The Burning Bush That Was Not Consumed

The Burning Bush That Was Not Consumed

Moses was tending his father-in-law’s flock in the wilderness and came to Sinai, which the Bible describes as “the mountain of God.” God was there at that great mountain and appeared to Moses in all his living, burning presence: “The angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from the middle of a bush. Moses stared in amazement. Though the bush was engulfed in flames, it didn’t burn up. ‘This is amazing,’ Moses said to himself. ‘Why isn’t that bush burning up? I must go see it’” (Exodus 3:2-3).

Moses may have seen a bushfire or two during his travels in the wilderness. But as he watched this bush, he realized that it was different. Though it was burning, it was not burned up. It just kept burning. Before God told Moses who he was, he showed him who he was. The burning bush revealed the very being of God, who, in his eternity and self-sufficiency, burns but is not consumed. Most significantly, the burning bush revealed to Moses the utter holiness of God. Then God himself called to Moses from the middle of the bush: “‘Do not come any closer,’ the LORD warned. ‘Take off your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground’” (Exodus 3:5).

Standing in the presence of the magnificent holy God, Moses realized that he was a thoroughly unholy man. He had to keep his distance, or the fire might have consumed him. Later Moses would write, “The LORD your God is a devouring fire” (Deuteronomy 4:24). Because of God’s infinite holiness, there was no way a sinful man could come near. At least not until God—the same God who appeared as a burning bush—was “found in appearance as a man” (Philippians 2:8, NASB). God came near in the person of Jesus, who shared “the power of a life that cannot be destroyed” (Hebrews 7:16) so that we can draw near to him. Though we were unholy and far away from God, “yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault” (Colossians 1:22).

Eternal, self-existing One, you burn with jealous love, but you are not consumed. You died, yet you did not rot in the grave. You are holy, yet you humbled yourself to come to people as unholy as I, offering yourself to make me holy so that I can draw near to you.