In Exodus 3 we have a record of God’s calling of Moses after he was in the wilderness for 40 years. Moses was caring for his father-in-law’s sheep and he took them to the back of the wilderness, where he saw something amazing: a thornbush burning with fire yet the bush was not consumed. He turned aside to see how comes the thornbush burns yet it is not consumed, and God spoke to him from within the flaming bush.
A person who is called by God must see the vision of the burning thornbush (see Acts 7:22-36; Exo. 3:2-6). The One who called Moses from within the flaming bush was the Triune God Himself: the fire is the glory of God’s holiness, and this fire is the Triune God Himself, the God of Abraham (the Father), the God of Isaac (the Son), and the God of Jacob (the Spirit).
When Moses saw the burning thornbush and heard God’s calling, he realized that he himself is the thornbush – a sinner under God’s curse with God as the flame burning within him and upon him yet without consuming him.
All of us who are called by God must see the vision of the burning thornbush and realize that we are mere sinners under God’s curse who have been redeemed by God, and now the Triune God of resurrection dwells and burns within us, and He does not consume us as He burns in us.
If we are exhausted in our inner being as we serve God and live the church life it may be that we are using the wrong source; our natural zeal and enthusiasm is NOT the fuel for God’s burning within us. The Triune God is the fire burning in us and He Himself is the fuel for the fire; we are His dwelling place, His habitation, holding Him forth and allowing Him to burn in us for His expression and for His move.
Throughout our years in the church life and in serving the Lord we need to learn the lesson of working for God without using the natural life as the fuel but by letting God burn within us. Even in writing, maintaining, sharing, and promoting this blog I check with myself again and again,
Lord, I don’t want to do this in myself, of myself, or for myself. You are the holy fire burning within me and You are the fuel for the fire. Save me from mere natural enthusiasm and zeal for God. Save me from merely being impressed and excited about certain spiritual facts. Oh Lord, be the One burning within me and upon me; be the fuel for the burning fire, and be the One expressed through me as I write this blog!
We are a Redeemed Thornbush with the Triune God of Resurrection Burning Within Us
Everyone who is called by God needs to realize, as Moses did, that he is merely a redeemed thornbush with a fire burning within him, and this fire is the Triune God Himself, the God of resurrection (Deut. 33:16; Mark 12:26).
As a sign of God’s curse, thorns and thornbushes are a not a positive thing (see Gen. 3:17-18); we were sinners under God’s curse, but we have been redeemed by Christ and now the Triune God indwells us as the holy fire burning within us.
This is what Moses saw and realized at 80 years old, and even at the end of his life he blessed Joseph and his descendants with the favor of Him who dwells in the thornbush (Deut. 33:16).
Our God is the God of the living, not of the dead; He is the God of resurrection, the God who will raise Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob up. Our God is the Triune God, the God of resurrection, burning within us as the thornbush. We have lost the thorns: we’re now redeemed thornbushes burning with the Triune God!
The fact that the thornbush burns without being consumed indicates that God doesn’t use our natural life or enthusiasm as fuel; He burns only with Himself as fuel. In the real world, if you lit a thornbush on fire it will burn and be consumed, but in God’s eyes, God’s called ones are a thornbush having the Triune God burning within them as the flame, and the fuel for that flame is God Himself.
We simply need to fan into flame the gift of God given to us, our mingled spirit (2 Tim. 1:7), which is of power, of love, and of a sober mind. Paul struggled not according to his natural strength but according to God’s operation which operated in him in power (Col. 1:29).
We should not be lukewarm, thinking we know everything and we are rich; rather, we need to come to the Lord and buy gold (the Father in His divine nature), white garments (the Son lived out as our righteousness), and eye-salve (the Spirit anointing us as our means of revelation) so that we may be boiling hot for the Lord (Rev. 3:19).
The temperature of the Christian life should be boiling, on fire for the Lord; we need to be burning in spirit and not slothful in zeal (Rom. 12:11). We have to be hot in our spirit and not in our natural life; any hotness in our natural life is a strange fire to God, and this brings in death (see Lev. 10:1-11).
May the Lord save us from serving Him and doing things for Him out of the hotness of our natural life or out of our natural enthusiasm, both of which flame out. Being hot for the Lord in our natural life can lead to spiritual death.
The fire comes from the Lord, and we simply need to “put wood on the altar”, making sure the fire doesn’t run out (Lev. 16:12). God Himself is the fire burning in us, and we need to take Christ as the burnt offering (the absolute One for God) and as our peace-offering (for fellowship with Him), and the fire will be burning; this fire must not go out and it shall not go out in our being!
The fact that the thornbush burned without being consumed indicates that the God of glory as the holy fire burns within us yet without consuming us; if we are exhausted in our inner being as we serve the Lord, it may mean that we’re using our own energy to do something for God.
We should NOT be exhausted in our inward parts but be strengthened into our inner man as we allow God to burn in us, serving the Lord by the grace of God and not by our natural zeal (1 Cor. 15:10).
Lord Jesus, thank You for redeeming us and coming into us as the holy fire, the fire of the Triune God of resurrection! Lord, we want to exercise our spirit so that we would allow You to burn in us. Save us from bringing in any strange fire, any natural enthusiasm or zeal for God. Oh Lord Jesus, we want to be hot in our spirit, serving the Lord in spirit yet not being exhausted or consumed! Show us that we are a thornbush having the Triune God burning in us for His expression and His move!
Learning the Lesson of Working for God without our Natural Fuel but by Letting God Burn Within us
The memory of the vision of the thornbush was so clear to Moses that even at the end of his life he remembered God as the One who dwells in the thornbush. Moses realized and was constantly reminded that God called him to serve God not with his natural strength and ability but by God, the fire burning within.
No matter how strong we are in our natural ability, we are just a thornbush; only when the fire of the Triune God comes into us do we become a redeemed thornbush to burn with the God of resurrection.
We need to be impressed that we are a vessel, a channel, through which God wants to be manifested. We are earthen vessels containing a priceless treasure, and the excellency of the power is not out of us but out of God; this treasure is the fire of the Triune God burning within us, and the fuel for the fire is God Himself (2 Cor. 4:7).
May the Lord save us from the failure of not living Christ and the defeat of not magnifying Christ (Phil. 1:20). May we enjoy and experience the God of resurrection so that we may flow Him out for the saints progress (growth in life) and joy (enjoyment of faith) (see Phil. 1:22-25).
We all need to learn the lesson of working for God without using our natural life or enthusiasm as the fuel but by letting God burn within us. The burning thornbush should be a memorial and a testimony to all God’s called ones; this should make a deep impression upon us that we never forget it but rather our being would be stamped and become a testimony of how God burns within us (the thornbush) with Himself as fuel for His corporate expression and move.
The church is a corporate thornbush burning with the God of resurrection (see Gen. 2:22; Eph. 2:6); the church is Christly (completely of the element of Christ), resurrectionly (filled with the element of resurrection), and heavenly (in the heavenlies with Christ).
God’s ultimate goal is to obtain a dwelling place, His habitation, and the church is the Triune God burning within the redeemed humanity – this is the divine economy (see John 1:14; 2:19; 1 Cor. 3:16; Rev. 21:3, 22; Luke 12:49-50; Acts 2:3-4).
Lord Jesus, may we learn the lesson of working for God without using our natural fuel but by letting God burn within us. Impress us with the vision of the burning thornbush that we may realize that the church is a corporate thornbush burning with the God of resurrection! Lord, may we all realize that we’re vessels containing the priceless treasure expressing God by God’s power operating in us. Gain many channels through which You can be manifested without any human interference, zeal, or enthusiasm. Lord, gain Your habitation, the Triune God burning within redeemed humanity!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Ed Marks’ sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Exodus, msg. 6, and, Basic Lessons on Service – lesson 14, as quoted in, the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Exodus (1), week 2 / msg 2, A Complete View of God’s Calling of Moses as the Standard Model of God’s Servant (you can buy this morning revival book here via LSM andhere via Amazon).
- 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)
# Come, Jesus, Lord, with holy fire, / Come, and my quickened heart inspire, / My conscience purged by blood; / Now to my soul Thyself reveal, / Thy mighty working let me feel, / Since I am born of God. (Hymns #357)
# Earthen vessel I was made, / Christ in me the treasure laid; / His container I must be, / As the content He in me…Him expressing from within, / Making Him to others seen, / I transparent have to be / That He may be shown thru me. (Hymns #548)
About aGodMan
The fact that the thornbush burned without being consumed indicates that the glory of God’s holiness should burn within us but that we should not be exhausted. If a servant of God is exhausted, it may mean that he is using his own energy to do something for God. God does not want to use our natural life as fuel. He will burn only with Himself as fuel. We are simply to be a thornbush with the divine fire burning within it….Through the sign of the burning thornbush, God impressed Moses that he was a vessel, a channel, through which God was to be manifested. It is not easy to learn that we are simply a bush for the manifestation of God. Throughout the years I have been learning one lesson: to work for God without using the natural life as the fuel but letting God burn within me. (Witness Lee, Life-study of Exodus, pp. 70-72)
What a mercy that we, sinners under God’s curse—”thornbushes,” could have the holy God—”the flame” burning within us! This is the “fuel” for our service to God, not our own zeal but the God of resurrection.