The Burning Bush

Reference

Exodus 3

A single day can change your life forever. David’s life would never be the same after the day he fought Goliath. Paul’s life would never be the same after the day he met Jesus on the Damascus Road. And the day that would change all our days, the day the stone rolled away revealing an empty tomb.

Exodus 3 is like this. It begins on a day like any other day. Nothing special. Moses isn’t in a palace anymore, he isn’t living as a son of Pharaoh. He’s been in the desert for forty years…tending sheep. Day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, just desert, sheep, silence. But then on an ordinary day, in an ordinary place, he sees something extraordinary. A bush burning yet not being consumed. He draws near, and in a moment, everything changes. This day would not only change the course of Moses’ life, it would change the course of history.

Church, today we come to the great burning bush moment. It begins in 3:1 and goes all the way until 4:17. It is so monumental a passage, that we’ll take the next month to work through it. Today, I’ll begin by leading you through the first three scenes of this great moment, all of which are found in chapter 3.

Scene 1 (v1-6)

“Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.”

As we see Moses keeping the flocks of Jethro in v1 we need to remember a few things. First, we need to remember Stephen’s sermon in Acts 7. There before he’s stoned Stephen gives an overview of this moment in Moses’ life and he says in Acts 7:29-30, “…Moses fled and became an exile in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons. Now when forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush.” So as Exodus 2 ends and Exodus 3 begins, we need to keep in mind that 40 years have passed, making Moses an 80 year old man.

Second, back in chapter 2 we met Moses’ father-in-law the priest of Midian. He’s called Reuel in chapter 2, and here in v1 he’s called Jethro. As we saw last week, many think Reuel was his priestly title and that Jethro was his given name. He has surely grown older, because now we see Moses is the one keeping the flocks. Right here from start then don’t miss what God is doing. To man, Moses is a picture of a failure. He had to flee Egypt after a failed attempt to rescue Israel, and now he’s reduced to the simplest kind of labor, shepherding. But to God, all is going according to plan. Here is one who has been humbled, reduced to shepherding, yes, but one who will one day shepherd all of Israel.[1] God is indeed preparing Moses for what’s to come.

The rest of v1 serves the purpose of letting us know how Moses came to be so far away from where he normally leads his flock.[2] He went way out into the west side of the wilderness likely because it was unusually dry and all the grass had dried out. Thus, he comes to Mt. Horeb. Horeb, you should know, is either another name for Mt. Sinai or it’s the region Mt. Sinai is located in. And it’s called the mountain of God in v1 because that’s what it will become to Israel in the future. For now, it’s just a mountain. But is it? Look at v2-3.

Here we see a thing of wonder. The angel of the Lord appeared to Moses in a burning bush. Moses would’ve known how to keep warm on cold nights and would’ve known that once a regular bush was lit on fire it would soon burn up. Yet this bush was burning while not burning up.[3] So what does he do? He goes nearer to get a closer look. As he draws near in v2-3, the moment comes, and angel of the Lord appears in the fire. Fire is often associated with the presence of God and the purity of His holiness, as we’ll see in the rest of Exodus, and sure enough, Moses is about to have an encounter with God. But, who is the angel of the Lord mentioned here? We’ve seen this language before back when God appears to Hagar, and we’ll see it again when God appears to Joshua. There is much debate here as you can imagine. Some believe the angel of the Lord is a literal angel functioning as a messenger of God. I don’t think this is the case because while the text identifies this angel as being from the Lord, it also identifies this angel with the Lord. And in v4 it says God called out from the bush, meaning this angel didn’t just speak for God, He spoke as God.[4] So I believe we have two options. Either the angel of the Lord is God Himself come down to meet with Moses, making this a theophany (God revealing Himself to man), or the angel of the Lord is the pre-incarnate Christ (making this a Christophany, Christ revealing Himself to man). While I tend to believe that this is the pre-incarnate Christ, good arguments can be made on both sides of this. All in all, do not miss the forest for the trees here. From no initiative of his own, Moses meets God on this mountain.

As Moses nears the burning bush God calls out in v4, “Moses, Moses!” Moses responds “Here I am.” God then says two things. First He says, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” And secondly God says, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” That Moses was to keep a distance and not come near, emphasizes the gap between the holy God and sinful man.[5] This is the first time in the Bible that the word holy is explicitly used in reference to God.[6] That explains much about this scene. Moses must remove his sandals, not because sandals are unholy, but because of reverence. Just as one would normally remove their shoes in this culture when coming into the presence of or the home of a superior, so too Moses removes his shoes because he now knows Mt. Sinai is where God has chosen to dwell. Thus, God’s holy presence makes ordinary ground, holy ground.[7] What did Moses do next? See v6, “Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.” His curiosity turns to fear as He realizes who has appeared to him. In this moment Moses learns from God what Israel would one day learn from him, that God is holy, that no one comes into God’s presence irreverently, because God is a consuming fire.[8] Now only the bush is burning with the holy fire of God, soon the whole mountain will burn as Israel draws near to receive the Law.[9]

Lastly, v6 shows us that what we learned (as readers) in 2:23-25, Moses learns for Himself as God declares that He is the God of his father, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This is of utmost importance. It highlights that God is now continuing the story He began in Genesis. This is the covenant faithfulness of God. It reminds us that He keeps the promises He makes. Much time has passed yes, His timing isn’t our timing, yes, but He remains faithful to His Word, yes. Thus, our hope in Him can always remain firm.

Scene 2 (v7-12)

“Then the Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.” But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” He said, “But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”

Now we hear God tell Moses of His own intimate knowledge of the woes of His people. God has seen, God has heard, God knows all the suffering of all Israel. And He will act. See it in v8. God will come down…to bring His people up. We see so much gospel in these words don’t we? God comes down, to what? Bring us up! As Israel couldn’t do it on their own, we can’t do it on our own. As God delighted in saving them in the Exodus, so too He delights in saving us in Christ. Our God is a God who saves!

What will God bring Israel out and up to? A land that God describes in three ways.[10] First, the land will be good and broad. That is, it will be bigger and larger than their cramped lodging in Egypt. Second, the land will be flowing with milk and honey. That is likely a figurative description of Canaan’s fertile and full nature as opposed to a literal description of milk and honey. Milk and honey are often used as pictures of purity and abundance throughout the OT, and I think the same is meant here. And third, the land will also be full of people. See the list of the various peoples? The list occurs frequently in Moses’ writing, it appears in different variations, but this list is nearly identical to the list God gave Abraham in Genesis 15 when He first made these promises. This hints at what is coming for Israel. Yes, they’ll be saved out from Egypt, but they’ll have to fight their way into Canaan. Will that be hard? Yes. But v9 assures them, the God with them now in their troubles will also be with them then in the midst of their fight.

In v10 there is a bit of a shift. Moses now learns he will not be an onlooker to God saving Israel, he will be the means by which God saves them. This seems, I think, to strike fear into Moses because he responds in v11 with doubt. Some do say Moses is showing a true humility here, but I disagree.[11] Throughout the burning bush moment Moses repeatedly calls the mission into question and speaks of his inability to carry it out.[12] The question then becomes, why does Moses doubt? The answer likely lies in his past. Specifically, his past experience in failing to come to rescue Israel. I think this stayed with him and dogged him, and as soon as he heard God was going to call him back there, a familiar fear sprang up afresh in him.[13] Yet, see how God responds to his fear and doubt in v12. God doesn’t tell Moses to stop his negative thinking.[14] God simply says, “I will be with you” intending to replace his fear with trust.

More so, God then gives him a sign to prove all of this, saying the sign of His presence with him will be…when Israel returns to this mountain to serve God. It is certainly unique that this sign will not occur until the Exodus is over, but perhaps that’s where the point. Moses must step out in faith, go to Egypt, and do what God has commanded of him, and lead the people out. Then and only then will Moses get the assurance of the sign, once the people have returned to serve God at the mountain. That word serve, by the way, is the Hebrew word for worship. That’s what God is saying here. The sign is that after the rescue of God, the people of God, will gather before this mountain to worship God.

Scene 3 (v13-22)

“Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’” God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations. Go and gather the elders of Israel together and say to them, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, “I have observed you and what has been done to you in Egypt, and I promise that I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, a land flowing with milk and honey.”’ And they will listen to your voice, and you and the elders of Israel shall go to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us; and now, please let us go a three days' journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God.’ But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless compelled by a mighty hand. So I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all the wonders that I will do in it; after that he will let you go. And I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians; and when you go, you shall not go empty, but each woman shall ask of her neighbor, and any woman who lives in her house, for silver and gold jewelry, and for clothing. You shall put them on your sons and on your daughters. So you shall plunder the Egyptians.”

In v13 we see Moses’ second fearful doubting. God’s promise that He will be with Moses and will indeed return to this mountain to worship doesn’t seem to be enough for Moses, so he now asks another question. He asks God about His name. This question is interesting. Does Moses not know God’s name? God has used it before, but maybe after all the years of steeping in Egyptian culture and being oppressed by them slaves Moses has forgotten it? That is a real possibility, and maybe even Israel no longer knows it as well? Well, one thing is certain. Throughout the Exodus, no Israelite ever asks Moses about the God’s name, as if that were the sign or password to gain Israel’s trust. Moses then is like us, he seems to excel at raising problems that will never come into reality.[15]

God’s answer to Moses in v14-15 is so famous and foundational for our understanding of God’ nature and character that we’ll spend our entire time together next Sunday morning looking at the divine name in v14. For now, just know God’s answer is that His name is “I am who I am” and that is what Moses is to tell Israel, that the I AM, Yahweh, is saving them.

As our passage comes to a close in v16-22 we see God instruct Moses on what to say to the Israelites. In v16-17 he is to go and tell them that God sees, observes, and knows all their suffering, and that He will bring them up and out of their slavery to a full and fertile land.

In v18-20 God instructs Moses to tell all of this to the elders of Israel. Here we see that not only has Israel organized itself by putting leaders in place, but God now calls these elders to go with Moses to Pharaoh and demand to be let go. This is a command that clearly wasn’t obeyed, as none of the elders go with Moses.[16] Yet they’re all to tell Pharaoh let them take a three day journey to worship. What’s this? It’s merely a simple request, a request that Pharaoh will not grant at all. His denial of such a simple request exposes what v20 makes clear, that Israel will only escape Egypt by God’s strength and wonders.[17]

Lastly in v21-22 we see God make another promise. When Israel is freed, God will give them such favor that Egypt will be plundered like God said would happen back in Genesis 15. As great as this is, there is a hard truth to see in it. Some of the gold they take out of Egypt will be used to build the tabernacle, but some of it will be used to make the golden calf.

Conclusion:

As we close, remember we believe the entire Bible has one unified story that culminates in the Person and Work of Jesus. The goal in preaching then isn't to find a clever way to mention Jesus, but to see how every story, including this one, finds its ultimate meaning in Him.

So where is the gospel here? It shines brightest in the contrast between Moses's doubt and God’s answer.

When God called, Moses's response is our own, ‘Who am I?’ It’s the cry of a man who knows his failures, his weaknesses, and his sin. And it is our cry, too. We look at our lives, the ordinary routines, the past mistakes, the feeling of being stuck in the desert, and we know we are not enough. We are not holy enough, not strong enough, not good enough.

Into that honest cry of inadequacy, God speaks. He doesn't tell Moses to look deeper within himself. He reveals His own name, ‘I AM.’ And He promises His own presence. This is a promise that points far beyond the wilderness of Midian, directly to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Into our sin, our darkness, and our doubt, the great ‘I AM’ did not stay distant. He came near. He became one of us in the person of His Son. The same ‘I AM’ who met Moses in the fire is the ‘I AM’ who stood in the temple and declared His divinity. He is the ‘I AM’ who draws near to us now in the gospel.

But He did more than just draw near. He took our sin and shame and fear, all of our ‘Who am I?’ questions on Himself and carried it to the cross where He would enter the ultimate wilderness, ultimately dying in our place, so that in exchange, we can be forgiven, washed clean, reconciled to God, and be given His very presence.

Thus, Jesus says to all who look to Him in faith, “I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Because of His finished work, His holy presence is now our guarantee. That changes everything. It makes all our days holy days. It makes the very ground we walk on, in our homes, in our workplaces, in our struggles, holy ground. Not because of who we are, but because the great I AM who is with us.

[1] John D. Currid, Genesis 1:1-25:18 - EP Study Commentary (Holywell, UK: Evangelical Press, 2015) 71.

[2] Douglas K. Stuart, Exodus – NAC (Brentwood, TN: B&H Publishing, 2006) 108.

[3] Stuart, 109.

[4] Philip Graham Ryken, Exodus: Saved for God’s Glory – Preaching the Word Commentary (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2015) 71.

[5] Ryken, 72.

[6] Ryken, 72.

[7] Stuart, 115.

[8] Stuart, 114.

[9] Victor P. Hamilton, Exodus: An Exegetical Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2023) 47.

[10] Currid, 77-78.

[11] Stuart, 118. He cites David’s similar language in 2 Sam. 7, yet I still disagree, seeing David as humble but Moses as fearful and doubting.

[12] Currid, 80.