A Consuming Fire

Exodus 24: 12-18
Matthew 17: 1-9

In both Exodus and Matthew, when God appeared on the mountain he appeared as a cloud. God often appears as some natural phenomenon in the Old Testament such as a burning bush, a cloud that appears as a consuming fire or a whirlwind. God never shows his face to us, but he does show Moses his back later on in Exodus. Perhaps the reason God does not come to us face to face is because his glory would be like a blast of cannon fire hitting us straight in the belly.

Just seeing God’s back makes Moses’ face glow with an inner light. Jesus when he is transfigured shines with the light of the sun. When I was a child, a friend once told me that he had beaten the sun. Puzzled, I asked him what he meant and he said, “Well my momma always told me if I stared to long at the sun I would go blind. But I stared at it a long time and for awhile I couldn’t see a thing, but eventually I did! So I’m stronger than the sun, I beat it!” Perhaps if God were to appear to us now in all his glory, it would be like staring into the sun. It is too much; it would blind us temporarily as it did my young friend.

So when God does show us his glory, it appears as a consuming fire. It overtakes the mountain that Moses is on and has his face shining with light for days afterward. It transforms Jesus into this glowing person that blinds and baffles the three disciples so that when they do speak, it is nonsensical.

The more I have thought about this consuming fire, the more I have come to realize that there are two kinds of fire that may consume us in our lives. The first is the one where we are covered in God’s grace, where his Spirit envelops us and helps to transform us into new creations in Christ. We become thirsty for scripture, we seek God in all that we do and we feel consumed. People begin to tell us that they don’t know us anymore because the new person we are becoming eclipses the old one.

God literally burns through our past, cleansing the sin and deadness from our spirits and leaving behind a light that shines brighter than the sun. When Jesus was transfigured, he was showing us the inner light, the power that God has, the glory that was inside Jesus that allowed him to heal so many and to be so wise in his teaching. He was literally transformed into the glory of God and it was a consuming fire, just like the Israelites witnessed when God descended upon the mountain as a cloud. The cloud could not contain God’s magnificence and it appeared as something that could actually devour them.

Truth be told, it was probably frightening to witness. If we were the Israelites and Mount Nittany was Mt. Sinai and we saw this cloud descending upon it and it appeared like a consuming fire, who would be the first one that would want to venture up it? I would not be volunteering to walk that path. If we were Jesus’ disciples and witnessed Jesus literally lighting up like a light bulb, his clothes changing and two men appearing beside him – we would be disoriented and perhaps a little frightened. God’s glory is not some small thing.

But there is another kind of consuming fire. When we allow ourselves to be caught up in the world, when we allow vices to rule our lives we are often consumed. Charlie Sheen has been in the media lately. He has a drug and alcohol problem which has affected his work in the past and now it is threatening to take him completely over – if it hasn’t already.

He has actually gone on live television spouting strange things about winning and tiger blood and raising his twin sons with two women he calls goddesses. This is a man who when he looks in the mirror he sees nothing wrong with himself. He thinks everyone else is crazy to not understand how the life he leads is a great life. He has allowed himself to be taken over and literally devoured by his choices.

Not all of our choices appear bad at first. Many times when we end up stuck in the ditch; we have no idea how we got there. It’s not just one choice that brings us to the breaking point like the movies try to tell us. It isn’t one wish or one action that changes our lives forever. It is a slow process. Did Charlie Sheen plan to become some crazy man that people are now laughing over while they drink their morning coffee? I doubt it. We need to be more deliberate in what we do and say. We need to reconsider the things we have always done to understand if they are things that will help us or hurt us.

A drink after a hard day isn’t bad, but sometimes we have months full of hard days – should we drink after every one of them? There is nothing wrong with having a little alone time away from your family and spouse once in awhile – but if you’re gone more than you’re home then that could be a problem. If you like to eat out and go to different places because being home is boring, there is nothing wrong with that. However, if you do it so often that you are draining your finances then that is a problem. Don’t be consumed by the wrong things. Don’t allow yourself to be taken over and one day realize your life is not your own.

Instead, allow yourself to take some time to find that inner fire. The one that is the Holy Spirit who points out where Jesus is and shows us glimpses of the kingdom of heaven. When we witness God’s glory, it is often in brief flashes. It is sunlight glinting on a coin. That little bit of light is able to wipe away a lot of grime in our lives. When we read the scriptures and are able to spot something new, something we never noticed before it is like finding buried treasure and that is the kind of fire we should be consumed with. Our lives are enriched by God’s glory. We become transformed people, just as Jesus was transformed. We begin to shine with an inner light just as Moses shined. People begin to say, “I don’t know you anymore” and instead of being hurt we are delighted.

God brings richness to our lives that cannot be hid. When we are with God, we are candles in the dark night. Our lights flicker and shine and become a beacon to others. They begin to ask questions, they come forward wanting to know what has changed us. When we walk with Jesus, we become a lighthouse for others. Our lives become consumed with the fire of the Holy Spirit. We are lifted up into God’s grace and we experience what it means to be transformed. Allow yourself to be consumed this week, not by the world but by the Holy Spirit. Let God’s light shine into your darkest places and help you to be transformed.

Amen.