Gods Character: The Pilar of Fire and a 2024 Prophecy

Last week we covered Exodus 13 and how God was the Cloud by day to Isreal as they were in the wilderness. God shows us his character in how he presented himself to Israel as the cloud, he covers, he protects, and he delivers. Both the cloud and the fire reveal different aspects of God’s character. This week let’s continue in Exodus 13 and look at God’s character in the pillar of Fire. Why did God choose to show up as the pillar of fire by night? What is he saying about himself?

Reading Exodus 13 reminded me that I used to love this show called Naked and Afraid, it was about two people who were sent into the wilderness whether it was the swamp, a desert, or a forest; they were sent out without clothes all they had was a bag, one tool of their choice and each other. The contestants had to survive for 21 days. Sometimes we saw an expert survivalist and other times the producers selected a person who had no business being in the woods. Sometimes, you could just look at the people and tell who would make the full 21 days and who wouldn’t. 

The show was interesting because the issue usually seemed to be that the expert survivalist was much more adventurous than the other less experienced person. They would climb higher, they would hunt further and usually take a bit more risk than the amateur because they were used to the environment. 

The primary issue with the different approaches was that sometimes the more experienced person would get injured and it caused the amateur to have to step up and take care of things on their own. On occasion, we would even see the expert removed from the show by the medics, when that happened the amature had to make a choice; they could tap out and go home or they could stay and try to make it to the end of the 21 days. Things got interesting when they chose to survive. 

As I sat in my warm home with and full belly and my fuzzy socks, I just knew could pull off the rest of the 21-day survival on my own. But how? Of course, I watched for the basics water, food, shelter, and fire. The amateur was particularly careful to keep their fire going. Without fire, they knew they would only be able to survive a couple of days.

I distinctly remember on one episode of Naked and Afraid a contestant was half asleep in the middle of the night when a fire broke out, they lost everything! The fire consumed the entire camp! This is exactly what we see as Israel was in the wilderness, God was working out of Israel what Egypt instilled. He wanted to get rid of the parts of Israel that didn’t align with his desire for his people. He was preparing them for the promised land. It took Israel 40 years to go on a 3-day walk all because of their heart posture and mindset. The people of Isreal held on to who they used to be with such conviction that God refused to let them go into the promised land as they were, he waited for the next generation to arise.

As God spoke to Moses in the wilderness and gave him the Ten Commandments he also gave Moses instructions on making his judgments fairly. In Exodus 22:6 the bible says:

If a fire breaks out and spreads into thornbushes so that it burns shocks of grain or standing grain or the whole field, the one who started the fire must make restitution.

The Bible describes God as a Consuming fire (Hebrews 12:29). Everything he touches either changes or is destroyed. God is so holy that he burns up anything that doesn’t look like him! That includes anything you put before him all of it must go. God even consumes us, but the difference is he sustains us in the fire. 

When God sets a fire he puts the responsibility on himself to restore whatever he burned!

What are you throwing buckets of water on trying to keep God from consuming? We have to allow God to be the fire in our lives because he’s a gentleman, he won’t impose his will on us. Yes, God is a consuming fire but he’s not going to pry anything from your hands. What if Israel went back to Egypt and never crossed the Red Sea? What if Meshack, Shadrach, and Abenidgo bowed a worshipped the king instead of standing for God? What if the disciples kept fishing and never got off their boats to follow Jesus when he called? 

What is God trying to consume but you wont let him?

Whether it be the way we treat others, how we spend our money, how we spend our time, the relationships we have, or the jobs we work. God is an all-consuming fire, he doesn’t just want one part of your life, he wants it all, he wants every part of you! But dont forget his fair judgment, whatever he has set fire to is his responsibility to restore! Jesus is kind and his scales are balanced. If you trust him he will show you that he is trustworthy. 

Israel trusted God in the wilderness not to consume their camp as he led them. They trusted him for heat and light on those cold, dark, desert nights. In the wilderness, there were still dangerous animals and I believe God showed up as fire by night for a reason. When you think about every survival show ever, one of the primary reasons for fire is protection. Many animals see fire and they think of “danger”. There are two important things that the Holy Spirit impressed on me. The first point is that maybe God had to bring quail in by wind to feed Israel for a reason, animals typically run from fire. Secondly, the bible says in 1Peter 5:8: 

Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

If the devil prowls around like a lion and animals are scared of fire, maybe God showing up as fire means more than we think it does. God’s presence was with Israel, when the sun went down and nocturnal beings with an appetite for flesh roamed, God was there. He was there for Isreal in the wilder and he’s with you in your dark time. God is our protector!

God is a consuming fire, a protecting fire so when life gets dark and you can’t see out of your problem look for the fire. God is always there and in every temptation, he provides a way of escape. God’s presence manifested in the fire and it was a sign that God would make a way. He’ll keep your foot on solid ground and he will keep you from the snare of the enemy. God’s character does not change so in the same way God revealed himself to Israel similarly he can show up in our lives.

We may not see God in a physical fire but he will sure set a spiritual one!

God is both your defense and your offense. The book of Psalms reveals David’s personal relationship with God. King David knew the duality of God, he was a warlord anointed by a prophet of God to take the land as he carried out God’s mission but as he overtook cities and slain wicked kings; God also called David a man after his own heart.

But how could David be both? How could David be a warlord and after God’s heart? How could fire protect and destroy, how could God be a cloud in the day and pillar of fire by night? It’s not that the bible shows us contradictions but in this case, it reveals the duality first of God and of the humans who are made in his image. 

David was still a man after God’s heart when we took the showbread from the sanctuary to feed his men. Though David wasn’t perfect he was a man on fire for God. David constantly sought God even in his sin, he never stayed there. David always turned to God. He kept a fire burning for God. David constantly sought after God and desired to have a relationship with and obey him. David kept returning to the altar of his heart laying down every sin, every mistake, every plan, and every success. All of David belonged to God and his spiritual altar is revealed in the book of Psalms. David’s altar was constantly on fire for God!

King David knew that even in the cloud of God’s cover and protection there was more than one side to God. He was David’s personal God and that caused David not just to know God as multifaceted but also had the wisdom to call on the right part of God depending on what he needed. In Psalm 6:1 David says:

Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath.

But in Psalm 109:12 David called God’s wrath down on his adversaries saying,

Let there be none to extend mercy unto him: neither let there be any to favor his fatherless children. 

David knew the ability that God had to consume and destroy, but also the ability that he had to protect and give grace. David called on both faces of God when the time was right. God is an enemy to our enemies and when God is for you may he help whoever is against you! The only option your enemies have is to pray for God’s mercy! 

David expressed the duality of God and Israel was blessed to live with it. As Pharaoh chased Isreal the bible says that God stood between Isreal and Pharoah so they couldn’t approach each other. But to Pharoh and his people, God was a wall of darkness in the night, and on the opposite side of God, he was a fire providing light to Israel. God showed up as two different things at the same time.

Both Israel and David show us that the way we see God isn’t the way our enemies view him!

God is the same in his ways but he is not the same in how he reveals himself, because we all need him differently but he is willing to show up exactly how we need him whether it be a cloud by day or a pillar of fire at night. Anything that God calls us to is possible if we only learn to see him how we need him.

Like Israel in the wilderness, and like King David on the throne, apart from God, we can do nothing! We are spiritual beings and we can’t survive without God’s fire. The altar of your heart has to be burning for Christ constantly. 

If God is a fire he wants you close to him which means you draw near and cannot escape being consumed by him!

Is your altar on fire or is it time to lay something on your altar so it can burn a little brighter? In Galatians 2:20 the bible says:

I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

There will never be a sweeter aroma to Jesus than when you lay yourself on the altar. All of your wants, all of your desires, all of your relationships, all of your pain, all of your pleasures, and all of your plans.

If you had to describe the altar that you have set before God what would it look like? 

For a long time, mine was dusty, with cobwebs and cold from having no fire at all. But just like in the wilderness for Isreal, God showed up as fire and reignited my faith.

If God is the fire by night he expects you to look like him.

Meshack, Shadrack, and Abednego couldn’t be consumed by man’s fire because they were already consumed by God’s fire! As the king threw them into the furnace the spirit of the Lord stepped into the fire with them. What could a furnace do to those who are guarded by the fire of old, the ancient of days the one who created the sun itself?  The Spirit of the Lord says:

You can put my people in the fire but when they are in the fire they are in me and I am refining them. 

Jesus is with you he’s fighting for you, and he’s sustaining you, sometimes it’s not the devil attacking you it’s Jesus refining you, It’s the Lord fighting for you, it’s Christ burning away all of the things that dont look like him, keeping you even as the old, disobedient, sinful parts of you die to the fire that is Christ!

He showed up as a pillar of fire for a reason, he showed up in the dark for a reason. God is intentional he wants us to know him and reflect his glory as he refines us! The spirit of the lord says:

2024 Rhema Word: There is a fire coming, BUT IT IS ME! I am refining you! My people SHALL NOT be consumed, IT IS ME! I am perfecting my flock, I see the hearts of man and I am removing what is not like me, what does not belong! You are mine and you will look like me! Even my glory will shine through your face as my face cannot be seen so you shall be seen as a reflection of me, YOU ARE MINE!

Jesus wants you to look like him, he’s cleaning you up, and sometimes he chooses to do it by fire. 

So you gotta let him burn. Let him consume, let Jesus sit on the throne as you lay on the altar. God showed up to Isreal as fire during the coldest, darkest, loneliest parts of the night and if he did it for Isreal, he can do it for you!