What kills God’s enemies, saves God’s people: Shadrach, Meshach, and the Baptism of Fire

I would like to share with you a pattern that we see in the Scriptures. When Israel is passing through the Red Sea, which opened for them, that becomes their pathway to be safe from Pharaoh and his chariots. But yet that is the very place where Pharaoh would go to die with his chariots. As Israel passes through the sea, it is explained that that is like their baptism, their cleansing. And then Israel's baptism becomes the death of Israel's enemies. We also see another example of a baptism of fire, where we see Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego when Nebuchadnezzar came and he wanted to throw them in the fire. And of course, as they were instructed to make this fire seven times more strong than ever before, those who made the fire, even they died from the fire. But when Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego was in the fire, they didn't die. They praised God. And ultimately we start seeing a pattern. A baptism in water with Israel through the Red Sea. Now a baptism in a type of fire with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego seems like that you can't really die if you're already dead. This is why Yeshua said, the one who seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but the one who gives up his life for my sake will gain it. At the end of the day, we are called, if we follow the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, if we are going to be imitators of the Messiah, Jesus, Yeshua, he goes to a cross and he says, imitate me, follow me, get baptized into my death, which is a death which is to die to ourselves. And when you are dead and you are resurrected anew, you no longer can die in the ways that the world dies. In fact, the whole point of our faith is that we will not die, but that we will live forever. We will receive a new body of immortality, but it requires of us to be baptized in water, in the Holy Spirit, and in fire. Another example is the cross itself. The cross, when Jesus was crucified, was a place of mocking. Many mocked him when he was on that cross. And that led to their death and separation from God if they did not repent. But for those who looked upon the one who was pierced and mourned for him, that would become the instrument of salvation for them. How crazy that the one moment in history that becomes salvation to the world would be the very thing that condemns many. Because the moment that the Son of God is lifted up high, the whole world is put on notice. Mankind is put on notice. As to what the truth is, who the truth is who needs to be believed in for us to be saved of our sins. And those who do not are not saved of their sins. This is the conclusion of the matter. God is an all consuming fire. And that's a problem. Because have you ever seen what happens when fire comes near a tree like me and you? It burns up, it dies. But yet when we believe in the one true God and in the Son whom He sent to die for us, then we can live forever. We can become immersed in fire by him so that the fires of hell could never touch us. But the one who is never touched by the fire of God and who does not get baptized in the fires of God and in His Holy Spirit, that is the one who ought to fear God himself. And this is the beauty of the gospel. The greatest danger to all the world who is God Himself because He is holy and the world is not. He becomes our salvation because he makes us holy as he is holy. If we were to believe in him and we don't deserve that, but yet he saw us, loved us and wanted us to be restored back to Him. And that is a good reason for us to believe in Him. Because what else will we do with our sins? Where else will it go? It has to go somewhere. It's on your conscience, it's on mine. What will we do with it? We can't ignore it, pretend it's not there. We can't say that. Maybe tomorrow we'll deal with it. We can't say that. Well, I do a lot of good things and that will nullify my bad things that I've done. Any judge will say that. That's not a good argument for the murderers and the blood on our hands. At the end of the day, we all need Him. And if you see him for who he is and what he has done, you can rejoice in him and look upon him who was pierced for you. And you can actually come into a place of freedom, recognizing that he has come to restore you to the Father. Sa.