From Mount Sinai we learn, in Moses’ words, that God is a consuming fire—“Take care, lest you forget the covenant of the LORD your God. . . . For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God” (Deuteronomy 4:23, 24). The vision is stupendous—a mountaintop blazing with “fire to the heart of heaven” (Deuteronomy 4:11)—cloaked with a deep darkness—lightning illuminating golden arteries in the clouds—celestial rams’ horns overlaying the thunder with mournful blasts—the ground shaking as God’s voice intones the Ten Commandments. God is transcendentally “other,” perfectly good and holy. He radiates wrath and judgment against sin. God cannot be approached. This is the vision for the heart of every believer—“the LORD your God is a consuming fire.” It is the corrective so needed in today’s church that has shamefully trivialized worship, turning it into a self-assured farce. Here God’s divine intention in creating Sinai is obvious because “a picture is worth a thousand words.” Flaming Mount Sinai shows us God!
!!!!, preaching the word, a consuming fire
