In the Scripture, Pentecost was a Feast observed for only one day. It may take a long time to get you out of Egypt and Egypt out of you. It may take a long time before the tabernacling of God in His glory is established in the earth. But the fire of God that burns and turns you into His instrument is a one-day operation.
In the year of King Uzziah’s death, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings; with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called out to another and said, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory.” And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke.
Then I said, “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.” (Isaiah was aware that the lips were the key to his need). Then one of the seraphim flew to me, with a burning coal in his hand which he had taken from the altar with tongs. And he touched my mouth with it and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away, and your sin is forgiven” (atoned for). Isaiah 6:1–7.
Fire from the altar of God had touched Isaiah’s lips, and now his iniquity was taken away and his sin atoned for. But you must realize that this was not an end in itself; it was the preliminary preparation that enabled Isaiah to be what God wanted him to be. This is made plain in verses 8 through 10: Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I. Send me!” And He said, “Go, and tell this people: ‘Keep on listening, but do not perceive; keep on looking, but do not understand.’ Render the hearts of this people insensitive, their ears dull, and their eyes dim, lest they see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and repent and be healed.”
God does not deliberately close people off so that they will not listen to the Word. But when the Word comes, it will accomplish one of two purposes. If you open your heart, the Word will create a miracle in you; but if you shut your heart, any natural capacity that you have for the truth will be destroyed. When you hold the truth in your heart in unrighteousness, you are delivered over to a reprobate mind. The Word is like the sunshine which bakes the clay until it is hard, but it also melts the wax. If your heart is tender, the Word and the dealings of the Lord will open up a miracle for you. But if you are rebellious when you hear that same Word, it will actually harden your heart and become the occasion of your destruction. Jesus said, “I do not judge any man, but My words shall judge you in the last day” (John 12:47–48).
God performed many miracles in Egypt and delivered His Word to Pharaoh, yet we read how God hardened Pharaoh’s heart. I do not believe that He did it with the deliberate intent of destroying a man whose heart was open to Him. The Word triggered a process within Pharaoh to which he responded. So God hardened his heart. Pharaoh’s response to God’s Word was foreknown by God, and it was the occasion of his destruction. God is also bringing His Word today. As His living Word goes forth, many will hear, but multitudes will refuse it. They will harden their hearts against God’s Word for this hour, and this will be the occasion of their judgment; they will be destroyed. Of course, if they open their hearts, they will be blessed.
Then I said, “Lord, how long?” (How long am I to do this?) And He answered, “Until cities are devastated and without inhabitant, houses are without people, and the land is utterly desolate, the Lord has removed men far away, and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land. Yet there will be a tenth portion in it, and it will again be subject to burning, like a terebinth or an oak whose stump remains when it is felled. The holy seed is its stump.” Isaiah 6:11–13.
God could not judge His people without first having a vessel through whom He could speak. When He had such a vessel, He began to move. Isaiah asked, “How long will I be this vessel?” He was told to prophesy until the land was desolate, the judgments were accomplished, and God’s purpose was completed in the earth.
Let this give you a sense of destiny. Those who break through to speak this living Word of judgment will have had the baptism of fire upon them, preparing them to be such vessels. First the fire will purge them and make them ready to speak in purity; then the Word which they speak will be the fire that devours, and they will not perish in the process. What has been started will be completed.
Jeremiah’s mouth was touched just as Isaiah’s, before he set out to tear down and destroy and build up. Now the word of the Lord came to me saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.” Then I said, “Alas, Lord God! Behold, I do not know how to speak, because I am a youth.” (According to some estimations, he was eight to ten years of age, and certainly not older than twenty.) But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am a youth,’ because everywhere I send you, you shall go, and all that I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you,” declares the Lord.
Then the Lord stretched out His hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me, “Behold, I have put My words in your mouth. See, I have appointed you this day over the nations and over the kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.” Jeremiah 1:4–10.
Later Jeremiah quoted the Lord, saying, Is not my word like fire? saith Jehovah; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces? Jeremiah 23:29. God was saying to Jeremiah, “My words in your mouth are going to be like a fire. You are to tear down; you are to destroy; you are to build.” The prophets did not speak just to convey knowledge to the people; that was a secondary function. They spoke to create and set into force the supernatural will of God in the earth.
“Now, gird up your loins, and arise, and speak to them all which I command you. Do not be dismayed before them, lest I dismay you before them. Now behold, I have made you today as a fortified city, and as a pillar of iron and as walls of bronze against the whole land, to the kings of Judah, to its princes, to its priests and to the people of the land. And they will fight against you, but they will not overcome you, for I am with you to deliver you,” declares the Lord. Jeremiah 1:17–19.
We receive the full impact of this passage by reading Jeremiah 5:14. Therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, “Because you have spoken this word, behold, I am making My words in your mouth fire and this people wood, and it will consume them.”
When God spoke through Amos, He frequently said, “I will send a fire and consume this nation,” or “I will send a fire and consume these people.” This vein continues throughout the book of Amos, the prophet. His words were the fire of God sent to accomplish His will.
We are leading up to a principle. First the fire is applied to us, and then we become the purified channels through which flow both blessing and judgment—according to whatever the Lord would minister. The remnant will stand and prophesy one word, and it will cause Babylon to come down and Zion to be built. It will not always be necessary to distinguish between what is judgment and what is restoration. When you prophesy, “The Lord builds again Zion; therefore rejoice, O Zion, for thy Lord has come and none shall be able to hinder, none shall be able to put you down,” your very words will bring confusion to every adversary. When people are raised up to do the will of God, everyone who opposes them will be cast down. The Lord will be their defender. If God is for you, who can be against you (Romans 8:31)?
The Old Testament principle of fire, which brought judgment from the mouths of prophets, is enacted in the book of Revelation. In chapters 8 through 10 the seventh seal is broken and God begins to perform on the earth the end-time judgments, including the destruction of whole segments of the world population. Have you often wondered how all these judgments could be ignited by God just because someone tears a seal off the Book? Did God sovereignly ordain that someone will simply pull a lever and a trap will be sprung, or will His Body of believers be instruments to initiate and accomplish this? Are you interested in knowing how the seal-breaking, the blowing of trumpets, and the plagues and calamities all are going to happen?
And when He broke the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. And I saw the seven angels who stand before God; and seven trumpets were given to them. And another angel came and stood at the altar, holding a golden censer; and much incense was given to him, that he might add it to the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up before God out of the angel’s hand. Revelation 8:1–4.
Notice here that the fire of God was added to the prayers and worship of the saints. In the Old Testament a censer filled with fragrant incense was waved before the Lord. The fire taken off the altar and added to the incense symbolizes God setting your heart and your spirit on fire. First He deals with you by the experience of fire from the altar.
Verses 5 and 6: And the angel took the censer; and he filled it with the fire of the altar and threw it to the earth; and there followed peals of thunder and sounds and flashes of lightning and an earthquake. And the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound them.
What turns loose the catastrophes, the plagues, the judgments that are described in chapters 8 and 10? Fire is thrown upon the earth. This fire is the prayers of the saints mingled with the fire from the altar of God, and it causes things to happen. Now we know why God is bringing intercession to such an importance in the end time: it is the censer before the altar of God. God will add the fire to our prayers, to our intercession, to our prophecies. And when the time comes, it will be thrown to the earth, and the events that happen in rapid succession on the earth will be almost beyond our comprehension.
Stand before the Lord and let Him put the fire to your heart. Allow Him to put the fire to your prayers and to your worship because these are the instruments He is going to use. This is essential to the accomplishment of His work in the earth through you. Isaiah did not say, “I am a man of unclean lips,” just so that a coal of fire could be taken from the altar of God and placed on his lips to purge his iniquity; that was not an end in itself. Likewise, God is setting you free from the restrictions and limitations that are in your life for only one reason—so that you can be of service and a blessing to the Lord. He must bring the baptism of fire which will burn up the chaff that now strangles the divine nature and holds back all the mighty works of God that are to be wrought through it. The chaff must go because you have to change.
When you contend for burdens and objectives in prayer, do you frequently feel as if you are just spinning your wheels? You are probably saying, “I know God wants this accomplished. Why isn’t it done?” Look to yourself and say, “Lord, put the fire to this chaff and liberate the divine nature that is underneath. Loose the kernel, that seed of deity that You have planted. Loose it from its husk, from the chaff of carnality and the flesh. Set it free, Lord, so that You can move within my heart and I can be the instrument through whom You have chosen to move effectively in the earth.”
Holiness is not a thing of merit. Holiness is the way through the veil. Without holiness no man shall see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14). Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God (Matthew 5:8). Purity and perception are forever linked. Without holiness, you will stumble. If you try to cope with principalities and powers, no matter how well-equipped you are or what has been prophesied over you, you will enter into the spiritual battle blinded. After the Philistines had blinded Samson, they delighted in seeing the once mighty warrior being led by a child. Nothing would delight Satan more than to have you get into a battle and not know where you are or what you are doing or who is doing what to you and why. If this happens, you will not be able to discern your way out of a paper sack because your imagination and everything else will be preyed upon. It is almost impossible to tackle a demon that you are not able to discern. The battle is half won when you have determined who the enemy is and where he lurks. But first the vessel must be purged.
“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 fullers’ soap. And He will sit as a smelter and purifier of silver, and He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, so that they may present to the Lord offerings in righteousness. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord, as in the days of old and as in former years.”
First He will come as a refiner’s fire and refine the sons of Levi like silver. But it is after the baptism with fire that He says, “Then I will draw near to you for judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers and against the adulterers and against those who swear falsely, and against those who oppress the wage earner in his wages, the widow and the orphan, and those who turn aside the alien, and do not fear Me,” says the Lord of hosts. “For I, the Lord, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed.” Malachi 3:2–6.
God is saying, “I do not change this principle, and that is why you are not consumed. I will deal with the sorcerer, the witchcraft, and the spiritual assault that is coming against you, and with areas where you have been oppressed financially; but only after I have dealt with you. I will refine you first; then I will deal with the things that come against you.”
This means that you will not be consumed. If God were to start dealing with iniquity in punitive judgment that destroys the ungodly and the wicked, you would be judged too. You dare not say, “Lord, avenge me of my adversary” unless you are upright before the Lord. You must love your enemy with a forgiving spirit. Your heart has to be right. All malice, bitterness, and hatred must be burned out of you first. “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” saith the Lord (Romans 12:19). Get rid of that smoldering animosity in your heart. Let the fire of God come and deal with you. Then He will draw near to you for judgment, and condemn all of these things that come against you. First the fire is sent to us to purify; then the fire comes through us to minister to the world.
“For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace; and all the arrogant and every evildoer will be chaff” (I would rather have the Lord deal with my chaff now than to be among the chaff of evildoers He destroys in the furnace later); “and the day that is coming will set them ablaze,” says the Lord of hosts, “so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. But for you who fear My name the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings.” The word “wings” should be construed “rays.” Notice that it is the sun of righteousness. The Lord shines upon us in righteousness and the healing rays begin the healing. Our carnality disappears because the sun of righteousness is shining upon us. “And you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall. And you will tread down the wicked, for they shall be ashes” (that means there has been a fire!) “under the soles of your feet on the day which I am preparing,” says the Lord of hosts. Malachi 4:1–3.
The ones who will trample down the ungodly as ashes under their feet are those who have sought the Lord and received from Him beauty for ashes. He has met their hearts first. You are fooling yourself if you think that you can prophesy and cry out to God, while at the same time allowing anything wrong to exist in your heart. The Psalmist declared, If I regard (if I look upon with favor, if I fail to deal with) iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. Psalm 66:18. You will be rendered ineffective unless you bring out everything within you and confess, “O God, I am a man of unclean lips. Purge my lips.”
James 3:2 tells us, “If any man offend not in words, the same is a perfect man.” When God can deal with you until your speech and utterance is perfected, you will speak the Word of the Lord, and everything in your nature will conform to it. Too often you defeat yourself with the unbelief and the negative words that come out of your own mouth. They originate in your heart, and you give the words a force when you voice them.
This is the time of Pentecost. Let that fire burn in your heart! Let the Lord touch you! Come before Him and say, “Lord, touch me with a coal from off the altar of God. I want to speak the Word of God and I do not want it mingled with the expressions of an old nature. I want You to speak through me.” When He does, His will is going to be wrought perfectly in this age.
God wants to establish who He is, His nature, and His ways of moving. He is the God who answers by fire. This fire is not something that God adds to His nature or something that is apart from Him. When you ask the Lord to baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire, you are believing for one of the attributes of God to become operative in your life. There is nothing you can ever claim from God that is not inherent in God Himself. He is the source of all life. When you ask for a healing, you are asking the Creator to make you well. When you ask the Lord to save you, you are telling Him, “I have accepted Your sacrifice for me. Now give me Your attribute of eternity. Let me be eternal, just as You are.” When you say, “Lord, let me be righteous,” you are not requesting something that you should attempt to produce, but you are believing for His righteousness to be imparted to you because He is a righteous God. “The Lord Our Righteousness” is one of the compound Hebrew names of Jehovah.
Our God is a consuming fire, and when you pray, “Lord, purge me; purge me with fire and move within my heart,” you are asking and believing to appropriate this phase of God, this quality of His very nature. A prayer such as this is an appropriation of the nature and fullness of God. When Paul tells you to be filled with all the fullness of God, he is talking about something that has to prevail within you. He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that you ask or think, according to the power that works within you (Ephesians 3:20). He works within you, and if you submit to this part of His nature—the fire burning in the fullness of God—you will become the channel for those works which are exceeding abundantly above all that you can ask or think. Open your heart wide to His fire. Determine that you are going to have it.
The Lord says in I Corinthians 3:13–15, “The fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is, but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.” The Lord is actually going to place you in positions where the whole motivation of your spirit and everything that you have accomplished will go up in smoke if it is not right before the Lord. The fire will try it. Either you invoke the fire of God upon your life now, or you are going to experience it at some other time, even as a believer. Face the purging. This is a good time to get the job done—while you can be of use and of service in the name of the Lord.
Salvation is free by the grace of God. This fire does not come to punish you; it is a refining fire which enables you to enter into His holy presence where no one can enter without holiness. You might say, “But when I die, my spirit will go to be with the Lord.” Yes, but if your spirit is not perfected now, you will have to go through something to become a perfect spirit standing before the Father.
“But isn’t it by His blood that I am made righteous?” Yes, theoretically; but this will have to be done experientially, too. A believer who lives like a wicked sinner cannot suddenly expect to change just because he dies. As a tree falls, so shall it lie (Ecclesiastes 11:3). The refining work of the grace of God must be wrought in his life.
Welcome the fire of the Lord. Cast yourself on the mountain of fire. It is time to be delivered from the chaff. As you serve God, do you find that you are becoming more and more provoked about the chaff in your life? God is giving it special attention and giving you a special responsibility to enter into this purging.
Daniel prophesied, “Many will be purified and made white” (Daniel 12:10). This is the operation spoken of throughout the Word. The end-time remnant is going to walk in this purification. Do not back away from this purging. Just because you may have walked half-bound and half-free does not mean that God will not liberate you completely. Believe for the total sanctification! Be loosed into this! Paul wrote in I Thessalonians 5:23–24, “I pray God that your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of the Lord. And faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it.”