Beacon-Ministries

 

What About the Fire?

 

The fire is God's Presence:

The angel of Yahweh appeared to him in the shape of a flame of fire.

Yahweh went before them...in the form of a pillar of fire to give them light.

Where could I go to escape your spirit?
Where could I flee from your presence?
If I climb the heavens, you are there,
There too, if I lie in Sheol.

He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

Something appeared to them that seed like tongues of fire; these separated and came to rest on the head of each of them.

Our God is a consuming fire.

... the fire will test the quality of each man's work...If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.

The work of Christ:

The Son of Man must be lifted up, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert...

When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men to myself.

The Father sent his Son as Savior of the world. 1 Jn. 4.14

My food is to do the will of the one who sent me, and to complete his work.

If anyone hears my wordsand does not keep them faithfully it is not I who shall condemn him, since I have come not to condemn the world, but to save the world.

As one man's fall brought condemnation on everyone, so the good act of one man brings everyone life and makes them justified. As by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by one man's obedience many will be made righteous.

When it says , "he ascended," what can it mean if not that he descended right down to the lower regions of the earth? The one who rose higher than the heavens to fill all things is none other than the one who descended.

he went and preached to the spirits in prison...

he gave himself as a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.

If anyone sins, we have our advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, who is just; He is the sacrifice that takes our sins away, and not only ours, but the whole world's.

Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.

The work of the Spirit.

No one can say Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.

All beings... should bend the knee at the name of Jesus and that every tongue should acclaim Jesus Christ as Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

In love there can be no fear, but fear is driven out by perfect love: because to fear is to expect punishment, and anyone who is afraid is still imperfect in love.

The goal of Creation:

What we suffer in this life can never be compared to the glory, as yet unrevealed, which is waiting for us. The whole creation is eagerly waiting for God to reveal his sons ... From the beginning till now the entire creation, as we know, has been groaning in one great act of giving birth...

The final accomplishment

But Christ has in fact been raised from the dead, the first-fruits of all who have fallen asleep. Death came through one man and in the same way the resurrection of the dead has come through one man. Just as all men die in Adam, so all men will be brought to life in Christ; but all of them in their proper order. Christ as the first-fruits and then, after the coming of Christ, those who belong to him. After that will come the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, having done away with every sovereignty, authority and power. For he must be king until he has put all his enemies under feet and the last of the enemies to be destroyed is death, for everything is to be put under his feet. Though when it is said that everything is subjected, this clearly cannot include the One who subjected everything to him. And when everything is subjected to him, then the Son himself will be subject in his turn to the One who subjected all things to him. so that God may be all in all.

God has imprisoned all men in their disobedience only to show mercy to all mankind.

All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord.

Yahweh Sabaoth will prepare for all peoples a banquet of rich food, a banquet of fine wines...On this mountain he will remove the mourning veil covering all peoples, and the shroud enwrapping all nations he will destroy Death for ever. The Lord Yahweh will wipe away the tears from every cheek...

We have put our trust in the living God and he is the savior of the whole human race but particularly of all believers.

His purpose...that he would bring everything together under Christ, as head, everything in the heavens and everything on earth.

He is the image of the unseen God and he is the first-born of all creation, for in him were created all things in heaven and on earth: everything visible and everything invisible, Thrones, Dominations, Sovereignties, Powers-all things were created through him and for him.... God wanted all perfection to be found in him and all things to be reconciled through him and for him, everything in heaven, and everything on earth, when he made peace by his death on the cross.

If it is certain that through one man's fall so many died, it is even more certain that divine grace, coming through the one man, Jesus Christ, came to so many as an abundant free gift.... If it is certain that death reigned over everyone as the consequence of one man's fall, it is even more certain that one man, Jesus Christ, will cause everyone to reign in life who receives the free gift that he does not deserve, of being made righteous. Again, as one man's fall brought condemnation on everyone, so the good act of one man brings everyone life and makes them justified. ...however great the number of sins committed, grace was even greater;

And all mankind shall see the salvation of God.