Exodus 3:7-12
The burning bush was an attention getter. Fire in a place where
all the vegetation is dry and extremely flammable, is dangerous. Fire that does
not consume dry vegetation and does not spread is not natural. By nature, fire consumes
bushes and it spreads.
The Lord got Moses’ attention by appearing in a flaming fire
inside a bush. The fire was burning, but the bush was not consumed. So, Moses
turned aside to see what he called a “great sight.” By turning aside, he shows
that this thing has his attention.
Once God saw that the burning bush had Moses’ attention, God
called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” Moses responded, “Here I am.” At
this point, God makes it clear to Moses who it is that is addressing him. It is
not just a bush. God is speaking to Moses from out of the bush. He instructs
Moses to take off his sandals because he is standing on holy ground, and then
He tells Moses, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob.” Now, Moses is afraid. He tells us he covered his face
because he was afraid to look at God, but I am pretty sure that does not
express the full measure of shock, surprise and alarm felt by Moses in those
moments.
To this point, we have covered only the “attention-getting” phase
of this interaction between God and Moses.
In Exodus 3:7-12, the Lord introduces the reason for this meeting with
Moses. He explains why He has interrupted Moses and states his purpose. He
says:
I have surely seen the affliction of
my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their
taskmasters. (Exodus 3:7 ESV)
This is now the second time Exodus has told us that God sees.
Exodus 2:25 says:
God saw the people of Israel—and God
knew. (Exodus 2:25 ESV)
Now, God is telling Moses, “I have surely seen...” Of course,
Moses recorded his experience in Hebrew and the “surely seen” is a translation
of what was originally a Hebrew expression. If you look at this in the Hebrew,
you see the word for “seeing” written twice. Kind of like writing “seeing,
seen” in English. Another way of translating this is to say, “Seeing, I have
seen.” This expression is used to mean
continuation more than certainty. The English “surely seen” gives the impression
of certainty of seeing, but the actual phrase expresses a continual watching
and seeing.
God has been watching, and as Exodus 2:25 says, “He knew.” But
now, God adds something more to this statement. He says:
and I have come down to deliver them
out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a
good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the
Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the
Jebusites. (Exodus 3:8 ESV)
First, God says, “I have come down to deliver them out of the
hand of the Egyptians.” And second, God says, “I have come down to bring them
to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey.”
Both of these statements have parallels in the gospel. The good
news of the gospel is that God has been watching our slavery to sin, our lost
condition and our suffering and has come down to deliver us. Jesus Christ is
God come down in human flesh. He gave His body on the cross to pay for our
sins, to satisfy justice and to reconcile us to God. He also came to bring us
to be with Him where He is, to a new heaven and a new earth and to the city
that God has prepared for us.
This is good news. And, it was good news for Moses and the people
of Israel. Maybe Moses had the brief thought, “It is about time! The people
have been suffering all my life and I am 80 years old.”
If God had stopped there, Moses would have said something like,
“Thank you for that wonderful piece of news.” And then, he would have gone back
to watching his father-in-law’s sheep.
I am afraid that this is how many of us treat the good news of
God’s deliverance. So, please follow Moses’ account of what God said to Him.
Moses says God said:
So now, go. I am sending you to
Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt. (Exodus
3:10 NIV)
Moses is no longer able to just go back to watching the sheep and
doing what he has become comfortable with. Moses is shocked. He says:
Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh
and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt? (Exodus 3:11
ESV)
“You want ME to go and do WHAT?”
Moses had tried 40 years earlier, and all he had managed to do
was to kill one oppressor. What could he do against an institutionalized abuse
and oppression? The whole country of Egypt, from the king on down, was
structured to perpetuate the slavery of the Israelites. What was one man
supposed to do? When Moses was 40 and strong, educated and a warrior, he
thought he was up to the task. Now, at 80, he realizes more than ever before in
his life that this is an IMPOSSIBLE task, not difficult, not improbable, not
impractical, IMPOSSIBLE.
God delights in giving impossible tasks. For example, He gave
these tasks to:
•
Noah: build a 300 cubit boat
•
Abraham: sacrifice your only son
•
Joshua: conquer Jericho and all of Canaan
•
Gideon: take on a huge army with 300 men with
lanterns and trumpets
•
David: kill Goliath
•
Jeremiah: proclaim judgment to an apostate
nation
•
Peter: feed my sheep
•
Paul: carry the name of Jesus before the
Gentiles, kings and Israel
•
Martin Luther: preach the gospel to an apostate
church
•
Dietrich Bonhoeffer: preach the gospel to the
Nazi regime
These are just a few examples out of the many thousands of
servants of God who have been given impossible tasks. In Moses’ case, Moses had
some objections, or we might say obstacles that he foresaw.
First, he believed that the people of Israel would not accept or
see him as a deliverer. This objection is covered in Exodus 3:13 through 4:9.
Second, Moses did not believe he had the skills necessary. In Exodus 4:10, he
expresses this by raising up the issue of not being eloquent. And finally, he
asks God to please send somebody else. In other words, this objection centers
on “let somebody else do it.”
Experience had taught Moses. These objections actually ended up
being pretty accurate. On a number of occasions, the children of Israel decided
to stone Moses and were prevented only by Divine intervention. Needless to say,
they were not always happy with Moses’ leadership. Regarding skills, Moses
learned as he went. For example, his father-in-law at one point helped him to
see that he needed to delegate some of the tasks of leadership. And then, as
far as the “let somebody else do it” objection is concerned, we see Moses
burdened just about beyond his ability to endure on a number of occasions
throughout the years in the wilderness.
We all have these same objections and then some when God calls us
to an impossible task. Oh, by the way, did I mention that God has called each
of us to an impossible task?
Let us be clear about the task He has given each of us.
We are to be His witnesses. Here are some places where Jesus
explains what it means to be His disciples:
•
Salt
You are the salt of the earth, but if
salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer
good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. (Matthew
5:13 ESV)
•
Light
You are the light of the world. A city
set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a
basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same
way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works
and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. (Matthew
5:14-16 ESV)
•
Disciple Making
Go therefore and make disciples of all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And
behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age. (Matthew 28:19-20 ESV)
•
Witnessing
But you will receive power when the
Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in
all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. (Acts 1:8 ESV)
These are Jesus’ words to each one of us. A disciple is not a
special class of believer. We are either a disciple of Jesus or we are not. To
hear the voice of God, and then go back to watching the sheep, so to speak, is
to reject God altogether. Moses was not the same after the “burning bush”
experience. He never watched sheep again. Peter was not the same after the “Do
you love me?” experience. He never fished again. Paul was not the same after
the “Damascus road” experience. He never completed His mission to destroy the
“Way.” And, no one can “accept Jesus as Savior” and remain the same.
We all have the same objections Moses had. For instance:
They will not accept my testimony. My family knows my weakness,
my anger, my lies. I cannot be the one to tell them about Jesus. My friends
know me too well. They will not believe what I tell them. It is an impossible
task.
I am not eloquent. I do not know how to share the gospel. I will
mess it up and confuse them. I am not a preacher and certainly cannot give
three points about anything let alone speak on propitiation. It is an
impossible task.
Let somebody else do it. First of all, it is too costly. I will
lose my friends, my family, my job, my pension, my car, my house, my life
... It is an impossible task.
Jesus said:
If you want to be my disciple, you
must, by comparison, hate everyone else—your father and mother, wife and
children, brothers and sisters—yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot
be my disciple. And if you do not carry your own cross and follow me, you
cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14:26-27 NLT)
The task is impossible, but it is not optional. Moses’ question,
“Who am I?” is the question we all face. And, the answer God gave Moses is the
answer Jesus gives us and it is the only answer we need.
God told Moses:
"But I will be with you, and this
shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people
out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain." (Exodus 3:12
ESV)
“I will be with you” is the promise God gave Moses. This is also
the promise Jesus gives us.
The task is not the same for everyone, because each individual
has his or her own circumstances. However, the message is the same. God has
come down to deliver us out of our slavery to sin and to bring us up to a land
flowing with milk and honey.
A word of caution is appropriate here. This land flowing with
milk and honey is not the same for us as it was for Moses. Jesus has promised
us the resurrection and a place with Him in His kingdom, not a place in this
age nor this world. In this world, He has promised us persecution, hardship and
trouble. He has promised us that the world will hate us and at times those who
kill us will think they are doing God a service. Remember, those closest to
Jesus, the twelve, all died for their confession of Christ, except for John,
who although he suffered greatly, still died of old age.
The reward comes later. For Moses, the reward would come after
having led the people out of Egypt. God said:
...when you have brought the people
out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain. (Exodus 3:12, ESV)
For Moses the reward was a nation, but it was also eternal. As
Hebrews 11:16 tells us of the faith of our forefathers:
“...they desire a better country, that
is, a heavenly one.”
Jesus said:
"Truly, I say to you, in the new
world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have
followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of
Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or
mother or children or lands, for my name's sake, will receive a hundredfold and
will inherit eternal life.” (Matthew 19:28-29 ESV)