"Our God is a Consuming Fire"

The last Bible study before summer break was on the book of Isaiah. This book contains some of the most critical passages on the subject of fire and the destruction of the wicked. All of these thoughts over the last few weeks ultimately led to the writing of this paper.

Christian beliefs about the fate of the wicked fall into two broad categories:

• A literal burning hell in which the sinner is punished for all of eternity. This view is associated with the belief that the soul is immortal.

• Less common is the belief that the suffering of the wicked lasts only for a period of time. This view is referred to as “annihilationism”. In this model, God is typically described as destroying (or annihilating) them after a brief period of conscious suffering by fire. 





There is another way of understanding the fire that is described in the book of Revelation and elsewhere in scripture - a view that incorporates these words of Jesus on the subject of fire:

“I came to set the earth on fire and how I wish it were already kindled.” (Luke 12:49)

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