MONDAY
Last week we began our campaign exploring the life of Moses and his interactions with the presence of God. Remember, Moses is currently in the desert of Midian herding his father-in-law’s sheep after attempting to deliver the people of Israel from slavery in Egypt by his own means, in his own power, and in his own timing. This didn’t work out so well and now he is learning the difficult lesson of humility and surrender in the desert. This week we will pick up the story at his first encounter with God.
Exodus 3:1–5 (NIV)
Moses and the Burning Bush
1 Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. 3 So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”
4 When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!”
And Moses said, “Here I am.”
5 “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” 6 Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.
Moses brings the sheep to the western border of Midian, to Mount Sinai before it becomes the Mt. Sinai where God gives the people the Law. It is here that Moses meets with God. God is called the angel of the Lord. This is likely the pre-incarnate Christ as the text will proceed to say that this is God, himself, speaking to Moses.
It’s interesting to ponder why God chooses to appear to Moses in the form of a burning bush. The text doesn’t say, so we shouldn’t press this very far at all and we cannot come to any definitive conclusions. However, fire is often used to describe God’s presence in Scripture and in the Exodus narrative. Fire reveals something of the character of God: energizing, awe-inspiring, dangerous, powerful, light producing, purifying, etc. The bush not being consumed in the fire is perhaps a symbol of what God will do with Moses. The word for bush is specifically a thorny bramble bush which would remind the reader of the curse from Genesis 3. The presence of God (fire) will fill Moses (the bush) but not consume him. God will fill him with his presence to produce God’s life and power in him without consuming him.
This image comes to its fullest expression in the Holy Spirit filling believers in the New Testament era. All believers are filled with the powerful, personal presence of God in the Holy Spirit. He empowers believers to ministry. He confirms our adoption into the family of God. He forms our character into the image of Christ. He is the fire that burns within us while not consuming us.
When Moses approaches, he is told to take off his sandals because “the place you are standing is holy ground.” This is only the second occurrence of the word “holy” in the Bible to this point. It’s unclear why God tells Moses to take off his sandals. Most likely it is simply a gesture of respect at the sacred. Moses has entered sacred, holy space. It certainly reveals that God, as the Holy One, will determine how sinful humans are to approach him. This sets the stage for the Law. Humans will not figure out how to approach God on their own. He will tell us.
We must also note what makes the ground holy. It is not something intrinsic to the ground or the mountain. It is the presence of God that makes the space sacred. This is just a normal bush, in a normal desert, at the base of a normal mountain. But this ground becomes sacred because God is there. The ground is holy wherever the Holy One is.
Again, this image is unpacked in the theme of the temple in the Old Testament. It finds its fullest revelation, however, in Jesus and in the people of God. Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us. He is the second person of the Trinity. When he touched someone unclean, instead of them making him unclean, he makes them clean. He spreads the holiness, the sacred otherness of God, to the world. Now the people of God have the presence of God in the Holy Spirit. So the people of God are holy, sacred space. This means that if you believe in Jesus, you are holy, sacred, set apart for God! So the people are holy. The church building, the city of Jerusalem, objects like relics aren’t holy in the same sense. One day, when God’s presence fully fills all of creation, everything will be holy. Until that day, holy, sacred space is determined by the presence of God in his people.
In closing, it must be said that this is a mountaintop experience (figuratively speaking) with God. This is not a paradigm for our every day experience with the presence of God. We will see a paradigm for the everyday experiences later in the narrative when Moses communes with God in the tabernacle. So this type of experience with God is incredibly rare. I do not believe every person has an experience like this with God and if one does, it is a few times in a lifetime kind of experience. I say this because I don’t want you to think that this is the normative experience of the Christian life. It’s easy to get the impression that if you’re not having these experiences you may not be a Christian or you may be a bad Christian. That’s not necessarily the case.
Now, all Christians should experience the presence of God to some degree. We have the great privilege of the Holy Spirit dwelling within us. Even so, experiences of this magnitude are incredibly rare and often correspond with God’s calling to mission for him.
Reflection
Reflect on the idea that you are sacred and holy because the Spirit of God dwells in you. How does this influence your self perception?
Reflect on the idea that other believers are sacred and holy because the Spirit of God dwells in them. How does this influence how you treat your brothers and sisters in Christ?