Monday Read: Five Days Before Pentecost - The Fire of Preparation
Five days from now, tongues of fire will rest on the disciples as the Holy Spirit comes in power. But today, no fire yet. Just more waiting, more praying, more trusting that God will fulfill what Jesus promised. They've been in the upper room for nine days now since Jesus ascended. The waiting must feel long, even with Jesus's assurance that "in a few days" the Spirit would come.
Fire appears throughout Scripture as symbol of God's presence and purification. When God called Moses, he appeared in a burning bush that wasn't consumed (Exodus 3:2). When God made covenant with Abraham, a smoking firepot and blazing torch passed between the sacrificed animals (Genesis 15:17). When God led Israel through the wilderness, he appeared as pillar of fire by night (Exodus 13:21). When God descended on Mount Sinai to give the Law, the mountain was wrapped in smoke "because the Lord descended on it in fire" (Exodus 19:18).
Fire represents God's holiness. Isaiah encountered God in the temple and saw seraphim - literally "burning ones" - surrounding the throne crying "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty" (Isaiah 6:3). The prophet's immediate response was terror: "Woe to me! I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips." A seraph then took a live coal from the altar and touched Isaiah's lips, saying "your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for" (Isaiah 6:7). Fire purified what was unclean.
Fire also represents God's judgment. Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by fire from heaven (Genesis 19:24). Nadab and Abihu, Aaron's sons, were consumed by fire for offering unauthorized incense (Leviticus 10:1-2). Elijah called down fire from heaven to consume the altar, the sacrifice, and the water at Mount Carmel, proving that the Lord is God (1 Kings 18:38). Fire consumed what opposed God's holiness.
But fire also refines. Malachi 3:2-3 prophesied about the coming messenger: "He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver." The refiner's fire doesn't destroy metal - it removes impurities, burning away dross to reveal pure substance beneath. God's fire purifies his people, removing what doesn't belong and strengthening what remains.
When the Spirit comes at Pentecost, he'll appear as "tongues of fire" (Acts 2:3) - not destructive fire but purifying fire, not consuming fire but empowering fire. The fire will rest on individual believers, marking them as God's temple, purifying them for service, empowering them for mission. This fire won't destroy - it will transform.
The disciples waiting in the upper room don't know fire is coming. But their constant prayer is preparing them for it. Prayer is itself a kind of fire - it burns away self-sufficiency, consumes pride, purifies motives, refines faith. The nine days they've spent praying constantly have been doing unseen work, preparing hearts to receive the Spirit's fire when it comes.
This is why waiting periods matter. God doesn't just give power to unprepared people. He prepares people to receive power. The disciples needed these days of waiting and prayer to burn away expectations that didn't fit God's plan, to consume reliance on their own ability, to purify their understanding of the kingdom, to refine their faith from theoretical belief to practical trust. The waiting was the refining fire before the empowering fire.
What's being refined in you during your waiting period? What impurities is God burning away? What expectations is he consuming? What self-sufficiency is he purifying? Waiting is never just passing time - it's preparation time, refining time, purifying time. God uses waiting to prepare you for what he's promised. The fire that purifies during waiting prepares you for the fire that empowers when the Spirit comes.
Malachi also prophesied: "Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and the day that is coming will set them on fire" (Malachi 4:1). But he adds: "For you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays" (Malachi 4:2). The same fire that judges the wicked heals the righteous. God's fire destroys what opposes him and purifies what belongs to him.
Five days from now, fire will fall. But today, fire is working invisibly in the hearts of disciples who pray constantly, trust persistently, and wait expectantly. They can't see the refining happening. They just know they're supposed to wait, so they wait. They're supposed to pray, so they pray. They're supposed to stay together, so they stay together. The fire is preparing them even before the fire appears.
Are you willing to endure the refining fire of waiting? Can you trust that God is burning away what doesn't belong even when you can't see the work happening? Will you keep praying when nothing seems to change, keep trusting when promises seem delayed, keep waiting when you don't know how long "in a few days" means? The fire that purifies prepares you for the fire that empowers. Let God refine you while you wait.
