the Week of Christ the King / Proper 29 / Ordinary 34
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New Living Translation
Hebrews 12:29
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because our God is like a fire that can destroy us.
for our God is a consuming fire.
For oure god is a consumynge fyre.
for our God is a consuming fire.
for our God is a consuming fire.
because our God is like a fire that burns things up.
for our God is a consuming fire.
For our God [is] a consuming fire.
for our God is a consuming fire.
for our God is a consuming fire.
For our God is a consuming fire.
For our God is also a consuming fire.
For oure God is fier that wastith.
for our God is a consuming fire.
"For our God is a consuming fire."
Our God is like a destructive fire!
for our God is [indeed] a consuming fire.
for our God is a consuming fire.
For our God is an all-burning fire.
For indeed, "Our God is a consuming fire! "
For also our God [is] a consuming fire.
For our God is an all-consuming fire.Exodus 24:17; Deuteronomy 4:24; 9:3; Psalm 50:3; 97:3; Isaiah 66:15; 2 Thessalonians 1:8; Hebrews 10:27;">[xr]
for our God is a devouring fire.
For our God is a consuming fire.
For our God is a consuming fire.
For our God is a fire that destroys everything.
for indeed our God is a consuming fire.
For euen our God is a consuming fire.
For our God is a consuming fire.
For, even our God, is a consuming fire.
For our God is a consuming fire.
For our God [is] a consumyng fyre.
because our God is indeed a destroying fire.
for our God is a consuming fire.
For our God is a consuming fire.
For indeed our God is a consuming fire.
for also, "Our God is a consuming fire." Deut. 4:24
for also our God [is] a consuming fire.
For oure God is a consumynge fyre.
for "our God is a consuming fire."
For our God is indeed a devouring fire .
For our God is a consuming fire.
God is a fire that can cleanse or destroy.
for our God is a consuming fire.
for our God is a consuming fire.
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
Hebrews 10:27, Exodus 24:17, Numbers 11:1, Numbers 16:35, Deuteronomy 4:24, Deuteronomy 9:3, Psalms 50:3, Psalms 97:3, Isaiah 66:15, Daniel 7:9, 2 Thessalonians 1:8
Reciprocal: Genesis 18:30 - General Exodus 15:11 - fearful Exodus 19:21 - break Exodus 19:24 - but let Exodus 20:26 - thy nakedness Exodus 30:20 - die not Exodus 34:7 - that will by no means clear the guilty Leviticus 10:3 - I will be Numbers 16:21 - that I may Deuteronomy 5:25 - this great Deuteronomy 28:58 - fear this glorious Deuteronomy 29:20 - smoke Deuteronomy 32:22 - For a fire Joshua 3:4 - a space Joshua 24:23 - incline 1 Samuel 12:24 - fear the Lord 2 Samuel 22:9 - went 1 Kings 13:26 - the man 1 Kings 19:12 - a fire 2 Kings 1:10 - let fire 2 Kings 13:3 - and he delivered 1 Chronicles 21:30 - he was afraid Nehemiah 4:14 - great Job 37:22 - with Psalms 2:11 - Serve Psalms 5:7 - in thy Psalms 33:8 - stand Psalms 37:20 - smoke Psalms 78:21 - a fire Psalms 89:7 - General Psalms 89:46 - thy wrath Psalms 106:18 - General Psalms 119:120 - My flesh Ecclesiastes 5:1 - thy foot Isaiah 10:17 - for a flame Isaiah 30:27 - burning Isaiah 33:14 - Who among us shall dwell with the Jeremiah 15:14 - a fire Lamentations 1:13 - above Ezekiel 1:4 - a great Ezekiel 1:27 - the appearance of fire Ezekiel 15:4 - the fire Ezekiel 38:18 - that Daniel 6:26 - tremble Malachi 1:14 - my name Matthew 10:28 - him Luke 3:9 - General Philippians 2:12 - with 1 Timothy 6:21 - have Hebrews 10:31 - to fall 1 John 4:8 - God is
Gill's Notes on the Bible
For our God is a consuming fire. Either God personally considered, God in the person of Christ; so the Shechinah, with the Jews, is called a consuming fire n. Christ is truly God, and he is our God and Lord; and though he is full of grace and mercy, yet he will appear in great wrath to his enemies, who will not have him to reign over them: or rather God essentially considered; whose God he is, and in what sense, and how he comes to be so, :-, what is here said of him, that he is a consuming fire, may be understood of his jealousy in matters of worship, Deuteronomy 4:23, and so carries in it a reason why he is to be served acceptably, with reverence and godly fear. God, and he only, is to be worshipped; and he is to be worshipped in a way suitable to himself; and he has the sole right of fixing the manner of worship, both as to the external and internal parts of it: under the legal dispensation, he was worshipped in a way he then pitched upon, and suitable to it; and under the Gospel dispensation he is to be worshipped in an evangelical way; and he is to have all the glory in every part of worship; and the ordinances of Gospel worship are immovable; nor are they to be altered, or others put in their room, without recurring his displeasure. Moreover, this phrase may be expressive of the preservation of his people, and of the destruction of their enemies, Deuteronomy 9:1. We commonly say, that God out of Christ is a consuming fire; meaning, that God, as an absolute God, is full of wrath and vengeance; and it is a truth, but not the truth of this text; for here it is our God, our covenant God, our God in Christ; not that he is so to the saints, or to them that are in Christ: he is indeed as a wall of fire in his providences, to protect and defend them, and as fire in his word to enlighten and warm them, to guide and direct them, but not a consuming fire to them; this he is to their enemies, who are as thorns, and briers, and stubble before him: and so the Jews interpret Deuteronomy 4:24 of a fire consuming fire o; and observe, that Moses says, thy God, and not our God p; but the apostle here uses the latter phrase.
n Tzeror Hammor, fol. 21. 4. o Zohar in Gen. fol. 35. 3. & 51. 1. & in Exod. fol. 91. 1. & in Lev. fol. 11. 1. p Lexic. Cabalist, p. 111.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
For our God is a consuming fire - This is a further reason why we should serve God with profound reverence and unwavering fidelity. The quotation is made from Deuteronomy 4:24. “For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.” The object of the apostle here seems to be, to show that there was the same reason for fearing the displeasure of God under the new dispensation which there was under the old. It was the same God who was served. There had been no change in his attributes, or in the principles of his government. He was no more the friend of sin now than he was then; and the same perfections of his nature which would then lead him to punish transgression would also lead him to do it now. His anger was really as terrible, and as much to be dreaded as it was at Mount Sinai; and the destruction which he would inflict on his foes would be as terrible now as it was then.
The fearfulness with which he would come forth to destroy the wicked might be compared to a “fire” that consumed all before it; see the notes, Mark 9:44-46. The image here is a most fearful one, and is in accordance with all the representations of God in the Bible and with all that we see in the divine dealings with wicked people, that punishment; as inflicted by him is awful and overwhelming. So it was on the old world; on the cities of the plain; on the hosts of Sennacherib; and on Jerusalem - and so it has been in the calamities of pestilence, war, flood, and famine with which God has visited guilty people. By all these tender and solemn considerations, therefore, the apostle urges the friends of God to perseverance and fidelity in his service. His goodness and mercy; the gift of a Saviour to redeem us; the revelation of a glorious world; the assurance that all may soon be united in fellowship with the angels and the redeemed; the certainty that the kingdom of the Saviour is established on a permanent basis, and the apprehension of the dreadful wrath of God against the guilty, all should lead us to persevere in the duties of our Christian calling, and to avoid those things which would jeopard the eternal interests of our souls.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse Hebrews 12:29. For our God is a consuming fire.] The apostle quotes Deuteronomy 4:24, and by doing so he teaches us this great truth, that sin under the Gospel is as abominable in God's sight as it was under the law; and that the man who does not labour to serve God with the principle and in the way already prescribed, will find that fire to consume him which would otherwise have consumed his sin.
Additional remarks on verses Hebrews 12:22-24.
On the whole, I think the description in these verses refers to the state of the Church here below, and not to any heavenly state. Let us review the particulars:
1. As the law was given on Mount Sinai, so the Gospel was given at Mount Sion.
2. As Jerusalem was the city of the living God while the Jewish dispensation lasted, (for there was the temple, its services, sacrifices, c.,) the Christian Church is now called the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. In it is the great sacrifice, in it that spiritual worship, which God, the infinite Spirit, requires.
3. The ministry of angels was used under the old covenant, but that was partial, being granted only to particular persons, such as Moses, Joshua, Manoah, c., and only to a few before the law, as Abraham, Jacob, &c. It is employed under the new covenant in its utmost latitude, not to a few peculiarly favoured people, but to all the followers of God in general so that in this very epistle the apostle asserts that they are all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister to them that shall be heirs of salvation.
4. At the giving of the law, when the Church of the old covenant was formed, there was a general assembly of the different tribes by their representatives in the Gospel Church all who believe in Christ, of every nation, and kindred, and tongue, form one grand aggregate body. Believers of all nations, of all languages, of all climates, however differing in their colour or local habits, are one in Christ Jesus; one body, of which he is the head, and the Holy Spirit the soul.
5, The first-born under the old dispensation had exclusive privileges; they had authority, emolument, and honour, of which the other children in the same family did not partake: but under the new, all who believe in Christ Jesus, with a heart unto righteousness, are equally children of God, are all entitled to the same privileges; for, says the apostle, ye are all children of God by faith in Christ, and to them that received him he gave authority to become the children of God; so that through the whole of this Divine family all have equal rights and equal privileges, all have GOD for their portion, and heaven for their inheritance.
6. As those who had the rights of citizens were enrolled, and their names entered on tables, c., so that it might be known who were citizens, and who had the rights of such so all the faithful under the new covenant are represented as having their names written in heaven, which is another form of speech for, have a right to that glorious state, and all the blessings it possesses; there are their possessions, and there are their rights.
7. Only the high priest, and he but one day in the year, was permitted to approach God under the Old Testament dispensation; but under the New, every believer in Jesus can come even to the throne, each has liberty to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, and, to real Christians alone it can be said, Ye are come - to God the Judge of all - to him ye have constant access, and from him ye are continually receiving grace upon grace. We have already seen that the righteous perfect, or the just men made perfect, is a Jewish phrase, and signified those who had made the farthest advances in moral rectitude. The apostle uses it here to point out those in the Church of Christ who had received the highest degrees of grace, possessed most of the mind of Christ, and were doing and suffering most for the glory of God; those who were most deeply acquainted with the things of God and the mysteries of the Gospel, such as the apostles, evangelists, the primitive teachers, and those who presided in and over different Churches. And these are termed the spirits διακαιων τετελειωμενων, of the just perfected, because they were a spiritual people, forsaking earth, and living in reference to that spiritual rest that was typified by Canaan. In short, all genuine Christians had communion with each other, through God's Spirit, and even with those whose faces they had not seen in the flesh.
9. Moses, as the servant of God, and mediator of the old covenant, was of great consequence in the Levitical economy. By his laws and maxims every thing was directed and tried; and to him the whole Hebrew people came for both their civil and religious ordinances: but Christians come to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant; he not only stands immediately between God and man, but reconciles and connects both. From him we receive the Divine law, by his maxims our conversation is to be ruled, and he gives both the light and life by which we walk; these things Moses could not do, and for such spirituality and excellence the old covenant made no provision; it was therefore a high privilege to be able to say, Ye are come - to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant.
10. The Jews had their blood of sprinkling, but it could not satisfy as touching things which concerned the conscience; it took away no guilt, it made no reconciliation to God: but the blood of sprinkling under the Christian covenant purifies from all unrighteousness; for the blood of the new covenant was shed for the remission of sins, and by its infinite merit it still continues to sprinkle and cleanse the unholy. All these are privileges of infinite consequence to the salvation of man; privileges which should be highly esteemed and most cautiously guarded; and because they are so great, so necessary, and so unattainable in the Levitical economy, therefore we should lay aside every weight, c., and run with perseverance the race that is set before us. I see nothing therefore in these verses which determines their sense to the heavenly state all is suited to the state of the Church of Christ militant here on earth; and some of these particulars cannot be applied to the Church triumphant on any rule of construction whatever.
