The Daily Word of Righteousness

Saved by Judgment, continued

The sinners in Zion are terrified; trembling grips the godless: "Who of us can dwell with the consuming fire? Who of us can dwell with everlasting burning?" (Isaiah 33:14—NIV)

"Who of us can dwell with everlasting burning?" Isaiah asks us this question. Then he answers his own question:

"He who walks righteously and speaks what is right, who rejects gain from extortion and keeps his hand from accepting bribes, who stops his ears against plots of murder and shuts his eyes against contemplating evil." (Isaiah 33:15—NIV)

And explains the consequences:

"This is the man who will dwell on the heights, whose refuge will be the mountain fortress. His bread will be supplied, and water will not fail him. Your eyes will see the king in his beauty and view a land that stretches afar." (Isaiah 33:16,17—NIV)

The Lord Jesus always lives, moves, and has His Being in the Divine Fire, in the heart of the Father. Jesus said, "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am." (John 14:3—NIV)

Our tradition has it that Jesus will return to bring us to Heaven. This is not what the above verse means at all. It means that Jesus will come to each believer and bring him or her to the Consuming Fire. Three verses later in John the Lord said that no one comes to the Father except through Himself, not to Heaven but to the Father!

The Lord Jesus always dwells in the Fire that God Is. In His great love for us Jesus wants us to be with Him where He is, that is, in the heart of the Divine Fire. Jesus has gone to the cross, and then to the Father in Heaven that He may prepare a place for us in the Father. We are to become a room in the Father's eternal house.

How do we prepare ourselves to dwell with the Furnace of Israel? By letting the Holy Spirit "fireproof" us today. It is today that the Lord wishes to cleanse us from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit so there is no chaff in us that will burn when we are brought into His Presence.

If our works are gold, silver, precious stones, then the fires of God's judgment on our life will only purify what we are and what we have done.

But if our works are those of the flesh, not having been wrought in Christ, the Divine fire will leave us naked and destitute. This is how we will appear when we are raised from the dead.

There is this about the holy Fire of God. When we determine to be holy as He is holy, holiness becomes a delight to us. We develop an absolute passion for holiness. We can't get enough of God's fire. We desire more and more fire until we are thinking in the Divine Fire; speaking in the Divine Fire; acting in the Divine Fire. There is no environment in which to live that compares in joy and peace with the Heart of our holy Father. This is where we always find the Lord Jesus.

Let God judge you and send necessary problems, pains, and pressures. If you respond cheerfully with a willing and obedient heart you will purchase for yourself a better resurrection, having been saved by judgment. (from Saved by Judgment)