To the Israelites the glory of the Lord looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain. The appearance of God's glory — from the outside, from the perspective of the community at the base — is consuming fire. The same fire that is a pillar of guidance at night and the presence of the Sinai covenant is also a consuming fire to those who see it from the outside. Hebrews 12:29 says our God is a consuming fire — the New Covenant does not domesticate the divine glory into something less terrifying; it makes it approachable through the one mediator who can bear its full weight. The consuming fire that Israel sees on the mountain is the fire that consumed the tabernacle offerings, the fire that will consume the ungodly, and the fire of the Spirit at Pentecost — the same fire, the same holiness.

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