Christians by and large have misunderstood this thing, this concept, we call “salvation.”  “Believe in the LORD Jesus and you shall be saved” we regurgitate to unbelievers as we paraphrase Romans 10:9. So now Christians sit by and watch as those more serious about their religion begin to destroy and overtake the civilization they built over the past two millennia. Of course, it isn’t a very pretty or moral civilization anymore for the Christians who built it thought that they needed to merely “believe” in Jesus and everything would be alright. Afterall Jesus forgave them for all their sins, they thought, and so it didn’t much matter to them if they kept on sinning.

No, it didn’t matter when as colonial “Christian” powers they invaded lands not theirs and raped and destroyed all indigenous peoples, plundering their goods as they went. No, it didn’t matter when, after they had conquered and subjagated lands and kingdoms, they began to indulge in every sin of the flesh one could imagine.  It didn’t even matter when their governments began to tell them that they could not worship Christ in the public square and that their children could not pray to their God in the public schools. The schools were free and their Christian religion wasn’t really that important, was it?

The multitude of Christians view their religion simply as a matter of faith, a faith that only means they believe that Jesus died for their sins. This is not the faith that Jesus, the apostles, or the Old Testament prophets taught. Faith for them was always a matter of coming into the perfect character of God Himself.  He taught this concept from the very beginning, saying:

And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be you perfect. (Genesis 17:1 KJ2000)

And whosoever offers a sacrifice of peace offerings unto the LORD to accomplish his vow, or a freewill offering in cattle or sheep, it shall be perfect to be accepted; there shall be no blemish in it. (Leviticus 22:21 KJ2000)

You shall be perfect with the LORD your God. (Deuteronomy 18:13 KJ2000)

But you shall have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure shall you have: that your days may be lengthened in the land which the LORD your God gives you. (Deuteronomy 25:15 KJ2000)

Let your heart therefore be perfect with the LORD our God, to walk in his statutes, and to keep his commandments, as at this day. (1 Kings 8:61 KJ2000)

And you, Solomon my son, know you the God of your father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the LORD searches all hearts, and understands all the imaginations of the thoughts: if you seek him, he will be found of you; but if you forsake him, he will cast you off forever. (1 Chronicles 28:9 KJ2000)

My eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me: he that walks in a perfect way, he shall serve me. (Psalms 101:6 KJ2000)

Of course, we think, we Christians are far more enlightened than those ancient Jews who lived under the Law. Christ has annulled the Law, we say, and thus we no longer must live under the weight of its tyrannous restraints. Consequently we abandoned morality in many of our churches and even now ordain to the ministry those whom Moses taught were worthy of death. You see, we Christians are far more enlightened than Israel of old!

Yet, truth teaches exactly the opposite of modern day Christianity. Jesus and Paul, like Moses and David, preached that only that which is perfect may come into the presence of God. And what, please tell me, is salvation if it is not coming into the ever-dwelling presence of God? “Oh,” you say, “salvation is eternal life. We have eternal life by faith in Jesus.”  To which I answer, why would we want eternal life if we remained steeped in our rebellion to God and our gross sins? Would such eternal life be worth living?  No, a thousand times, NO!  Jesus admonished, “Be you therefore perfect, even as your Father who is in heaven is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48 KJ2000) For it is only in such perfection that we will find eternal life a blessing and not the curse of unbearable hell….

So, as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believes; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For in it is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness. (Romans 1:15-18 KJ2000)

Paul preaches here that the wrath of God comes against all who hold the truth in unrighteousness. He thus makes the wrath of God part of his gospel. We might wonder, especially if we believe that all unbelievers and sinners are cast into an eternal hell, how God’s wrath could ever be considered “good news” to anyone. Yet, Paul said that is because it is part and parcel of the good news (gospel) he preaches.

Could Paul simply be saying that the wrath of God against sinners is good news to us who believe because it means that a day comes when we will be glad and clap our hands at the fall and destruction of our enemies? No indeed, for God teaches throughout his word that we must not rejoice when we see our enemy judged, lest God turn his wrath away from him.

Rejoice not when your enemy falls, and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles. Lest the LORD sees it, and it displeases him, and he turns away his wrath from him. (Proverbs 24:17-18 KJ2000)*

Why then is the doctrine of God’s wrath part of the gospel, part of the good news of knowing God? To understand this we must know the purpose of God’s wrath. What does he intend that it accomplish? First we see that God’s wrath comes against or is “revealed from heaven” against “all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.” This means that God intends us to be godly and righteous, terms which, of course, represent the intrinsic moral characteristics of God himself. The ultimate purpose of the gospel is to transform humans into beings who are like God. God created us “in his image,” but he did not program us to be always good. Had he done so, we could never have been like him, for we would never have known evil and would never have developed that peculiar godlike character which knows both good and evil and yet chooses the good because his core nature is good.

This explains why God placed the serpent in the midst of the garden of Eden. God knew that the serpent would deceive Eve and cause her to eat the forbidden fruit. Likewise he knew that Adam would eat in order to remain “one” with his wife. He knew they would disobey his command not to eat and yet he planned that they would eat. It was after this that God said,

“Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever…” (Genesis 3:22 KJ2000)

But why is wrath itself important? Because many men simply will not learn God’s ways unless forced to by divine intervention known as “wrath.” Take the time to read the book of Ezekiel. There you will see that God pronounces judgments upon every surrounding nation of Israel and upon Israel itself. Then after the pronouncement of each judgment, in anticipation of the result the wrath will bring, God says, “Then you will know that I am the LORD!” Here Paul begins his gospel by making God’s wrath an actual part of it and by identifying who that wrath comes against. God purposes wrath to bring men to the knowledge of Himself and he purposes his gospel to make men fully into his image.

* God takes no pleasure in the destruction of the wicked and neither should we. When we see or learn of the destruction or judgment of an ungodly person we ought to learn to mourn for them, that they did not learn righteousness while they lived. If they do still live, let us pray for their repentance and faith. This reality is to be distinguished from that of rejoicing when God ends the rule of the wicked and establishes his Kingdom as we see in the following verse:

The righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance: he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked. (Psalms 58:10 KJ2000)

So, as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believes; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For in it is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith. (Romans 1:15-17 KJ2000)

Paul begins his letter to the Roman Christians by telling them that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation and that in this gospel the righteousness of God is revealed. Next he says that this gospel of righteousness is revealed “from faith to faith.” What does that mean?

Paul means the same thing that John means in the second part of his sentence when he says, “But these are written, that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you might have life through his name.” (John 20:31 KJ2000) As we saw in Romans 1:1-8 Paul speaks to Christians, to those who already believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. This is their “first” faith in terms of their Christian life and experience, their Christian walk. Paul now says that the gospel itself, wherein the righteousness of God is revealed, must be revealed “from faith to faith.”

Consider your own experience of faith. If yourr has been anything like mine it began with actually feeling the presence of God. First, I remember feeling deep remorse for the way I was living my life. I began to know that I actually lived a sinful life. I remember on one occasion a young woman drove me to work. On the way there I just began to silently weep. She looked over at me and said, “What’s wrong with you?” I just looked over at her and said, “I’m sinning!” She looked me as if to say, “Are you crazy?” I never saw her again, but this was one of my earliest experiences of faith. I had been reading the Bible regularly for a few weeks and those words (and, I’m sure, the presence of the Holy Spirit) were beginning to convict me of sin.

A month or two after this I was still reading my new Bible daily. I had not yet “accepted” or “received” Jesus as my savior. But, I was certainly being convicted of sin! Well, one night I was reading the Old Testament and was suddenly struck with the thought that the author of the Old Testament was the same as the author of the New Testament. I knew the two testaments were written hundreds of years apart and I knew that different men supposedly wrote the various books of each testatment. Yet, I knew that the same person had written both what I had read in the New Testament earlier in the day and what I was reading in the Old Testament this night. It was like reading different books by your favorite author, for example, Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis.  By the time you have read of few of those you would recognize the author of the rest without being told.

So, I said to myself, “This is impossible…unless God wrote the Bible.” Then the voice of God spoke to me and said, “That’s right Glenn, and I want you to teach my word.” Boom! My life was changed. Immediately I said to myself, “Then I better do what it says.” Of course I immediately believed that Jesus was who he said he was. And I began to make changes in my life. This was  the beginning of my faith. This is a literal example of what Paul means when he says, “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God,” which we find later in this book to the Romans.

During the first year or two after this profound experience I actually felt the presence of God at various church and small group meetings I attended, or even sometimes when I was just by myself. I knew that I knew that I had heard God speak to me, I knew that he wrote the Bible, and I knew he was real! These were exciting times! Of course, such a revelation from GOD also led to vanity. I was called to be a preacher by God himself! I must be somebody! Well, God then had to cool my heals so he withdrew his presence and took me into many wilderness places and experiences. But he always gave me a word, a fresh revelation from his Spirit, when I needed it. Remember, “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.” Thus he led me in his way from word to word, that is, “from faith to faith.” This way is the way of the revelation of his righteousness. It is by hearing God, and then believing and putting on God’s own righteousness  that, ultimately John says, we ”have life through his name.” Life, eternal life, only comes to us when we have been clothed in God’s righteousness

Part 5: The Just Shall Live By Faith

I have noticed over the years that Christians tend to interpret the Bible in a way that pushes all, or most, punishments and rebukes of believers onto unbelievers. I suppose that this somehow appeases our consciences so that we can continue to indulge in certain sins that we just don’t want to give up. But, it is important to note one thing. The Bible is written almost entirely to believers. Very little of the thousands of words and hundreds of chapters of Scripture should be considered “evangelistic” in the sense of attempting to “save” us by making us believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who died for our sins and rose from the dead to bring us eternal life.

This is particularly true of the Book of Romans. Here Paul clearly wrote for and spoke to Christians, people who already believed in Jesus. Consider his introduction alone:

Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, (Which he had promised before by his prophets in the holy scriptures,) Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was made of the descendants of David according to the flesh; And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead: By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name: Among whom are you also the called of Jesus Christ: To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world. (Romans 1:1-8 KJ2000)

In this short passage Paul makes it clear he speaks to Christians in three separate verses, verses 6, 7, and 8.  Then in verse 11 he speaks of imparting spiritual gifts to them to establish their faith and in verse 12 he equates their faith with his. Then, interestingly, he tells them in verse 15 that he wants to “preach the gospel” to them. This implies that the “gospel” includes far more than merely the truth about who Jesus is and that he died for their and our sins. Remember, he speaks to believers, not unbelievers here.

This means that one of the world’s most famous and popular Scriptures relating to initial salvation, in fact the beginning of “the Romans Road to salvation” has nothing to do with our initial salvation at all.  Here is the verse:

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believes; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. (Romans 1:16 KJ2000)

The “gospel,” that which Paul desires to bring to the Romans and preach to them, is, he says, the power of God unto salvation. Remember, he is speaking to believers already. This salvation, he says here, is for “every one that believes.” In other words, one has to already believe the truth about who Jesus is before one may go on to this salvation Paul speaks of here. What could this salvation be if not one’s initial spiritual salvation that one gains through faith in Jesus Christ? It is the salvation which allows us to ENTER the Kingdom of God. These Roman Christians to whom Paul speaks here could SEE the Kingdom, but they could only see it from afar. Paul now begins to teach them how they may one day enter into this most desired place. And he does so through the Gospel!

Part 2

We shall now look at the third temptation. The first was to help himself in his need; the second, perhaps, to assert the Father; the third to deliver his brethren.

To deliver them, that is, after the fashion of men—from the outside still. Indeed, the whole Temptation may be regarded as the contest of the seen and the unseen, of the outer and inner, of the likely and the true, of the show and the reality. And as in the others, the evil in this last lay in that it was a temptation to save his brethren, instead of doing the Will of his Father.

Could it be other than a temptation to think that he might, if he would, lay a righteous grasp upon the reins of government, leap into the chariot of power, and ride forth conquering and to conquer? Glad visions arose before him of the prisoner breaking jubilant from the cell of injustice; of the widow lifting up the bowed head before the devouring Pharisee; of weeping children bursting into shouts at the sound of the wheels of the chariot before which oppression and wrong shrunk and withered, behind which sprung the fir-tree instead of the thorn, and the myrtle instead of the brier. What glowing visions of holy vengeance, what rosy dreams of human blessedness—and all from his hand—would crowd such a brain as his!—not like the castles-in-the-air of the aspiring youth, for he builds at random, because he knows that he cannot realize; but consistent and harmonious as well as grand, because he knew them within his reach. Could he not mould the people at his will? Could he not, transfigured in his snowy garments, call aloud in the streets of Jerusalem, “Behold your King?” And the fierce warriors of his nation would start at the sound; the ploughshare would be beaten into the sword, and the pruning-hook into the spear; and the nation, rushing to his call, learn war yet again indeed,—a grand, holy war—a crusade—no; we should not have had that word; but a war against the tyrants of the race—the best, as they called themselves— who trod upon their brethren, and would not suffer them even to look to the heavens.—Ah! but when were his garments white as snow? When, through them, glorifying them as it passed, did the light stream from his glorified body? Not when he looked to such a conquest; but when, on a mount like this, he “spake of the decease that he should accomplish at Jerusalem”! Why should this be “the sad end of the war”? “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.” Not even thine own visions of love and truth, O Saviour of the world, shall be thy guides to thy goal, but the will of thy Father in heaven.

But how would he, thus conquering, be a servant of Satan? Wherein would this be a falling-down and a worshipping of him (that is, an acknowledging of the worth of him) who was the lord of misrule and its pain?

I will not inquire whether such an enterprise could be accomplished without the worship of Satan,—whether men could be managed for such an end without more or less of the trickery practised by every ambitious leader, every self-serving conqueror—without double-dealing, tact, flattery, finesse. I will not inquire into this, because, on the most distant supposition of our Lord being the leader of his country’s armies, these things drop out of sight as impossibilities. If these were necessary, such a career for him refuses to be for a moment imagined. But I will ask whether to know better and do not so well, is not a serving of Satan;—whether to lead men on in the name of God as towards the best when the end is not the best, is not a serving of Satan;—whether to flatter their pride by making them conquerors of the enemies of their nation instead of their own evils, is not a serving of Satan;—in a word, whether, to desert the mission of God, who knew that men could not be set free in that way, and sent him to be a man, a true man, the one man, among them, that his life might become their life, and that so they might be as free in prison or on the cross, as upon a hill-side or on a throne,—whether, so deserting the truth, to give men over to the lie of believing other than spirit and truth to be the worship of the Father, other than love the fulfilling of the law, other than the offering of their best selves the service of God, other than obedient harmony with the primal love and truth and law, freedom,— whether, to desert God thus, and give men over thus, would not have been to fall down and worship the devil. Not all the sovereignty of God, as the theologians call it, delegated to the Son, and administered by the wisdom of the Spirit that was given to him without measure, could have wrought the kingdom of heaven in one corner of our earth. Nothing but the obedience of the Son, the obedience unto the death, the absolute doing of the will of God because it was the truth, could redeem the prisoner, the widow, the orphan. But it would redeem them by redeeming the conquest-ridden conqueror too, the stripe-giving jailer, the unjust judge, the devouring Pharisee himself with the insatiable moth-eaten heart. The earth should be free because Love was stronger than Death. Therefore should fierceness and wrong and hypocrisy and God-service play out their weary play. He would not pluck the spreading branches of the tree; he would lay the axe to its root. It would take time; but the tree would be dead at last—dead, and cast into the lake of fire. It would take time; but his Father had time enough and to spare. It would take courage and strength and self-denial and endurance; but his Father could give him all. It would cost pain of body and mind, yea, agony and torture; but those he was ready to take on himself. It would cost him the vision of many sad and, to all but him, hopeless sights; he must see tears without wiping them, hear sighs without changing them into laughter, see the dead lie, and let them lie; see Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted; he must look on his brothers and sisters crying as children over their broken toys, and must not mend them; he must go on to the grave, and they not know that thus he was setting all things right for them. His work must be one with and completing God’s Creation and God’s History. The disappointment and sorrow and fear he could, he would bear. The will of God should be done. Man should be free,—not merely man as he thinks of himself, but man as God thinks of him. The divine idea shall be set free in the divine bosom; the man on earth shall see his angel face to face. He shall grow into the likeness of the divine thought, free not in his own fancy, but in absolute divine fact of being, as in God’s idea. The great and beautiful and perfect will of God must be done.

“Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.”

It was when Peter would have withstood him as he set his face steadfastly to meet this death at Jerusalem, that he gave him the same kind of answer that he now gave to Satan, calling him Satan too.

“Then the devil leaveth him, and behold angels came and ministered unto him.”

So saith St Matthew. They brought him the food he had waited for, walking in the strength of the word. He would have died if it had not come now.

“And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season.”

So saith St Luke.

Then Satan ventured once more. When?

Was it then, when at the last moment, in the agony of the last faint, the Lord cried out, “Why hast thou forsaken me?” when, having done the great work, having laid it aside clean and pure as the linen cloth that was ready now to infold him, another cloud than that on the mount overshadowed his soul, and out of it came a voiceless persuasion that, after all was done, God did not care for his work or for him?

Even in those words the adversary was foiled—and for ever. For when he seemed to be forsaken, his cry was still, “My God! my God!“

(From Unspoken Sermons by George MacDonald)

And Jesus said unto him, Receive your sight: your faith has saved you. (Luke 18:42 KJ2000)

“Your faith has saved you?”  How often we hear preachers who preach upon this verse tell us that we simply were not healed because we did not have enough faith!  Has anyone ever told you that?  It happened all the time in the charismatic wanderings of my Christian twenties.  My pastors passed out books on the subject and I read them.  Then at age thirty my third child died shortly after birth, after three days of wrenching labor, strange details, and an emergency c-section.  My wife expected Jesus to then, of course, raise little Katie from the dead, but that didn’t happen, at least not then.

What was wrong?  Did we not have enough faith?  Many would tell us so, but they would be mistaken.  Faith itself and the measure each of us has are gifts from God.  I can no more create faith than I can create this world or Mars.  Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.  Has the Word of God been revealed to you?  Good, then you have faith.  Has it not? Don’t fret.  Ask and you will receive.

So, did this man’s own faith save him?  Did his own faith restore his sight?  If you think so, then you must believe that he had a lot of faith, more than you and I have ever had, for which of us has prayed for the blind man and seen his eyes opened and his vision healed?  No one I know and I have been at this a long, long time.

“Your faith has saved you,” Jesus said.  What was this man’s faith?  It was Jesus.  The fact was not that he had enough faith in Jesus.  The fact was that Jesus, the son of David, the LORD, was passing before this blind man and he knew it.  Jesus thus asked him what he wanted.  He told him, Jesus healed him and said, “Your faith has saved you.”  This was to say, “I (AM) has healed you and I (AM) has saved you.”

It is not the “amount” of faith you have which saves you; it is Jesus who saves you.  Thus Jesus said, “If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, then you can….”  It is not “greater” faith which saves; it is the God-man Jesus who saves; it is not “greater” faith which moves the mountain; it is Jesus who moves the mountain.  Your faith IS Jesus!

Then said one unto him, Lord, are there few that be saved? And he said unto them, “Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.” (Luke 13:23-24 KJV)

Have you ever considered how seldom Jesus actually answered people’s questions? On the suface, at least, he seemed not to. Instead, Jesus answered people according to the proverb, “Do not answer a fool according to his folly; answer a fool according to his folly.” This tells us something about this particular question, doesn’t it? What business is it of ours concerning who shall be saved? Salvation in general is the LORD’s business, not ours, and salvation in particular, that is, the salvation of Joe Blow is between the LORD and Joe Blow. Perhaps we spend too much time considering whether or not some, many, or all shall be saved. Each of us should be concerned about our own salvation.

 Jesus then continues answering the unnamed man, this time in parable:

When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are: Then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets. But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out. And they shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God. And, behold, there are last which shall be first, and there are first which shall be last. (Luke 13:25-30 KJV)

Many believe they can act and do as they please after they believe in Jesus.  Afterall, Jesus has forgiven their sins, hasn’t he?  They believe they are “once saved, always saved.”  Others believe that all men are saved and nothing special is really required of them.  Still others believe that God consigns the masses to eternal hell and that only the select few of their little club (church) is saved.  But, Jesus tells us to be concerned about ourselves.  Each one of us must strive to enter through the narrow gate.

Enter in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leads to destruction, and many there be who go in there: Because narrow is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leads unto life, and few there be that find it. Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. You shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree brings forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree brings forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that brings not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you shall know them. Not every one that says unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name? and in your name have cast out demons? and in your name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, you that work iniquity. Therefore whosoever hears these sayings of mine, and does them, I will liken him unto a wise man, who built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that hears these sayings of mine, and does them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it. And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his teachings: For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. (Matthew 7:13-29 KJ2000)

Who, then, shall be saved?  Only he who does the will of Jesus, the Father in heaven.

What is fire in the Scripture?  What does it represent?  Why did God’s Law demand that certain sinners be burned after they were stoned to death for their sin?  To illustrate endless torture in Hell as most religious people think?  Hardly.

1 This is the blessing with which Moses the man of God blessed the people of Israel before his death. 2He said,

“The LORD came from Sinai

and dawned from Seir upon us;

he shone forth from Mount Paran;

he came from the ten thousands of holy ones,

with flaming fire at his right hand.

3 Yes, he loved his people,

all his holy ones were in his hand;

so they followed in your steps,

receiving direction from you,

4 when Moses commanded us a law,

as a possession for the assembly of Jacob. (Deuteronomy 33:1-4, ESV)

Notice in this passage that “flaming fire” is at, or in, God’s right hand.  Notice also that his “holy ones” are in his hand.  God’s holy ones literally comprise his flaming fire.  These are those who follow in God’s steps.  They know his way.  These are those that receive direction from their LORD.  They respect and obey the law he commanded Moses.

Now consider the book of Daniel.

9″As I looked,

thrones were placed,

and the Ancient of Days took his seat;

his clothing was white as snow,

and the hair of his head like pure wool;

his throne was fiery flames;

its wheels were burning fire.

10 A stream of fire issued

and came out from before him;

a thousand thousands served him,

and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him;

the court sat in judgment,

and the books were opened. (Daniel 7:9-10 ESV)

Here once again we see God described in terms of fire.  Fire defines his very throne, the symbol of his rule and authority.  So, now let’s consider what Jesus meant when he told his disciples that they must be salted with fire.

43 And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched:  44 Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. 45 And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched:  46 Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.  47 And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire:  48 Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.  49 For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt.  50 Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his saltness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another. (Mark 9:43-50)

Everyone shall be salted with fire.  You and I are no exceptions.  So, then, are we to pluck out our eyes when we look upon anything or anyone with lust?  Are we to cut off our arms or our feet if we find that we sin by using them?  Isn’t this what Jesus tells us to do?  If he does not mean for us to do that, then what does he mean?  Can we follow any instructions that he gives us?  How can we know what to do and what not to do?  How do we know when he speaks literally and when he does not?  How can I know anything!

“The sum of thy word is truth,” declared the psalmist.  Study this word.  Learn it.  Know it.  Obey it.  In Scripture “fire” describes the application of God’s word.  Those who learn to apply it in this life save their souls and become tools in the hand of God.  Those who do not shall have their part in the Lake of Fire.  They too will be salted with fire in due course.  Jesus tells his disciples to apply the word now.  Salt yourself with fire now, while you still have a choice in the matter.