Shincheonji lesson 23: figurative fire
Lesson 23 · Introductory
Main verses used
Links open the NET Bible.
What SCJ teaches
This section comes from class notes that an attendee wrote down during SCJ’s 9-month Bible study seminar, posted with the full Closer Look study. They are not SCJ’s printed curriculum, so the wording is the note-taker’s.
Fire is the word
The board says: “The fire represents the word of God.” The stated hope is “To be refined and purified by the fire instead of judged at the second coming!” The main reference is Luke 12:49, where Jesus wishes the fire were already kindled. The notes read it as “the fire of faith, understanding, and devotion” that Jesus came to light in people’s hearts.
Fire has two effects: “it purifies and refines, or it destroys.” Jeremiah 23:29 and 5:14 are the proof texts. In 5:14, God makes his words a fire “and these people the wood it consumes.”
Fire judgment
Malachi 4:1-2 is treated as prophecy because of the phrase “the day is coming,” which “should be understood as symbolic, figurative language like a parable.” The same fire burns the arrogant and heals those who revere God’s name.
The first-coming fulfillment is Matthew 3:12, the wheat and the chaff. The chaff, the notes say, is “lacking God’s Word in their lives.” Jesus judged the religious leaders with words: “Jesus lit them ablaze with his fiery words of judgment.”
For the second coming, Revelation 8:7 (hail and fire mixed with blood) is read as figurative. The trees and grass are people, and a literal reading “seems to contradict other biblical passages, such as Ecclesiastes 1:4, which states that the earth endures forever”. The notes conclude that the judgment is “enacted through the Word of God.”
Fire baptism
Isaiah 6:6-7, the live coal on Isaiah’s lips, is called “a baptism by fire.” It “foreshadows what John the Baptist meant in Matthew 3:11.” The notes then join the Spirit and the word: “Where you find the Spirit, you’ll find the Word. They are one and the same.” So baptism with fire means “being baptized with the Word that comes with the Spirit.” Whether one is refined or judged “is up to you, as it always has been.”
Satan’s fire
Nadab and Abihu’s “unauthorized fire” in Leviticus 10:1-2 is used as a warning about worship: “Are we offering God unauthorized offerings, doing things we think will please Him but instead are displeasing?” Revelation 9:17-18, the horses breathing fire, smoke and sulfur, shows “a deceptive message that leads to the death of a third of humanity.” The lesson sums up: “There is God’s fire, which is God’s word of truth, and there is Satan’s fire – Satan’s words of lies, unauthorized.”
The lesson closes with Luke 24:32, the burning hearts on the road to Emmaus, and says Jesus’ word “was a teaching that was not yet known or understood.” Its wish is simple: “Let’s be refined by God’s fire of truth.” The memory verses are John 12:48 and Jeremiah 5:14.
In SCJ’s own books
Each passage was checked against the scanned page image; page numbers are as printed.
The Explanation of Parables (Shincheonji), page 28:
The true meaning of the figurative fire is “the word that consumes and judges.”
Page 29 lists the results as printed: “God’s (holy spirit’s) fire → Consumes sin and impurity (baptism)”; “Satan’s (evil spirit’s) fire → Kills the inner person.” On the second coming:
“At the Second Coming, God’s fire is the truth that comes out of the mouth of the true shepherd of God. Those who cleansed the sin and impurity of their hearts with this fire can be saved.”
The page’s closing reference list includes 2 Pt 3:7-12.
The Physical Fulfillment of Revelation, Lee Man-hee (Shincheonji Press), page 177, on Revelation 8:7:
“Some pastors, confident in their understanding of Revelation, insist that the hail mixed with fire is a nuclear bomb.”
The same page identifies who is burned:
“The earth, trees, plants, and grass are the congregation members (1 Pt 1:24) of the tabernacle of the seven golden lampstands who betrayed and are consequently thrown out to the gentiles (i.e., the caves, mountains, and rocks).”
How the lesson notes compare with the books
- Fire = the word. Same teaching (Parables p. 28).
- Where God’s fire comes from today. Difference. The notes speak of God’s word and the Spirit. The book says the fire is truth from “the mouth of the true shepherd of God” (Parables p. 29).
- Who is burned in Revelation 8:7. Difference. The notes read the trees and grass as people in general, citing 1 Peter 1:22-25. Physical Fulfillment narrows it to the members of one tabernacle “who betrayed” (p. 177).
- Two fires. Same teaching. Notes and book both set God’s fire against Satan’s, with Revelation 9:17-18 as the example of the second (p. 29).
- Literal fire. Same direction. The notes reject a nuclear reading of Revelation 8:7, as Physical Fulfillment does (p. 177). Needs checking: the book lists 2 Peter 3:7-12 among its references, a passage that speaks of the earth reserved for fire, while the notes cite Ecclesiastes 1:4 to rule a burned earth out.
What the Bible says
- The fire of Luke 12:49 is followed at once by Jesus’ words about division, even inside families. Do you think I have come to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! For from now on there will be five in one household divided, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.” (Luke 12:51-53, NET)
- Jesus himself names when the baptism with the Holy Spirit would come, and Acts records it with fire. For John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” (Acts 1:5, NET) And tongues spreading out like a fire appeared to them and came to rest on each one of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit, and they began to speak in other languages as the Spirit enabled them. (Acts 2:3-4, NET)
- In Leviticus 10 the strange fire was offered by Aaron’s sons, and the fire that consumed them came from the Lord. Then Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, each took his fire pan and put fire in it, set incense on it, and presented strange fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded them to do. So fire went out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them so that they died before the Lord. (Leviticus 10:1-2, NET)
- Ecclesiastes 1:4 is about generations passing while the earth stays. Peter speaks plainly of a coming fire. A generation comes and a generation goes, but the earth remains the same through the ages. (Ecclesiastes 1:4, NET) But by the same word the present heavens and earth have been reserved for fire, by being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. (2 Peter 3:7, NET)
- Paul says fire on the Day will test each builder’s work. each builder’s work will be plainly seen, for the Day will make it clear, because it will be revealed by fire. And the fire will test what kind of work each has done. (1 Corinthians 3:13, NET)
- Jesus’ warning in Matthew 23:33 is spoken to the experts in the law and the Pharisees of his day. You snakes, you offspring of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? (Matthew 23:33, NET)
Where SCJ’s reading conflicts with the Bible
This lesson defines fire as “the word of God,” which either refines or destroys. It reads Malachi’s fire, John the Baptist’s “baptism with fire” and Revelation 8:7 as judgment carried out by words, sets “God’s fire” against “Satan’s fire” and warns from Leviticus 10: “The God today is the same God that judged Nadab and Abihu.” SCJ’s The Explanation of Parables (p. 29) says where God’s fire comes from today: “At the Second Coming, God’s fire is the truth that comes out of the mouth of the true shepherd of God. Those who cleansed the sin and impurity of their hearts with this fire can be saved.” And The Physical Fulfillment of Revelation (p. 177) says those burned in Revelation 8:7 are the members of one specific church “who betrayed.” Scripture does use fire as an image for God’s word, and that should be admitted: “My message is like a fire that purges dross” (Jeremiah 23:29). But the lesson’s main readings don’t hold.
1. Luke 12:49: The fire is tied to Jesus’ death and the division he brings
The lesson reads Jesus’ wish that the fire were already kindled (Luke 12:49) as “the fire of faith, understanding, and devotion.”
- The next verse says: “I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is finished!” (12:50). Jesus is speaking of his coming death.
- Then: “Do you think I have come to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!” That division reaches within households (12:51-53).
- Following Jesus can divide families, and that should be admitted. But the division comes from loyalty to Jesus himself. It isn’t evidence that a particular course is right (see Lessons 6 and 16).
2. Malachi 4: The phrase “the day is coming” is not a code
The lesson says that because of the phrase “the day is coming,” Malachi 4:1-2 “should be understood as symbolic, figurative language like a parable.”
- The phrase “the day is coming” is the ordinary prophetic way of announcing the day of the Lord (Malachi 4:1). It doesn’t signal a hidden code.
- Malachi goes on: “Look, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord arrives” (4:5). Jesus identified that Elijah as John the Baptist (Matthew 11:14; 17:12-13).
- Malachi’s prophecy points to the coming of the Messiah, when “the sun of vindication will rise with healing wings” (4:2), and to God’s final judgment.
3. Matthew 3:11-12: The baptism with the Spirit and fire came at Pentecost
The lesson says baptism with fire means “being baptized with the Word that comes with the Spirit.” The Explanation of Parables (p. 29) says that at the second coming, God’s fire is the truth from the mouth of the true shepherd.
- Jesus himself said when the baptism with the Holy Spirit would happen: “you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now” (Acts 1:5).
- At Pentecost, “tongues spreading out like a fire appeared to them and came to rest on each one of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:3-4).
- John the Baptist says the chaff will be burned “with inextinguishable fire” (Matthew 3:11-12), language of final judgment. When Jesus asked the Pharisees, “How will you escape being condemned to hell?” (23:33), he was warning of that judgment, not saying his words were the fire.
The baptism with the Spirit happened at Pentecost and comes to all who believe: “the promise is for you and your children, and for all who are far away” (Acts 2:38-39). No shepherd’s mouth is named.
4. The Spirit and the word are not “one and the same”
The lesson says, “Where you find the Spirit, you’ll find the Word. They are one and the same.”
- The Spirit and the word work together, but Scripture distinguishes them. The word is “the sword of the Spirit” (Ephesians 6:17). The Spirit uses the word; he isn’t the word.
- The Holy Spirit is a person. Jesus calls him “another Advocate” who will teach, remind and guide (John 14:16, 26; 16:13). The Spirit speaks: “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul” (Acts 13:2).
- Collapsing the Spirit into “the word,” and then the word into a shepherd’s explanations, makes receiving the Spirit equal to accepting one teacher’s message.
5. Revelation 8:7 and Ecclesiastes 1:4
The notes say the fire of Revelation 8:7 can’t be literal “because Ecclesiastes 1:4 says the earth remains forever.”
- Revelation’s trumpet visions are full of symbols, and Christians debate how literal they are. That’s fair.
- But Ecclesiastes 1:4 is about generations passing while the earth stays: “A generation comes and a generation goes, but the earth remains the same through the ages” (Ecclesiastes 1:4). It’s an observation about life under the sun, not a teaching that the earth can never face judgment.
- Peter says “the present heavens and earth have been reserved for fire, by being kept for the day of judgment” (2 Peter 3:7), and believers wait for “new heavens and a new earth” (3:13).
- The Explanation of Parables (p. 29) itself lists 2 Peter 3:7-12 in its references. The lesson’s argument conflicts with SCJ’s own reference list.
6. Revelation 8:7: A third of the earth, not one church
The Physical Fulfillment of Revelation (p. 177) says the earth, trees and grass burned in Revelation 8:7 “are the congregation members … of the tabernacle of the seven golden lampstands who betrayed.”
- The verse says “a third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up” (Revelation 8:7). Its scale is the whole world.
- Revelation never names “the tabernacle of the seven golden lampstands.” The seven lampstands in Revelation “are the seven churches” of Asia (1:20).
- The book narrows a worldwide judgment to the members of one church in SCJ’s own history.
7. Isaiah 6: The coal brought forgiveness
The lesson calls the coal on Isaiah’s lips “a baptism by fire” that foreshadows Matthew 3:11.
- The seraph says: “Look, this coal has touched your lips. Your evil is removed; your sin is forgiven” (Isaiah 6:7).
- The coal came “from the altar” (6:6), the place of sacrifice. Its meaning is atonement and cleansing for a man who had just cried, “I am destroyed, for my lips are contaminated by sin” (6:5).
- Forgiveness comes from the altar, which the New Testament fulfills in Christ’s sacrifice (Hebrews 9:14; 10:10). It isn’t a picture of receiving a new teaching.
8. Leviticus 10: The fire that judged came from the Lord
The lesson uses Nadab and Abihu as an example of “Satan’s fire.”
- Leviticus says they “presented strange fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded them to do. So fire went out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them” (Leviticus 10:1-2).
- The strange fire was Aaron’s sons offering worship God hadn’t commanded. The fire that consumed them was the Lord’s. Satan isn’t named.
- The warning against worship God hasn’t commanded is real. Jesus says true worshipers worship “in spirit and truth” (John 4:23-24), and we enter the sanctuary “by the blood of Jesus” (Hebrews 10:19-22).
- The lesson asks students whether their current worship is “unauthorized,” with Nadab and Abihu’s death as the warning. Hebrews gives believers a different picture: “you have not come to something that can be touched, to a burning fire … But you have come to Mount Zion … and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks of something better than Abel’s does” (Hebrews 12:18-24).
- Reverence remains. Hebrews still says, “For our God is indeed a devouring fire” (12:28-29). But the believer stands before God through Jesus’ blood, not in fear of being consumed for attending the wrong church.
9. Revelation 9:17-18: A judgment God sends
The lesson reads the fire, smoke and sulfur from the horses’ mouths as “a deceptive message” of Satan.
- The plague begins when “the sixth angel blew his trumpet,” and the four angels are released at the command of a voice from the golden altar before God (9:13-15). It’s a judgment God sends.
- The purpose shows in the response: “The rest of humanity, who had not been killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands … Furthermore, they did not repent of their murders, of their magic spells, of their sexual immorality, or of their stealing” (9:20-21).
- It’s a judgment meant to call people to repent of idolatry and sin, not a picture of a rival teaching.
10. Luke 24:32: Their hearts burned because Jesus explained himself
The lesson closes with Luke 24:32 and says Jesus’ word “was a teaching that was not yet known or understood.”
- Jesus asked, “Wasn’t it necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and enter into his glory?” Then, “beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things written about himself in all the scriptures” (24:26-27).
- Their hearts burned because the risen Jesus showed them that the Scriptures were about him, his death and resurrection. That’s the fire of Luke 24 (see Lesson 13).
11. Fire on the final day tests works, and the believer is saved
Paul uses fire for the final Day: “each builder’s work will be plainly seen, for the Day will make it clear, because it will be revealed by fire” (1 Corinthians 3:13).
What the lesson is really for
This lesson teaches students that a fire of judgment is underway through words:
- Fire is the word, which refines or destroys.
- Baptism with fire is being baptized with the word, and SCJ’s book says the fire today comes from “the mouth of the true shepherd.”
- Current worship might be “unauthorized,” like Nadab and Abihu’s.
- SCJ’s book says those burned in Revelation 8:7 are the members of one church “who betrayed.”
The biblical answer: the baptism with the Holy Spirit and fire came at Pentecost and is for all who believe (Acts 1:5; 2:3-4, 38-39). Isaiah’s coal from the altar meant forgiveness (Isaiah 6:7), fulfilled in Christ’s sacrifice. Believers come to God through Jesus’ blood, not to a blazing mountain (Hebrews 12:18-24). And the final fire will test every work, while those built on Christ will be saved (1 Corinthians 3:11-15).
What’s happening behind the lesson
These notes are our reading of the lesson text, using Steven Hassan’s BITE model (behavior, information, thought and emotional control). They describe what the text does, not the teacher’s intent. Hassan notes that not every group uses every item. Source: Steven Hassan, BITE Model, Freedom of Mind.
- Thought: can create pressure to choose one of two groups. Fire either refines or destroys, and there is “God’s fire” or “Satan’s fire.” The chaff are those “lacking God’s Word in their lives.” A listener is asked which group they are in.
- Emotional: can create pressure through fear of judgment. The notes stress that “The God today is the same God that judged Nadab and Abihu,” and add, “We cannot afford to displease God in that way.” The warning is attached to the question of whether one’s present worship is “unauthorized.”
- Information: can limit trust in other teaching (our reading). The usual reading of Revelation 8:7 is set aside as “misinterpreted,” and Jesus’ word is described as “a teaching that was not yet known or understood.” In our reading, the lesson presents what is new as what is true.
The lesson’s prayer to “choose the Lord’s good and truthful Word above all else” is not a control technique in itself.