The sinners in Zion are afraid. Trembling has seized the godless ones. Who among us can live with the devouring fire? Who among us can live with everlasting burning?
Parallel Translations
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The sinners in Zion are afraid. Trembling has seized the godless ones. Who among us can live with the devouring fire? Who among us can live with everlasting burning?
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The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?
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The sinners in Zion are afraid; trembling hath seized the ungodly: 'Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?'
Cross-references (36)
Passages linked to Isaiah 33:14 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Hebrews 12:29 for our God is a consuming fire.
- Isaiah 66:24 “They will go out, and look at the dead bodies of the men who have transgressed against me; for their worm will not die, nor will their fire be quenched, and they will be loathsome to all mankind.”
- Matthew 25:46 These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
- Deuteronomy 5:24-25 and you said, “Behold, Yahweh our God has shown us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the middle of the fire. We have seen today that God does speak with man, and he lives. Now therefore, why should we die? For this great fire will consume us. If we hear Yahweh our God’s voice any more, then we shall die.
- Matthew 18:8 If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off, and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life maimed or crippled, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into the eternal fire.
- Matthew 25:41 Then he will say also to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels;
- Revelation 14:10 he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is prepared unmixed in the cup of his anger. He will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb.
- Isaiah 29:13 The Lord said, “Because this people draws near with their mouth and honors me with their lips, but they have removed their heart far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment of men which has been taught;
- Job 18:11 Terrors will make him afraid on every side, and will chase him at his heels.
- Nahum 1:6 Who can stand before his indignation? Who can endure the fierceness of his anger? His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken apart by him.
- 2 Thessalonians 1:8 punishing those who don’t know God, and to those who don’t obey the Good News of our Lord Jesus,
- Revelation 6:15-17 The kings of the earth, the princes, the commanding officers, the rich, the strong, and every slave and free person, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains. They told the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of his wrath has come; and who is able to stand?”
- Revelation 20:10 The devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet are also. They will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
- Numbers 17:12-13 The children of Israel spoke to Moses, saying, “Behold, we perish! We are undone! We are all undone! Everyone who keeps approaching Yahweh’s tabernacle, dies! Will we all perish?”
- Deuteronomy 32:21-24 They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God. They have provoked me to anger with their vanities. I will move them to jealousy with those who are not a people. I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation. For a fire is kindled in my anger, that burns to the lowest Sheol, devours the earth with its increase, and sets the foundations of the mountains on fire. “I will heap evils on them. I will spend my arrows on them. They shall be wasted with hunger, and devoured with burning heat and bitter destruction. I will send the teeth of animals on them, with the venom of vipers that glide in the dust.
- Job 15:21-22 A sound of terrors is in his ears. In prosperity the destroyer will come on him. He doesn’t believe that he will return out of darkness. He is waited for by the sword.
- Psalms 11:6 On the wicked he will rain blazing coals; fire, sulfur, and scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup.
- Psalms 21:9 You will make them as a fiery furnace in the time of your anger. Yahweh will swallow them up in his wrath. The fire shall devour them.
- Psalms 50:3 Our God comes, and does not keep silent. A fire devours before him. It is very stormy around him.
- Psalms 53:5 There they were in great fear, where no fear was, for God has scattered the bones of him who encamps against you. You have put them to shame, because God has rejected them.
- Proverbs 28:1 The wicked flee when no one pursues; but the righteous are as bold as a lion.
- Isaiah 5:24 Therefore as the tongue of fire devours the stubble, and as the dry grass sinks down in the flame, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust, because they have rejected the law of Yahweh of Armies, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
- Isaiah 7:2 David’s house was told, “Syria is allied with Ephraim.” His heart trembled, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the forest tremble with the wind.
- Isaiah 9:17 Therefore the Lord will not rejoice over their young men, neither will he have compassion on their fatherless and widows; for everyone is profane and an evildoer, and every mouth speaks folly. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
- Isaiah 10:6 I will send him against a profane nation, and against the people who anger me I will give him a command to take the plunder and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.
- Isaiah 28:14-15 Therefore hear Yahweh’s word, you scoffers, that rule this people in Jerusalem: “Because you have said, ‘We have made a covenant with death, and we are in agreement with Sheol. When the overflowing scourge passes through, it won’t come to us; for we have made lies our refuge, and we have hidden ourselves under falsehood.’ ”
- Isaiah 28:17-22 I will make justice the measuring line, and righteousness the plumb line. The hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters will overflow the hiding place. Your covenant with death shall be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol shall not stand. When the overflowing scourge passes through, then you will be trampled down by it. As often as it passes through, it will seize you; for morning by morning it will pass through, by day and by night; and it will be nothing but terror to understand the message.” For the bed is too short to stretch out on, and the blanket is too narrow to wrap oneself in. For Yahweh will rise up as on Mount Perazim. He will be angry as in the valley of Gibeon; that he may do his work, his unusual work, and bring to pass his act, his extraordinary act. Now therefore don’t be scoffers, lest your bonds be made strong; for I have heard a decree of destruction from the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, on the whole earth.
- Isaiah 29:6 She will be visited by Yahweh of Armies with thunder, with earthquake, with great noise, with whirlwind and storm, and with the flame of a devouring fire.
- Isaiah 30:8-11 Now go, write it before them on a tablet, and inscribe it in a book, that it may be for the time to come forever and ever. For it is a rebellious people, lying children, children who will not hear Yahweh’s law; who tell the seers, “Don’t see!” and the prophets, “Don’t prophesy to us right things. Tell us pleasant things. Prophesy deceits. Get out of the way. Turn away from the path. Cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.”
- Isaiah 30:27-33 Behold, Yahweh’s name comes from far away, burning with his anger, and in thick rising smoke. His lips are full of indignation. His tongue is as a devouring fire. His breath is as an overflowing stream that reaches even to the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of destruction. A bridle that leads to ruin will be in the jaws of the peoples. You will have a song, as in the night when a holy feast is kept, and gladness of heart, as when one goes with a flute to come to Yahweh’s mountain, to Israel’s Rock. Yahweh will cause his glorious voice to be heard, and will show the descent of his arm, with the indignation of his anger, and the flame of a devouring fire, with a blast, storm, and hailstones. For through Yahweh’s voice the Assyrian will be dismayed. He will strike him with his rod. Every stroke of the rod of punishment, which Yahweh will lay on him, will be with the sound of tambourines and harps. He will fight with them in battles, brandishing weapons. For his burning place has long been ready. Yes, for the king it is prepared. He has made its pyre deep and large with fire and much wood. Yahweh’s breath, like a stream of sulfur, kindles it.
- Isaiah 32:11 Tremble, you women who are at ease! Be troubled, you careless ones! Strip yourselves, make yourselves naked, and put sackcloth on your waist.
- Isaiah 34:9 Its streams will be turned into pitch, its dust into sulfur, And its land will become burning pitch.
- Matthew 22:12 and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here not wearing wedding clothing?’ He was speechless.
- Matthew 24:51 and will cut him in pieces, and appoint his portion with the hypocrites. That is where the weeping and grinding of teeth will be.
- Mark 9:43-49 If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed, rather than having your two hands to go into Gehenna, into the unquenchable fire, ‘where their worm doesn’t die, and the fire is not quenched.’ If your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life lame, rather than having your two feet to be cast into Gehenna, into the fire that will never be quenched— ‘where their worm doesn’t die, and the fire is not quenched.’ If your eye causes you to stumble, cast it out. It is better for you to enter into God’s Kingdom with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into the Gehenna of fire, ‘where their worm doesn’t die, and the fire is not quenched.’ For everyone will be salted with fire, and every sacrifice will be seasoned with salt.
- Luke 16:23-26 In Hades, he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far off, and Lazarus at his bosom. He cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue! For I am in anguish in this flame.’ “But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that you, in your lifetime, received your good things, and Lazarus, in the same way, bad things. But here he is now comforted, and you are in anguish. Besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, that those who want to pass from here to you are not able, and that no one may cross over from there to us.’
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (15 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Which do not believe the words of the Prophet,…
Which do not believe the words of the Prophet, and the assurance of their deliverance.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Isa 33:14 The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness…
Isa 33:14 The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?
Ver. 14. The sinners in Zion are afraid.] At the invasion of the Assyrian. Those that formerly fleared and jeered God’s prophets and their menaces, now fear and are crest fallen, ready to run into an auger hole, as we say. It is as natural for guilt to breed fear and disquiet, as for putrid matter to breed vermin. Sinners, especially those in Zion, where they might be better, and are therefore the worse a great deal, have galled consciences, and want faith to fortify their hearts against the fear of death or danger; and hence those pitiful perplexities and convulsions of soul in the evil day. What wonder if, when they see all on fire, they ring their bells backwards? If, instead of mourning for their sins and making peace with God, as they ought to do, they mutter and growl against him, as these hypocrites do, for his too great severity?
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Fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites.] The Jews were a hypocritical nation. {Isa 9:17} Epiphanius, when he left Constantinople, said that he left three great things behind him, viz., a great city, a great palace, et ingentem hypocrisin, and a great deal of hypocrisy. That facies hypocritica hypocritical faces of our nation is that facies hippocratica which physicians speak of, of a spent dying man, that looks ghastly. It is a mortal complexion, a sad prognostic. Oh that these frozen hearts of ours, since they must have a thaw or it will be worse, might melt here, and be unsoldered from hypocrisy, that we might be saved, though so as by fire, rather than to be reserved to be thawed with everlasting burnings, the portion of hypocrites. {Mat 24:51} So might we "dwell with everlasting burnings," that is, with the knowledge of God’s terrible presence and sight of his great judgments, whereof the hypocrites of the world are afraid, because this fire melteth off their paint, and threateneth to wash off their varnish with rivers of brimstone.
Who among us shall dwell?] Or, Who of us can but fear a devouring fire?
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain The sinners in Zion are afraid: this is spoken,…
The sinners in Zion are afraid: this is spoken, not of the Assyrians, as some would have it, but of the Jews, as appears both from the words themselves, and from the following verses. The prophet having foretold the deliverance of God’s people, and the destruction of their enemies, Isa 33:10-12, for the greater illustration of that wonderful mercy, here returns to the description, and gives a lively representation of the dismal and frightful condition in which the Jews, especially such of them as were ungodly and unbelieving, were before this deliverance came. Although the godly Jews were, in some measure, supported by the sense of God’s favour, and by God’s promises delivered to them by Isaiah; yet the generality of the people were filled with horrors, and expectation of utter destruction. Who amongst us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? how shall we be able to abide the presence, and endure or avoid the wrath, of that God, who is a consuming fire; who is now about to destroy us utterly by the Assyrians, and will afterwards burn us with unquenchable fire? For seeing it is sufficiently evident, from both Old and New, Testament, as hath been formerly observed and proved, that the Jews, except the Sadducees, did generally believe the rewards and punishments of the future live and these temporal judgments, as they did frequently cut men off from this life, so they transmitted them into that future and endless life; it is not strange if their guilty consciences made them dread both the present judgment here, and the terrible consequences of it hereafter. Heb. who shall dwell for us, &c., i.e. in our stead? who will interpose himself between God’s anger and us? How shall we escape these miseries? That this is the sense of this question may be gathered from the answer given to it in the following verse; in which he directs them to the right course of removing God’s wrath, and regaining his favour.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain The sinners in Zion are afraid, and fearfulness hath…
The sinners in Zion are afraid, and fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites,.... Meaning not persons of such a character that dwelt in Jerusalem, who had the guise and form of religion, and not the power of it, and were for fleeing to Egypt, and trusting in Pharaoh, and not in the Lord; who were seized with dread and terror, when the Assyrian army besieged them, or when it was so awfully destroyed by the angel in the night; when, observing the visible and immediate hand of God in it, they might fear the like judgment would fall upon them for their irreligion and hypocrisy; but rather formal professors, and hypocritical persons, in the reformed churches, or Protestants having only a form of godliness, without the power of it, are meant; who, observing God's judgments upon antichrist, shall be seized with a panic, lest the like should come down upon them for their hypocrisy and deceit; unless it should be rather thought that antichrist, and his followers themselves, are designed, who himself is said to sit in the temple of God, and who claim to themselves the name of the church of God, and pretend to be Christians, though they are not; when they shall see the city of Rome in flames, and the vials of God's wrath poured on the antichristian states, shall dread the vengeance of eternal fire, which they express in the following words:
Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? that is, the wrath of God in hell, which is the fire that feeds upon and devours Christless sinners; which shall never be quenched, and is called everlasting fire, in which the followers of antichrist will be tormented for ever; and the smoke of which will ascend for ever and ever, and will be intolerable; none will be able to abide and endure it; see Rev 14:9. So the Targum interprets it of the place where the ungodly are to be judged and delivered into hell, an everlasting burning.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain The sinners - This is spoken of the Jews.…
The sinners - This is spoken of the Jews. The prophet having foretold the deliverance of God's people, and the destruction of their enemies, gives a lively representation of the unbelieving condition, in which the Jews were, before their deliverance came. Who - How shall we be able to endure, or avoid the wrath of that God, who is a consuming fire; who is now about to destroy us utterly by the Assyrians, and will afterwards burn us with unquenchable fire?
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 14. The sinners in Zion are afraid] Zion…
Verse 14. The sinners in Zion are afraid] Zion has been generally considered as a type of the Church of God. Now all the members of God's Church should be holy, and given to good works; sinners in Zion, therefore, are portentous beings! but, alas! where are they not? The Targum on this verse is worthy of notice: "The sinners in Zion are broken down; fear hath seized the ungodly, who are suffering for their ways. They say, Who among us shall dwell in Zion, where the splendour of the Divine Majesty is like a consuming fire? Who of us shall dwell in Jerusalem, where the ungodly are judged and delivered into hell for an eternal burning?" Everdurynge brennyngis. Old MS. Bible.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Isa 33:14. The sinners in Zion are afraid —…
Isa 33:14. The sinners in Zion are afraid — This is spoken, not of the Assyrians, but of the Jews. The prophet, having foretold the deliverance of God’s people, and the destruction of their enemies, for the greater illustration of that wonderful work, may be here considered as returning to the description of the dismal condition in which the Jews, especially such of them as were unbelieving and ungodly, should be before this deliverance came. For, although the pious Jews would be, in some measure, supported by a sense of God’s favour, and by his promises, delivered to them by Isaiah, yet very many of them, probably the generality, he foresaw, would be filled with horrors, and expectations of utter destruction. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? — How shall we be able to abide the presence, and endure, or avoid, the wrath of that God, who is a consuming fire; who is now about to destroy us utterly by the Assyrians, and will afterward burn us with unquenchable fire? Or, the prophet may be considered as describing, in these words, the consternation with which the sinners in Zion would be struck, when they should see the Assyrian army destroyed; for the destruction of that is the fire spoken of immediately before, (Isa 33:11-12,) and they were conscious to themselves of having provoked this God, by their secret worshipping of other gods, as well as by many other sins. As if he had said, This miraculous destruction of the Assyrians shall strike even the most profane among the Jews, who used to scoff at God’s threatenings, with terror, lest he should proceed in wrath against themselves; so that they shall say, Who among us shall dwell with this devouring fire — Before which so vast an army is as thorns? Who shall dwell with these everlasting burnings — Which have made the Assyrians as the burnings of lime? How shall we be able to endure the wrath of this God, which, if it once seize upon us, will utterly consume us, and will also be a pledge and forerunner of eternal torments in hell, if not prevented by timely repentance? For, since it is sufficiently evident from both the Old and New Testaments, that the Jews, except the Sadducees, did generally believe in the rewards and punishments of a future life; it is not strange if their guilty consciences made them dread both present judgments here, and the terrible consequences of them hereafter.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain The sinners in Zion are afraid - This verse…
The sinners in Zion are afraid - This verse is evidently designed to describe the alarm that was produced in Jerusalem on impenitent sinners and hypocrites by a view of the judgment of God on the army of Sennacherib. They would see his wrath on his enemies then, and in view of the terrors of his indignation in relation to that army they would be alarmed, and would ask how it would be possible for them to endure such wrath forever. If the effect of the wrath of God even for a night, when it should blaze against that great army, was so terrible, how could it be borne forever? This seems to be the general idea of the passage. A great variety of interpretations have been proposed, which may be seen in Vitringa and Poole. The phrase, ‘sinners in Zion’ here refers to the wicked and rebellious in Jerusalem.
Fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites - Those who professed to serve God, and yet who were secretly depending on the aid of Egypt (see Isa 31:1-9; compare the note at Isa 9:17). The sentiment here is, that those who professedly are the friends of God, but who are secretly and really his enemies, are often alarmed at his judgments. When the judgments of God overtake sinners, they are conscious that they deserve also his wrath, and their minds are filled with consternation. So in a time of prevailing sickness, or of pestilence, they who have really no confidence in God, and no evidence that they are prepared to die, are filled with alarm. A true friend of God will be calm in such scenes; a hypocrite will show by his consternation that he has no religion.
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Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? - Some have understood this as referring to the fires which they supposed the Assyrian would kindle in Jerusalem, apprehending that he would take and burn the city. But the more probable interpretation is that which refers it to the judgment that would be brought upon the Assyrians - the burning wrath of God like fire that would consume them. The destruction of the Assyrians is repeatedly represented under the image of a storm and tempest, where there would be the ‘flame of devouring fire’ (see the note at Isa 29:6). The sense is this: ‘God has suddenly consumed that immense army of his foes. Such must be the awful punishment of the wicked. How can we abide it? We also, through among his people, are his foes, and are exposed to his wrath. How can we endure the terrors of that day when his burning indignation shall also overtake us?’
Shall dwell with everlasting burnings - Who among us could endure to suffer amid such burning wrath forever? If that wrath is so fierce as to consume such an immense host in a single night, who could abide it should it be continued forever and forever? This is the obvious sense of this passage; and it implies:
1. That hypocrites will be greatly alarmed when they see punishment come upon the open and avowed enemies of God.
2. That in such times they will have none of the peace and quiet confidence which his true friends have.
3. That such an alarm is evidence of conscious guilt and hypocrisy.
4. That the persons here spoken of had a belief of the doctrine of eternal punishment - a belief which hypocrites and sinners always have, else why should they be alarmed?
5. That the punishment of hypocrites in the church will be dreadful and terrific. This seems to have been the conviction here. They saw that if such judgments came upon those who had no knowledge of the true God, it must be infinitely more terrible on those who had been trained amidst the institutions of religion, and who had professed attachment to Yahweh. And so it will be in a preeminent degree among those who have been trained in the Christian church, and who have been the professed but insincere followers of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Of you. Hebrew, "of us." (Haydock) --- They are…
Of you. Hebrew, "of us." (Haydock) --- They are seriously alarmed at the sight of the fires prepared to burn the dead bodies of the Assyrians, (chap. xxx. 33.) and begin to think of hell, (Calmet) which their sins deserve. (Haydock)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain sinners in Zion--false professors of religion among the elect…
sinners in Zion--false professors of religion among the elect people (Mat 22:12).
hypocrites--rather, "the profane"; "the abandoned" [HORSLEY].
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who, &c.--If Jehovah's wrath could thus consume such a host in one night, who could abide it, if continued for ever (Mar 9:46-48)? Fire is a common image for the divine judgments (Isa 29:6; Isa 30:30).
among us--If such awful judgments have fallen on those who knew not the true God, how infinitely worse shall fall on us who, amid religious privileges and profession, sin against God, (Luk 12:47-48; Jam 4:17)?
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 14. The sinners … hypocrites] Rather: The sinners are…
14. The sinners … hypocrites] Rather: The sinners are afraid in Zion, trembling hath seized the impious (see on ch. Isa_9:17). An ungodly party still exists, in spite of the fact that Zion is filled with judgment and righteousness (Isa_33:5). The reason of their terror is expressed in what immediately follows.
Who among us shall dwell …] The questions are not merely rhetorical, introducing the description of the righteous man, as in Psa_15:1; Psa_24:3; but an exclamation put into the mouths of the sinners. They realise at last what Jehovah is, and begin to wonder how they can live with Him who is a consuming fire. The word “dwell” means strictly “sojourn as a protected guest,” and is the same as that used in Psa_15:1.
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everlasting burnings] There is of course no allusion here to eternal punishment. The “fire” is Jehovah’s holiness, manifested in the destruction of His enemies; and this is called eternal because the Divine wrath against sin is inexhaustible.
14–16. Being thus assured of a speedy answer to his prayers, the writer proceeds, in language of great force and beauty, to describe the moral effect on the Jewish people.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain The sinners in Zion are afraid. The prophet proceeds…
The sinners in Zion are afraid. The prophet proceeds to speak in his own person. The judgment on Assyria, he says, cannot but strike terror into the hearts of the immoral and irreligious in Zion. They cannot fail to realize their own danger, and to tremble at it. Who among us, they will say, can dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? They will recognize God as "a consuming Fire", (Deu_4:24) whose next outbreak may be upon themselves, and will shudder at the prospect.
Who can stand the testing fires?
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The terms "devouring fire," "everlasting burnings," do not mean hell; they mean God in visible, material judgments, such as may be symbolized by the destruction of the Assyrian army; and such as the presence of that army became to the people of Jerusalem. The appeal of Isaiah seems to be this: See the fright into which the people have fallen at the presence of this hostile army. See who has been calm and strong in this hour of national peril. How, then, would it be with men in the more awful times of God"s testing judgments? The man who alone can dwell in the "devouring fire" is the good man. He that is able to abide "the everlasting burnings" is "the man that walketh righteously and speaketh uprightly." Maclaren says; "The prophet has been calling all men, far and near, to behold a great act of Divine judgment, in which God has been manifested in flaming glory, consuming evil; now he represents the" sinners in Zion," the unworthy members of the nation, as seized with sudden terror, and anxiously asking this question, which in effect means, "Who among us can abide peacefully, joyfully, fed and brightened, not consumed and annihilated, by that flashing brightness and purity?" The prophet"s answer is the answer of common sense: "Like draws to like. A holy God must have holy companions.
I THE TESTING FIRES. These are future, but they are not altogether future. Perhaps we shall presently come to see that the passing testings are more serious than the future ones. Every life-work must be tried with fire; it is being tried with fire. Every day we are in the "everlasting burnings." Life is God"s testing fire. This is illustrated by the influence national calamities have upon nations. Through baptisms of blood and devouring fires nations come forth purified. "Through much tribulation God"s testing for us we must all enter the kingdom
II THE EFFECT OF THE TESTING FIRES ON THE EVIL-MINDED. Symbolized is the panic of the godless folk in Jerusalem when Sennacherib drew nigh. At the sound of threatening they took alarm, and hurried to Egypt for help. Their vain self-confidences fell about them as soon as the test was applied. Can we face the judicial and punitive action of that Divine Providence which works even here? and how can we face the judicial and punitive action in the future?
III THE EFFECT OF THE TESTING FIRES ON THE GOODMINDED. They cannot escape from the common earthly conditions. The fires try every man"s spirit and every man"s work. There are some should we not be among them? on whom even the second death" hath no power. R.T.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain The sinners in Zion are afraid
Isa_33:14-15
The sinners in Zion are afraid
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The sinners in Zion
What a contradiction in terms! what a shock to the fancy! Zion! fair Zion, a dewdrop, a glittering star, a garden of beauty, a sweet flower, porcelain without a flaw, honey without wax--Zion! Then, sinners in Zion--sinners out of place; they spoil the situation; they are an evil blot in the fair landscape.
Sinners in the wilderness, sinners in polluted cities, sinners in hell--there you have a kind of music that has an accord and consonance of its own; but sinners in Zion! (J. Parker, D. D.)
The devouring fire
I. THE CHARACTERS REFERRED TO. Sinners in Zion, and the hypocrites. Those who are in Zion by a mere profession of religion. The self-righteous. Proud formalists.
II. THEIR PRESENT STATE. Afraid, &c. If temporal judgments, like those which God wrought upon the Assyrian army, had such an effect upon the sinners in Zion, what will be the terror of transgressors in prospect, of the everlasting judgments of God?
III. THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? &c. (J. E. Starey.)
Security in testing times
It is certain that no man shall find his profession to be of use to him in testing times but he that is true in it, he that is thorough in it, he that is neither a sinner nor a hypocrite in the sense in which those words are here used. Safety in Zion belongs to those born in her by regeneration, reared in her by sanctification, enfranchised in her by faith in the Son of God, settled in her by fixed principles, confirmed in her by obedience to her laws, and bound to her by intense love of her King and her citizens. Such shall dwell on high secure from danger, and only such: the aliens and foreigners within her gates shall ere long be driven forth with shame. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The hypocrite
The man that stole the livery of heaven to serve the devil in. (Robert Pollok.)
Hypocrisy detected
A large price was demanded for a picture as being the work of an old master. It was on a panel, and some one looking behind it saw that the panel was mahogany. The picture was at once seen to be a fraud, for mahogany was not known in Europe until long after the death of the artist who was said to have painted it. A man by craft and hypocrisy may make himself look beautiful to his fellowmen, and be honoured for saintliness of character, but God looks behind the goodly show and detects the imposture at a glance. Only what is real will bear His inspection. (Gates of Imagery.)
Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire?--
How to dwell in the fire of God
(with 1Jn_4:16 : He that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God):--These two passages, striking as is the contrast, refer to the same subject, and substantially preach the same truth. A hasty reader, who is more influenced by sound than by sense, is apt to suppose that the solemn expressions in my first text--the devouring fire and the everlasting burnings--mean hell. They mean God, as is quite obvious from the context. The man who is to dwell in the devouring fire is the good man; he that is able to abide the everlasting burnings is the man that walks righteously and speaks uprightly, that despises the gain of oppression, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil. So that, plainly, here the fire is the destructive side of that Divine nature which, in its flashing brightness of holiness, cannot but burn up and consume evil. And the question of my text is in effect equivalent to this question: Who among us can abide peacefully, joyfully, fed and brightened, not consumed and annihilated, by that flashing brightness and purity? The prophets answer is the answer of common sense. Like draws to like. If the fire of God be the holiness of God in its lustrous brilliance, then a holy God must have holy companions. But that is not all. The fire of God is the fire of love as well as the fire of purity; a fire that blesses and quickens, as well as a fire that destroys and consumes. So the Apostle John comes with his answer, not contradicting the other one, but deepening it, expanding it, letting us see the foundations of it, and proclaiming that as a holy God must be surrounded by holy hearts, which will open themselves to the flame as flowers to the sunshine, so a loving God must be clustered about by loving hearts, who alone can enter into deep and true fellowship with Him. The two answers, then, are one at bottom; and when Isaiah asks, Who shall dwell with the ever-lasting fire?--the perpetual fire, burning and unconsumed, of that Divine righteousness--the deepest answer, which is no stern requirement but a merciful promise, is Johns answer, He that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
The fire of God
I. THE WORLDS QUESTION. Frequently in the Old Testament the emblem of fire is employed to express the Divine nature. In many places, though by no means in all, the prominent idea in the emblem is that of the purity of the Divine nature, which flashes and flames as against all which is evil and sinful. So we read in one grand passage in this very book, the Light of Israel shall become a fire. And we read, too, in the description of the symbolical manifestation of the Divine nature which accompanied the giving of the law on Sinai, that the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire on the top of the mountain, and yet into that blaze and brightness the Law-giver went and moved in it. There is in the Divine nature a side of antagonism and opposition to evil, which fights against it, and flames against it, and labours to consume it. But then, on the other side, the fire is also the fire of perfect love that quickens and blesses. And these two are one. Gods wrath is a form of Gods love; God hates because He loves. Well, that being so, the question rises to every mind of ordinary thoughtfulness: Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? A God fighting against evil; can you and I hope to hold familiar fellowship with Him? To dwell with everlasting burnings means two things--first, to hold familiar intercourse and communion with God. What sort of a man will do that? Can you? Is it likely that you should? The second of the things that it means is to face and bear the action of the fire, the judicial action, the judgment of the present and of the future.
II. THE PROPHETS ANSWER. He says if a man is to hold fellowship with, or to face the judgment of the pure and righteous God, the plainest dictate of reason and common sense is that he himself must be pure and righteous to match. And the details into which his answer to the question runs out are all very homely, prosaic, pedestrian kind of virtues, nothing at all out of the way, nothing that people would call splendid or heroic. If you will turn to the Psa_24:1-10. you will find there two other variations of the same questions, and the same answer, both of which were obviously in our prophets mind when he spoke. The requirements of the most moderate conscience are such as none of us is able to comply with. And what then? Am I to be shut up to despair? am I to say, then, nobody can dwell with that bright flame?
III. THE APOSTLES ANSWER. God is love, and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God. Now, to begin with, let us distinctly understand that the New Testament answer, represented by Johns great words, entirely endorses Isaiahs; and the difference between the two is not that the Old Testament, as represented by Psalmist and Prophet, said: You must be righteous in order to dwell with God, and that the New Testament says: You need not be! Not at all! John is just as vehement in saying that nothing but purity can bind a man in thoroughly friendly and familiar conjunction with God as David or Isaiah was. What, then, is the difference between them? It is this, for one thing. Isaiah tells us we must be righteous; John tells us how we may be. And now you have got to the very bottom of the matter. That is the first step of the ladder--faith: the second step is love, and the third is righteousness. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
Gods anger
If you will only remove from that word anger the mere human associations which cleave to it, of passion on the one hand, and of a wish to hurl its object on the other, then you cannot, I think, deny to the Divine nature the possession of that passionless and unmalignant wrath without striking a fatal blow at the perfect purity of God. A God that does not hate evil, that does not flame out against it, using all the energies of His being to destroy it, is a God to whose character there cleaves the fatal suspicion of indifference to good, of moral apathy. If I have not a God to trust in that hates evil because He loveth righteousness, then the pillared firmament itself were rottenness, and earths base built on stubble; nor were there any hope that this damnable thing that is killing and sucking the life-blood out of our spirits should ever be destroyed and cast aside. It is short-sighted wisdom, and it is cruel kindness, to tamper with the thought of the wrath of God, the everlasting burnings of that eternally pure nature wherewith it wages war against all sin! (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
Gods justice in human life
To Isaiah, life was so penetrated by the active justice of God, that he described it as bathed in fire, as blown through with fire. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain Isa 33:14 - Isa 33:15. - 1Jn 4:16.
Isaiah
HOW TO DWELL IN THE FIRE OF GOD
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Isa 33:14 - Isa 33:15. - 1Jn 4:16.
I have put these two verses together because, striking as is at first sight the contrast in their tone, they refer to the same subject, and they substantially preach the same truth. A hasty reader, who is more influenced by sound than by sense, is apt to suppose that the solemn expressions in my first text, ‘the devouring fire’ and’ everlasting burnings,’ mean hell. They mean God, as is quite obvious from the context. The man who is to ‘dwell in the devouring fire’ is the good man. He that is able to abide ‘the everlasting burnings’ is ‘the man that walketh righteously and speaketh uprightly,’ that ‘despiseth the gain of oppression, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil.’ The prophet has been calling all men, far and near, to behold a great act of divine judgment in which God has been manifested in flaming glory, consuming evil; now he represents the ‘sinners in Zion,’ the unworthy members of the nation, as seized with sudden terror, and anxiously asking this question, which in effect means: ‘Who among us can abide peacefully, joyfully, fed and brightened, not consumed and annihilated, by that flashing brightness and purity?’ The prophet’s answer is the answer of common-sense-like draws to like. A holy God must have holy companions.
But that is not all. The fire of God is the fire of love as well as the fire of purity; a fire that blesses and quickens, as well as a fire that destroys and consumes. So the Apostle John comes with his answer, not contradicting the other one, but deepening it, expanding it, letting us see the foundations of it, and proclaiming that as a holy God must be surrounded by holy hearts, which will open themselves to the flame as flowers to the sunshine, so a loving God must be clustered about by loving hearts, who alone can enter into deep and true friendship with Him.
The two answers, then, of these texts are one at bottom; and when Isaiah asks, ‘Who shall dwell with the everlasting fire?’-the perpetual fire, burning and unconsumed, of that divine righteousness-the deepest answer, which is no stern requirement but a merciful promise, is John’s answer, ‘He that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God.’
The simplest way, I think, of bringing out the force of the words before us will be just to take these three points which I have already suggested: the world’s question, the partial answer of the prophet, the complete answer of the Apostle.
I. The World’s Question.
I need only remind you how frequently in the Old Testament the emblem of fire is employed to express the divine nature. In many places, though by no means in all, the prominent idea in the emblem is that of the purity of the divine nature, which flashes and flames as against all which is evil and sinful. So we read in one grand passage in this book of Isaiah, ‘the Light of Israel shall become a fire’; as if the lambent beauty of the highest manifestation of God gathered itself together, intensified itself, was forced back upon itself, and from merciful, illuminating light turned itself into destructive and consuming fire. And we read, you may remember, too, in the description of the symbolical manifestation of the divine nature which accompanied the giving of the Law on Sinai, that ‘the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire on the top of the mountain,’ and yet into that blaze and brightness the Lawgiver went, and lived and moved in it.
There is, then, in the divine nature a side of antagonism and opposition to evil, which flames against it, and labours to consume it. I would speak with all respect for the motives of many men in this day who dread to entertain the idea of the divine wrath against evil, lest they should in any manner trench upon the purity and perfectness of the divine love. I respect and sympathise with the motive altogether; and I neither respect nor sympathise with the many ferocious pictures of that which is called the wrath of God against sin, which much so-called orthodox teaching has indulged in. But if you will only remove from that word ‘anger’ the mere human associations which cleave to it, of passion on the one hand, and of a wish to hurt its object on the other, then you cannot, I think, deny to the divine nature the possession of such passionless and unmalignant wrath, without striking a fatal blow at the perfect purity of God. A God that does not hate evil, that does not flame out against it, using all the energies of His being to destroy it, is a God to whose character there cleaves a fatal suspicion of indifference to good, of moral apathy. If I have not a God to trust in that hates evil because He loveth righteousness, then ‘the pillared firmament itself were rottenness, and earth’s base built on stubble’; nor were there any hope that this damnable thing that is killing and sucking the life-blood out of our spirits should ever be destroyed and cast aside. Oh! it is short-sighted wisdom, and it is cruel kindness, to tamper with the thought of the wrath of God, the ‘everlasting burnings’ of that eternally pure nature wherewith it wages war against all sin.
But then, let us remember that, on the other side, the fire which is the destructive fire of perfect purity is also the fire that quickens and blesses. God is love, says John, and love is fire, too. We speak of ‘the flame of love,’ of ‘warm affections,’ and the like. The symbol of fire does not mean destructive energy only. And these two are one. God’s wrath is a form of God’s love; God hates because He loves.
And the ‘wrath’ and the ‘love’ differ much more in the difference of the eyes that look, than they do in themselves. Here are two bits of glass; one of them sifts out and shows all the fiery-red rays, the other all the yellow. It is the one same pure, white beam that passes through them both, but one is only capable of receiving the fiery-red beams of the wrath, and the other is capable of receiving the golden light of the love. Let us take heed lest, by destroying the wrath, we maim the love; and let us take heed lest, by exaggerating the wrath, we empty the love of its sweetness and its preciousness; and let us accept the teaching that these are one, and that the deepest of all the things that the world can know about God lies in that double saying, which does not contradict its second half by its first, but completes its first by its second-God is Righteousness, God is Love.
Well, then, that being so, the question rises to every mind of ordinary thoughtfulness: ‘Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?’ A God fighting against evil; can you and I hope to hold familiar fellowship with Him? A God fighting against evil; if He rises up to exercise His judging and His punishing energies, can we meet Him? ‘Can thy heart endure and thy hands be strong, in the day that I shall deal with thee?’ is the question that comes to each of us if we are reasonable people. I do not dwell upon it; but I ask you to take it, and answer it for yourselves.
To ‘dwell with everlasting burnings’ means two things. First, it means to hold familiar intercourse and communion with God. The question which presents itself to thoughtful minds is-What sort of man must I be if I am to dwell near God? The lowliest bush may be lit by the divine fire and not be consumed by it; and the poorest heart may be all aflame with an indwelling God, if only it yield itself to Him, and long for His likeness. Electricity only flames into consuming fire when its swift passage is resisted. The question for us all is-How can I receive this holy fire into my bosom, and not be burned? Is any communion possible, and if it is, on what conditions? These are the questions which the heart of man is really asking, though it knows not the meaning of its own unrest.
‘To dwell with everlasting burnings’ means, secondly, to bear the action of the fire-the judgment of the present and the judgment of the future. The question for each of us is-How can we face that judicial and punitive action of that Divine Providence which works even here, and how can we face the judicial and punitive action in the future?
I suppose you all believe, or at least say that you believe, that there is such a future judgment. Have you ever asked yourselves the question, and rested not until you got a reasonable answer to it, on which, like a man leaning on a pillar, you can lean the whole weight of your expectations-How am I to come into the presence of that devouring fire? Have you any fireproof dress that will enable you to go into the furnace like the Hebrew youths, and walk up and down in the midst of it, well and at liberty? Have you? ‘Who shall dwell amidst the everlasting fires?’
That question has stirred sometimes, I know, in the consciences of every man and woman that is listening to me. Some of you have tampered with it and tried to throttle it, or laughed at it and shuffled it out of your mind by the engrossments of business, and tried to get rid of it in all sorts of ways: and here it has met you again to-day. Let us have it settled, in the name of common-sense {to invoke nothing higher}, once for all, upon reasonable principles that will stand; and do you see that you settle it to-day.
II. And now, look next at the prophet’s answer.
It is simple. He says that if a man is to hold fellowship with, or to face the judgment of, the pure and righteous God, the plainest dictate of reason and common-sense is that he himself must be pure and righteous to match. The details into which hid answer to the question runs out are all very homely, prosaic, pedestrian kind of virtues, nothing at all out of the way, nothing that people would call splendid or heroic. Here they are:-’He that walks righteously,’-a short injunction, easily spoken, but how hard!-’and speaketh uprightly, he that despiseth the gain of oppression, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, that shutteth his eyes from seeing evil.’ Righteous action, righteous speech, inward hatred of possessions gotten at my neighbour’s cost, and a vehement resistance to all the seductions of sense, shutting one’s hands, stopping one’s ears, fastening one’s eyes up tight so that he may not handle, nor hear, nor see the evil-there is the outline of a trite, everyday sort of morality which is to mark the man who, as Isaiah says, can ‘dwell amongst the everlasting fires.’
Now, if at your leisure you will turn to Psa 15:1 - Psa 15:5 and Psa 24:1 - Psa 24:10, you will find there two other versions of the same questions and the same answer, both of which were obviously in our prophet’s mind when he spoke. In the one you have the question put: ‘Who shall abide in Thy tabernacle?’ In the other you have the same question put: ‘Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord?’ And both these two psalms answer the question and sketch the outline {and it is only an outline} of a righteous man, from the Old Testament point of view, substantially in the same fashion that Isaiah does here.
I do not need to remark upon the altogether unscientific and non-exhaustive nature of the description of righteousness that is set forth here. There are a great many virtues, plain and obvious, that are left out of the picture. But I ask you to notice one very special defect, as it might seem. There is not the slightest reference to anything that we call religion. It is all purely pedestrian, worldly morality; do righteous things; do not tell lies; do not cheat your neighbour; stop your ears if people say foul things in your hearing; shut your eyes if evil comes before you. These are the kind of duties enjoined, and these only. The answer of my text moves altogether on the surface, dealing only with conduct, not with character, and dealing with conduct only in reference to this world. There is not a word about the inner nature, not a word about the inner relation of a man to God. It is the minimum of possible qualifications for dwelling with God.
Well, now, do you achieve that minimum? Suppose we waive for the moment all reference to God; suppose we waive for the moment all reference to motive and inward nature; suppose we keep ourselves only on the outside of things, and ask what sort of conduct a man must have that is able to walk with God? We have heard the answer.
Now, then, is that me? Is this sketch here, admittedly imperfect, a mere black-and-white swift outline, not intended to be shaded or coloured, or brought up to the round; is this mere outline of what a good man ought to be, at all like me? Yes or no? I think we must all say No to the question, and acknowledge our failure to attain to this homely ideal of conduct. The requirement pared down to its lowest possible degree, and kept as superficial as ever you can keep it, is still miles above me, and all I have to say when I listen to such words is, ‘God be merciful to me a sinner.’
My dear friends, take this one thought away with you:-the requirements of the most moderate conscience are such as no man among us is able to comply with. And what then? Am I to be shut up to despair? am I to say: Then nobody can dwell within that bright flame? Am I to say: Then when God meets man, man must crumble away into nothing and disappear? Am I to say, for myself: Then, alas for me! when I stand at His judgment bar?
III. Let us take the Apostle’s answer.
God is love, and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God.’ Now, to begin with, let us distinctly understand that the New Testament answer, represented by John’s great words, entirely endorses Isaiah’s; and that the difference between the two is not that the Old Testament, as represented by psalmist and prophet, said, ‘You must be righteous in order to dwell with God,’ and that the New Testament says, ‘You need not be.’ Not at all! John is just as vehement in saying that nothing but purity can bind a man in thoroughly friendly and familiar conjunction with God as David or Isaiah was. He insists as much as anybody can insist upon this great principle, that if we are to dwell with God we must be like God, and that we are like God when we are like Him in righteousness and love.
‘He that saith he hath fellowship with Him, and walketh in darkness, is a liar!’ That is John’s short way of gathering it all up. Righteousness is as essential in the gospel scheme for all communion and fellowship with God as ever it was declared to be by the most rigid of legalists; and if any of you have the notion that Christianity has any other terms to lay down than the old terms-that righteousness is essential to communion-you do not understand Christianity. If any of you are building upon the notion that a man can come into loving and familiar friendship with God as long as he loves and cleaves to any sin, you have got hold of a delusion that will wreck your souls yet,-is, indeed, harming, wrecking them now, and will finally destroy them if you do not got rid of it. Let us always remember that the declaration of my first text lies at the very foundation of the declaration of my second.
What, then, is the difference between them? Why, for one thing it is this-ISAIAH tells us that we must he righteous, John tells us how we may be. The one says, ‘There are the conditions,’ the other says, ‘Here are the means by which you can have the conditions.’ Love is the productive germ of all righteousness; it is the fulfilling of the law. Get that into your hearts, and all these relative and personal duties will come. If the deepest, inmost life is right, all the surface of life will come right. Conduct will follow character, character will follow love.
The efforts of men to make themselves pure, and so to come into the position of holding fellowship with God, are like the wise efforts of children in their gardens. They stick in their little bits of rootless flowers, and they water them; but, being rootless, the flowers are all withered to-morrow and flung over the hedge the day after. But if we have the love of God in our hearts, we have not rootless flowers, but the seed which will spring up and bear fruit of holiness.
But that is not all. Isaiah says ‘Righteousness,’ John says ‘Love,’ which makes righteousness. And then he tells us how we may get love, having first told us how we may get righteousness: ‘We love Him because He first loved us.’ It is just as impossible for a man to work himself into loving God as it is for a man to work himself into righteous actions. There is no difference in the degree of impossibility in the two cases. But what we can do is, we can go and gaze at the thing that kindles the love; we can contemplate the Cross on which the great Lover of our souls died, and thereby we can come to love Him. John’s answer goes down to the depths, for his notion of love is the response of the believing soul to the love of God which was manifested on the Cross of Calvary. To have righteousness we must have love; to have love we must look to the love that God has to us; to look rightly to the love that God has to us we must have faith. Now you have gone down to the very bottom of the matter. Faith is the first step of the ladder, and the second step is love and the third step is righteousness.
And so the New Testament, in its highest and most blessed declarations, rests itself firmly upon these rigid requirements of the old law. You and I, dear brethren, have but one way by which we can walk in the midst of that fire, rejoicing and unconsumed, namely that we shall know and believe the love which God hath to us, love Him back again ‘with pure hearts fervently,’ and in the might of that receptive faith and productive love, become like Him in holiness, and ourselves be ‘baptized with the Holy Ghost and with fire.’ Thus, fire-born and fiery, we shall dwell as in our native home, in God Himself.
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 33:14 The godless were people who lived without regard…
33:14 The godless were people who lived without regard for God and his law. • The image of a devouring fire came from God’s judgment of offenders during the wilderness journey (Exod 24:17; Deut 4:24). God still expects people to worship him with reverence and awe (Heb 12:29).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.