Lesson 236 . The Fire of Love

Let us look at the heavenly luminary and pay close attention to it. You see a miracle of God’s creative thought. Have you ever wondered what the Sun consists of, why it shines, and why it does not go out? Thousands of questions arise for which there are no answers. If I, for example, as an inventor of spacecraft, were to invite you to take a trip to the Sun, how would you receive this idea? “And no one will ever know where your grave is.” Although we are far from the Sun, we understand that it is deadly dangerous to those who approach it, and the closer I get to it, the more difficult it is for me to escape its gravitational field. The Sun is an unquenchable fire that has a certain mass and an inexhaustible internal source of energy. What keeps it burning? According to my understanding, it should have burned out long ago, because its fuel should have run out, yet it continues to shine. This means that there is something I do not fully understand. But I accept without any proof that it is not going anywhere, because that is how it must be.

There is a teaching that somewhere there is a place called “hell,” where the souls of sinners are tormented. But where did this interpretation come from? The word translated into Russian as “hell” means a grave or tomb where the dead are laid.

And yet there is a teaching about the lake of fire, into which sinners, death, and hell will be cast. We read in Revelation 20:14–15: “And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”

And the prophet Malachi writes in 4:1: “For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.” This tells us that everything that enters the lake of fire will be burned up by unquenchable fire.

Unquenchable means that no one will be able to put it out, nor will anyone try to do so.

But Satan went further. He instilled in people the idea that they would burn eternally in this lake. For himself and his subjects, he invented the position of overseer, and there would also be some devils serving there who look very strange, though the Bible does not say a single word about them, even though Google can show you this creature in various interpretations. Where did all this come from? Back in Eden, a doctrine arose called “Ye shall not surely die,” and over the millennia its foundations were refined until an entire teaching about life in hell after death reached us. It holds people’s minds so firmly that nothing can persuade them otherwise. I myself believed it and was dying of fear and horror because I knew that I would end up there and burn. But my mind rebelled against such injustice: why should I burn and suffer forever? And to my shame, I will say that I hated such a cruel god, not knowing that all this was Satan’s invention. Through this belief, he kept me terrified of punishment for the very sins to which he inspired me.

But God poured light into my life. And when I learned that there is no eternal fiery hell, I immediately accepted it and believed it, and later became convinced that this is true. There is logic and justice in this for deceived people.

But the Bible writes about fire, torment, and punishment, and sometimes these verses are frightening in their directness. Yet if we consider them in the light of “God is Love,” then they are not so difficult to understand and explain. And if we are to believe the Bible, it is not sinners but the righteous who will dwell in the unquenchable fire and walk in everlasting burnings.

We read in Isaiah 33:14–15: “The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil.”

Does that sound strange? We read in Deuteronomy 4:24: “For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.”

Hebrews 12:29: “For our God is a consuming fire.”

Someone once gave me this definition: sin is combustible material that will be destroyed by God’s fire, together with those in whom this sin remains.

A righteous person will live eternally in the presence of the Fiery God.

Just as the Sun consists of fire and yet gives us warmth and light, so God’s fire will be for us the eternal warmth and light of God’s love.

And very often, when one wants to describe the condition of a soul abiding in love, the lips say that it is like a fire within the heart—it truly burns.

Love has the power of fire. It is able to burn away everything unclean in a person’s heart and, with its extraordinary warmth, cleanse the most secret corners of my soul. It refines my soul.

When King Nebuchadnezzar commanded that the three young men who were faithful to God be thrown into the fiery furnace, the fire could not harm them, for they had entered God’s usual dwelling place after choosing death rather than sin. And the Son of God Himself honored their faithfulness with His presence.

A righteous person should not fear everlasting fire. This fire will be dreadful to those who reject their salvation and cling to evil.

But when the fire of God’s love is kindled in my heart, it warms not only me but also begins to shine around me. Its light becomes evident, and it cannot be concealed or hidden in one’s bosom; it will burn through everything in order to shine for all. And this lamp should not be placed under a bed or under a vessel. My lamp will not be able to melt or warm the icy wilderness of Babylon, but for this purpose God has a lake burning with fire. Yet the lake does not cleanse; it destroys what refused to be cleansed in the fire of human love, which drew wandering souls with tender bonds toward God’s fire.

The power of God’s Spirit can be compared to wind, water, and fire. In themselves, these manifestations—even in nature—are good when restrained by God, but they are independent of human beings, and very often they become natural disasters when they turn into God’s judgments and bring hurricanes, floods, and fires. God’s instruments of wrath are beyond human control, yet people sometimes fail to value them when they come as blessings, such as the words of truth, the righteousness of Christ, and the love of God the Father.

By accepting God’s love, I give God permission to accustom my soul to the presence of the eternal flame in my life. It does not allow my heart to grow cold under the burden of lawlessness, and it refines within my soul everything that can withstand such a trial.

Lawlessness is love’s fiercest enemy and can cause love to grow cold. Therefore, the first thing love produces within me is a struggle against the lawlessness of my heart until this enemy is completely destroyed. And the cleansed heart begins to hear the voice of the Spirit, see God’s hand in my daily life, distinguish the clean from the unclean, and love those who have a different spirit. And I grow in this fire.

The Sun of righteousness rises in my life. And I have very many questions about it that I cannot answer on my own. It is God’s miracle within me, an unquenchable fire, and I have no desire to put it out. It burns especially brightly when there are people nearby whom I can warm—those who sit in the prison of their fears and delusions, or who are simply disappointed. What a miracle!

Homework 236

In the light of our lesson, please read Luke 24:32; Psalms 39:3; 50:3; 97:2–5; Hebrews 12:29; Deuteronomy 4:24; 9:3; Isaiah 33:14–15; Exodus 3:2–4, 6; 40:38; Daniel 3:25–28; Acts 2:3–4; Luke 3:16–17; Malachi 4:1–2; Hosea 6:3; Revelation 20:14; 1 Peter 4:12–13; and Matthew 5:14–16.
Did you learn anything new and useful in this lesson?
Does the prospect of living in the unquenchable fire for all eternity in the presence of God bring you joy?
Which Bible verses came to your mind?
Are you frightened by such a formidable attribute of God as fire?
Would you like to visit the Sun with Jesus and see the local sights?
Why do many Christians believe that it is not the righteous but sinners who will live in the fire, and that they will do so forever?
Is the word “eternal” always used in the Bible to mean something endless, or are there figurative uses that are limited by a particular action?

For example, Jude 1:7 says: “Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.”

Does this mean that the eternal fire went out after completing its work, or is Sodom still burning?