When God And Moses Meet (Exodus 3:1-22) Series

Our story today is a special one-- it's of when God, and Moses, meet. But this is not just a meeting. It's also a calling.

Now, some of you may know parts of this story. I'd encourage you this morning to pretend you don't. Assume that you are missing something, that there is something new here for you. And even if there's nothing new, that there's a helpful reminder here for you.

Verse 1:

(1) Now, Moses was a shepherd of the sheep of Jethro, his father-in-law-- the priest of Midean--,

and he led the flock to the west of the wilderness,

and he came to the mountain of the Elohim/God, to Horeb,

One of the curiosities of Exodus is that the name of Moses' father-in-law changes. For the rest of the book, it's no longer Ruel. Now, it's Jethro. There's a lot of explanations, but this is the kind of thing I find boring, and can't make myself study. So, it's Jethro. He's still the father-in-law. He's still the priest of Midian. And you can tell that Moses has become a full partner in his family. Moses is being trusted with the family's wealth-- its sheep.

Now, conditions for sheep herding apparently aren't very good. Moses finds himself a very long way from home-- at Mount Horeb. This is God's mountain-- He's claimed it for himself, apparently. But we read this, and we find ourselves prepared for some type of encounter. Sometimes when you go to God's house, or God's mountain, you meet God.

Verse 2:

(2) and the messenger of Yahweh appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of the bush,

and he saw,

and LOOK! The bush [was] burning with fire,

and the bush wasn't being consumed,

(3) and Moses said,

"I must turn aside,

and I must see this great sight.

Why doesn't the bush burn up?",

God has lots of ways to get people's attention. He gives dreams, and visions. He can give you words, and inclinations. He can give you this powerful tug to do something, or talk to someone.

Here, God tries to get Moses' attention, by using Moses' curiosity. A burning bush is quite a sight. Everyone stops for a fire. And if the bush doesn't burn up? That's the kind of thing that you find an excuse to stop, and take a closer look at. God uses a clever way to get Moses' attention.

Now, there's two things we should note. The first, is the identity of the one in the flame: It's "the messenger of Yahweh." You can also translate it "angel of Yahweh" if you want-- angel and messenger are the same thing, and this is obviously some type of heavenly, divine being.

The other thing we should note, is that the messenger is inside of the flame.

Verse 4:

(4) and Yahweh saw that he had turned aside to see,

and God/Elohim called to him from the midst of the bush,

and He said,

"Moses, Moses!,"

and he said, "Here I am.",

Let's pause here. Who calls to Moses from the midst of the bush in verse 4?

"God."

And who calls from the bush in verse 2?

The "messenger of Yahweh."

We read verse 2, and then verse 4, and then verse 2, and are we confused? There is some sense in which the messenger of Yahweh is God. And he's not simply a divine being-- some type of elohim. He is the Elohim. He is God (so also Gen. 16:7-13; 22:11-12; Judges 13:21-22; in Zech. 1:12, he is, at the same time, clearly distinct from Yahweh).

The easiest explanation for this is that the messenger of Yahweh is Jesus. Jesus has come in the flesh, and appears to people as God. You can take this or leave it; I don't want to make the whole sermon about this. But the simplest explanation, is that whenever you see the messenger of Yahweh in the OT, you are seeing Jesus.

So the messenger/God calls to Moses from the bush, and Moses says, "Here I am."

Don't miss Moses' response here. Moses here expresses an openness to God. He's available to God.

Verse 5-6:

(5) and He said,

"Don't come closer here.

Remove your sandals from on your feet,

because the place that you are standing on it, holy ground it is,

(6) and 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 because he feared to look at the God/Elohim,

Let me just stop, and make the obvious point. There is something to look at in the fire. There is Someone to see. But this Someone, is terrifying. And so Moses covers his face.

Much later in the book, Moses is going to ask to see God's glory (Ex. 33:18; also Exodus 24:9-11). He doesn't ask to see God's face-- just his glory. Moses will want another shot at this. And maybe a few of you have been brave enough to pray for the same thing-- you want to see God, or see his glory. But if you pray this, or if you sing the now-old song about wanting to see God's face, remember Exodus 3:6. God is scary to look at, because of his glory. His glory is overwhelming.