Fearfulness has seized the hypocrites:
“Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire?
Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?”
15 He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly,
He who despises the gain of oppressions,
Who gestures with his hands, refusing bribes,
Who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed,
And shuts his eyes from seeing evil:
16 He will dwell on high;
His place of defense will be the fortress of rocks;
Bread will be given him,
His water will be sure." vv.14-16
Read chapter 33
The world's question is who will dwell with the devouring fire and everlasting burnings? Immediately a person will thing this is talking about "hell" yet as we continue to read we learn that it's not a description of "hell" but of God. Hebrews 12:29 says our God is a consuming fire. And in both these occurrences it means exactly that- that it utterly consumes or destroys. This isn't to say God is really Satan or that He's going to burn anyone righteous or not, but that He will burn up anything unholy, anything that is not of God. So then what about that description when referring to "hell"? In Matthew 25:41 it mentions the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angles. Could it be also the same that it's the everlasting judgement of God to not be able to dwell with God and therefore cease to exist? Only righteousness can withstand the consuming fire of God's wrath against sin. We also must note that Isaiah mentions later in chapter 64 that it's not any amount of our own righteousness that can save us from this wrath, but through Jesus Christ we have been made righteous. Have you been made righteous through Jesus Christ? How do you understand consuming fire in the good and the "bad" passages of scripture (like here and then in Matthew 25)?
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