Pentecostal Fire

And the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I come to you in the thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and believe you forever.” So Moses told the words of the people to the Lord. Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes. And let them be ready for the third day. For on the third day the Lord will come down upon Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.

Exodus 19:16–20 NKJV

Then it came to pass on the third day, in the morning, that there were thunderings and lightnings, and a thick cloud on the mountain; and the sound of the trumpet was very loud, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled. And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Now Mount Sinai was completely in smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire. Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly. And when the blast of the trumpet sounded long and became louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by voice. Then the Lord came down upon Mount Sinai, on the top of the mountain. And the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.

Exodus 20:1 NKJV

And God spoke all these words, saying:

Exodus 20:18–21 NKJV

Now all the people witnessed the thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood afar off. Then they said to Moses, “You speak with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die.” And Moses said to the people, “Do not fear; for God has come to test you, and that His fear may be before you, so that you may not sin.” So the people stood afar off, but Moses drew near the thick darkness where God was.

Acts 2:1–4 NKJV

When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Pentecost (Background)

Pentecost was the Greek name for the Jewish Festival of Shavuot. It was a celebration of the beginning of the wheat harvest.

This feast commemorated the giving of the Law of Moses at Mt. Sinai.

The Ten Commandments were given as a betrothal covenant between God and the people of Israel. The betrothal agreement is known as the ketubah. It is the law of the marriage covenant.

God presented Himself as Israel’s heavenly Groom in a garment of fire!

Pentecost is a fiery experience!

God gave His Fiery Law!

Deuteronomy 33:2 NKJV

And he said: “The Lord came from Sinai, And dawned on them from Seir; He shone forth from Mount Paran, And He came with ten thousands of saints; From His right hand Came a fiery law for them.

“Targum Neofiti, an ancient Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Bible, describes the giving of the Ten Commandments by the mouth of God, ‘like torches of fire, a torch of fire to the right and a torch of flame to the left. It flew and winged swiftly in the air of the heavens and turned around and became visible in all the camps of Israel and...became engraved on the two tablets of the covenant.’ [From Moshe Weinfeld, Normative and Sectarian Judaism in the Second Temple Period (London: T & T Clark, 2005), p. 274 as quoted in Kathie Lee Griffith, The Rock, the Road, and the Rabbi (Nashville, TN; W. Publishing, 2018), p. 151]

In the Midrash (a Jewish commentary) Rabbi Moshe Weissman says, "In occasion of the giving of the Torah, the children of Israel not only heard the Lord's voice, but actually saw the sound waves as they emerged from the Lord's mouth. They visualized then as a fiery substance. Each commandment that left the Lord's mouth traveled around the entire camp and then to each Jew individually, asking him, 'Do you accept upon yourself this Commandment with all of the (Jewish law) pertaining to it?" Every Jew answered 'Yes' after each commandment. Finally, the fiery substance which they saw engraved itself on the tablets."

Under the New Covenant, God writes His Law (Ketubah) on stones but on our hearts.

Jeremiah 31:31–34 NKJV

“Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

2 Corinthians 3:3 NKJV

clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.

God is a Consuming Fire!

Hebrews 12:28–29 NKJV

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire.

Knowing this, we are to serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.

God is the source of holy fire.

Holy Fire comes down from God.

Profane fire is conjured up from unholy sources.

Not “Fired Up!” but “Fire Fall!”

Christ Comes as a Refiner’s Fire!

Malachi 3:1–3 NKJV

“Behold, I send My messenger, And he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, Will suddenly come to His temple, Even the Messenger of the covenant, In whom you delight. Behold, He is coming,” Says the Lord of hosts. “But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire And like launderers’ soap. He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi, And purge them as gold and silver, That they may offer to the Lord An offering in righteousness.

1 Peter 4:17 NKJV

For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?

God Makes His Ministers a Flame of Fire!

Psalm 104:4 NKJV

Who makes His angels spirits, His ministers a flame of fire.

God requires His people to be on fire for Him!

Revelation 3:15–16 NKJV

“I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.

Tongues of Fire

Divided tongues of fire appeared to them.

Tongues of fire rested upon each of them.

They were all filled with the Holy Spirit.

They began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Response to the Word

Have you met the Bridegroom, Jesus Christ?

Are you cold or lukewarm?

Do you have the fiery ketubah of God’s covenant written in your heart?

Have you been filled with the Holy Spirit who fills you with fire from above?

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