Bible Word of the Day
Burning Bush (Manifestation of God to Moses)
Meaning
The burning bush was an encounter Moses had with God. More specifically Moses had an encounter with the “Angel of the Lord” who was the pre-incarnate Jesus Christ. God (the Angel of the Lord) spoke to Moses using a bush which was consumed by fire, but never burned to get Moses’ attention. And that’s why Moses was told to remove his sandals because the ground was holy. It was holy because he was in the presence of God. This was the event which started the Exodus. God had told Moses during this event to return to Egypt and free His people.
As we look back at history, the Jewish patriarch Jacob had twelve sons, one of whom was Joseph. Joseph became a great leader in Egypt second only to Pharaoh himself. During Joseph’s lifetime, he moved his elderly father Jacob and family from the Promised Land to Egypt because of the famine in the land. That family consisted of 80-90 people at the time. But four-hundred years later it grew to millions of people. However, after the death of Joseph as the descendants of Jacob grew in number the Egyptians became afraid and enslaved them. Now four-hundred years later, God is sending Moses to redeem His people and return them back to the Promised Land where Jacob and his family came from. To the land of Jacob’s forefathers Abraham and Isaac, which was given to them directly by God. God told Moses to tell the people the name of God is “I AM.”
Contrary to most popular movies and television programs when Moses fled from Egypt as the adopted son of Pharaoh, he was approximately forty years of age. However, when God called Moses to return to Egypt to free His people, forty or more years had gone by and Moses was approximately eighty to ninety years old. Also, we should note to bring this story full circle, Jesus speaks of his presence during this event and tells the crowd that He is the great “I AM” after which the crowd had wanted to stone Jesus, because Jesus was Himself, claiming to be very God.
“And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. Then Moses said, ‘I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn.’ So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, ‘Moses, Moses’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’ Then He said, ‘Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.’ Moreover He said, ‘I am the God of your father-the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God. And the Lord 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. Then 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?’ And God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM.’ And He said, ‘Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.'” (Exodus 3:2-7, 13-14)
“Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad. Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM. Then they took up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.” (Gospel of John 8:56, 58-59)