When Winston Churchill was a young scholar he told his boyhood friend that he had a very real and certain sense that one day he would be leading the people of Britain through some very dark days. He said that this was his “destiny.” For the rest of his life he would carry this premonition until it was fulfilled as he heroically and victoriously led Britain through the blood, sweat and tears of World War II. He would later recall of those days, “I felt as if I were walking with Destiny and that all my past life had been but a preparation for this hour and trial.”
There have been many throughout history who have had this sense of destiny, and their lives have been shaped by such a calling. Moses perhaps was one such individual. When Moses was born it would seem that his parents sensed that he was a special child, one who was destined for greatness. It was for this reason especially that he was placed in the little ark and cast into the Nile. As Moses grew up under the care of his adoptive mother, a daughter of Pharaoh, he soon sensed that his life was somehow destined to be intimately connected with God’s covenant people, the children of Israel. Well, at least this is what he thought until aged forty.
Acts 7:23-25 records that “when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel.” It would appear that God had laid this burden on his heart, a burden to identify with his own people after four decades of being surrounded by the privileged but pagan culture of Pharaoh’s court. And thus Moses went forth to deliver (singlehandedly!) the children of Israel from their tyrannical Egyptian enslavement. He assumed that they would all recognise that indeed he was destined to do so for the text says that “he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them: but they understood not.”
The result was that Moses would spend the next forty years in the desert of Midian shepherding sheep rather than slaying slave masters and saving slaves. “So much for destiny,” perhaps he thought as he approached the foot of Mount Horeb one hot day.
We sometimes speak of the so-called “midlife crisis,” the sense of disappointment as one reviews what they have failed to accomplish while at the same time contemplating the fearfulness of a less than fruitful future. I would imagine that this was something of what Moses was feeling as he lived day by day, blessed with a family and yet performing a very lowly task of caring for sheep. This is not exactly what he had in mind many years earlier when he was being instructed “in all the wisdom of the Egyptians” (Acts 7:22). Perhaps he had such thoughts as, “Is this what my one rash act has produced for me—a life of solitary shepherding? What about those God-centred dreams concerning His covenant people? Is God finished with me? Ah, destiny! Indeed, I am destined—destined for futility!” But what he did not know was that God was not finished with him. And the discovery of a burning bush would result in a major redirection of his life.
Perhaps you can relate to Moses in the sense of having a dream that has been shattered, or in the sense that God is finished with you and that your Christian experience is destined toward futility. If so, then I have some good news for you: The last chapter of your life has not been completed! God does not abandon His own. Your life can be fruitful. And perhaps as you study this text with me you too will encounter a burning bush of hope. Your destiny may not be that of a Moses, but if you belong to Christ then He can use you in His ongoing story of redemption to deliver souls held captive to sin. May you be encouraged in the Lord our God!
A Curious Mystery
Moses was faithfully busy with what God had provided for him: shepherding sheep in the desert of Midian. One day he moved to the western side of the desert and approached Mount Horeb, a place that would later become known as “the Mount of God” due to what would take place that day and also within another year. This was Mount Sinai.
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. And 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. And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.
(Exodus 3:1-3)
As Moses approached the spot he noticed something very unusual: a bush on fire but which was not being consumed. This was not an illusion caused by bright red flowers growing on the bush that looked like fire, and neither was Moses deceived by the intense sun beating on the bush that only appeared to be fire; no, the text is correct when it tells us that “the angel of the LORD” was causing this. It was the very presence of God, and yet Moses did not initially understand these phenomena. He was curious as to what this was all about and thus he set about to investigate it.
“Curiosity killed the cat,” we are told, and except for God’s intervention here, curiosity would have also killed the shepherd!
This is often the beginning of a person’s conversion. The Lord gets their attention by some event, which leads them to contemplate such issues as the meaning of life, the reason for their sense of guilt, emptiness or unease. Perhaps it is a death or a birth. But whatever the precise circumstance, the search begins as interest is piqued. What begins as a curious investigation ends often in a wonderful regeneration!
A Confrontation with Majesty
Moses was inquisitive but not reverent. He knew that this was a “great sight,” something very unusual but he did not yet know that it was the very presence of God. Like Jacob of old he could later say, “Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not” (Genesis 28:16). But before he could get too dangerously close to the bush the Lord spoke and Moses no doubt stopped dead in his tracks.
And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I. And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. Moreover he said, I am the God of thy 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 upon God.
(Exodus 3:4-6)
The Lord called out to Moses by identifying him in emphatic, attention-getting words: “Moses, Moses!” This is the same way in which God had addressed Abraham (Genesis 22:1), and the same way in which He would later address Samuel (1 Samuel 3:10) and Saul (Acts 9:4). And as with those men, Moses responded in a submissive way: “Here am I.”
The Lord commanded Moses to stay where he was, to not come any closer, but to take off his shoes because the ground on which he stood was sacred. This does not mean that the ground was inherently holy; it was “sacred” because God’s presence had separated it from the profane. Wherever God is, things become different.
Moses no doubt obeyed immediately, perhaps dropping to his knees before removing his shoes. As he did so he heard the voice of God identifying Himself as “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” There was no confusion in the mind of Moses as to whom this God is. He was no longer curious about this burning bush, he now knew by experience the God whom he had heard about all of his life. He was being confronted by the covenant-keeping God. He was being confronted with majesty, the majestic God!
I think that we can safely assume that Moses had stayed in close contact with the Hebrews even as he was being raised in the luxurious court of Pharaoh. He thus knew the stories of God’s covenant that had been given to the patriarchs. He knew the stories that he would later record in Genesis; how God would appear at various times to encourage His people that He had not forgotten them. He knew of the faithfulness of God to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. This covenant-keeping God had now appeared to him, some forty years after his failed attempt to be God’s deliverer in Egypt (2:11-15). And such an appearance was frightening! Moses “hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God.” His response is very instructive.
Moses responded to the revelation of God as only a sinner can: with fear! Note that Moses did not run up and give God a hug! He did not have a chat with God or swap jokes with Him! There is absolutely no trace of familiarity here, but rather the picture is one fear. Biblical theology produces terror!
This is a far cry from what we read today when it comes to “confrontations” with God. In fact, the whole concept of confrontation has been replaced with the notion of an ecstatic experience as two equals have a conversation. But not so for Moses! No, for him this was a frightening experience. In fact he may even have been embarrassed upon reflection that he had been so casual in checking out this oddity of a non-burning bush which was on fire!
We should note here that this appearance of God was indeed a theophany (a manifestation of God to a person) but also, significantly, it was a Christophany (a pre-incarnate manifestation of Christ, the second Person of the Trinity, to a person). Who else can be both the Lord and yet distinct from the Lord at the same time but the God-Man, Jesus Christ (see vv. 2 & 4)? Thus Moses was afraid of Jesus. And that is always a good place to begin (cf. Luke 5:1-11)!
In our day we are increasingly losing sight of the glory of Christ with the result that we treat Him with familiarity, a familiarity which eventually breeds contempt. Christendom is replete with professing believers who reject His call to carry their cross; professing believers who show contempt towards the Lord’s Day; professing believers who show contempt towards His ordinances; professing believers who show contempt toward His Word; professing believers who show contempt toward His people; professing believers who show contempt towards His holiness and thus His holy demands. We have lost sight of Christ’s majesty and thus we view His work and worship as mundane and thus oftentimes the church mimics the world.
For example, note how churches are marketing themselves today. There is a local community newspaper that we receive on a weekly basis called The Alberton Record. Recently, they began publishing a supplement called Good News, which contains advertisements and information about the various churches in the Alberton area. As I browsed through a recent edition of Good News, I was saddened to see churches advertising all the utilitarian benefits of Jesus without a single word about man’s sinful, damned condition. If it were not so sad it might be humorous to note the huge existential difference between a modern “worshipper” and Moses’ experience. One can hardly even imagine Moses being concerned about how much time this event was taking. I seriously doubt that there was any thought of himself here at all, except for the fact of his own sinfulness. Moses feared the Lord and thus he was unable, and unwilling to look upon Him.
We need a return to such reverence. We need to treat as holy what God has determined to be holy. We should approach the Word as a holy book; and the church as a holy people; and the ordinances as holy means; and preaching as a holy activity; and the gospel as a holy message. Each of these things ought to be treated as holy because they have been set apart by God as means in which we are confronted by a holy God. If we will be used to deliver others then we too need such confrontations from God. We need to be amazed at our covenant-keeping God. And thus we need to learn to bow, take our shoes off and to listen.
I have sometimes wondered if we have the structure of our worship services a little backward. We tend to sing hymns first, and then settle down for the preaching later. Indeed, many professing believers seem to be interested only in the singing and then they allow their minds to wander during the preaching. Perhaps it would be a worthwhile experiment to reserve the singing till after the preaching, so as to show the importance of listening to God’s Word.
A Call to Ministry
God had addressed Moses, and he had responded then with the appropriate reverence. But God was not finished; He had a task to which He was calling Moses, and it was now to the task that He would turn His attention.
And 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 I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites. Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them. Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.
(Exodus 3:7-10)
Having addressed him by name, God spoke to Moses. Moses listened to the Lord as He affirmed (as Moses had “suspected” many years earlier) that he was to be a deliverer of God’s covenant people. God called him to fulfil a task, to serve Him. And such is the destiny of every believer.
The Lord informed Moses that He had indeed seen the unprovoked suffering of His people in Egypt and that He had heard their sighs, shrieks, and sorrows for deliverance. He informed Moses that He was now prepared to act upon His promise to deliver them. He would deliver them from Egypt into a land that, at that time, was large enough for six nations and was abundant with “milk and honey” (a phrase which speaks of plush pastures and bountiful harvests). In other words, it was a land that was a-plenty to meet their every need.
Moses was aware of the land promises that God had made to this people generations ago. He was also aware that, according to God’s promise to Abraham (as would later be recorded in Genesis 15), the time was nigh for God to bring this promised deliverance to pass. The 400-some years had come and gone and now the children of Israel were to inherit what had been promised. God had heard their cries (v. 9), observed with compassion their plight, and He would now act upon what He had remembered (2:24). This is good news indeed! But in v. 10 the good news takes on a somewhat disconcerting ring: Though God would do this work of deliverance He required Moses’ assistance! And thus Moses was called by God, unambiguously, to be God’s man on the ground.
Up until v. 11 perhaps Moses was quite excited to hear this word of revelatory confirmation. The repetition of God using the personal pronoun “I” in such phrases as “I have surely seen,” “I have heard,” “I know,” “ I am come down to deliver them,” “I will bring them,” would no doubt been a word of great hope to Moses. But when God then said, “I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt,” Moses no doubt would have felt his heart sink. The sovereignty of God was great news to Moses; but the responsibility of man, and particularly the responsibility of Moses, well that was a different story altogether!
Before proceeding to an investigation into Moses’ response let us pause for a moment to note that indeed when God does a work of deliverance He almost always uses means, and usually human means. The sovereign “I wills” are a balm to the oft-beleaguered church and individual Christian, but these are almost never divorced from the principle of “and I will use you as I do my will.”
Practically, God sees and remembers the unreached and He will indeed save His own from amongst them. But He will use you and me to do so. He sees the suffering church and He will comfort them, and perhaps even deliver them, by the means of you and me. He knows of the heartaches of afflicted believers and He will deliver them via you and me. But before He uses us He will most likely develop us on the “backside of a desert.” He will bring us to the end of ourselves that we might rely on Him alone for the grace to carry out such a deed. And we can be sure that before He calls us that He will sufficiently frighten us by a revelation of His holiness. Until this is our experience we are not ready to help others. We need knowledge and wisdom to help others and these only come by the fear of the Lord. Do you know this by experience?
Note that frivolous deliverers are dangerous; fearful ones are to be trusted. Further, we should note that Moses was called as he went about his task of shepherding. That is, he was faithful where God had placed him and then, and only then, did God call him to this great work. If we will be used of God to deliver others for His glory then we too must be faithful in that which is least.
A Confirmation of Mercy
Someone has said that just as C. S. Lewis was a self-confessed “reluctant convert” so Moses was a “reluctant prophet.” That is, Moses apparently did not want this assignment!
And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt? And he said, 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.
(Exodus 3:11-12)
On one level we can appreciate and even commend his initial response. After all, some forty years earlier Moses had tried to fulfil God’s will for his life (Acts 7:23-28) only to be rejected by those he came to save. He had unwisely murdered a man, and this forced him to spend some four decades tending flocks. Perhaps, at least as far as he was concerned, he had too much baggage and thus there was no way that he would be successful in such a task. Such self-doubt is understandable. After all, how could he lead a people that had previously rejected him?
But further, I believe that such self-doubt is also understandable when you consider the task he was being given. After all, not only did he have to deal with past failure but he also would perhaps be facing hostility by the Egyptians themselves. At this point it appears that Moses was under the impression that those who sought his life were still alive (see 4:19) and so the natural fear would have been a hindrance to fulfilling this call. We need to be sympathetic to what was probably going through his mind.
But finally, there was another good reason for Moses to have his doubts, his self-doubts: This was a huge task for which he knew that he was not sufficient! This deliverance would require superhuman ability, which was far more than Moses was able to give. No wonder his response was “Who am I?” to do such a thing!
Of course, I am sure that we can all relate to this hesitancy. We may have such thoughts as, “Who am I to lead a person into a life of freedom from the guilt and burden of sin?” Or, “Who am I to disciple someone to maturity in Christ?” “Who am I to plant a church?” “Who am I to declare the good news of what God has done for us in Christ Jesus?” “Who am I to take on the world, the flesh and the devil?” “Who am I to tell a culture that they are corrupt?” “Who am I to represent God?”
And yet this hesitancy irrelevant! In fact the question “who am I?” is not the issue. Rather, “Who is God?” is the real issue. And the answer to that question settles the matter! The emphasis of the call was what God had said that He would do. Moses simply needed to reflect upon the bush. God will use in a glorious way that which otherwise is common and dispensable. You and I need this awareness of God’s mercy.
God will save His people through us. Christ will build His church through us. God will save your children through you. God will produce a mature believer through you. None of the work of God will be accomplished because of you, but it will be accomplished through you. “Who am I?” is a legitimate response to God’s call; but we must never say, “Not I.” It is by the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed and it is by His mercies that we are productive for His glory.
God gave two assurances to Moses regarding this call: the confirmation of His presence and the confirmation of His promise. Both were confirmations soaked in mercy; and it is mercy which encourages us in ministry.
First, God told Moses that he could count on His presence. God would not send him into Egypt alone; He would go with him. And God’s presence, as Moses found out, can be a frightening thing. The authoritative presence of God would enable Moses to fulfil this assignment. And this is exactly what the church needs today.
When the church speaks there needs to be a sense that the church is not speaking but that rather the Christ of the church is speaking. The world needs to hear, not our voice, but rather the voice of God. When we truly live within the experience of the presence of God then the Shekinah glory will have an awesome effect on those we are seeking to influence. Our voices, on our own, are as irrelevant as they are impotent. But when Christ speaks it is as if there is a roaring of the waters. This is why prayer is so important for the church.
We want the breath of God on our lives and ministry. We desire for the world to hear the Lord, not us. And prayer is a means by which we seek the presence of the Lord. Prayer is a means by which we are reminded of who God is and how dependent upon Him that we are. Prayer is also a means by which we contemplate the promises of God. Oh that we might experience this place shaken by the awesome presence of Christ! Oh that we might have such an experience of His presence that like the church of old, those observing will have to admit, “God is in them of a truth!”
The Lord Jesus so lived that His authority was undeniable. “No man ever spoke like this man” was said of him. When He cleansed the temple (on both occasions) no one dared to oppose Him. When He spoke the demons shuddered. When He touched, sickness fled. When he taught in the temple as a twelve year old boy the doctors of the law marvelled. When He preached, crowds gathered and on some occasions when He preached, crowds fled. What was it that made Him so powerful? It was simply that the Lord Jesus Christ, the God-Man, experienced the unbroken presence of the Father.
Remember Jesus said that He only spoke and did what the Father commanded Him to speak and do (John 5:30-36; 10:18; 15:15; cf. Revelation 2:27). He proclaimed on one occasion that the Father always heard Him and that He always did those things that pleased Him (John 11:41-42). Thus the power that Jesus experienced was intimately connected with the presence of God (see John 8:29).
The lesson for us is that the presence of God is necessary to be used by God. And when we have such presence then indeed we can move mountains and turn the world upside down for the glory of God.
Second, we must also note that God also graciously confirmed His call to Moses by giving him a promise; a promise that was predicated upon Moses fulfilling his assignment. Namely, God assured Moses that indeed he would be successful and that the proof would be seen one day when Moses would come back to this very mountain and, along with the children of Israel, serve Him. Don’t miss that: God’s assurance to Moses that he would be successful was the promise that he would be successful. In other words, God’s Word was all that he would need.
On a practical level this sign appears to be irrelevant; it seems to miss the point. Moses was deeply concerned that he lacked the ability to fulfil the assignment to lead the children of Israel to deliverance from Egypt. He was concerned that he would not be able to actually get them out of Egypt. And so what sign does God give to him? A promise that after the deliverance, God will prove to him that He had called him before this deliverance! Does that sound strange? In fact it shouldn’t for this is the life of faith (Hebrews 11:27).
When you called upon the name of the Lord to be saved you began a journey that will only be fully proven when you die and enter the land that is fairer than day. You believe and yet you await future confirmation. But what keeps you going is the promise(s) of God. His Word is enough. One day you will be at the heavenly Mount and you will worship God in full assurance for the promise will be fully inherited. But until such time you and I continue to hang onto God’s promises. And such promises indeed get us through our confrontations with belligerent pharaohs, bull-headed believers and the onslaught of paralysing self-doubt.
But there is something very interesting and enlightening that we must see about this promise: it was confusing, it was strange. And this strangeness was the key to its ability to given assurance. You see it was such an odd promise that only God could fulfil it!
If you look at a map of this region you will note that Canaan was very close to Egypt and that the most direct route would have been due east (from Goshen). But the way in which God would lead them was to be due south and then in a roundabout way until they go north and cross the Jordan into this Promised Land.
To put this in contemporary (South African) terms, it would be like someone who wanted to go to Nelspruit from Johannesburg, going via Durban!
Again, I believe that the strangeness of the promise was what gave it such strength of assurance. Moses was being told to walk by faith and that he would be awarded for this obedience. In other words, this promise was both a confirmation and a challenge. The promise itself, because of its source, was confirmation that God would do what He had promised. But this was also a challenge to Moses’ faith: Would he believe God’s Word and thus go forth? Would he believe God’s Word so that his life would be spared?
There is an important principle here for the believer. We are called by Christ to follow Him and such a calling is difficult at times. So why do we follow in spite of the difficulties? Because we have His Word! We really do believe that this journey will lead us to the ultimate place of worship. We therefore take Christ at His word and go forth to face the various pharaohs (and difficult church members!) with the assurance that we will be rewarded. We believe that Christ Jesus, the Angel of the Lord, will accompany us on our ‘pilgrimage’ and that we will arrive at His promised destination. We may have some questions about the route but not about the reality of His promise. We thus follow even though such a pathway is attended by obstacles along the way.
As the Lord Jesus calls us to take up our cross and to follow Him we will find ourselves motivated to do so by His varied strange promises along the way. Just think about some of the strange promises that God gives to His children.
- “Give and it shall be given to you.”
- “Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth.”
- “Hunger and thirst and you will be filled.”
- “When you are beaten on one cheek then turn the other one.”
- “He that keeps his life will lose it and he who loses his life will find it.”
- “I am crucified with Christ yet I no longer live.”
When you think about it, there is no stranger, even confusing message than the gospel. “Believe on one who did not save Himself and you will be saved.” One author has said that Christianity is the only religion that celebrates the humiliation of their God. And yet the promise of a better day is attested by He who rose on the third day!
The Lord Jesus left the heavenly Horeb to come to the Egypt of this world. After His life of perfect obedience of some 30 years He was crucified by His kinsman according to the flesh. But three days after His “exodus” (see Luke 9:31) He was back at Horeb worshipping God. It was because of this assurance that He would be reunited with the Father to enjoy His presence forever that the Lord Jesus endured the cross despising the shame. And His pattern serves as a promise for us who are His.
The greatest blessing that we can ever experience is to rightly and to acceptably worship and to serve the Triune God. What a joy to be experientially in His presence!
One no doubt rightly surmises that upon the end of this Christophany Moses was saddened to have to leave this place. And yet as he did so he went with the promise that one day he would return to worship the Lord here again. The wonderful experience of true worshipful service would be his again.
As those graced by the gospel we too have the promise that we will find ourselves in the very presence of God as worshippers one day. We too will experience the perfection of the heavenly Horeb and thus we can face our Egypt with confidence.
Believer, we are saved to serve. As we go forth in faith greater service will be our reward. Let us therefore go into each new week with the conviction that God can use us for His purposes. And may that be our heartfelt and joyful desire.