1. The Context: Moses in the Wilderness of Midian
Moses had fled from Egypt after killing an Egyptian. He settled in the land of Midian, married Zipporah, the daughter of Jethro, the priest of Midian, and worked as a shepherd. He had been in Midian for forty years. The king of Egypt who sought his life had died. The children of Israel groaned under their bondage and cried out to God. God heard their groaning and remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The time for deliverance had come. God would appear to Moses in the wilderness to commission him as Israel's deliverer.
2. The Angel of the Lord Appears in the Burning Bush
Moses was keeping the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law. He led the flock to the back of the desert and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. The Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. Moses looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, but the bush was not consumed. Moses said, "I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn." The Angel of the Lord is a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ. The burning bush was a theophany—a visible manifestation of God.
3. The Holy Ground: Remove Your Sandals
When the Lord saw that Moses turned aside to see, God called to him from the midst of the bush, saying, "Moses, Moses!" Moses said, "Here I am." God said, "Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground." The removal of sandals was a sign of reverence, humility, and the recognition of God's presence. The ground was not holy in itself but was made holy by God's presence. This teaches that God's presence transforms ordinary space into sacred space. The burning bush was a foretaste of the temple and ultimately of Christ, in whom the fullness of God dwells bodily.
4. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
God said, "I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God. The Lord identified Himself as the covenant-keeping God of the patriarchs. He had not abandoned His people. He was about to fulfill His promises. The mention of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob connected the present deliverance to the ancient promises of land, seed, and blessing.
5. God's Promise of Deliverance
God said, "I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey." The same God who appeared to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob now appeared to Moses. He had seen, heard, and known. He would come down. This "coming down" points to the incarnation, when God came down in Jesus Christ to deliver His people from the greater bondage of sin.
6. The Commission of Moses
God said to Moses, "Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt." Moses objected, saying, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?" God answered, "I will certainly be with you." God's presence, not Moses' ability, was the key. The commission was divine. Moses was called to be the deliverer, a type of Christ, who was sent by the Father to deliver His people from the bondage of sin.
7. The Revelation of the Divine Name: I AM
Moses said to God, "Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they say to me, 'What is His name?' what shall I say to them?" God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM." He said, "Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'" The name I AM is the name of self-existence, self-sufficiency, and eternal being. Jesus applied this name to Himself when He said, "Before Abraham was, I AM." The burning bush revealed the name of God; Christ revealed the person of God.
8. The Bush Burned but Was Not Consumed
The bush burned with fire but was not consumed. This is a picture of God's presence with His people in affliction. Israel was in the furnace of affliction in Egypt, but they were not consumed. God was with them. The bush also points to Christ, who took on human nature (the bush) and was consumed by the fire of God's wrath on the cross, yet He was not consumed in the sense of being overcome. He rose again. The burning bush is also a picture of the church, which has been in the fire of persecution for two thousand years but has not been consumed.
9. The Burning Bush as a Type of the Incarnation
The bush was lowly, thorny, and ordinary. It was not a majestic cedar or a mighty oak. Yet God appeared in it. This is a type of the incarnation. Christ took on lowly human flesh. He was despised and rejected. He had no form or comeliness. Yet in that humble flesh, the fullness of the Godhead dwelt bodily. The burning bush speaks of the mystery of the incarnation: God in human flesh, the divine in the ordinary, the eternal in the temporal.
10. The Application for Believers Today
The burning bush teaches believers that God meets His people in ordinary circumstances. Moses was tending sheep when God appeared. Believers should not expect dramatic visions, but they should expect God's presence in the ordinary. The burning bush also teaches that God hears the cries of His people. He sees their affliction. He knows their sorrows. He comes down to deliver. And the burning bush teaches that God is the great I AM. He is self-existent, unchanging, and faithful. Let every believer trust in the I AM, who revealed Himself in the burning bush and ultimately in Jesus Christ.
Conclusion
The burning bush was a theophany—a visible manifestation of God to Moses. The bush burned with fire but was not consumed. God revealed His name, "I AM WHO I AM," and commissioned Moses to deliver Israel from Egypt. The burning bush is a type of Christ, who is the true I AM, and a picture of God's presence with His people in affliction. Let every believer turn aside to see the great sight of God's presence in Christ, who was consumed by the fire of judgment but rose again, never to be consumed again.