The God of Fire
Exodus 3:1-15
Some years ago, very early in the morning, 3 AM to be exact, my wife and I were awakened to the sound of people screaming and yelling and crying outside our bedroom window.
At first, we thought this was some ridiculous drunken party gone wild. As the noise increased, we decided this kind of disturbance demanded a call to the police. So, we crawled out of bed, walked over to the window, pulled back the curtains to see our neighbor’s entire living room ablaze. The screaming and yelling we heard was people jumping from the second story window to save their lives.
It’s amazing what one will do in an emergency. Muriel ran downstairs to dial 911 while I stood and pondered what would be appropriate dress to wear to a fire. And so, we ran outside. Within a matter of minutes, a crowd of people had gathered around this burning house.
Remember this is 3 o'clock in the morning. Fire attracts. Fire arrests. Fire draws people. When God wanted to get the attention of his servant Moses, He used fire. We read about it in Exodus 3.
The God Who Reveals Himself.
Verse 1 talks about Mount Horeb. There are seven sacred mountains in the Bible.
1. Mount Horeb or Mt. Sinai as it is also known.
2. Mt. Moriah also known as the Temple Mount where the Dome of the Rock Mosque sits in Jerusalem.
3. Mt. Zion, also in Jerusalem toward the southwest.
4. Mt. Olivette just east of Jerusalem from where Jesus ascended back to heaven.
5. Mt. Hermon in northern Israel, headwaters of the Jordan River and site of the Transfiguration.
6. Mt. Calvary where our Lord died for our sins.
7. And lastly, the heavenly Mount Zion spoken of in the Book of Hebrews. All these mountains relate in some way to our Christian walk.
However, the very first mountain we face in any spiritual pilgrimage is Mount Horeb. The mountain of divine revelation. Before anything else can happen to us spiritually, God must reveal Himself.
Before we can worship God, before we can praise God, before we can talk with certainty about going to heaven, we must come to Mount Horeb, the mountain of divine revelation.
I want you to see from this passage that Moses was not looking for God, it was God who was looking for Moses. And that friends, is the way it always is. God makes the first move. The only reason we seek God is because He has been seeking us. God is the prime mover in the affairs of men.
I do not know what sacred mountain you are climbing this morning, but I do know that if you are a child of God, it is because somewhere back in your past, while you were wandering around in the lonely wilderness of Horeb, God spoke to you.
Moses was not seeking God. Moses was not on a holy pilgrimage. He had long since forgotten about the great and painful needs in Egypt. For him it was just another workday. Little did he know that when he left the house that morning and gave Zipporah a kiss good-bye, he would never care for sheep again.
On this ordinary day God revealed himself. But how did God reveal Himself to Moses?
What is God like?
God is Both Holy and Merciful.
A. God is Holy
God is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity. He will have no part in sin. Fire, here in Exodus 3 and in so many parts of the Bible, is symbolic of God’s awesome holiness.
From Genesis to Revelation, we are given this picture of a God of fire.
In Genesis we are told about the cities of Sodom and Gomorra. The stench of their wickedness became an offence to God and God drew near in blazing holiness.
God’s holiness cannot for one moment tolerate sin. We do but God will not.
We have become accustomed to sin in our culture.
They say that if you live with skunks long enough you don’t even notice their scent. That is what has happened in our society. We have become accustomed to sin. Unless it is the vilest most unspeakable type of sin like child sexual abuse, we hardly raise a voice of concern. We just live and let live.
But our sins, our duplicity, are a stench in the nostrils of God. So often we appear to be fine, upright, pious, good but we are by nature double minded. We have both good and evil coming from the same fountain.
I heard about this man and woman in Long Beach, California who stopped at a Fried Chicken place for lunch. The lady waited in the car while the man went in and picked up the chicken. Inadvertently, the manager of the store handed the guy a box in which he had placed the financial proceeds of the day, instead of the box of chicken. You see, the manager was going to make a deposit and he camouflaged it by putting the money in a fried chicken box.
Well, the man took his box, got in his car, and the two of them drove away. When they got to a park and opened the box, they discovered that they had a boxful of money, instead of a boxful of chicken.
That is a very vulnerable moment for the average person. He realized that there must be some mistake, so he got back in the car and returned to the chicken store and gave the money back to the manager.
Well, the manager was elated. He was so pleased, so excited, he told the honest man to stick around: I’m going to phone the newspapers, the TV station and have them take your picture. You must be the most honest person in Long Beach.
Oh, no, please don’t do that, said the man. Why not? Asked the manager. Well, you see, I’m married, and the woman I’m with is not my wife.
We are double minded. Inconsistent. Six years after he had become a born-again Christian John Newton who wrote ‘Amazing Grace’ still commanded a slave ship. On Sunday he would conduct a worship service on the upper deck of the ship all the while worshipers could hear the groans of the slaves below.
And all of us have inconsistencies like this in our lives. We all fall short of the glory of God. So how come God doesn’t wipe us out. The answer is found in verse 2.
B. God of mercy
Look at verse 2. The bush burns yet it is not consumed. Here was a bush dried out by the desert sun that normally would be reduced to hot ashes in seconds if ever fire struck. But this bush is not consumed. What a miracle! What a mystery!
I will show you an even greater mystery. A greater miracle. How is it that the God of holy fire can reveal himself to humankind and we are not consumed?
How is it that the pure God of heaven can look upon us with all our duplicity, all our sin and yet not destroy us? There is only one answer. The God of fire is also the God of mercy. The bush burns and yet it is not consumed.
This bush teaches us that God comes in wrath, yes, but He also comes in mercy.
Depths of mercy can there be?
Mercy still reserved for me?
Can my God his wrath forebear,
Me the chief of sinners spare?
Oh, hear it this morning, the bush burns and yet it is not consumed. The wrath of God that was supposed to strike me was poured out upon Jesus on the Cross.
There is one final thing we learn about God from this event of long ago. This God is not only a wrathful God; a merciful God but also…
III. God is Concerned about our Suffering.
And what does God say to Moses?
Look at verses 7 and 13.
God says ‘My name is I AM. What a strange name for a person! In verse 14 God’s name is translated I AM and in verse 15 it is translated THE LORD. Whenever you see LORD spelled with all capital letters, it’s this special name for God.
In both cases it is a form of the Hebrew verb ‘to be’ and it’s spelled like this: YHWH. It’s found over 5,000 times in the Old Testament.
You will notice that there are no vowels in this word. That’s because the Jewish scribes felt that God’s name was too sacred to pronounce or write in full. So, whenever they came to God’s name in the Old Testament, they would always substitute the word Lord, as we do in our English Bibles. Or they would drop the vowels.
After these thousands of years, we are only guessing at the name God gave Moses on the Mountain. If you put in certain vowels, you get one name. If you put in other vowels, you come up with another name. The facts are the name God gave to Moses has been lost in antiquity.
The point is God’s name is based on the Hebrew verb ‘to be’.
When God would teach mankind his name
He calls himself the great I AM – and leaves a blank.
Believers may supply those things for which they pray.
What do you need this morning?
What floods your mind, even as I speak?
• Do you need strength? He says I AM the bread of life.
• Do you need wisdom? He says I AM the truth.
• Do you need comfort and love? He says I AM the Good Shepherd.
• Do you need guidance? He says I AM the way.
• Do you need understanding? He says I am the light.
• Do you need hope? He says I AM the resurrection and the life.
• I AM all that you need. That is my name.
I AM concerned about your pain, your suffering, your hurts.
I AM touched with the feelings of your infirmities. When you hurt, I hurt.
I AM not like Allah of Islam who is aloof and unaffected.
I AM not like the gods of the Greeks – unmoved and unmovable. I AM concerned about your pain right now. I AM so concerned I will even go to the CROSS to rescue you.
The very first thing the Great I AM says to Moses is ‘I have seen the affliction of my people. God sees our pain. God sees every person clinging to life in the Ukraine. God knows our deepest hurts.
Almighty God, You live in unapproachable light, and in unimaginable holiness. Should we attempt to come before you as we are we would be annihilated. It is only your mercy and love in Jesus Christ your Son that permits us to seek your face.
And so, we come boldly to you Father, in Jesus’ Name. Our simple faith is that whatever our need is you are the solution. Whatever our question is you are the answer. Whatever our lack is you are the supply.
Come Father God as you have promised - the Great I AM in our mist right now. For Christ’s sake, Amen.
