The fire of God is still aflame. He can manifest Himself to us to enlist us in His service, and at other times to our enemies, barring their way and protecting His own.
Even a cursory reading of the Bible will reveal how God has preserved and led Israel, His chosen people, throughout their long history. During much of that time, however, it might not have seemed so obvious. The four centuries that preceded Exodus 3, for example, were years of severe persecution. To Hebrews living in those days, God was a fading memory. They may have questioned if He really did speak to Abraham and Sarah in their tent one day (Gen. 18). They likely wondered if Jacob really had seen God face to face at the brook Jabbok (Gen. 32:30). They must have felt that God had deserted them, for heaven was now silent, and had been for 400 years.
But something very significant happened in Egypt: Israel became a nation. They went into Egypt as a family; they left Egypt numbering well over one million (Ex. 12:37). This was God’s plan. The Lord had told Jacob, “Do not fear to go down to Egypt, for I will make of you a great nation there” (Gen. 46:3b). Now, after generations of nation-building, it was time for the next step in God’s plan: God was going to give His chosen people a land of their own.
The significance of this new phase in God’s plan is evident from the way that God revealed it to His people. The Lord broke the centuries of silence and spoke to man. Over the next forty years, God’s presence, expressed as “the Angel of the Lord,” was heard and seen as He
• called Moses to lead His people
• protected and separated His people from the enemy
• promised to lead them to victory
The Burning Bush (Exodus 3:2-6)
Moses likely thought he had reached his twilight years. He had left Egypt in bitterness forty years before, and now, at age eighty, he must have accepted the fact that there was nothing that he could do to save his despairing fellow Israelites. As he tended to his father-in-law’s sheep in the wilderness, he may have concluded that God had forgotten them all. But God was working on Moses during those years. Moses was being prepared for the greater task of shepherding his heavenly Father’s sheep in that same wilderness. Now the time had come for God to call him to this task. And the Lord called Moses in a unique way.
Most readers will be familiar with the words that God spoke to Moses, but we sometimes don’t consider the way that He spoke to him. The Angel of the Lord appeared to Moses as a “flame of fire” (Ex. 3:2) from within a bush. The passage points out that the bush, though on fire, was not consumed by the fire. We are also told that God told Moses to uncover his feet because of the holiness of God’s presence, and we read that Moses was compelled to cover his face because of the glory of the Lord. We find a simple lesson about God’s glory and God’s holiness in these facts.
When we consider the holiness of God, our reaction is to hide our own faults and shortcomings. In Moses’ case, however, he was told to uncover his feet. In the presence of God’s holiness, the sins of mankind are laid bare. What a comfort it is for Christians whose “iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered” (Rom. 4:7)! The Lord Jesus, knowing our sins and failures, was willing to “cover” them with His own righteousness (2 Cor. 5:21) even if He had to die to make it so.
Moses covered his face. Sadly, the only glory we often think of is our own. But in the presence of the Lord, Moses covered his face, a tribute to the fact that no one can stand with Him and share His glory. It’s not about us; it’s only about Him. Accordingly, God does want us to reflect glory—His glory. For we are told that, “we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory” (2 Cor. 3:18). Moses’ face shone after he had spent time in the presence of the Lord (Ex. 34:29). We should “shine” too. We will, when we spend time with Him.
Lastly, why is it that the passage twice stresses that the bush, though burning with fire, was not consumed? Could this be a message to Moses that God, though He is a consuming fire (Dt. 4:24), can be on the earth and not consume it. If the fire of God’s presence did not consume the bush, then it would not consume Moses either! But God did more than presence Himself in a bush in the Sinai desert. He became a man. No one took their shoes off in Jesus’ presence, except for the time He washed His disciples’ feet. What a contrast! The God who is a consuming fire set aside that glory and became a man, and He Himself felt the “fire” as He offered Himself as a sacrifice for us.
The Pillar Cloud (Exodus 13:21, 22; 14:19)
Moses was not the only one to see the Angel of the Lord. We read that as the children of Israel left Egypt, “the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light” (Ex. 13:21). What an encouragement it must have been to the children of Israel to see God’s presence leading and protecting them. It was a sign to their enemies as well. How foreboding it must have been to see the Hebrew camp with that great fiery cloud above it.
One would think that this would be a period of great appreciation and obedience to God, but it was just the opposite. The Hebrews murmured and disobeyed God after their deliverance from Egypt. Have you ever heard someone say, “If only I could see Jesus, then I would believe”? Don’t be so sure. The wilderness journey proved that the visible presence of God was not enough to lead the people to faith in Him. Even when the Lord moved the fiery pillar between the camp of Israel and the pursuing Egyptians, the Israelites still feared the enemy and murmured against the Lord.
Nonetheless, after forty years, the children of Israel were finally ready for the next phase in their experience with God. They moved into the land of Canaan, and they did so without the Pillar Cloud. Thankfully, however, the Angel of the Lord was still there to lead them.
The Invisible Presence (Exodus 23:20-23)
The Lord promised Moses, “Behold, I send an Angel before you to keep you in the way.” The Angel of the Lord, though now invisible, was leading them as they set out to conquer their enemies in the land of Canaan. Reading the book of Joshua makes it clear that victory had more to do with obedience to God than physical might. David understood this when he said to the Philistine, “The battle is the Lord’s, and He will give you into our hands”
(1 Sam. 17:47).
The lesson for us today is clear: we can wander in our Christian lives, ignoring the visible proof of God’s leading, or we can set out in faith, knowing that, although we do not see Him, the One who called us and delivered us is still there to lead us to victory in our Christian lives.
We can set out in faith, knowing that, although we do not see Him, the One who called us and delivered us is still there to lead us to victory.