The Fire of God
A. Maclaren, D. D. Isaiah 33:14-15 The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness has surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire?… I. THE WORLD'S QUESTION. Frequently in the Old Testament the emblem of fire is employed to express the Divine nature. In many places, though by no means in all, the prominent idea in the emblem is that of the purity of the Divine nature, which flashes and flames as against all which is evil and sinful. So we read in one grand passage in this very book, "the Light of Israel shall become a fire." And we read, too, in the description of the symbolical manifestation of the Divine nature which accompanied the giving of the law on Sinai, that "the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire on the top of the mountain," and yet into that blaze and brightness the Law-giver went and moved in it. There is in the Divine nature a side of antagonism and opposition to evil, which fights against it, and flames against it, and labours to consume it. But then, on the other side, the fire is also the fire of perfect love that quickens and blesses. And these two are one. God's wrath is a form of God's love; God hates because He loves. Well, that being so, the question rises to every mind of ordinary thoughtfulness: "Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?" A God fighting against evil; can you and I hope to hold familiar fellowship with Him? To "dwell with everlasting burnings" means two things — first, to hold familiar intercourse and communion with God. What sort of a man will do that? Can you? Is it likely that you should? The second of the things that it means is to face and bear the action of the fire, the judicial action, the judgment of the present and of the future. II. THE PROPHET'S ANSWER. He says if a man is to hold fellowship with, or to face the judgment of the pure and righteous God, the plainest dictate of reason and common sense is that he himself must be pure and righteous to match. And the details into which his answer to the question runs out are all very homely, prosaic, pedestrian kind of virtues, nothing at all out of the way, nothing that people would call splendid or heroic. If you will turn to the Psalm 15. and 24. you will find there two other variations of the same questions, and the same answer, both of which were obviously in our prophet's mind when he spoke. The requirements of the most moderate conscience are such as none of us is able to comply with. And what then? Am I to be shut up to despair? am I to say, then, nobody can dwell with that bright flame? III. THE APOSTLE'S ANSWER. "God is love, and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God." Now, to begin with, let us distinctly understand that the New Testament answer, represented by John's great words, entirely endorses Isaiah's; and the difference between the two is not that the Old Testament, as represented by Psalmist and Prophet, said: "You must be righteous in order to dwell with God, and that the New Testament says: You need not be!" Not at all! John is just as vehement in saying that nothing but purity can bind a man in thoroughly friendly and familiar conjunction with God as David or Isaiah was. What, then, is the difference between them? It is this, for one thing. Isaiah tells us we must be righteous; John tells us how we may be. And now you have got to the very bottom of the matter. That is the first step of the ladder — faith: the second step is love, and the third is righteousness. (A. Maclaren, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: 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? WEB: The sinners in Zion are afraid. Trembling has seized the godless ones. Who among us can live with the devouring fire? Who among us can live with everlasting burning?