Our text this week is one of the most famous narratives in the Bible; Moses and the burning bush. Israel is in Egypt in the midst of great suffering. It has been 40 years since Moses left Egypt. Moses is tending sheep on the far side of the desert (a remote place). He is tending the sheep of his father-in-law. He was once prince of Egypt, now he doesn’t even own his own sheep. He has to range to lonely places just to find pasture for them.
Yet the Lord is about to speak to Moses. The Lord has not forgotten Moses or Israel. Moses notices a bush burning but not being consumed. We are told that this is the angel of the Lord appearing to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of the bush. This is a theophany; a visible manifestation of the invisible God. What is being symbolized in this appearance?
One thing is the holiness of God. God tells Moses to remove his sandals because he is on holy ground. The ground is holy because God is present. It is necessary God reveal himself to Moses, and instruct Moses on how he is to approach God. It is evident tha
t God is conveying to Moses the necessity of understanding God as holy.
It isn’t easy for us to understand God’s holiness or see the significance of it. Holiness means to be separate in a pure way. God’s nature is absolutely holy so there is no darkness in God, nor any corruption tolerated in his presence. Fire is often used in the Scriptures to depict God’s holiness; he is a consuming fire. It is the property of fire to consume what is in it that is combustible.
The bush would normally be consumed by fire, but God is preserving it. The truth of God’s holiness connected to the imagery of fire is a warning to men that God will by no means clear the guilty. It is unreasonable for sinful men to not fear God due to his holiness. God has a necessary antipathy or wrath against all that is opposed to his holy nature. It is impossible that sin will not receive the necessary judgment it calls for from God.
The language of wrath, fire, and hell isn’t hyperbole meant to scare men into some kind of servile conformity. Rather it is to awaken sinners to the reality of God’s disposition to their sinful nature so that the one thing they know they need is reconciliation with God. Nobody would suppose that a piece of newspaper would be safe thrown upon a bonfire, yet sinners suppose that they are safe in the company of a holy God.
The gospel is good news because God provides what the sinner needs to be holy in his presence. God does not compromise his holiness or righteousness in forgiving sinners. He requires satisfaction for their ungodly hearts and acts. This satisfaction is met in an acceptable substitute or sacrifice. Christ meets the demand of God’s holiness. Those in Christ are preserved through the fire of God’s wrath because their sin has been atoned for and they are clothed in the righteousness of Christ.
They are presented as holy to God. Paul in his letter to the Colossian Christians says: “And you, who were once alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him.” It is provided freely. The requirement is to be poor in spirit; to turn to God for grace.
This is why Christians are to live for the glory of Christ. They belong to him. They will live forever with him. What he did for them was out of love. He has made them clean, washed them, so that they can walk with God and enjoy the fellowship with God they were purposed for. His people celebrate God’s holiness. They delight to belong to the God over all who is altogether good and holy, and hates sin. The burning bush is an apt reminder of our absolute need of Christ.
The gospel may be an offense to the self-righteous and foolishness to those who are wise in their own eyes, but it is salvation to those who believe. If you find yourself with a lack of humility, hostility, or even frustration, you should revisit the holiness of God.
God is a consuming fire, and putting that in perspective quiets the soul, humbles the heart, and puts first things first.
