The Revelation of a Great God (Exodus 3:1-6)

Moses had a very remarkable encounter with God when he appeared in the burning bush in the desert. It was a secret meeting since no-one else observed it, and even if some saw him from a  distance they would not have known what was happening. No doubt, it was a surprising meeting for Moses – he probably had assumed that he would finish out his days in Midian as a shepherd. Yet the meeting, sovereignly arranged by God, is a reminder that he has ways of getting our attention and informing us of his plans for us, plans so great that we cannot imagine them before he tells us what they are.

It is the case that we do not know what a day can bring. Often life can go on with nothing unusual happening and perhaps this period marked by lack of surprise can last for years. No doubt, Moses was not expecting what occurred to him in the incident described in Exodus 3. He had been working for Jethro for about forty years and nothing unusual is recorded about those years. Yet he was God’s man for a task that would have consequences for all subsequent generations of his people, and would also be part of the process by which the Saviour of the world eventually would come. But in order to do this, Moses had to understand some things about himself and about God.

The conversion of Moses?

Some commentators and authors regard this meeting with God as the conversion of Moses. Yet I do not think it was. Rather I suspect that he had become a believer in God when he was in Egypt more than forty years previously. The author of Hebrews, who most likely follows a chronological order of events, tells us what happened at that time: ‘By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward’ (Heb. 11:24-26). This decision by Moses seems to have taken place before he fled from Egypt after killing the Egyptian taskmaster.

What do these verses tell us about the meaning of the conversion of Moses? It involved a life-changing decision – Moses made a choice between engaging in the short-lived pleasures of sin as an Egyptian prince and joining permanently with the people of God who seemed to have nothing pleasant about their situation (although they did have divine promises). It involved consideration of the Messiah and what he would do when he came – Moses realised that Jesus (although Moses would not have known him by that name) in his salvation package could give to him much more then than Egypt could give to him. So it involved taking seriously the outcome of life – those who trust in and serve the Messiah will have a great reward at the end. The challenge that comes to us is whom do we think will do most for us.

So what can we say about Moses? For forty years, he had been trusting in the promised Messiah; for forty years, he had lived with a few representatives of God’s people (Jethro and his family) and they had come to mean more to him than all of Egypt; for forty years, he had been looking forward to heaven and its rewards; in all that, he had been right. In contrast, for forty years, Moses maybe had assumed that he would not be used in any special way by God; if he had thought that, he was wrong.

What do we think God will do with us if we are believers, and if we have been so for a long time? Have we assumed that our age means we cannot do anything for God? Does retirement from other things mean retirement from God’s things? Moses is now eighty – although he does not know it, only two-thirds of his life have passed! And his sister Miriam and brother Moses were older than him, yet we know that God had plans for them as well.

Have we assumed that sinful mistakes will always keep us back? Forty years have passed since Moses had taken the law in his own hands in order to help his people and had been forced to flee from Egypt. Yet he is about to find out that his past mistakes are not a barrier to current and future usefulness in God’s kingdom.

We cannot use our age or our mistakes or other common excuses as reasons for assumptions over what God has in mind for us. What we need to have is an encounter with God.

The coming of God

The lack of change in Moses’ life does not mean we should think nothing important was taking place in him during those forty years. Whatever else can be said about this divine visit, we can say that it was given to someone who was busy at his daily calling. Jesus would later say, ‘One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much’ (Luke 16:10), and Moses was like that.

And the call of the Angel of the Lord to a busy person is very similar to how Jesus called his disciples – he usually called them to his service while they were busy. Think of the calls to the fishermen Peter and Andrew, James and John, and to the tax-collector Matthew. But we should not be surprised that the Angel of the Lord here should do this. After all he and Jesus are the same divine person. (It is commonly accepted that the divine figure called the Angel of the Lord is a pre-incarnate appearance of the Son of God.)

The Lord appeared as a flame of fire that did not destroy the bush in which the fire was located. This unusual feature intrigued Moses. He would have seen many bushes on fire in that hot and dry climate, but on those occasions the bush would not survive for long. The Lord was taking a graphic way of attracting Moses’ attention and succeeded. While he may not use a burning bush with us, he does know how to get our attention.

What is the significance of the burning bush? Some have seen it as symbolising the indestructibility of the church (here it illustrated how Israel continued to survive in Egypt). Yet it looks rather to be a sign of the presence of God. He is called in Jeremiah the ‘everlasting burnings’ (Jer. 31:14). Is Moses being told that it is possible to be safe to be in the presence of God, that while he is a consuming fire on some occasions, on other occasions he is not. Surely we can turn to the God of the burning bush when he appears in grace, as he does with us here in this service?

At the same time, Moses was reminded that his God was holy. The Lord made it clear to Moses that he wanted Moses to know who his God is. He is holy, which means that he cannot be approached in the way that a human is approached (Moses had to take of his shoes to indicate this different approach). What is divine holiness? Perhaps our minds go to Isaiah 6 and recall the response of the seraphim as they cry, ‘Holy, holy, holy.’ It must mean perfection, elevation, glory.

When drawing near to God, we must recognise his infinite greatness. Moses found himself suddenly in the presence of the Eternal, and that presence, while a safe place for Moses, was an overpowering one. Sinful Moses and sinless cherubim share the same response – God is too great to look at. We too need to be aware of the Lord’s majesty.

The God of the covenant

Having got the attention of Moses, the Lord now spoke to him. First, God called Moses by his name, a reminder that the Lord knew who Moses was as well as where he was. It is important for us to realise that in spiritual things both those details go together. If someone had asked the current Pharaoh how Moses was and where he was, that Pharaoh would not have been able to say. If someone had asked Aaron how Moses was and where he was, he would not have been able to say. Pharaoh hated Moses and Aaron loved Moses, but for forty years they had known nothing about him. But God knew.

Second, the Lord had more to say about himself to Moses. In addition to being holy, he is also the God of the covenant who remembered his promises to the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Moreover, he is the God who takes care of his people when they die, since he states that he is the God of the patriarchs, and not that he used to be their God at some stage in the past. We know that Jesus made use of this verb to show the reality of life in heaven when he was pointing out the errors of the Sadducees who denied the resurrection. It is good for us to know that while the Lord may seem to delay his fulfilment of his promises, such a perception is only from our side. He knows when to act.

Third, God also informed Moses that he was the God of his father, Amram. Eighty years previously, Amram and Jochebed had realised that there was something special about Moses and had sent him down the Nile in a little basket. They had done so by faith. No doubt, they had prayed earnestly as they did so. Then through God’s inscrutable wisdom, Jochebed was employed by Pharaoh’s daughter to look after Moses, and no doubt she told him about his father and his faith. Maybe Moses had long forgotten those early years. But God had not forgotten the faith of the father of Moses. And now he tells Moses that what his father anticipated is about to happen.

How does God come to us?

Perhaps we would like to see a burning bush that was not consumed. Maybe we would like to hear a divine voice speaking personally to us out of the bush. It would certainly be very dramatic. But we are aware that it happened to Moses and we know what God said about himself on that occasion. So we cannot say that God is unknown.

The first point to ask ourselves is, am I doing well what I am currently doing? Does God see that I am doing my best for him when no-one else sees. Because how we are doing things will determine how God comes to us.

A second point is that God can speak to us through something simple. What was more simple than a bush? Moses discovered that God could speak to him through a thing that he saw every day. Yet God made that ordinary thing the means by which he would speak to Moses.

Third, when God speaks to us, he reminds us of his character and his promises. He told Moses about both, and he did so in order to encourage him as well as to lead him to worship. We will see in further studies how Moses responded, but meanwhile we can ask ourselves how we are responding to the truths we know about Jesus.