Biblical Imagery
By Jerry Batson, Th.D.
Special to The Alabama Baptist
In the course of last year’s Theology 101, we used the idea of common images applied to Christ and to the Church as ways to discern theological truths about each. At the beginning of this year, the intent is to explore common images used to refer to the Bible as God’s revealed word.
In this first installment we take note of a question put to the prophet Jeremiah by the Lord of hosts: “Is not My word like a fire, says the Lord” (23:29). Earlier the Lord had said to Jeremiah, “Because you speak this word, behold, I will make My words in your mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them” (Jer. 5:14).
A common purpose in using fire was often to purge or purify a substance. The heat of fire often purified precious metals by melting away impurities. Like with fire God’s word has purifying capabilities. God’s word applied to tainted hearts results in the spiritual cleansing of divine forgiveness.
In Isaiah’s vision that called him to be God’s prophet he saw one of the seraphim “having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth with it and said: Behold this has touched your lips; your iniquity is taken away and your sin purged” (Isa. 6:6–7).
Precious promises
Such was the idea behind the psalmist’s question: “How can a young man cleanse his way?” His experience gave him the needed answer: “By taking heed according to Your word” (Ps. 119:9). The Bible identifies attitudes and actions that are sinful, but it also points us to precious promises of divine cleansing when we confess our sins. In so doing we find that God “is faithful to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).
Another physical aspect of fire is its illumining capability. Fire burning on a torch illumines a traveler’s pathway amid darkness. A flame in an oil lamp illumines a room. In a spiritual sense such was the experience of the psalmist that caused him to confess, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Ps. 119:105).
With poetical parallelism notwithstanding, in the psalmist’s words we might understand divine revelation through God’s word to cast light upon life’s general direction or pathway, as well as often impressing us where the next step is to be placed.
Another aspect of fire is its warming capability. Cold hands are extended toward a campfire. A fire in a fireplace warms a room. In a spiritual sense God’s word often warms our hearts. Such was the experience of the two travelers from Emmaus when the risen Christ walked with them and talked to them from the Scriptures about things concerning Himself.
When Christ had departed from them, “They said to one another, ‘Did not our hearts burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?’” (Luke 24:32).
A burning fire
Fire can go beyond merely warming; it can burn. Such was God’s message to Jeremiah at a time when he was greatly discouraged over how people reacted to his message: “I said, I will not make mention of Him, nor speak anymore in His name. But His word was in my heart like a burning fire shut up in my bones; I was weary of holding it back, and I could not” (Jer. 20:9).
How often is God’s word in us as a burning message to be shared?
EDITOR’S NOTE — Jerry Batson is a retired Alabama Baptist pastor who also has served as associate dean of Beeson Divinity School at Samford University and professor of several schools of religion during his career.
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