Topic: Escape God‘s Fire [Thursday June 1, 2017]
Text: Isaiah 30:27-33
Key Verse: “For Tophet is ordained of old; yea, for the king it is prepared; he hath made it deep and large: the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of the LORD, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it” (Isaiah 30:33).
There is the story of a frustrated individual in a neighborhood, who wanted to take his life by burning himself. On an appointed day, the poor fellow set a bonfire which he intended to jump into when the burning was at its peak. With the inferno on, he went to sit down under the shade of a tree nearby. As the fire was perceived to have got to its climax, the old man moved near with the plan of jumping into it to get burnt up at once. The nearer he went to the fire the more unbearable the heat was to him. For this reason, he retreated. He made several frantic efforts again but the scorching heat of the fire would not allow him to get near.
The man later got to a conclusion that dying by fire would be a most painful and terrifying death. So, he went back home dejected to think about an alternative means of suicide. If a man-lit fire is this hot, how about hell, whose fire is never quenched? Today’s text talks about Tophet (Gehena) which was a valley near Jerusalem where fires were burning continually to destroy filthy and offensive things. There, the backslidden Jews caused their children to pass through the fire to Moloch. God alluded to it in this passage to denote the certainty of the everlasting torment of sinners and backsliders in the Lake of fire. All the enemies of God and the persecutors of the children of God will face the divine wrath.
The sinner is an enemy of God. No matter his status in the society, he will not escape the fierce indignation of God if he does not repent. Sinners and backsliders are therefore warned and counselled to make haste and run to Christ, a perfect Refuge, to seek reconciliation with Him, so that they will be perfectly safe and happy when the wrath of God will come upon all the workers of iniquity. By so doing they will escape the Lake of fire, the most terrible place of torment for mankind.
Thought for the day: Crisis awaits all Christless people.
Bible Reading in one Year: John 4-5
DCLM Daily Manna was written by Pastor William Folorunso Kumuyi; is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Life Bible Church situated at KM 42 on the busy Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Nigeria.
