I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot; I would thou wert cold or hot; so because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of My mouth (Rev. 3:15-16);

where "cold" denotes no charity, and "hot" much charity. In Isaiah:

Thus hath Jehovah said unto me, I will be still, and I will behold in My place; like the clear heat upon the light, like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest (Isa. 18:4), where the subject is the new church to be planted; "heat upon the light" and "heat of harvest" denote love and charity. Again:

Saith Jehovah, whose fire is in Zion, and His furnace in Jerusalem (Isa. 31:9), where "fire" denotes love. Of the cherubim seen by Ezekiel it is said:

As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, like the appearance of torches; it went up and down among the living creatures; and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning (Ezek. 1:13). [2] And again it is said of the Lord, in the same chapter:

And above the expanse that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone; and upon the likeness of a throne was a likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it; and I saw as the appearance of burning coal, as the appearance of fire within it round about, from the appearance of His loins and upward; and from the appearance of His loins and downward I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and there was brightness round about Him (Ezek. 1:26-27; 8:2). Here again "fire" denotes love. In Daniel:

The Ancient of days did sit; His throne was flames of fire, and the wheels thereof burning fire; a fiery stream issued and came forth from before Him, a thousand thousands ministered unto Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him (Dan. 7:9-10).Here "fire" denotes the Lord's love. In Zechariah:

For I, saith Jehovah, will be unto her a wall of fire round about (Zech. 2:5), where the new Jerusalem is treated of. In David:

Jehovah maketh His angels spirits, His ministers a flaming fire (Ps. 104:4), "a flaming fire" denoting the celestial spiritual. [3] Because "fire" signified love, fire was also made a representative of the Lord, as is evident from the fire on the altar of burnt-offering which was never to be extinguished (Lev. 6:12-13), representing the mercy of the Lord. On this account, before Aaron went in to the mercy-seat, he was to burn incense with fire taken from the altar of burnt-offering (Lev. 16:12-14). And for the same reason, that it might be signified that worship was accepted by the Lord, fire was sent down from heaven and consumed the burnt-offering (as in Lev. 9:24, and elsewhere). By "fire" is also signified in the Word self-love and its cupidity, with which heavenly love cannot agree; and therefore the two sons of Aaron were consumed by fire, because they burned incense with strange fire (Lev. 10:1-2). "Strange fire" is all the love of self and of the world, and all the cupidity of these loves. Moreover, heavenly love appears to the wicked no otherwise than as a burning and consuming fire, and therefore in the Word a consuming fire is predicated of the Lord, as the fire on Mount Sinai, which represented the love, or mercy, of the Lord, and that was seen by the people as a consuming fire, and therefore they desired Moses not to let them hear the voice of Jehovah God, and see that great fire, lest they should die (Deut. 18:16). The love or mercy of the Lord has this appearance to those who are in the fire of the loves of self and of the world.