Fire from Above (Part 2)

(Continued from Article posted August 11, 2019.)

In the song, “Revive Us Again,” what do the words, Let each soul be rekindled with fire from above mean? Two weeks ago, we looked at Bible verses that mentioned fire coming from above and found them all to be detrimental; so, we guessed that the author was referring to Pentecost, where the apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit, and there appeared above their heads cloven tongues as of fire. Another possible meaning has been suggested, but first it should be pointed out that nothing can be rekindled unless it was first kindled. No one can rekindle a fire that never burned in the first place.

Since the author has passed on, we can only speculate what the first kindling was—unless someone finds something written by him in the way of an explanation. The one passage we did not deal with in the previous article is what John the Baptizer taught in Matthew 3:11, when he promised that Jesus would baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire. Is it possible that the song writer was thinking that followers of Jesus would be baptized with the Holy Spirit and with fire? And that, if we are not careful, we could quench the Spirit, and therefore need to be rekindled with more fire (and more Holy Spirit, too, presumably) from above? Whether or not these were the author’s views we do not know, but the fact is that some do believe this ideology.

However, they are not right in their thinking because they have misunderstood Matthew 3:11, which is nestled between Matthew 3:10 and 12. Below is the entire text of what John said.

“And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly purge His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

Consider these verses carefully. Nothing positive is stated in Matthew 3:10. The trees that were not bearing good fruit were going to be cut down and cast into the fire. Verse 12 is a little bit better; the threshing floor will be cleaned out: the wheat will go into the barn, but the chaff will be burned with unquenchable fire. Hmm. In both verses 10 and 12 the fire is that of judgment. Why do people think the fire in verse 11 is a good thing when the fire in the verse immediately preceding it and the fire in the verse immediately after refer to the lake of fire—final judgment? Verse 11 parallels the other two. No one is going to want to receive this fire from above—rekindled or otherwise.

For many years, some commentators have explained Matthew 3:11 as referring to Holy Spirit baptism and the tongues as of fire. This interpretation has two problems: the first problem is the word as. The tongues did not have a consistency of fire; they only appeared to look like fire. Second, such an interpretation ignores the context (verses 10-12). Brethren have pointed out the correct interpretation from J.W. McGarvey in his Commentary on Matthew – Mark (1875) to Tom Wacaster’s The Majesty of Jesus (2018).

McGarvey wrote: “It is clearly the wicked who are to be baptized in fire, and the fulfillment of the prediction will be realized when they are cast into the lake of fire” (39). Tom Wacaster echoed those sentiments in his recent commentary:

When John speaks of the Lord baptizing in “fire,” he was saying that the One Who was to follow him would baptize some of them in the Holy Spirit, and some of them would be cast into the fire of judgment. The fulfillment of this baptism in fire will be realized by the wicked when they are cast into the lake of fire (Rev. 20:15) (1:96).

Again, fire from above is not a good thing. Whatever the song writer was thinking was incorrect. Those who write songs are not infallible; their words often reflect their theology, which accounts for many of the errors in songs we are all familiar with. Our responsibility is to sing in spirit and in truth, which means evaluating the words and refraining from singing some songs or verses.

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