Our God Is a Consuming Fire

Meditations on Christ in the Psalms 

November 18, 2022

Our God Is a Consuming Fire

The Lord is king!

    Let the nations tremble!

He sits on his throne between the cherubim.

    Let the whole earth quake!

Psalm 99:1

Does familiarity breed contempt? When Jesus returned to his hometown of Nazareth, the people scoffed saying, “He’s just a carpenter, the son of Mary.” They didn’t accept his teaching and “were deeply offended and refused to believe in him.” (Mark 6: 1-4) They were too close to Jesus. How could this young man they had seen grow up in their community be the Messiah?

The writer of Hebrews strongly urges his congregation to remember “since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us give thanks, by which we offer to God an acceptable worship with reverence and awe; for indeed our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:28-29). I believe we would do well to contemplate this passage in Hebrews, and then read Psalm 99, lest we succumb to the contemptible nature of the people in Nazareth and scoff at the Lordship of Jesus.

“The Lord is king!

    Let the nations tremble!

He sits on his throne between the cherubim.

    Let the whole earth quake!”

                                                                                    Psalm 99:1

Four times in nine verses the psalmist refers to the holiness of God. Twice the psalmist urges Israel to “Exalt the Lord our God!” (v.5, 9) The psalmist extols God’s virtues of justice, fairness, righteousness, and forgiveness, and then calls Israel to worship, “for the Lord our God is holy!” (v.9)

Yes, in Christ, we are now friends with God (Romans 5:10-11). Yes, in Christ, we can call God, Abba Father. Yes, we are now heirs of God, joint heirs with Jesus. (Romans 8:15-17) Even so, The Lord is king; the Lord our God is holy!

My Takeaway: In just a few days, we will gather in our churches to praise the awesome and great name of our God. (Psalm 99:3) Today, let us begin preparing to offer God an acceptable worship with reverence and awe; for indeed our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:28-29).

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

 

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

 

Copyright © 2022 by Alex M. Knight

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.