This week we are having a closer look at the matter of the burning thornbush in Exodus; there is much more than meets the eye concerning the matter of the burning bush in Exo. 3, since even at the end of his life, Moses still recalls God as the One who dwells in the burning bush.
Moses’ life can be divided in three sections of forty years each: 40 years in Egypt being educated and trained, 40 years in the wilderness under God’s training, and 40 years serving God in leading the people of Israel out of Egypt and in the wilderness.
In his first 40 years Moses became a worldly, smart, trained Egyptian expert at everything, full of natural strength and human natural capabilities, one who thought that he was ready to do God’s work. Moses received the right training so that later he would understand the pattern of the tabernacle and the law given by God to him on the mountain; he was able to understand it and then explain it to the people of Israel and the workmen.
Also, Moses was trained to be a leader of a nation, expert in warfare, organizing people, etc. However, all this training was not useful to God unless it was put to death to be brought up in resurrection.
After Moses “tried to help the people of Israel” understand that he’s the one who will save them from the Egyptians and thus killed an Egyptian, he was forced to run in the wilderness, where he stayed for 40 years. The Bible doesn’t say much about this period of time, but it was here that Moses lost everything: he lost his great speaking ability, his confidence in himself, and his hope in the future; it was in the desert that all his natural abilities were drained and stripped away by God Himself.
Then, God appeared to him in a burning thornbush as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of resurrection. After this, Moses served God faithfully in all His house for 40 more years, serving the people of Israel and working the work of God until the tabernacle was built, the priesthood was established, and all the things God showed him on the mountain were carried out.
At the end of his life, when he was 120 years old, Moses blessed the children of Israel saying, The favor of Him who dwelt in the thornbush be with you (see Deut. 33:1, 16).
At 40 years old Moses was a thornbush full of thorns – but he didn’t realize it; at 80 years old he realized that he is a thornbush but the Triune God of resurrection is the flame indwelling him and burning upon him yet without consuming him; at 120 years old Moses was still conscious of the fact that the God who dwelt in the thornbush is there.
He realized that the One dwelling in the thornbush is God who was within him; God is the fire and he is the thornbush. Also, Moses realized that the thornbush in which Jehovah dwells is not just himself but the entire people of Israel as a corporate thornbush.
The tabernacle as a type of the children of Israel had the cloud above it, and the cloud was on fire at night, showing that the whole nation of Israel was a corporate thornbush and the Triune God was the fire burning within.
God as the fire is resting, dwelling, overshadowing, hovering, placing Himself, and remaining within the tabernacle; the Triune God of resurrection is the fire remaining with His people, the burning fire in the church as the corporate thornbush.
Individually and Corporately we are a Thornbush Burning with the Triune God as Fire
When God called Moses, He appeared to him and spoke to him from within a flaming thornbush (see Exo. 3). After spending 40 years in the wilderness, Moses thought that his life was over (see Psa. 90:1); it was at that time that God appeared to him from the flaming bush, and Moses realized that in God’s eyes he was a thornbush burning with God as the fire and the fuel.
In God’s eyes, because of the fall of man, we all are as a thornbush, sinners under God’s curse (see Gen. 3); but by believing in the Lord and receiving God’s calling through His appearing, we become a thornbush that burns with God as the fire within and upon them.
Even though we were cursed by God because of man’s fall, God loved us so much that He came and gave Himself up for us to redeem us back to Himself. Now, based on His redemption, we are both individually and corporately a thornbush having the Triune God burning within and upon us.
Praise the Lord, we have been individually and corporately redeemed by God to be His dwelling place! As individuals, we are a thornbush; as the church, we are a corporate thornbush, having the Triune God of resurrection burning within us.
If we do not have the Triune God dwelling in us we are finished – we are mere thornbushes blown by the wind, in the dust, cursed and banished, poking others with our many thorns. But by regeneration and accepting God’s calling we become God’s dwelling place, His house, where He can burn as the God of resurrection.
Moses realized that both he himself and the house of Israel was a thornbush for the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to dwell and burn on with Himself as the flame and the fuel.
In the church life today we still have “thorns” – we are not yet a precious stone but a thornbush still, but we all are undergoing the process of transformation to be transformed from a thornbush into a precious stone, even the New Jerusalem built with all kinds of precious materials to be God’s dwelling place (Rom. 12:2; 2 Cor. 3:18).
Sometimes today we are “pricked” by other’s “thorns” in the church life; sometimes the old man (which is a thorny man) is expressed and we prick others; but we need to realize that we all are in the process of transformation to be God’s dwelling place.
Thank You Lord for loving us and coming to die for us that we may be redeemed and made the dwelling place of God. We praise You, Lord, that even though we are a thornbush, we are redeemed by You and we have the Triune God burning within us! Thank You for making us part of the corporate thornbush on which the Triune God of resurrection burns! Lord, keep us in the process of transformation from “thornbush” into a precious stone so that You may gain a consummate corporate dwelling place in humanity, the New Jerusalem!
How Marvelous that a Thornbush can be God’s Dwelling Place on Earth Today!
As he was blessing the people of Israel at the end of his life, Moses dearly recalled God as the One who dwelt in the thornbush (Deut. 33:16). Forty years after he saw the vision of the burning thornbush Moses was still under the impression that he was just a thornbush and the Triune God who called him was the fire burning within him.
Most real Christians today are at the stage of Moses’ first 40 years: they are genuinely saved, and they are “ready to work for God” and serve God with their natural gift, capability, and skills. Christendom today is filled with “talented Christians” who don’t have much maturity or transformation in life but a lot of skills in singing, playing an instrument, speaking, memorizing things, etc.
Some spiritual believers are in the second stage, realizing that they are a thornbush and they need another source, God Himself, to burn in them and upon them. But we need to come to the experience of Moses when he was 120 years old, seeing the highest vision of the church as the corporate thornbush burning with the Triune God of resurrection.
Do you realize that the thornbush is a type of the church? Do we see this vision of the burning thornbush, realizing that both we individually and the church corporately is a thornbush on which God burns and shines?
Moses never forgot this vision: even after meeting God on the mountain and after the tabernacle was built and God’s glory descended on it, Moses still recalled that God is the One dwelling in the thornbush. We need to have the vision of the burning thornbush indelibly imprinted on us to control our daily living. How marvelous it is that a thornbush can be God’s dwelling place on earth today!
Lord, bring us further with You to realize that the church is a thornbush burning with the Triune God of resurrection. How marvelous it is that we can be a thornbush as God’s dwelling place on earth today! Lord, cause us to see this vision and have it imprinted on us to stay with us and govern our daily living. Praise the Lord, the Triune God dwells in us, rests upon us, overshadows us, places Himself in us, and remains within us as the church, the corporate thornbush!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Minoru Chen’s sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Exodus, msg. 7, as quoted in, the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Exodus (1), week 4 / msg 4, The Corporate Thornbush.
- Hymns on this topic:
# In the wilderness for God! / Just a common bush aflame! / Thus may I be, blessed Lord, / For the glory of Thy Name. / Just a common bush to be, / Something in which God can dwell, / Something thru which God can speak, / Something thru which God can tell. (Hymns #352)
# The members of the Church of Christ / Are all primarily of clay; / They need to be transformed and made / Transparent, precious day by day. (Hymns #821)
# In God’s house and in Thy Body / Builded up I long to be, / That within this corporate vessel / All shall then Thy glory see. (Hymns #840)
About aGodMan
In Deuteronomy 33:16 Moses spoke of God as the One who dwelt in the thornbush. This word was uttered when Moses was one hundred twenty years of age, forty years after he had seen the vision of the burning thornbush. Moses never forgot that vision, even after the tabernacle had been built and God had come to dwell in it. In Deuteronomy 33:16 why did not Moses speak of the good will of “Him who dwelt in the tabernacle”? I believe that for Moses to speak of God dwelling in the tabernacle would not have been as sweet as it was for him to speak of God dwelling in the thornbush. I believe that even when we are in the New Jerusalem we shall recall how we once were a thornbush indwelt by God. How marvelous that a thornbush can be God’s dwelling place on earth today! (Witness Lee, Life-study of Exodus, p. 110)