“When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.” Ac 2:1–4
Tongues of fire? What’s a tongue of fire? Is that just a fancy way of saying a ‘flame’?
And why fire?
Pentecost is the greatest event in church history, the explosion of the Holy Spirit coming upon His people and indwelling and empowering them like never before, and He shows up in fire?
Since when did God and fire go together?
Since the very beginning…
Back before there was a lot of historical record keeping, God came to a man named Abram (a.k.a. Abraham) and called his name with a blessing to grow his lineage into a special people-group we know today as the Jews. To make it official, God initiated a contract (covenant) with Abram telling him that He would make Abram’s people great, put them into a special land to experience His presence in an intensified way. In the ratification of this contract, God showed up and sealed it in a ritualistic manner. The scene looked something like this,
“When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. 18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land,…” Ge 15:17–18
God appeared in fire.
Perhaps I’m making too much of it and it was just a coincidence that there was a flaming torch representing God, or that it was simply a ritualistic metaphor. But then why did God do it again, clearly with Moses in the desert?
“And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. 3 And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” 4 When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” 5 Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground. 6 And he said, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.” Ex 3:2–6
Why did God choose to guide the Israelites through the desert in the nighttime with a pillar of fire?
“And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night…” Exodus 14:21
God could have used any glowing light to give them illumination for their travels but He chose a pillar of fire. Rarely do we see God more demonstrated with fire than on Mount Sinai.
“Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the Lord had descended on it in fire. The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled greatly.” Exodus 19:18 (cf. Dt 18:15-16)
As a matter of fact for the Israelites, fire and God were thought of very much together. The presence of fire often meant the presence of God.
“On the day that the tabernacle was set up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, the tent of the testimony. And at evening it was over the tabernacle like the appearance of fire until morning. 16 So it was always: the cloud covered it by day and the appearance of fire by night.” Num 9:15,16
This fact was likely in the background of the story of Elijah going head to head with the prophets of Baal. Baal was a fertility god who was said to ride in a chariot of the clouds and throw lightning bolts. Israel knew that it was actually Yahweh who had a chariot of clouds (and fire), and brought forth fire from heaven.
(Elijah said…), “And you call upon the name of your god, and I will call upon the name of the Lord, and the God who answers by fire, he is God.” And all the people answered, “It is well spoken.” 1 Ki 18:24 (cf. Isa 66:15-16)
Yet it is God’s dwelling presence represented by fire that I want to turn again in order to make my devotional point about Pentecost that I set up at the beginning.
To the Jews, God’s presence, His manifestation, the sign that He was there and active was represented by fire. There was a showy display of this at the dedication of Solomon’s temple.
“As soon as Solomon finished his prayer, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. 2 And the priests could not enter the house of the Lord, because the glory of the Lord filled the Lord’s house. 3 When all the people of Israel saw the fire come down and the glory of the Lord on the temple, they bowed down with their faces to the ground on the pavement and worshiped and gave thanks to the Lord, saying, “For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.” 2 Ch 7:1–3
In the Rabbinic writings, any form of God here on earth, commonly seen in fire and light, was called the ‘Shekinah glory’. It referred to God manifesting on earth, being present among His people. Although the actual word was not used in either the Old Testament or New Testament it was the way that the Jews talked about the pillar of fire in the desert or the fire and smoke in Solomon’s temple.
To a Jew, to be near the Shekinah glory of God was the utmost. To know that you beheld the glory of God, that you could see a literal manifestation of God was incredible. Priests dreamed that it would be on their watch in the temple that God chose to reveal Himself in Shekinah. Young Jewish boys and girls heard the stories of their forefathers who saw lightning fire flash out of the sky at God’s command and the Burning Bush that called out to Moses their deliverer.
The Shekinah glory was the stuff of legends.
That’s why it would have likely gone over the heads of the early disciples when Jesus said this,
“I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” Mt 3:11–12
I assume that their minds, like mine, would immediately track on the final part of those verses and think about how fire is a purifier and that which burns away the impurity. Little did they know that when the Holy Spirit did show up to baptize the early Christian Church that He didn’t just symbolically show up with fire, He literally showed up in fire.
Here’s my point:
I believe that the individual tongues of fire that showed up at Pentecost over the heads of ALL 120 people praying that day, were individual, personal Shekinah glory flames.
That which was only legend to some, and present only to the patriarchs like Abraham, Moses, Elijah and Solomon, that which priests rarely got to see in the deepest place of the temple, had some upon and within each believer in that room.
How is this possible? If the ancient Israelites begged Moses to never let them hear God or see His fire ever again, ‘lest they die’, how could the early Christians?
Because between the day of the ancient Israelite and the disciples at Pentecost something happened: Jesus died on the cross.
When Jesus died on the cross, the curtain that once separated the presence of God from the people was torn in two, from the top to the bottom (ripped by God). It was at that moment that you could say, The Holy Spirit went worldwide. The wrath of God was pacified. Jesus made a way. As Jesus ascended back up to heaven, the Holy Spirit descended to be the most intimate of the Godhead (Father spoke from above, the Son walked alongside, the Spirit dwells within). It was at Pentecost that He showed up visibly telling the Christians that He was not only with them, but He was in them and all of the blessings of His presence were theirs.
Perhaps the most stunning point of all:
Just because Pentecost was a visual display of the Holy Spirit’s Shekinah on the believer, doesn't mean it’s not true for each and every one of us. If we had the eyes to see, we too would see that tongue of fire upon our heads and know that He is with us. What every Jew longed for, has become ours daily.
They turned 120 people into a worldwide movement in 300 years with signs, wonders and evangelism.
What shall we then do?
Even God’s “body” looked like it was made by fire. Eze 8:2; Rev 1:14 (cf. Rev 2:18)
