Burning Embers

 

Ezekiel 10:2, “Then the Lord spoke to the man in linen clothing and said, ‘Go between the whirling wheels beneath the cherubim, and take a handful of burning coals and scatter them all over the city.” He did this as I watched.”

Then they cut to a scene of God’s glory, Ezekiel 10:4 says, “The cloud filled the temple, and the court was full of the radiance of the glory of the Lord.”

In which they cut back to this scene of burning coals. Ez. 10:6-7 says, ‘The Lord said to the man in linen clothing, ‘Go between the cherubim and take some burning coals from between the wheels.’ So the man went in and stood beside one of the wheels. Then one of the cherubim reached out his hand and took some live coals from the fire burning among them. He put the coals into the hands of the man in linen clothing, and the man took them and went out.”

It was out of the glory that these burning embers were taken and scattered around the city of Jerusalem.

Burning embers of coals represent this place of holding the fire and burning up everything around. It is a picture of God’s glory, Jesus, burning revival presence as well as a picture of His judgement and even His church.

The first time it is used is in Leviticus 16:12-13, in creating the glory of God. It says, “Then he must take a censer full of burning coals from the altar before the LORD, and two handfuls of finely ground fragrant incense, and take them inside the veil. He is to put the incense on the fire before the LORD, and the cloud of incense will cover the mercy seat above the Testimony, so that he will not die.”

2 Samuel 22:8-10 (and Psalm 18) depict coals in the glory filled presence of God bringing deliverance. It says, “Then the earth shook and quaked; the foundations of the heavens trembled; they were shaken because He burned with anger. Smoke rose from His nostrils, and consuming fire came from His mouth; glowing coals blazed forth. He parted the heavens and came down with dark clouds beneath His feet.”

Jesus is depicted like a burning ember of burnished bronze in Revelation 1:13-16, “and in the middle of the lampstands I saw one like a son of man, clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and wrapped around the chest with a golden sash. His head and His hair were white like white wool, like snow; and His eyes were like a flame of fire. His feet were like burnished bronze when it has been heated to a glow in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of many waters. In His right hand He held seven stars, and out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword; and His face was like the sun shining in its strength.”

And in Genesis 15:17, Jesus is the burning ember or torch and smoking firepot that passes through the carcasses in making covenant with Abraham and his seed. It says, “When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, behold, a smoking firepot and a flaming torch appeared and passed between the halves of the carcasses.”

As I did a study a year or two ago, the glory of God and the Judgement of God are often two sides of the same coin. When God comes in glory, He also brings conviction and change. The two go hand-in-hand. One person may experience His glory in a powerful way and another experiences His conviction leading to repentance and change. And others may experience both His conviction leading to repentance at the same time as His glory in a powerful way.

As an example of judgement, In Psalm 140:9-10 it says, “May the heads of those who surround me be covered in the trouble their lips have caused. May burning coals fall on them; may they be thrown into the fire, into the miry pits, never to rise again.”

When Elijah called down fire from heaven, he asked the people, why do you hesitate between two opinions? If God is God, then serve Him and if he is Baal, then serve him. When the fire came down from heaven, it illuminated God and made him real. While this was not burning coals, like in the time of the exodus from Egypt, fire illuminated the way in the darkness.

As the 7th seal was opened it says in Revelation 8:5-6, “Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it to the earth; and there were peals of thunder, and rumblings, and flashes of lightning, and an earthquake. And the seven angels with the seven trumpets prepared to sound them.…”

These burning embers from the altar would be experienced as glory to some as they are formed more in the Lord’s likeness and are burning brightly, and conviction and regret to others. When you have oil in your lamp, burning embers will cause you to burn brighter.

And when convicted, people are pierced to the heart for their sin and repent, having this sinful nature burned up as it creates more room for them to walk in the glory. And those who are hard-hearted towards God and unbending experience difficulty in a way that hopefully creates change and the softening of their heart towards God.

As an example of God turning the hard-hearted, ever notice that when disaster hits, people start showing up in church for a time?

Not saying it is the Lord’s judgement, but when difficulty hit Israel in the form of an attack against them, I felt God speak that He was sending in shifting angels in. They were sent to shift the atmosphere of hard-hearts to repentance and a tenderness towards God.

Proverbs pulls from this wisdom of the two sided coin in glory and judgement when it says in Proverbs 25: 21-22, “If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat, and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink, for you will heap burning coals on his head, and the Lord will reward you.”

Paul also pulls from this and says in Romans 12: 20-21, “To the contrary [of taking vengeance], ‘if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

In this way, it is like dropping the coals of ember on them in bringing his glory and also His conviction. By doing good in every difficulty and trusting the Lord to act on our behalf, we hold a place of an open heaven of glory and give God room to be seen and made known.

In 2nd Samuel 14:8, an ember is referred to as a person. This brings me to another picture of embers that are taken out of the glory of God and scattered around the city. When the Lord’s glory is poured out upon His people, they are like burning embers that are taken out of the fire and placed around the city to influence and change the whole region.

I just recently attended a leadership conference where they depicted a picture of revival as not only the church impacted but the city transformed. He argued that when God is pouring out His glory, the whole area is changed.

We see this with the book of Acts and people even rioting as the Greek goddess Artemis was threatened. At one time, there was nobody among the people who had a need as the Christians were selling all they own and laying it at the Apostles feet. We also see this as people burned their books of witchcraft in the city streets. Whole regions were changed, threatening the current people in power.

This brings to a last picture of embers of coal from the Bible in John 21:9 where Jesus takes some fish and bread and he is cooking it on burning embers of coal. This was after He had died and had rose again. He lived in this place between the unseen heavenly realm and the natural realm.

On a side note, as He was tangible when He was back on the earth, it makes you wonder where the fish and bread came from. Where they from the unseen realm? It was clear that they were not part of the catch of the disciples as Jesus told them to bring some of their catch over.

With Elijah, as he was running from Jezebel and headed to the Mountain of the Lord a significant distance away in 1 Kings 19:5-8, he was fed supernaturally a cake on burning embers. After He was provided this cake baked over coals and a jar of water, went back to sleep and was awoken again to eat and drink the same, he had enough strength to journey 40 days and nights to Mount Horeb.

We sometimes picture the unseen realm as this intangible world that lacks substance. But it says that Jesus is the intersection and the door between both realms. As the Door is open between the two realms, the intangible can become tangible into this realm and the tangible can become intangible into the other realm (like Phillip being transported by the Spirit to another location).

Jesus says to Nathanael in John 1:51, “I tell you the truth, you will all see heaven open and the angels of God going up and down on the Son of Man, the one who is the stairway between heaven and earth.”

When we are born again of Spirit and water we can enter the kingdom of God (John 3:5). Jesus goes on to say in the next verse, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” And another translation says, “Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life.” (John 3:6)

Whoever has the Son, has this spiritual as well as natural life (1 John 5:12). The Kingdom of God is not only what awaits us but what we have available to us now. It is living out of this spiritual realm integrated with the natural realm.

As I was at this conference recently, I was able to see in the Spirit like never before. In the midst of a cloud of glory, I saw this huge angel with healing in His wings dripping with mercy down on top of the entire congregation. It was amazing. The day prior, I also saw all these shofars being blown as they were declaring the shift that the return of Jesus would soon follow.

Paul tells us in Romans 14:17-18, “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. For whoever serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men.”

As we are to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, we know that the righteousness God is speaking of is not our own but that of the Spirit. This is the same with peace and joy. These are fruit of the Spirit that result from us partnering with the Holy Spirit.

Here it is saying that by claiming that which is ours through the Holy Spirit – righteousness, peace and joy, we are living and serving in a way that is pleasing to God as well as approved by men. Jesus tells us that the peace He left with us, His peace that surpasses all understanding, and His joy, are ours to own. It is what we are to live out of.

If we are not living out of peace and joy, are we really living out of the Spirit. Hebrews 3:14 says if we are faithful and trusting of God, we share in all that belongs to Christ. And Romans 8:6 says that if our minds are ruled by the Spirit, we will have this abundant life that draws from both realms and also His peace.

Lord Jesus, it is hard to grasp that we are entitled to peace, joy and this abundant life because of what you did for us. Help us to fully live into it. And make us burning embers that transform the whole region by Your fiery presence in our midst.