Skip to main content

Blazing Oven

In Psalm 21 David is praising God for delivering him from his enemies in battle. In the ninth verse he says, “You will make them as a blazing oven when you appear. The LORD will swallow them up in his wrath, and fire will consume them.” 

That is terrifying imagery, as the previous verse said God would “find out” all His enemies. I know some people do not believe in a literal hell, and while it is true that word does not appear in this psalm, the idea of unbelievers in the afterlife is always associated with fire, as they are depicted here in a blazing oven.

When I hear this phrase, blazing oven, I can’t help but think of the three bold young men Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who were thrown into a fiery furnace for refusing to worship Nebuchadnezzar’s golden idol. But they were not harmed by the fire because there was a Fourth Man in the furnace with them, none other than Jesus, the Son of God. They were protected from the flames, even though they technically deserved it for breaking the law, because Jesus chose to save them.

No one wants to think about God’s blazing oven, even though we all deserve it for breaking His law. But we can be spared from the flames because of the amazing grace of Jesus our Lord. Just as He stepped in and protected those three Hebrews, He will step in and protect anyone who calls on His name. 

Speaking of himself in the third person, in verse seven David said, “For the king trusts in the LORD, and through the steadfast love of the Most High he shall not be moved.” If our trust is also in Christ Jesus, then we will be shielded by His steadfast love.  

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

To Save a Life

(Like my blog about the peace symbol, this blog was written as a default response to all the parents, students, and other people who are asking my opinion of To Save a Life.) By now you have probably heard of the movie To Save a Life, which opened nation-wide in theaters on January 22nd. The movie deals with so many issues that teens face today, like suicide, cutting, drinking, drugs, premarital sex, teen pregnancy, and abortion. At first glance this movie looks like an awesome resource that we should recommend for our teens, parents, youth pastors, and youth workers. But a closer look at the movie reveals a few disturbing things. For starters, according to pluggedin.com, there are 2 uses of the “A” word, 5 uses of hell (used as a curse word), and once the “D” word is used. There are other crude terms used to describe a girl, and crude terms for referring to sexual activity. There is also a bedroom scene that shows a girl removing a boy’s shirt, then afterwards the girl putting he...
38 comments
Read more

All Things To All Men

One of our favorite verses to use in our evangelism methods is where Paul said that he “becomes all things to all men” so that he might “by all means save some (I Corinthians 9:22).” This is certainly a good idea if we keep it in its proper context and application. For example, I remember a time in high school where I knew a kid that loved skateboarding. Being the chicken that I am, I was never a skateboarder. All he would talk about was skating, and I knew none of his lingo. But to help develop a relationship with him (he was new to our church and didn’t know many people), I brushed up on my skating lingo so I could ask if he had done any sick ollies lately (impressed?). This would be like Paul saying “to the skateboarder, I became a skateboarder.” This is effective and necessary. But then there are the people that use this verse to justify doing sinful things in the name of evangelism. The first one that comes to mind is about drinking. Some people will go into the bars to evan...
23 comments
Read more

Evangelism

“Preach the gospel at all times, and when necessary, use words.” St. Francis of Assisi is given credit for this famous quote (although that exact phrasing does not appear in any of his writings), and a lot of people would think that this is a great philosophy. His actual quote was that everyone should “preach by their deeds.” Preaching with our deeds is not just a strategy, it is a necessity. We are commanded all through the Scriptures to let our light shine and be a peculiar people. People should be able to look at our lives and see that we are Christians. They should see the love of Christ readily on display, and thus feel compelled to live their lives in the same way. The sermon that we should preach with our lives is a sermon of love, joy, peace, patience, self-control, forgiveness, conviction, etc. But this idea that has emerged that says we should ONLY preach with our deeds is a heresy straight from the devil himself. Think about it: who is the one that does not want you t...
18 comments
Read more