Admirato

Fire, in the Bible, is an element of paradoxes. Fire burns up, but also purifies. It judges, but also refines. The Bible uses the connection between God and fire not as a simple sign of anger, but as an appropriate warning that because God loves creation and people, God wants the very best for both. Prof. Wright contends that this requires a purging of everything less than the very best. In the end, all will encounter God’s fire. But this won’t be a simple case of God casting off everything and starting from scratch. That which desecrates God’s creation will be destroyed, but that which honors God’s creation, rather than being destroyed by the fire, will be purified, like precious metal, to shine out as more truly that which it was created to be.