father will refine as a refiner of precious metals.
2 But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap: 3 And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. Malachi 3:2-3 KJV
In this passage the Lord is compared to the refiner and to the fire. It plainly states that he will “purify” the sons of Levi and purge them from dross, with a goal of righteousness. Righteousness is the goal of Father’s fire, for when the inhabitants of the world experience Father’s correction, they learn righteousness. The only things that are “destroyed” by Father’s fire are un-righteous thoughts and actions. Here is our final scripture to prove Father’s fire is spiritual:
43 If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life crippled, than, having your two hands, to go into hell (Greek, “Gehenna”), into the unquenchable fire, 44 WHERE THEIR WORM DOES NOT DIE, AND THE FIRE IS NOT QUENCHED. Mark 9:43-44 NASB1995 (capitalization in original)
This is a rather well known passage where Yeshua/Jesus is making the point that it would be better for a person to cripple themselves than to be thrown as a corpse on the local garbage dump, called Gehenna in that day (and Ben-Hinnom, before that). The obvious point is that if one were willing to go to the extreme of amputating one’s hand, how much easier would it be to simply live righteously? But our concern is with the capitalized language by which the NASB denotes that Jesus was quoting from the Old Testament Scripture, in this case, Isaiah 66, in which the prophet foretold the destruction of the rebellious inhabitants of Jerusalem.
Jesus was reiterating the same point made by the prophet: if this judgment comes to pass, the fire will not be “quenched” until it has consumed all of the corpses thrown there by Jerusalem’s enemies. The substitution of the word “hell” for “Gehenna” is nothing short of bias in favor of the Hideous Doctrine; use of the proper word would have been less confusing. The fact is, earthly Gehenna’s fire has in fact been quenched, as any reasonable investigation will reveal. However, Father’s fire is not quenched as Jesus plainly stated. From this fact, we may conclude that Father’s fire is spiritual, and not literal, and until its purpose is fulfilled, it will not be quenched. And that, dear Reader, is very good news, indeed!
Simply stated, the purpose of Father’s fire is to correct, instruct, redeem and restore. It is administered with unfailing love and never in anger. Its goal is always the righteousness and agreement of the child that is in need of it, no matter how old that “child” may be. Frankly, we can’t even admit that it’s punishment, so great is the love-motive behind it and so great is the freedom it produces; however, we will not quibble over the use of the word if others insist upon it.
However, it is our experience, dear Reader, that missing the mark for whatever reason is worse than any punishment. Father’s fire requires incrementally increasing surrender of your right to have your own sweet way in favor of trusting (usually without clearly seeing the end) that Father’s way is always best. After a few times of experiencing your own way, and all the troubles that brings, believe us when we say that you can be thankful for the correction. Eventually, you will come to embrace the fire, knowing the ultimate good that will come from it. This is the mark of a mature son and daughter of heavenly Father!
Blessed are you, righteous and holy Father, whose unfailing love is manifested by the fiery law in your right hand, whose purpose is restorative and saving. Thank you for the fire of your love and may all experience its wonderful effects!