Fighting Fire With Fire
Fighting Fire With Fire
1 John 4:9-11 (ESV)
In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
Long considered the “Navy Seals” of the firefighting world, the Hotshots suffered the most horrific loss of life among firefighters since 9/11. On June 30, 2013, while battling a wildfire only a few miles outside of Phoenix, Arizona, 19 members of this elite squad were killed. A sudden change in the direction and speed of wind-whipped flames overran their positions in only a matter of minutes. All of them were caught in an area that had yet to be “back-burned,” a technique similar to a controlled burn. The latter is done when no current fire exists, while back-burning is used to impede or stop the progress of an existing fire. The theory is simple: the safest place during a fire is where the fire has already burned. No such refuge was available for these 19 fallen heroes.
The expression, “fighting fire with fire” has its origin in just such practices—controlled and/or back burns. The best way to stop a fire is to eliminate the fuel needed to feed the fire. As early as the 16th century, The Bard himself wrote in King John of fighting fire with fire, or “threatening the threatener.” The verse for this week employs the very same concept with a word that has, unfortunately in many translations of scripture, fallen out of use. The word is “propitiation.”
Popular western culture has a hard time envisioning an angry God. But the fact is that God is angry—very angry. He is angry at the blatant disregard of His creatures for the life He offers them. He is angry that we humans are so quick to find satisfaction in things that cannot truly satisfy. He is angry that we consistently choose death over life. As the ultimate spurned lover, God is angry that we so quickly and easily rebuff His overtures of love. As just as He is loving, God’s righteous demands remain unmet, and He must act upon His clear declaration of the penalty for failure to obey such demands—death. Propitiation speaks to precisely this problem—what to do with the just anger of God?
Imagine being ushered into a courtroom. You are invited to the front of the room, where God himself stands as Judge, Jury, and Executioner. You are told to kneel before Him. The list of your offenses is summarized, because an actual reading of each one would take too long. You have nothing to say. You feebly say “guilty” when asked how you plead. In God’s hand is the full, white-hot cup of His wrath. You notice that God is weeping as He raises the cup over your head. Guilty as charged, you await the impending horror of feeling the full weight of God’s wrath. Your fear turns to jaw-dropping confusion as you witness what happens next. Still sobbing, the God of all creation, the God who made you and wooed you and made His expectations clear to you—that same God now takes that cup and begins to pour it over His own head. You see Him writhe in agony as He pours every last drop, down to the dregs, of His wrath upon Himself. You are then invited to stand and then leave, as you hear God’s dying whisper, “Go, and sin no more.” THAT, is propitiation. If we could see Calvary as it truly is, we would see a smoldering, scorched piece of earth. The full fury of God’s wrath was poured out on that place, upon the head of Christ. There, the fire of God’s anger burned like never before. With fully justified ferocity, God continues to mete out justice in world Hell-bent on rebellion. But there is one place that is safe to stand. There is one place where the “back-burn” of love has incinerated the fuel of sin. It is Calvary. Stand there, and be safe.
What would motivate God to do such a thing? What could possibly compel God to endure the very wrath that we justly deserve? Why would God, once and for all, drain the cup of His wrath, so that we never need to fear God’s anger ever again!? The text tells us…repeatedly. “In this, the love of God was made manifest.” The word for manifest means to uncover or lay bare. In Christ, the eyes of faith are now able to drink in a picture of God’s love that should leave us stunned. The text goes on to say that this outrageous expression of God’s love was not asked for and it was not initiated by us. We did not seek God, but He has moved heaven and earth to find us. The text goes on to suggest that God is not simply loving, He is also the source of love, the fountain of a love by which all other expressions of love are measured. It was precisely in sending His Son as a propitiation for us, that God defined love. Propitiation includes the idea that God will never return to the well of His wrath for those who are in Christ Jesus. God will NEVER be angry with us again. Never.
How are we to respond? The text appears to take a right-angled turn at this point. One would think that the obvious response would be to thank God! And we should be overwhelmed at the scandalous way in which God solves the dilemma of being both just and loving. But the text points to a different application. We are to love ONE ANOTHER in the same Spirit. In classic “if/then” style, John urges us to consider that “if” God loves us in this way, “then” we ought to act in kind toward each other. The deeper our understanding of the former, the more prone we are to do the latter—simple, but difficult. As you commit these verses to memory, let the great love of God, who offered Christ as a propitiation for our sins, fill you from your toes to the top of your head. Ask God to release the same power in your heart that raised Christ from the dead(Ephesians 1:19-20; 3:14-19) which will in turn enable you to comprehend that love. Pray that God will fill our minds and our hearts with images that cement His magnificent love for us into every cell of our bodies. Ask God’s Spirit to motivate and mobilize us to so love each other, that the lost will see our immense love and give glory to God. In this fight of faith, as we seek to advance the gospel and the Kingdom of Heaven, perhaps the greatest weapon in our arsenal is love. Not everyone is able to use that weapon—only those who have learned to fight fire, with fire.