Exodus 3:3–4

Here was a sight that directly contradicted everything natural, and Moses was drawn to it. He had to learn that although "our God is a consuming fire" (Heb. 12:29), He could live among a people who in themselves were thorny and fit fuel for the flames, and yet not consume them. It was indeed a "great sight." For forty years in the wilderness the LORD dwelt as a pillar of fire among rebellious Israel. In those years Moses must have thought back on the way God had revealed Himself to him at the start, in His great kindness.

The burning bush is a picture of the suffering people, the wretched slaves in Egypt. It was a thornbush. Thorns are the result of sin, so the bush pictures the sinfulness and worthlessness of the people. The fire is the symbol of their suffering and tribulation… The thornbush, however, is not consumed. All the fires of persecution and tribulation could not consume Israel. In the flame of the fire in the midst of the burning bush the angel of the LORD appeared. This was the secret of the bush's preservation; God was there and kept them.

Let us repeat this expression of wonder — "Why is the bush not burned!" Put it another way. God is a "consuming fire," burning up all that is contrary to His Holy Being. How then can He reveal Himself without consuming? Here was the great question. Can He "who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity" deal with man in any way except by judgment in righteousness? Yes; most surely He can, and He has done so. He has revealed Himself in Christ! And grace now reigns, through righteousness, to eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord! That is the gospel.

Moses turns aside to see why the bush is not consumed. "And when the LORD saw that he turned aside," God called him, to reveal Himself as the God of holiness, who was like a consuming fire. Yet in grace He could take up such a people as Israel — a frail, useless bush of the desert. He would not destroy them, but purify them and glorify them with His own presence. This is the whole central plan and idea of redemption. What shows Moses to be a seer is that he turns aside to study it, instead of passing by in indifference. "When the LORD saw that," He called him to the prophetic office.

It was a great and mysterious sight that Moses turned aside to look at; yet barefoot he could still look and listen. Had he not done so, he would have gone away unblessed. But he listened, until he discovered that the "I AM" was in the bush; and further, that "the God of Abraham" was there too. A strange place for such glory to house itself! But so it was. In a burning bramble bush, the Lord God Almighty was found.

He was about to give Moses his commission to lead His people out of Egypt. They were to be His assembly — His dwelling-place, in the wilderness and in the land of Canaan. And the place from which He speaks is a burning bush. What a fitting, solemn and beautiful symbol of the LORD dwelling among His chosen and redeemed people! "Our God is a consuming fire," not to consume us, but to consume everything in us and around us that is contrary to His holiness.

Then one ordinary day the extraordinary thing happens, and he turns aside to see the "common bush aflame with God." "When the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him." To a definite call and commission He adds the gracious confirmation, "Certainly I will be with you." But first He had to gain his attention. How often this same pattern has repeated. God waits to use and bless us, as soon as He can gain our interest in what He is doing, is about to do, or is willing to do through us.

The moment Moses had so long desired came. His long training in the wisdom of the Egyptians did not bring it. An equal stretch in the desert, spent unlearning, had to run out first. Only then did God give him the effective call.

Notice first that the angel of the Lord appeared to Moses (v. 2). Then the Lord saw that he turned aside, and God called to him out of the bush. So the angel of the Lord is identified with Jehovah — yes, with God Himself. There is no doubt that in all these Old Testament appearances of the angel of the Lord we see the coming incarnation of the Son of God foreshadowed.

God's greatness and majesty produced a striking response when He spoke in grace to saints of old. When He called, "Abraham, Abraham," at once the answer came, "Here I am." When He said, "Jacob, Jacob," the reply came at once: "Here I am." To Moses He spoke, "Moses, Moses!" and Moses answered at once: "Here I am." … The same One speaks as before, in the same way, but now come down in lowly grace: "Martha, Martha!" and "Simon, Simon!" Once again, after His ascension, "Saul, Saul!"

The Lord was about to give Moses his commission to lead His people out of Egypt. They were to be His assembly — His dwelling place, in the wilderness and in the land of Canaan. And the place from which He speaks is a burning bush. What a fitting, solemn, and beautiful picture of the Lord living among His chosen and redeemed people! "Our God is a consuming fire." He does not consume us. He consumes everything in us and about us that is contrary to His holiness.

Moses could now know why the bush was not consumed: God was in the midst of the flame. God was in and with Israel in their furnace of affliction; He was in their midst sustaining and keeping them.

His presence is the true power of sanctification. Forms He could and did use under the law, in tabernacle and temple. But He Himself is more than any or all of them. What a support this was for Moses! He had to go in to Pharaoh, lead His people out, and bear with their waywardness in the wilderness.

In the garden, out of heaven, and for a third time out of the bush, God's call is heard. This time He calls not as the truth that exposes sin, nor as the love that provides a substitute, but as the Holy One who redeems His people. He takes His place among them without lessening His glory, and He makes them able to bear it. The call implies that man had wandered from God, as Adam had. It comes from the heart of God, and it invites us into His own heavenly presence, as it did Abraham.