If you've heard of Moses, you might have heard how he lead the Israelites out of Egypt by following a pillar of fire by night or a pillar of smoke by day.
That's all fine and dandy for him, but why was Moses the only one to get the pillar-of-fire treatment? Wouldn't that make all the other Bible superstars jealous?
Wait, who said Moses had exclusive access to the glory of God as a column of fire from the earth to the heavens?
The topic came up in my Sunday School class the other day, and I realized the legendary pillar of fire actually is pretty common in the course of Bible history!
For a Jesus-freak, bible-reading sinner-saved-by-grace like me, it was an exciting revelation.
If the pillar of fire wasn't a one-time miracle, every time it is known to have appeared could represent a huge theological message that I've never actually looked at.
After thumbing through my Bible, doing a very quick scan for the concept of a column of intense, white fire (or smoke), or the glory of God in circumstances where the witness reacted as if to a column of light/fire, I had a page of notes written out!
Elijah made a big deal of showing a culture of idol worshipers just who God was. It's pretty epic to imagine God laying the smack-down like that.
Another prophet, that dude named Ezekiel, man he freaking saw this pillar of fire all over the place!
Did you know Daniel saw it too?
And my man Jesus, don't think he got left out of the action!
I'm sure the pillar of fire appears at other places in the Bible, but these are just the examples that stuck out with me. If you care to look, I'd examine any Bible story that involves a demonstration of the Spirit's power, a bolt of lightning, the glory of God, or a literal column of fire descending from the sky. Chances are you'll find lots of similarities throughout your resarch, and I pray you might be closer to God because of it.
I hope God blesses your future with a pillar of fire!
No comments:
Post a Comment