Firebrands
Scripture Reading: Zechariah 1-6; Revelation 19
Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?
Zechariah 3:2
Five-year-old John Wesley was rescued at the last second out of a second story window of a burning home. Looking back on that experience, which could have ended in his death, he saw himself as what this verse describes, “A brand plucked from the fire.”
What was true of Wesley is true for every Christian. We are all brands rescued from the fire. The metaphor is striking. A “brand” here simply means a stick of wood. It is not rescued in the sense that it is never thrown into the fire, but it is already in the fire and is beginning to be consumed by it. In order to be saved, someone has to reach into the fire and pull the stick out.
They will get burned in doing so. The smell of smoke will be on them.
Jesus took our place in judgment. He didn’t merely pull us out of it. He stepped into it by going to the cross. He took the full weight of the fire of God’s wrath on Himself in our place.
And what are we?
We are brands plucked from the fire. We have been rescued from destruction and hell.
We have been saved by grace. And now we live in that grace with humility, gratitude, and joy because we acknowledge that we are just brands plucked from the fire.
Powerful ~ Rosie