What's in a Name? - 18

ESH OKLAH (AISH o-KLAH) - Our God is a consuming fire.

“Esh Oklah is literally translated from the Hebrew ‘to eat by fire’.” * 

When we think of God, we normally think of him in terms of love, mercy, forgiveness, and compassion; however, there is a wrath side of God that folks don’t much like to talk about or for that matter hear about. But if we’re going to truly know God as we are known we must look at the condemnation side of him, full of anger, fire, and judgment. Generally speaking, born-again believers do not need to concern themselves with this side of God as long as they seek to emulate Christ with their life. However, those who habitually sin without remorse or conviction will one day feel the wrath of God as a consuming fire.

            Here are three portions of scripture that speak to the subject of God being a consuming fire. Deuteronomy 4:23-24, “Take heed to yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God which He made with you and make for yourselves a graven image in the form of anything which the Lord your God has forbidden you. For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.” 

Jeremiah 4:4, “Circumcise yourselves to the Lord and take away the foreskins of your hearts, you men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, lest My wrath go forth like fire [consuming all that gets in its way] and burn so that no one can quench it because of the evil of your doings.”  

Hebrews 12:28-29, “Let us therefore, receiving a kingdom that is firm and stable and cannot be shaken, offer to God pleasing service and acceptable worship, with modesty and pious care and godly fear and awe; for our God [is indeed] a consuming fire.”

Our lives are not our own. We were bought with a hefty price, one we rightfully should have had to pay ourselves, but God, in his infinite wisdom, love and compassion, sent his only Son to pay our sin debt for us. The beating he took was meant for us. The Roman spikes he endured were meant for us. The cross on which he hung and died was meant for us. He willingly took all that for us so that we wouldn’t have to. Until next time, walk with the King and be a blessing.

In His Name & for His Glory,

Richard Keller

Bread of Life Ministries

Translation used is the Amplified Bible

* Taken from the website: https://mbentham.wordpress.com/