Amos 4:11 I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning… Many figures are employed to represent the evil of sin. But even the most suggestive are inadequate. "Fire" is very suggestive. I. BOTH FIRE AND SIN ARE INVOLVED IN MUCH MYSTERY. No inspection, or speculation, can determine the weight, colour, consuming power, etc., of fire. Thus with the "fire of iniquity," there is much that is unaccountable connected with its origin, constitution, and processes of ruin; but none can doubt the terrible fact of its existence. II. BOTH FIND READY AND ABUNDANT FOOD FOR THE FLAMES. Matter universally possesses the property of heat in various degrees. Human nature is morally of an inflammable character, and universally so. It is only a question of time in the instance of every life, when the hidden properties of sin develop in active, visible form. III. THE MOST DISASTROUS FIRES ARE OFTEN FROM SMALLEST BEGINNINGS. A sweeping conflagration that in two hours transformed an American town into a waste of smoking ruins, had its beginning in an unseen flame in a small upper storey. It is in the apparently harmless beginnings of impure thoughts, and unholy desires, and little sins that the desolating fires of iniquity have their rise. IV. SUPERIOR WORTH OF OBJECTS DOES NOT EXEMPT FROM ATTACK AND RUIN. Everything succumbs to fire. This is as sadly true of the fires of sin. It would seem that the brightest genius, the noblest heart, and the most promising talent were the especial victims of the arch-fiend. Satan is no respecter of persons, for the rich and poor, high and low, ignorant and intelligent, useless and useful are drawn upon as fuel to feed his merciless flames. V. MEANS OF DEFENCE ARE PROVIDED AGAINST THE RAVAGES OF THIS MONSTER. Fire-engines, fire-escapes, etc. Neither has God left humanity destitute of means for the defence of the soul exposed to Satan's flames. A fountain has been opened, the waters of salvation, the means of grace, the Church, and the Holy Spirit, all these are given us in liberal provision, that the fires of sin may be quenched. Have we been rescued? There are many others yet enveloped in the flames of sin. "Pulling them out of the fire" is the work of next importance. God demands this at our hands. (W. G. Thrall.) Parallel Verses KJV: I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD. |
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