Turn with me to Exodus chapter 3. There's a lot that we could cover in this chapter. Just in looking at Moses, we can draw a lot of comfort in seeing how the Lord deals graciously with his children, with his people that he calls. He reveals himself as the covenant God to Moses here. And there's a lot of blessings that we can draw here in this chapter.

But I'm gonna just confine myself to focus on just the first two verses here. And I want to bring out, before we, I hope to look at other things in this chapter, but before we do at another time, I want to look more closely at what this passage is teaching us about the Lord Jesus Christ. There's a lot of revelation. There's a lot of God revealing himself to Moses that's packed in these verses here. And I saw that more and more as I studied it and looked at various writers. I mean, there's just so much that you could go into that I figured, you know what, let me just focus this morning on what we see of the Lord Jesus Christ revealing himself to Moses, what we can glean from what he reveals to us here.

So in verse one, it says, now 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 mountain of God, even to Horeb." So Moses, first of all, he's left the high courts of Egypt. And he's fled into the desert, where he's now become a shepherd of sheep. This is a man educated and trained up in the courts of Pharaoh, and now he's a shepherd of the sheep, and he's very content with that. He seems very content with that.

And he dwells in the land of Midian, meaning that he's surrounded by these other nations populated by Cush, the descendants of Cush and Ham. This is, in other words, he's dwelling among a cursed people. A cursed people. Ham was cursed by Noah. He's in the midst of a cursed people and in Midian, from Midian, he is pleased to take a bride to himself. He has a bride whom he has now married, Zipporah.

Now, I said we're looking at the Lord Jesus Christ, so let me just say a few details about what this all means here concerning Moses. It may seem like some insignificant details that we could just pass over, but Moses we will see we see where Moses is a picture and a type of the believer receiving the blessings of God but also just in that one verse we see a type of the Lord Jesus Christ being described here in these things our Lord left the bosom of his father he went out from the veil of heaven as it were to come to this world this earth in the flesh He did that.

Galatians 4, 4 and 5 say that when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his son, like Jacob sending Jake Joseph out of the Vale of Hebron to seek his brethren, so it is our God sent forth his beloved son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we, might receive the adoption of sons. And the scriptures speak of our adoption as sons, the scriptures speak of our being wed to the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, our head and our husband.

And so we see in this that we We were born of Adam, we're born a cursed people under the law. We're that cursed people under the law because of our sin corruption, because of us being born of the sin corrupt seed of Adam, the defiled seed of Adam. So it's no wonder that we come forth sinners, speaking lies. And so this is what it says now back in Galatians 3.10, for as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse. And we're born under that law. We're under a curse. For it is written, here's why, curse it is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. We go astray as soon as we're born. We go astray. We prove that we are born of corrupt seed as soon as we're born. And it just becomes more and more evident the more we grow up that we're cursed because we cannot keep the law. We break the law constantly.

And so the law was all that we were given. All this world was given the law to justify ourselves. And it became obvious very quickly that we are lost in sin that we cannot justify ourselves by the keeping of the law. But for this cause the Lord of glory came into the world to redeem his bride. To take to himself from this curse of people a bride unto himself which was given to him by the Father before the foundation of the world.

Paul writes it this way in Ephesians 5, verses 30-32, For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they too shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. And that's what marriage pictures. Christ, our head, and his church, the body. And so the bride, and so that's a picture of that, that blessed union pictures, testifies of Christ Jesus, who loved the bride and gave himself for his beloved bride.

And then finally, like we see with Moses as a shepherd over his father-in-law's flock, we, by the grace of God, by the power of God, can say, the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. And so we see that just in that first verse there. Now, Moses calls this place the mountain of God, even to Horeb. Where he is now, where this burning bush is, this is the same Mount Sinai. This is one with Mount Sinai. Pink tells us that Horeb was actually a mountain range, and in that range is Mount Sinai. And this very spot where he is now is Mount Sinai.

Let's turn over to Exodus 24. I just want you to see this. I'm gonna show you a few verses here. Exodus 24, verses 12 and 13, and the Lord said unto Moses, come up to me into the mount. So this is after they come out of Egypt, and they're back at Mount Sinai. He says, come up to me into the mount and be there, and I will give thee tables of stone and a law and commandments which I have written that thou mayest teach them And we know that that's Mount Sinai. And Moses rose up and his minister Joshua, and Moses went up into the Mount of God.

All right, so that Mount of God, that word Mount is the same word as mountain that Moses uses there in verse two, or verse one, rather, when he calls it back in Exodus 3.1, the mountain of God, that's what he called it. The mountain of God is the mount of God, that's the same place. Now, look back in our chapter in Exodus 3 and then hold your finger there. Exodus 3, verse 12, and he said, certainly, this is God speaking to Moses when he's giving him an appointment, certainly I will be with thee and 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. This mountain, all right? So that's where he is. So he's in this mountain of God, is Mount Sinai in Horeb.

All right, now hold there, your finger there in Exodus 3, and I just want to say here that the purpose of the Lord, the other thing that we see here, just in this mountain, is it's a picture of Christ. in the sense that the law was given to drive us to Christ. The law was given to drive us to Christ. So I'm gonna turn over, again, hold your place in three, but turn over to Galatians 3. So the Lord brought his people there, but don't ever lose sight of the fact that that's not our righteousness.

The law was given to drive us to Christ, to drive us to faith in Christ, to flee to Him for salvation, because under the law, we're cursed, because we cannot keep the law. We cannot make a perfect righteousness for ourselves. So Galatians 3.19 through verse 25, wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made. Speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ, and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one.

Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid, because you would think, well, if we're not saved by the law, then why did God give the law? Why did Moses give the law to the people? And he says, no, it's not against the promises of God. God forbid, for if there had been a law given, which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law. In other words, by the giving of the law, God is proving and demonstrating to us without a shadow of a doubt that we cannot save ourselves. We cannot justify ourselves.

If we're made honest by the spirit of God before the law, we see I'm a sinner. My heart is corrupt. Still, all manner of evil thoughts rises up from this corrupt heart. I cannot keep myself righteous. I cannot make myself or keep myself righteous before the law. That's why it was given. That's why it was given. But the scripture hath concluded all under sin that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. That's why the law was given. as we're gonna see, to drive us to Christ. But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore, the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. So that even now, right, It was given to the Jews till Christ should come, because that proved, I mean, with that nation, it proved that none of us is just by the law, is justified by the law.

We still, and I know that there are denominations that would teach, well, you gotta bring the people to the law first, and sure, in the teaching of the law, as we go through the scriptures, we can see it, but you don't have to first stop at the law and try and practice the law to then go on to Christ. in the day, in the hour, in the moment that the Lord shows you, you're the sinner, thou art the man, and you see your need, you flee to Christ. And he's your savior. And he's your life. He's your standard of living. He's the one in whom we live.

So we don't have to go back to law. We only speak to the law in showing you it's all testifying of Christ. It's all saying we're sinners. It's all turning us from self-righteousness and dead letter religion that cannot save. And so it's to drive us away from that law to Christ in the first moment.

Alright, so now on this mountain, then we're told back in Exodus 2. So all these things so far is testifying of Christ who came and received his bride, redeemed his bride, and it's testifying even in this mountain where Moses is. The reason why we're looking here is it's still testifying of Christ. It's still testifying to us of our need of him.

Now in verse two, and the angel of the Lord appeared unto him, unto Moses, 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." Now, I'm not going to say everything there is to say about this bush, not today, but I'm going to say a few things about this bush here. We want to look at it because here again is another revelation being given to us of Christ. It's still testifying of Christ, the promised seed, who should come. And that's what I want us to focus on this morning is this picture of the Lord Jesus Christ.

First, it speaks of the angel of the Lord in this bush. Well, the angel of the Lord is the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the pre-incarnate Christ. It is the Son of God come and speaking, revealing to us God, who God is, who the Father is. He's revealing to us salvation. The word angel means messenger, and that is true. The Lord Jesus Christ is the messenger of God. He's the appointed one in the covenant of the Godhead Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. He's the appointed one to come and as a messenger to the people, to reveal the Father to us, to reveal the covenant unto us. And I'll show you that in a moment.

So Christ is the messenger of God. We're told in John 1, verse 18, no man had seen God at any time. Speaking of the Father, God is a spirit, and no man hath seen the spirit. They that worship him must worship him in spirit and truth. So no man hath seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, the Son of God, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared Him. In his coming, and every time he came, he's revealing to us something of God. He's always revealing to us something of the true and living God, that we would otherwise be ignorant of, that we would be in darkness to, and blind to. We wouldn't know, but because of Christ, all that he shines light, like he is in, what is that, verse three, when God said, let there be light, and there was light, it's Christ, testifying of God's gracious will and purpose to be gracious to a people that he would form here on this earth, just as he chose them before the foundation of the world. It's all testified, it's light, and it's all testifying to Christ, who reveals the true and living God to us. It's really beautiful.

So Christ is sent to make known the Father, and Christ is sent to make known God's covenant of grace to us. Because again, we see men in total darkness who think to worship God by the works of the law. And they're ignorant of God's covenant of grace. That's by grace that we are saved.

In Malachi 3, just one verse there, Malachi 3.1 first says, Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me. Now that first messenger there is speaking of John the Baptist, who would come as a messenger before the messenger, the Lord Jesus Christ. It goes on to say, And the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant. Whom ye delight in, behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. The messenger of the covenant is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the promised seed. His very coming testifies to us of God's grace. that God has a people to whom he will be gracious in and by the redemption of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's exciting. It blesses my heart to think of him coming and just by his very presence is testifying, God has a people to whom he will be gracious to. And he came suddenly. They claimed to be looking for him. And when he came, they didn't believe it was him. he just came on suddenly and there he was and preaching the truth preaching the kingdom of God and they rejected him

now additionally we're told that he appeared in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush now that word bush there is used three times I think in this chapter three here and it's used that the same word is only used one other time and I'm bringing this up because I want to show you another picture of Christ here but in Deuteronomy 33 16 Moses says this in Deuteronomy 33, 16, it says, and for the good will of him that dwelt in the bush. That same word, but there's Moses speaking of the burning bush and says here that he was dwelling in the bush. He dwelt in that bush.

Now that word dwelt, if you look it up in like blueletterbible.org, I think it is, if you look that up, and see what word that is, it gives reference to what we know as the Shekinah, the Shekinah glory of God, when the Lord would come down in a cloud upon the tabernacle in the wilderness, and if I'm not mistaken, down when Solomon built the temple there, but it's in which God's glory would dwell among the people in that cloud, and that Shekinah glory, it was called, there in the temple.

And let me just read one passage about that in Exodus 40, if you want to go there. Exodus 40, verse 34 and 35, it describes this Shekinah glory, and it uses the same word, dwell. Speaking of the Shekinah glory, dwelling in the temple. Verse 34, Exodus 40, 34, then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the congregation, because the cloud abode thereon." Meaning it dwelt therein. That's where abode is the same word as dwelt, as dwelt in the bush. It abode thereon. And the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.

So here's Moses coming upon this burning bush. He doesn't know yet, because God hasn't spoken and revealed himself yet to Moses. So Moses is still ignorant about this, but he's now looking. He doesn't understand it yet, but he's looking upon the glory, the Shekinah glory of the Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's beholding Christ in his glory. But like I said, he's still in darkness. He's still ignorant. because God hasn't spoken to him yet, which is, as we'll see, Lord willing, another time when we look at the Lord blessing and revealing himself to his people here.

But just in seeing that, I'm reminded of the Lord's transfiguration. Turn over to Matthew. This is in several of the Gospels, but Matthew 17. Actually, I think it's in all the Gospels, all four of the Gospels, but Matthew 17, verses 1 through 8, and after six days. Matthew 17, 1. After six days, Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, and was transfigured before them. And his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. And here's a picture of that Shekinah glory. They're seeing Christ in his glory. They knew him. They had an understanding. So they were looking and beholding at Christ glorified. Up to then, they'd seen a man in the flesh, robed in flesh, concealing that, but now his glory is just shining forth. It'll be for us, you that believe. In that day, we're gonna see, all are gonna see him in all his glory, shining forth. It shall be the most beautiful sight that we shall ever see. and seeing him in all his glory, and they're seeing this, and behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elijah talking with him."

Moses and Elijah, the law and the prophets, are speaking with Christ here. That's what they picture, Moses and Elijah, the law and the prophets. Then answered Peter, right, this is just testifying of our ignorance, of our misunderstanding, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here. If thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles, one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah.

He, right at the moment, has Christ on the same level with Moses and Elijah, or all the prophets. He just sees, hey, wow, we have all these three holy guys here with us, Christ and Moses and Elijah, but he's seeing them all at the same level there. We're going to make three tabernacles on the earth for you guys.

While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them. This sounds, again, like a type of the Shekinah glory. Overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud, which said, this is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye him.

Right? What the Lord is saying is, don't keep... Christ is not on an equal footing with Moses, with the Law and the Prophets. The Law and the Prophets all spoke of Him. They're all testifying of Him. Look to Him. He's your Head. He's your God. He's your Savior. He's your Righteousness. You look to and hear Him of whom Moses and the Prophets spoke. They're all testifying of Christ.

And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face and were sore afraid. Now, don't lose your place. We're coming right back here. But if you look there in Exodus 3, verse 6, what do we see there? We see Moses doing the same thing when the covenant, when the God of the covenant reveals himself to him.

Verse six, moreover, he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. In other words, I am the God of the covenant that I made with Abraham, the covenant of grace. that I spoke to Abraham, that God, the God of the covenant, and Moses hit his face for he was afraid to look upon God. Just like we see there at the transfiguration.

Go back there. That's what it's showing us, that this is Christ who we see. He's all-glorious. He's exalted. We're to hear Him because these guys, just like us, are testifying, all testifying of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the exalted one. He's God Almighty. We're to hear Him.

And Jesus came and touched them and said, arise and be not afraid. There's that word touched, right? He touched them. and said, be not afraid. And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man save Jesus only."

Because it is God testifying. That's who we are to hear. That is our Savior. When you go to the law and you go to the prophets, it's not for you to try and do what they say to make yourselves holy. What they're saying is, flee to Christ Go to Christ. Every single word here is testifying and putting all the glory, all the light, all the praise and honor on Christ. That's where we're being driven to here.

And so he's the glorious one, seated at the right hand of the throne of God till God his father makes his enemies his footstool. Now, what is also fascinating about this bush here, we're told that Moses looked and behold, the bush burned with fire and the bush was not consumed. So here again are wonderful pictures that testify of him who would come and did come in like manner. Moses is seeing a picture of the Son of God dwelling in our flesh. Right? Dwelling in our flesh. He's all glorious. He's a consuming fire. And yet he came and dwelt among us, and dwelt in the likeness of our flesh. And we see that there, that he appears in this bush. He's a consuming fire, and yet this bush isn't consumed. It's not burned up. It's not fried to a crisp and drops to ashes. It continues. It continues. And it's a picture of him abiding in our flesh. the likeness of our flesh and abiding in there. And there's many other sites that we'll see, Lord willing, but it's the God-man shining forth, right? It's the God-man mediator in one. His glory not consuming this natural thing that should be burned up.

The apostle John said it this way, and the word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory. We beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. And so this God-man mediator, who is our Savior, came in this manner.

Why? Why did Christ have to come? Well, God doesn't suffer. God doesn't die. But a man suffers, and a man dies, but a man can't put away and atone for the sins of other men, not even his own self he can't. So he's God. He's fully God and fully man that he might suffer. in the room instead of his people and die for them, to put away their sin eternally, to give us eternal life in himself, because he's God. He's a quickening spirit. He's not like Adam, in that Adam was a living soul and could just bring forth seed, but like Adam, we all die in Christ. we all live, all his people and him live. And so he's the one that came and suffered and died for us in this flesh to go to the cross as our substitute, to put away our sin forever, forever, and to give us his Holy Spirit, whereby the enmity that's in us against God, like we saw in Adam and Eve when they ran from God, he reconciles us to God so that we now are drawn to God. with understanding and given light. And even in our simplicity and ignorance, we continue to come that we might learn more and more of him. And so that's reconciliation brought in us rather than life, true life there.

And so he's the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. And the difference of Christ is that when they would put those pictures and types and shadows and burn them on the altar, those lambs and bullocks and the beasts that they would slay, and when they put fire to them, they burned up. They burnt up to ashes. But when Christ, the Lamb of God, was slain, when he sacrificed himself, he consumed the fire. picturing that he wasn't destroyed, picturing that he has put away the wrath and anger of God, which was against us forever. He consumed it for us. We might live unto God by him. And so we rejoice in this brethren. He's put away our sin. He's given us life and hope in him. He's given us his Holy Spirit. He's blessed us to know the true living God, washing us in the blood of Christ and making us new creatures. new creatures to know the true and living God and to worship Him and to walk in that life.

So, let me just give a few other things. This bush reveals a few other things about the character of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. For one, it reveals that God is sovereign. He's not bound by the laws of nature. He does as he pleases. We see that. This bush didn't burn up. He does miraculous things. The same way, if a man was born or got a withered hand, he said, stand forth and stretch forth thy hand. And his hand just whooshed. That's God sovereignly overcoming the weakness of our flesh, which we can't do. He's able to do as he pleases.

Nebuchadnezzar said it this way in Daniel 4.35, all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing, and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his hand or say unto him, what doest thou? None of us can do it, because God can do whatever He wants. He's able to do it.

The second thing we see in this bush not being consumed by God is we see something of the self-sufficiency of our Lord. In other words, this bush burned as long as it needed to. and it never consumed, it never withered, it never got weaker, it never subsided in any way, and it testifies to God's sufficiency, God's self-sufficiency.

Paul prayed this, to give you a sense of what I'm trying to say. Paul prayed for the spirit of wisdom. to be given to God's saints, that we would know what is the exceeding greatness of God's power to usward who believe according to, according to the working of His mighty power." In other words, God is never, with all that He gives us, He's never less. He's never less God. He never diminishes. He never gets smaller and smaller. He never loses anything. He just abundantly, He's life. He is the true definition of life so that whatever He gives, He's not any less for it. Nothing's diminished in any way, and that's seen there in that bush. He's eternal. He has no end. He is life and light and glory and power.

And then three. This bush reveals something of God's holiness to us, so that when Moses came up to this bush, the Lord told him, in verse five, draw not nigh hither, put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. In other words, we need a mediator. to bring us to God. We need a mediator to teach us, to humble us, and to bring us to God in a right spirit. It's a picture that we need that mediator. And who is that mediator? But the Lord Jesus Christ, who said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. By me. We're not going to get there by Moses. We're not going to get there by the prophets, by trying to figure out what they were saying and do things. what they were saying is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. What they're testifying to us of is the Lord Jesus Christ. Put your eyes on Christ, on Christ. That's what this word is testifying to us of.

And so there's a lot more things that we can draw from this passage, and I hope to do that with you. But I just wanted you to see the Lord Jesus Christ, that Jesus Christ is the message of this book. It's to turn us away from thinking, I can do it. I just got to get better. I just got to try harder. That's never going to happen. You can't do it, and I can't do it, and no one can do it for one another. Christ did it. That's what we're being shown here is Christ first. And then we can go back and see all these other blessings that come to us out of Christ, doing what what he did, as Paul wisely showed to the Corinthian church in 1st Corinthians 2, 1 and 2.

And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. So believe on Him. You'll never be ashamed. Hoping and trusting the righteousness of Christ alone when you stand before God on that day of judgment, you shall not be ashamed. You shall stand forth as the very righteousness of God robed in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's everything that we need to dwell in the midst of God who is holier and unable to, will not stand, will not endure sin. Only Christ makes us that righteous. Only he does it, brethren. So believe him, trust him. I pray that's a blessing to your souls.