8
And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.
Isaiah 1:8
The Inner Meaning of the Prophets and Psalms #1
The Prophetical Books:
1. Internal Meaning of Isaiah, Chapter 1 (1)
1-8 The church has been vastated by evil of life, (3)
9 so that there is little of a residue. (3)
10-15 Therefore their external worship is of no avail. (3)
16-19 Exhortation that they should repent of the evil of life, and thus they will receive good. (3)
20-23They falsify the Word. (3)
24-27 The Lord when He comes will destroy them, and will establish the church with others; (1, 11)
28-31 This when nothing of the church remains with them. (3)
Fire
Fire, in the spiritual sense, can mean either love or hatred depending on the context, just as natural fire can be either comforting in keeping you warm, or scary in burning down your house. Our language reflects this, too -- we use concepts like a smoldering hatred or a burning love. So fire signifies a love, either a good love of the neighbor and to the Lord, or, in a bad sense, selfish love of oneself that, if unchecked by conscience, leads to hatred of anyone that opposes it.
