The world is focused on fire. Let that focus be the means God gives you to plead with the dying. Can you imagine the Judgment arriving and your mother, father, child, or church member being with the tares? Worse yet, can you imagine in those final moments them turning to you and asking, “Why didn’t you warn me?”

But the day of the LORD will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.
2 Peter 3:10

The Terror of Fire

The fires in California have captured the attention of the world. The scale of the disaster is difficult to grasp. Water reserves have run dry. Whole blocks of homes are gone. Tornadoes of fire have developed in the wind and flames. Men and women, rich and poor, famous and lowly, all have suffered. Estimates for the real estate losses alone stand at $50-$150 billion. At the time of publishing this article, the fires are still burning. More than ten people have perished in the flames. It is probable that more victims will be found over the coming days. Residents have made desperate flights to safety with flames burning on both sides of the road they are traveling. The impact of the smoke on the firefighters and population is not yet known. May God protect all who are in the fire’s path!

The pictures of destruction remind me of Hiroshima after the atomic bomb and Dresden after the firebombing in World War 2. They remind me of events like the terrorists attacks on the World Trade Center. People threw themselves out of 90^th story windows to escape the fire all around them. They remind me that the last place I want to be is in the middle of a fire. The gut-wrenching pictures warn that a far greater fire is coming.

When terrible disasters strike a nation, the people should turn to the Lord in fear and repentance. No disaster is more pointed in that regard than the disaster of fire. God uses the illustration of fire to describe the terrible place of Hell. There the wicked will be in torment for all eternity with Satan and his demons.^[1] Rather than turning to God, our nation is doing the opposite. We eulogized a former president with a song imagining God and His word are false.^[2] Have we forgotten the horror of fire?

Fire devours everything in its path. When God sent fire on Nadab and Abihu it devoured all.^[3] Fire is always looking for more. It never says, “Enough.”^[4] It will go on burning until it runs out of fuel or its flames are extinguished with water. Cities like Rome, London, and Chicago have all been devoured by fire. Enough fire can create its own weather. Fire storms started in several cities after bombing in World War 2. Pilots over Dresden, many thousands of feet in the air, felt the heat and wind generated from the fire far below. If it could, fire would go on burning continuously.

Fire is hot. Long ago Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to bow down to Nebuchadnezzar’s golden idol. The fiery furnace was heated seven times its normal temperature. It was so hot that the soldiers tasked with throwing the men into the flames died from the heat.^[5] Elijah prayed and the fire came down from heaven on Mount Carmel’s altar. The water, dust, stones, wood, and sacrifice were consumed.^[6] The fire burnt up two groups of 51 men sent to take Elijah captive.^[7] Fire is deadly hot.

Fire is painful. Christ gave an account of hell in Luke 16. The rich man is described there as dying and being in fire. Three times he is said to be in torment. When was the last time you had a burn? Was it painful? How much more the whole body? When martyrs were burnt at the stake, mercy was sometimes shown by tying gunpowder around their neck. The torment of fire will help you understand how this was a show of mercy. Fire is terribly painful.

In this life, fire is temporary. Eventually, a devouring fire runs out of fuel and goes out. One of the tabernacle jobs was to keep the lamps burning. The lamps had to be refilled with oil to not go out. If the oil was not refilled the fire would die. Whole cities have been consumed by fire but eventually the fuel is exhausted and the fire goes out. The fire that is coming will be quite different.

The Coming Fire

Much news has come from California with accounts of the fires. A similar quantity of news has come with finger-pointing about the fires. Why wasn’t Los Angeles prepared? Why wasn’t the governor prepared? How is it that the fire hydrants had no water? What will be done to stop fires earlier in the future? How can we prevent fires from starting in the future? All of these are fair questions. Nevertheless, the fire that is coming cannot be stopped or prevented. There are at least two reasons.

First, the coming fire is from God. “Both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.” Who can stop the work of the Lord? What God has determined will come to pass.^[8] No one can prevent the fire that is coming.

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