The Unquenchable Fire
11 November 2022, Pai
After the worship meeting with the local community at our resort, we made our way to the famous “Walking Street of Pai” night market, a charming hippie-like enclave bustling with young Caucasians. I normally do not buy souvenirs, content to just soak in the atmosphere.
But something caught my eye - T-shirts on sale displayed with the number 762. I asked the stallholders what the number meant.
Figure 1 My T-shirt that says 762 curves
Well, I knew there were a lot of bends and curves on the drive from Chiang Mai city to Pai where God wanted us to go for the retreat but I did not realise the road trip involves 762 curves and bends!
I DID NOT REALISE THE ROAD TRIP INVOLVES 762 CURVES AND BENDS!
On our trip going up to Pai in two separate vans, I played love songs to our Lord on the most difficult first leg and we did not even notice the bends. On the second leg, which was less difficult, I was led to switch to worship songs and we arrived well. At least, for those in my van.
On the return trip back to the city, I took notice. It was really bad, quite treacherous especially when the driver was using the phone as he drove, which I had to tell him to stop. I am so thankful we all survived the 762 well and safe.
Anyway, I ended up buying two t-shirts with the number 762 at the market that night.
Figure 2 YY and husband KK, who went out and got the same t-shirt the next day
12 Nov 2022, Silent Fast
The next morning, I settled myself alone in the living room after breakfast. Everyone found their own place to be silent before God until dinner time.
V asks me to check on the number 762. I found it is a Greek word for “asbestos” in the Strong’s Concordance, which also means “unquenchable”, or inextinguishable.
It is found only in four verses in the bible.
I WAS STUNNED AS THEY ALL REFER TO THE UNQUENCHABLE, PERPETUAL FIRE IN HELL
One verse is in Matthew 3:11-12:
“I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” (NIV, underline mine)
I thought I need to process this further and scribbled this illustration:
I had also bought a big round sticker to paste on my retreat journal:
These thoughts that flashed through my head:
“762 curves: Danger Ahead
You need to be a Conqueror”
Serious Breaking Ahead
I went to look up the different threshing methods from Wiki. It is like different stages of breaking, a process every COBS member is familiar with.
Threshing Methods:
- Picked by hand
- Beaten with a stick or on the ground
- Trodden by oxen or sheep
- Modern day: run over by vehicles (!)
- Stripped by (a machine with) large wooden comb with teeth (I thought of the gnashing!)
Oh my, I ache for those who have been unwise and obstinate, and are not done with their breaking. But then, I thought, it is precisely because God wants to save them from the inextinguishable fire that He has to thresh them harder.
The Separation:
- By wind/tossing (I thought of what Jesus said to Nicodemus about the Holy Spirit).
- By pouring into a vessel.
And for those who are broken enough, contrite enough and would turn from their sins, God sends the Holy Spirit for a final toss before He saves them.
The Final Warning
I went on to read Mark 9:43 -49. It is so graphic that I know God means business:
“If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out. And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, where the worms that eat them do not die, and the fire is not quenched. Everyone will be salted with fire.”
This is so scary. But these are the words of Jesus himself!
I thought that this is similar to what God had said in 2020, to be watchful with our mouths, for it will separate the Upright from the Wicked. And following that, in Nov 2021, the “Echo”, the double mouths, the second warning.
And now, our hands, our feet and our eyes – what we do, where we go to and what we see i.e our actions, our ways and our thinking.
I always felt that we are given three chances. Is 2023 the third and final chance to turn back from foolish ways, to return to righteousness with God…?
I pray that none of us, and none of my loved ones will ever be condemned to the 762. That none shall perish in the coming separation.
Oh Lord, help us.
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