IV: Tabernacle, Priesthood and Feasts

Fire from the Altar Cast to the Earth

covenant fire moving promise to action

Root
Lev 9:24 · 'esh (H784)
Old Testament chain
  1. Lev 9:24
  2. 1 Kgs 18:38
  3. 2 Chr 7:1
  4. Isa 6:6-7
  5. Ezek 10:2
  6. Rev 8:5
New Testament
Rev 8:5; Acts 2:3-4

When Aaron and his sons were ordained, "there came a fire out from before Yahuah, and consumed upon the altar the burnt offering" (Lev 9:24). Fire answered Elijah on Carmel (1 Kgs 18:38) and Solomon's dedication (2 Chr 7:1), and Ezekiel saw coals scattered over the city in judgment (Ezek 10:2). In Revelation 8:5 the angel casts the altar's fire to the earth: covenant fire, the completion of Shavuot, when cloven tongues as of fire rested on the disciples (Acts 2:3-4). The thunderings and earthquake that follow are no contradiction: the fire that accepted Aaron's offering devoured Nadab and Abihu (Lev 10:2). It confirms the faithful and judges resisters through the assembly age.

From The Courtroom of Heaven, pp. 115–117