Ex. 3:1-9, The Purpose of the Bush

The call of Moses came at the burning bush.  I will tell you now, that the making of Moses into the man God had in mind went on for a long time afterwards.  But the call of God came at an odd sight (a burning bush) in a secluded place (the “back of the desert”) in the area of Mt. Sinai, “the mountain of God” (Ex. 18:5) in Horeb (Dt. 1:6; cf. Ps. 106:19; Mt. 4:4). 

God was present in the burning bush.  Scripture says that the “Angel of the LORD” appeared there (3:2).  But as we have seen elsewhere in the OT, the Angel of the LORD is the pre-incarnate Christ.  This is a frequent means by which God has a personal encounter with people.  Clearly, in Ex. 3, God called from the bush (v4), God spoke from the bush (v5), and from the bush God proclaimed, “I AM THE GOD of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob” (v6). 

Why did God reveal Himself in this way, through a bush that burned but was never consumed?  For one thing, it reveals a lot about God.

·       God’s presence demonstrated His faithfulness; Moses had quit, God had not.

·       The burning bush reveals God’s omnipotence.  This was El Shaddai, the Almighty God, who showed that He was sufficient to redeem Israel from Egypt.

·       The bush reveals God’s omnipresence.  Even on the back side of the desert, when it was time to call Moses, God was there!  Where can I go from your spirit?  Where can I flee from your presence?  If I go up to the heavens you are there; if i make my beg in the depths you are there.  If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast (Ps. 139:7-10).

·       Both the burning and God’s reference to the ground indicates God’s holiness.  God is separate from all that He has created.  Now see that I, even I am He, and there is no God besides Me (Deut. 32:39; cf. vs39-42).

The burning bush was the place of God’s choosing that He might reveal Himself to Moses.  We could never know God if He did not choose to reveal Himself to us.  This was one of the greatest self-revelations of God, until the day came that He chose to reveal Himself through the Incarnation (taking on flesh, humanity) of His only begotten Son (Jn. 1:18).  When it comes to Old Testament (i.e. pre-Incarnation) people, it’s hard to find a man who knew God with such depth as Moses.  It began at the bush, after 40 years of failure.

At the bush, God first reveals to Moses attributes that are most important, when it comes to God’s dealings with mankind: His omniscience (I have seen the oppression of My people), compassion (I have heard their cry), and grace (I have come down to deliver them).  You can know this about God, and more, through the Lord Jesus Christ!