Let us turn again to God's Word
in the chapter that we read, Exodus chapter 3 and reading
verses 1 and 2. Exodus chapter 3 verses 1 and
2. Then Moses kept the flock of
Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led
the flock to the backside of the desert and came to the mansion
of God, even to Horeb. And the angel of the Lord appeared
unto him in the flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. And
he looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush
was not consumed. We are to consider then the burning
bush and the significance of the burning bush. And as we consider
this particular portion of God's words to divide the subject matter
under two headings. First of all, that here we see
something of the misery of the children of Israel. And then
secondly, here we have the manifestation of the Lord Jesus Christ, that
God is pleased to come and make himself known to his people in
the midst of all their troubles. The burning bush then in a certain
sense might be said to be an emblem of the church. We're told how Moses looked and
behold the bush burned with fire and the bush was not consumed. Moses said, I will now turn aside
and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. Matthew Henry makes the remark
here concerning the bush, that it is an emblem of the church
of that day in bondage, burning in the brick kilns of Egypt and
yet not consumed. And you're probably aware that
this image of the burning bush is one that is often used by
our Presbyterian brethren. They use it as an emblem of the
church. Certainly at that time God's
people were in great afflictions there in Egypt, and God assures
Moses in this chapter that he is aware of the whole situation. In verse 7 the Lord said, I have
surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt,
and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters, for I know
their sorrows. And then again at verse 9, Now
therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come
unto me, and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the
Egyptians oppressed them. A word of reassurance, is it
not, to God's suffering saints? to be reminded that He is ever
conscious of our situation, He knows all our needs, every circumstance,
He is naked and open to His all-seeing eye. We have those remarkable
words previously at the end of the previous chapter. Chapter
2 and verse 23 we're told He came to pass in process of time
that the king of Egypt died And the children of Israel sighed
by reason of the bondage, and they cried. And their cry came
up unto God by reason of the bondage, and God heard their
groaning. And God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with
Isaac, and with Jacob. And God looked upon the children
of Israel, and God had respect unto them, even their groaning. even as they sigh and as they
cry. And oftentimes, is it not a fact
that God brings His people into situations where words fail them,
they can scarce express what their real needs are, so great
are their afflictions. David certainly knew something
of it, as he says in Psalm 38, All my desire is before thee,
and my groaning is not hid from thee. And so it is here, you
see, God is able to interpret the groanings and the sighings
and the cryings of the children of Israel as they feel the awful
bondage that has come upon them there in Egypt. And God has respect
unto them. God always has respect unto His
children. And We're told in the New Testament,
are we not, that there is for all the people of God a furnace
of affliction. The Lord Jesus himself has told
us, in the world ye shall have tribulation. But be of good cheer,
says Christ, I have overcome the world. How is it that we
enter into the kingdom of God? We enter into that kingdom by
and through tribulation, trials, troubles. And Peter speaks of
these things, does he not, in his first epistle? Beloved, think
it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you
as though some strange thing happened unto you. There is nothing
strange with regards to the fiery trial. These things are left
on record here in Holy Scripture for our learning, that we through
patience and comfort of these Scriptures might have some hope.
There is faith, and where there is faith there is ever always
the trial of that faith. God himself in his wisdom has
joined these things together. He is the one who bestows faith,
it is the gift of God. It is that faith, that saving
faith, that can only come by the sovereign operation of God
in the soul of the sinner. But now that faith is sorely
tested. Again it's Peter who speaks of
it, the trial of your faith, being much more precious than
of gold, though it be tried with fire, shall be found unto praise
and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. If we're those
who have faith, then if we're true Christians, if we're real
believers, we are those who are in possession of faith. Be not
mistaken, how that faith will be sorely tried. And God's people
are those that feel these things. The fire shall try every man's
work of what sort it is, says the Apostle Paul. No, it is God
himself who is sovereign. It is therefore the Lord who
chooses and appoints every trial that comes into the experience
of his children. He says to the Prophet Isaiah,
Behold I have refined thee, but not with silver, I have chosen
thee in the furnace of affliction." Do we not see the absolute sovereignty
of God in that doctrine of His eternal election of His people? How God acts independently of
all else, that God's choice of His people is a free choice,
It's nothing in them that moves him to make that particular choice. Election is surely a remarkable
revelation to us of the sovereignty of God and as God chooses his
people so he chooses them in the furnace of affliction. We
are to discern God's sovereignty in the midst of trials and of
troubles. And so it was for these Hebrews
who were languishing there amongst the brick kilns sorely oppressed
by the Egyptians at that time and yet the Lord is in all of
these things He assures His people He has respect unto them He is
mindful of them in fact is He not that God who is with His
people in the midst of all their troubles when they walk us through
the fire thou shalt not be burned, he says, neither shall the flame
kindle upon them we have that imagery at the end of the Old
Testament in the book of Malachi where we see that one who is
the refiner of his people and how he sits and watches over
the crucible even as he puts his people through that purifying
process the Three Hebrew youths that we read of there in the
book of Daniel also remind us of the fact that God Himself
is pleased to come and to manifest Himself to His people to draw
near to them in the midst of all their troubles. Remember
how in Daniel chapter 3 we read of these three young men Chadrak,
Meshach and Abednego being cast into the fiery furnish and when
the king, when Nebuchadnezzar comes to behold the sight, what
does he witness? In verse 24 there in Daniel chapter
3, then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonished and rose up in
haste, and spake, and said unto his counsellors, Did not we cast
three men, bound in the midst of the fire? They answered and
said unto the king, True, O king. He answered and said, Lo, I see
four men, loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have
no herd, and the form of the four is like the sun. What a remarkable sight that
heathen king Nebuchadnezzar was made to witness. There is Christ
with his suffering saints in the midst of the fire. This is
the comfort, is it not, of the people of God. Here is Israel
then in such a miserable condition and yet we see that the Lord
himself is there, the Lord is mindful of them, the Lord has
regard unto them, God has respect unto them, God favours them.
And so here in the burning bush we don't only have this image
of the Church of God, as it were, in the midst of the world constantly
being consumed and yet always being preserved But this burning
bush also, and principally, represents to us God Himself. Now we see that quite clearly
here, I would assert. We're told at the beginning of
the text, verse 2, "...the angel of the Lord appeared unto him
in a flame of fire out of the midst of the bush." It is God
Himself, the angel of the Lord. who is revealing himself here
to Moses. Look at verse 4. When the Lord
saw that he, that is, Moses, turned aside to see, God called
unto him out of the midst of the bush. It is God who is there. God is in the midst of the bush. and again do we not see that
God is ever at one with his people, God is united to his people in
all their afflictions. He was afflicted. Are the children
of Israel in the midst of great troubles as they are languishing
there under the Egyptians? The Lord God is with them. He
is a very present help to them in all their time of need. examine more carefully and closely
what we see here with regards to this revelation of God himself. Here we see first of all the
person of the Lord Jesus Christ. You're probably aware of that
little book by Dean Law, Henry Law, Dean of Gloucester, back
in the 19th century. and he wrote a book, Christ in
all the Scriptures, and he deals principally with the first five
books, the Pentateuch, the books of Moses, Christ in all the Scriptures,
and I would recommend it to you. It's a choice, little volume,
that by Dean Law, and here he speaks in that book of the burning
bush as a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is a type of Christ
that we're considering this morning when the Lord himself says in
John's Gospel to the Jews, search the scriptures. These are they
which testify of me. They're not to be surprised that
we should see the Lord Jesus here in Exodus chapter 3. The
angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of
the midst of the bush, and he looked, and behold, the bush
burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed." Now, he goes
on, does he not, in verse 6, to speak of himself as the God
of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Well, the
angel of the Lord appeared unto these, did he not? We see in
Genesis chapter 18, the angel of the Lord certainly appears
to Abraham. There he is at Mamre, sitting
in his tent door, and strangers, strangers appear. We read there
at the beginning of Genesis 18, the Lord appeared unto him in
the plains of Mamre. And he sat in the tent door in
the heat of the day, and he lifted up his eyes and looked, and lo,
three men stood by him. And when he saw them, he ran
to meet them from the tent door and bowed himself toward the
ground." The Lord's appearing to him. The Lord is one of these
three men who are suddenly there at the tent door. And we see
that in what follows. 16. The men rose up from thence
and looked toward Sodom, and Abram went with them to bring
him on the way to Sodom. And then, subsequently in chapter
19, we're told how that two men, or two angels, came to Sodom
at evening, and Lot is sitting in the gate of Sodom. There were three that had appeared
to Abraham and now two of these are at Sodom. What of the third? Well we're told concerning the
third that he is the Lord. Verse 22
in chapter 18 The men turned their faces from
thence and went towards Sodom, but Abram stood yet before the
Lord. And then Abram begins to pray
and to plead with the Lord concerning the situation there in the cities
of the plain in Sodom and Gomorrah that God is going to destroy
because of the great wickedness and Abraham's remarkable prayer
is recorded for us there as he pleads. He's pleading of course
for his nephew, for Lot who is there in Sodom. But it was the
angel of the Lord who appeared to him. It was a manifestation
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it is the same of course
who is here appearing to Moses, the same who is going to lead
the children of Israel throughout their wilderness wanderings. This is the promise, is it not,
that is given later in chapter 23. Verse 20, God says, Behold, I stand an
angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee
into the place which I have prepared. Beware of him, and obey his voice. Provoke him not, for he will
not pardon your transgressions. For my name is in him. here is
one who is clearly God because if he said he will not pardon
your transgressions you can forgive sins but God only this one is no other than God
the angel of the Lord who is going to lead the children of
Israel throughout their wanderings in the wilderness he's there
in the in the cloudy fiery pillar that leads them by day and by
night. Time and again we read of this
one, the angel of the Lord. In the Old Testament he appears
in the book of Judges. Gideon. Gideon cries out there
in chapter 6 and verse 22, Alas, O Lord God, for because I have
seen an angel of the Lord face to face. He has seen the face
of God as it were. He's going to die. was the same,
was it not, later in Judges with the parents of Samson, I think
of Manoah and his wife and what they also witnessed. There in the 13th chapter of
Judges in verse 17, Manoah said unto the angel of the Lord, What
is thy name? that when thy sayings come to
pass we may do the honour and the angel of the Lord said unto
him why askest thou thus after my name seeing it is secret for
the margin says literally seeing it is wonderful who is the one
whose name is wonderful isn't that the Lord Jesus Christ wonderful
counsellor the mighty God the everlasting Father the Prince
of Peace And so Manoah takes a kid and offers it upon a rock
unto the Lord. And the angel, we're told, did
wondrously. And Manoah and his wife looked
on. And then he says later to his
wife, We shall surely die because we have seen God. But his wife
said unto him, If the Lord were pleased to kill us, he would
not have received the burnt offering and the meat offering at our
hands. Neither would he have showed us all these things. He who appeared there to Manoah
and his wife is none other than the same who is in the burning
bush." It is, I say, the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's
a theophany, it's an appearance of Christ. In a sense it's an
anticipation when we read of the angel of the Lord, anticipating
the fullness of the time. when God sends forth his Son,
made of a woman, made under the law. And we see clearly who this
is. It is a divine person. It is
the eternal Son of the eternal Father. It is the Great I Am. When Moses inquires concerning
his name, God says, verse 14, I am that I am. and he said,
God shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I am hath sent me
unto you this is Christ before Abraham was I am, he says in
the 8th chapter of the Gospel of John if ye believe not that
I am ye shall perish in your sins, he says, he is the great
I am Of course, he's revealing to us all the fullness of God
there in the New Testament Scriptures, those great I Am statements.
Is he not the image of the invisible God? And so here we have this
type, this wonderful symbol in the bush that is burning and
yet is not consumed. The angel of the Lord appeared
unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush and he
looked and behold the bush burned with fire and the bush was not
consumed. It has been observed here that
the wood of the bush denotes the human nature of the Lord
Jesus Christ. The wood of the bush denotes
his human nature. And then of course he offers
himself He offers himself as that great sacrifice. The fulfillment
of the burnt offerings in the Old Testament Scriptures. That sacrifice that was to be
consumed upon the brazen altar. It's all typical of the Lord
Jesus Christ, is it not? And so, here we see him as that
one who is represented to us. in his human nature even in a
bush and we have it again in Isaiah 53 he shall grow up before
him as a tender plant and as a root out of a dry ground a
tender plant, a root out of a dry ground he hath no form nor comeliness
Paul speaks of that human nature of the Lord Jesus that visage
that was so mine more than any man and He makes that great sacrifice
of Himself. And it's all to be seen and discerned
in type and figure back in the Old Testament Scriptures. Again,
going back to the words that we find in Deuteronomy
chapter 33, we read of the goodwill of Him that dwelt in the bush.
Who is Him that dwelt in the bush? It is the Lord Jesus. It is the Lord Jesus, I say,
that we see here time and time again in the Old Testament Scriptures.
And as we read the Old Testament, are we those who would, as it
were, ransack the book that we might discover Christ? What is
the Scripture to us except we're able to find Him, and discover
Him, and feed upon Him, as He is said before us in all these
types and all these figures? Here then we have Christ. And
what do we see? Well, let us think a little more
carefully here of this as the place of consuming. The flame
of fire. The bush burning with fire, and
yet the bush not consumed. Now where is it that the man
Moses is witnessing this remarkable scene? Well, we're told in the
opening verse, are we not? Moses kept the flock of Jethro
his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock
to the backside of the desert and came, it says, to the mountain
of God, even to Horeb. The mountain of God, even to
Horeb. Now, You go to the New Testament,
in Acts chapter 7 of course, we have Stephen's remarkable
speech at his martyrdom, his great apology for his faith,
really. And he recounts there something
of the children of Israel and their history in the Old Testament.
And he speaks also of this event, the burning bush. But in Acts
7 and verse 30, he speaks not so much of Horeb, but of Sinai,
the mountain of God, even Sinai. Sinai is one of the mountains. There, in the midst of that range,
it is often referred to as Horeb. This is the very mount, of course,
that we come to later in chapter 19 when the children of Israel
are eventually brought out of the bondage of Egypt and they're
brought to the mountain, there of course in chapter 20 of Exodus
God enters into covenant, God declares the 10 words, the 10
commandments and look at how God reassures His servant Moses
here in verse 12 He said, certainly I will be
with thee. This shall be a token unto thee that I have sent thee.
When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall
serve God upon this mountain. Ye shall serve God upon this
mountain. The very place where he witnesses
the burning bush is none other than the place where God would
give the Ten Commandments. And it was a place of great consuming,
was it not? when God came and descended there
upon the mount at Sinai in chapter 19 and verse 18, the mount Sinai
was altogether on a smoke because the Lord descended upon it in
fire and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace and
the whole mount quaked. Right? All the terrors of God
as He comes to reveal Himself there in all His holy commandments
Now that God is clearly seen to be a consuming fire, from
his right hand went a fiery law for them, we're told, in Deuteronomy
33. For how the law was given, and
all the tenors of the law, the law was given by Moses. But grace and truth came by Jesus Here we see it, you see the gospel
is before the law. The law serves the gospel. Where sin abounded, grace did
much more abound. What does the law do? It reveals
to the sinner what he is. It makes the sinner to see and
feel that he is the one who is the transgressor, who is deserving
only of the wrath of God. But he is that one who has come.
and he has borne in his own person all that holy wrath of God against
the sins of his people. As I said, he is the fulfillment
of the burnt offerings. He is that one who was consumed,
as it were, by the wrath of God when he bore in his own person
that punishment that was the just desert of all that the Father
had given to him in the eternal covenant. In Hebrews 9 and verse 14 we
read of Christ who through the eternal spirit offered himself
without spot to God. Through the eternal spirit. It's an interesting verse that
one in Hebrews chapter 9 and the 14th verse. What are we to
understand by the eternal spirit? There is some discussion by the
commentators Some say the reference is to the third person in the
Trinity, God the Holy Ghost, and that he is there, you see,
even as Christ comes to make the great sacrifice for sins,
who through the Eternal Spirit offered himself without spot. But then others, and John Bunyan
amongst them, interestingly, say that the Eternal Spirit there
is not so much a reference to God the Holy Ghost, but more
particularly understand it in terms of Christ's deity. Christ's deity. That there upon
the cross, what is the altar that sanctifies the offering?
Some foolishly say or speak of the cross being the altar. That
was not the case at all. because it is the altar that
sanctifies the gift that's offered upon it. The Eternal Spirit then is said
to refer to the deity of Christ and it was upon that of course
that he offered himself. And so it is the deity that sanctifies
the sacrifice that he is making. And here, as I say, the woods
of the bush is so representative of his human nature. There's
a great mystery, of course, with regards to the person of the
Lord Jesus, because he is God-man, he is one person, and yet in
that one person we have the great mystery of those two distinct
natures. He is God and he is man. and
there's no mixing or mingling of the natures, they are distinct
natures and yet He is one Lord Jesus Christ and He is that One
who has made the great sacrifice for sins He has been consumed
by the wrath of God when He laid down His soul as a sacrifice
for the sins of His people. But in all of this, what we are
to observe surely is the significance of this revelation. It is the
revealing of the Lord Jesus Christ. What a favour is granted then
to this man Moses. The angel of the Lord appeared
unto him. The angel of the Lord appeared
unto him. Or do we not here see something
of the mystery, the gain of that absolute sovereignty of God? How God's will is ever paramount
in all of these things. Now we see it in the experience
of the Apostle Paul. What does he tell us in Galatians
chapter 1, when he pleased God? You separated me from my mother's
womb, to call me by his grace, and to reveal his Son in me."
He's speaking of how he was favored to have that revelation of the
Lord Jesus Christ, and as we've said before, not just a revelation
that was given to him, but he speaks of that revelation in
him. And how important prepositions
are in the New Testament Scriptures, in all the Scriptures, He pleads
God, he says, to reveal his Son in me. All the kingdom of God
is in you, says the Lord Jesus Christ. There must be that inward
revelation. But there, in Galatians 1, see
how Paul is mindful of God's sovereignty. It's the good pleasure
of God with regards to that particular time. All things are under His
hands. There's a time for every purpose
under heaven, is there not? There's a time to be born, there's
a time to die. If there's a time appointed for
our natural birth, if for those of the election of graces there's
not also a time appointed for our spiritual birth. It's God's
goodwill and pleasure when He pleases God. And so we have this
mystery here. The angel of the Lord appears
unto him here in the backside of the desert the last place
we would expect him to enjoy such a favour and such a blessing
as this and he comes at this particular time he was now this
man Moses was now 80 years old that's the age of Moses when
he goes in before Pharaoh In chapter 7 and verse 7, Moses
was fourscore years old, Aaron fourscore and three years old
when they strike onto Pharaoh. He's an old man. He's 80 years
old. Now, he would have acted, he
would have acted previously. He would have acted when he was
40 years old. as Stephen makes quite clear
there in the Acts of the Apostles in chapter 7 and verse 23. Here is Stephen making his great defense
of his faith recounting to his accusers something of the history
of God's ancient covenant people and he says there in verse 22
of Acts 7 Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians
and was mighty in words and in deeds and when he was full forty
years old it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children
of Israel seeing one of them suffer wrong he defended him
and avenged him that was oppressed and smote the Egyptian for he
supposed his brethren would have understood that God by his hand
would deliver them but they understood not and it was then of course
that he has to flee and he finishes up caring for the sheep of Jethro
forty years previously and we have that particular event that
Stephen is referring to recorded here in the previous chapter
in Exodus chapter 2 in verse 11 following we can read of the
detail of what happened those 40 years previously. He was 40 years old at that time
and then he has to wait another 40 years. He has to wait another
40 years. And again, it's Stephen who speaks
of that. In verse 30 there in chapter
7 of Acts, When 40 years were expired, there appeared to him
in the wilderness of Mount Sinai an angel of the Lord in a flame
of fire in a bush. Why such a long delay? Why such
a long delay? And we often ask questions like
that. We say, why? Why a delay? Why do we have to
wait? Why this? Why that? Why the other? Oh friends, do we not do well
to remember the words of scripture in Deuteronomy 29 and verse 29
the secret things belong unto the Lord our God but the things
which are revealed belong unto us and to our children the secret
things belong unto the Lord God is sovereign in all of these
things you see God is sovereign in every detail of our lives
Oftentimes we feel ourselves to be so frustrated. Why? Why
this? Why that? Why a delay? Why must
we wait? Why doesn't the Lord appear now?
I like the observation of the Bishop Hall, Joseph Hall, Bishop
of Norwich, in his meditations on the scripture, he says, when
we meditate on the mysteries of the Word, we come to God.
We come too close when we search Search his counsels. The things
that are revealed belong unto us. We are not to pry into the
secret counsels of God. Look at what God says to Moses
here in verse 5. Draw not thy hither, put off
thy shoes from off thy feet. For the place whereon thou standest
is holy ground. and we stand on holy ground do
we not every time we come to the word of God every time we
read the word of God every time we come under the sound of the
word of God every time we come to worship God we have those
words of the wise man in the book of Ecclesiastes keep thy
foot when they goest to the house of God and be more ready to hear
than they give the sacrifice of fools for they consider not
what they do be not Rush with thy mouth, says Solomon. Be not
hasty with thy heart to utter anything before God. For God
is in heaven, thou upon the earth. Therefore let thy words be few. All we do well to remember it
is holy ground. It's a solemn place when we come
under the sound of God's Word and we are to attend to God's
Word, we are to meditate Upon God's Word we are to seek an
understanding of those great mysteries that God sets before
us here in His Word, but we are not to pry into His secret counsels. We are to be those who recognize
that He is God, and we are but feeble creatures, mere men and
women of a dark, sinful creatures at that. What a favor that God
is pleased to come descend to such as us, and to come and reveal
himself even to us or that we might know then such a revelation
as was granted to this man the angel of the Lord appeared unto
him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush and he looked
and behold the bush burned with fire and
the bush was not consumed The Lord bless his word to us. Only sons of men be wise. Trust no longer dreams and lies. Out of Christ's almighty power,
can do nothing but devour. Number 789. Christ no longer dreams and lies. Out of Christ almighty power
can do nothing but devour. God, you say, is good, is true, Just an jealousy desire Burning
with vindictive fire This of old himself declared,
Israel trembled when they heard. But the proofs, the proofs indeed,
Is he sent his son to bleed. When the blessed Jesus died,
God was clearly justified. Sin to pardon without blood Never
in His nature stood Worship God and in His Son There is love
and there alone Think not that ye will or may pardon any other
way Son of God, hunting, groaning,
sweating blood. Brethren, this had never been,
had not God detested sin. Be His mercy therefore sought,
In the way Himself has taught, There His clemency is such, We
can never trust too much. He that better knows than we
Bids us now to Jesus flee Humbly take him at his word And your
souls shall bless The Lord bless thee and keep
thee. The Lord make his face to shine upon thee and be gracious
unto thee. The Lord lift up his countenance
upon thee and give thee peace. Amen.