Cleansing Fire

36-year-old Bonsai, Phipps Botanical Gardens, Pittsburgh

I am come to send fire on the earth.

Luke 12:49 [NIV]

If I were relying on my own power of memory, and you were to ask me if I had ever seen a fire up close, I would answer truthfully, “No, I haven’t.”  However, this is not the truth.  I was told by my parents that when I was a very small child, my paternal Grandmother’s house burned to the ground, and our family was there when it happened.  The sight of the fire’s destruction of everything I associated with my grandmother was such a shock to me, I began to stutter, and continued to do so for many months.

Fire is our fourth symbol in scripture of the Holy Spirit’s glory, presence and power.  During the wilderness journey to the promised land, Moses and God’s people were covered with “…a pillar of fire by day…”  This incredible miracle brought light to the camp, warmth from the desert cold, a constant reminder of God’s presence, and a potent protection.  When John the Baptist spoke about Jesus, he said that Jesus would baptize with fire [Matthew 3:11].  Jesus Himself said that He came to send fire on the earth [Luke 12:49].  Paul proclaimed that Every man’s work shall be made manifest; for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is [1 Corinthians 3:13].  Hebrews states that …our God is a consuming fire [Hebrews 12:29].  When the disciples and other followers of Christ were gathered in the upper room after His ascension to heaven, the Holy Spirit came upon them in the form of flames of fire: cleansing, filling, preparing.

Fire opens up a structure and reveals everything that is on the inside.  In the same way, the Holy Spirit reveals a person as they really are—showing us ourselves as God sees us.  The prophet Malachi wrote, He is like a refiner’s fire…, and He shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering of righteousness [Malachi 3:2-3].  This fire is not a destructive force, but a cleansing one. We are to be baptized by divine fire now, to save us from destruction by all-consuming fire later. 

Fire of God, Thou sacred flame,

Spirit who in splendor came,

Let Thy heat my soul refine

Till it glows with love divine.