Seeing the Church as a Corporate Thornbush Burning with the God of Resurrection

The vision of the burning thornbush impressed Moses and stayed with him throughout his life, so that at the end of his life as he was speaking his departing words and he was blessing the children of Israel he said, ….With the choicest things of the earth, and the fullness thereof, and the favor of Him who dwelt in the thornbush…(Deut. 33:16)

In our experience as Christians today we also need to really see the vision of the burning thornbush – we are merely thorns, sinful men under God’s judgement and condemnation, but the Triune God is in us as life burning with the divine fire. And though fire burns in us, we are not consumed – the fuel for the fire is not our natural man or our strength, but God Himself!

This is what people in the world need to see when they look at the believers in Christ today – a thornbush in which and upon which God burns, and this thornbush is not consumed.

The church is a corporate thornbush burning with the God of resurrection, and in the church life today we experience the God of resurrection dwelling within us and burning in us.

This is why we should always speak well of the church according to its divine essence, and we should never speak negatively about the church. The church today is perfect, lovely, expressing God in the whole universe! Hallelujah for the church!

God Doesn’t Use Our Natural Life as the Fuel – He is the Fuel!

This is quite mysterious: even though fire consumes everything when it burns (especially thornbushes), when the Triune God burns in us, we are not consumed!

The fact that the thornbush is not consumed though fire burns on it shows us that God doesn’t want to use our natural life as the fuel – He will burn only with Himself as the fuel (Exo. 3:2; Rom. 12:11; 2 Tim. 1:7).

Paul labored according to God’s operation within him – his fuel was the Triune God in him (Col. 1:29). There is a qualified Serving One in your spirit, and we are joined to Him as one spirit (1 Cor. 6:17). If we try to serve God in ourselves, we will burn out and run out of steam; but we need to come to Him with all our toils and burdens, and He will give us rest (Matt. 11:28-29).

We are simply channels and vessels through which God is manifested – He is the treasure in the earthen vessel, and the excellency of the power is from Him (2 Cor. 4:7).

Our aspiration is that not even in one thing we would be put to shame, but that with all boldness – as always – Christ would be magnified in our body whether through life or through death (Phil. 1:10).

We need to learn this lesson of working for God not by using our natural life as the fuel but by allowing God to burn and work in and through us.

This is the practical application of the vision of the burning thornbush – we are mere thornbushes, but God treasures us and He desires to manifest Himself as a flame of fire from within us (Luke 12:49; Acts 2:3-4). As a thornbush we merely manifest the flame – we have no power or capability of ourselves, but God burns in us and He is manifested!

The Church is a Corporate Thornbush Burning with the God of Resurrection

Individually we are a thornbush in which God burns as the divine fire, and corporately we are the church as a corporate thornbush burning with the God of resurrection! Our God is the God of the living, not of the dead, and He as the God of resurrection burns within the redeemed humanity as the corporate thornbush!

We have caught the divine fire when we received Christ, and we are now one with Christ, seated with Him in the heavenlies (Eph. 2:6). Just as Eve came out of Adam and everything of Eve was of Adam, so the church comes out of Christ and is completely the enlargement of Christ (Gen. 2:22).

In Ephesians we see the divine economy, the dispensing of the Triune God, which reaches man and brings in the church as the corporate burning thornbush today.

God’s goal is to obtain a dwelling place – He wants to build up His habitation (see John 1:14; 2:19; 1 Cor. 3:16; Rev. 21:3, 22). Today the church is God’s habitation – the church is the Triune God burning within redeemed humanity, the support and frame to express the divine fire of God.

This is God’s economy, to redeem man and then renew him, transform him, build him up, and be fully expressed through man as the God of resurrection!

Never Speak Evil of the Church but Always Praise the Lord for the Church Life

Because the church is a corporate thornbush in which and on which the God of resurrection burns as the divine fire, we should never “look at the thorns of the thornbush” but rather see a divine vision of the church and praise God for the church life!

God has not beheld iniquity in Jacob, He has not seen trouble in Israel (Num. 23:21), and Jacob’s tents are so fair (Num. 24:4). We need to realize that blessed is everyone who blesses the church and cursed is anyone who curses or speaks evil of the church (Num. 24:9).

Paul saw this, and even though there was division, sin, confusion, abuse of gifts, and heretical teachings in the church in Corinth, he still called it, The Church of God which is in Corinth (1 Cor. 1:2).

We need to see that the divine and spiritual essence in all the believers makes them the church of God in that locality, and we should always praise the Lord for the church life! The God of resurrection is in the church, and the church is Christly, resurrectionly, and heavenly (see Gen. 2:22, Eph. 1:19-23; 2:6).

Resurrection is really the life pulse and the lifeline of the divine economy, and the Triune God as resurrection is burning in every one of His genuine believers and corporately in the church today (1 Cor. 15:12; Acts 13:33; 1 Cor. 15:45b; 1 Pet. 1:3).

All the problems in the church need to be dealt with in the vision of what the church really is – the church is Christ-ly, resurrection-ly, and heaven-ly!

And if we labor for the Lord in the power of His resurrection, our labor will never be in vain (1 Cor. 15:58). The result of our labor in the Lord is the fulfilling of God’s eternal purpose through preaching Christ to sinners, ministering life to the saints, and building up the church with the experiences of the processed Triune God as gold, silver, and precious stones (1 Cor. 3:12).

Hallelujah! Instead of looking at the problems in the church, look to the divine nature and the holy fire burning in the church, and then serve in resurrection by allowing the God of resurrection to burn in us!

Lord, grant us to see such a vision of the church being the corporate burning thornbush with the God of resurrection as the fire and the fuel. May we see what Moses saw, and may this vision stay with us. Save us from trying to serve, labor, and do things in our natural man and with our natural strength. We don’t want to bring in strange fire. Lord, burn in us. We open to You, and we want to fan into flame our spirit. May we allow You to burn in us as the God of resurrection and be expressed through us! May the others see the treasure and not the thorns! Praise the Lord for the church! The church is heavenly! The church is Christly! The church is full of resurrection! Hallelujah!

References and Further Reading

• This sharing is inspired from brother Dick Taylor’s speaking in this message and portions in, Life-Study of Exodus (msg. 6), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, ITERO spring 2013 “The Experience, Growth, and Ministry of Life for the Body“, week 5 entitled, Being a Qualified Servant of God by Having the Complete Experience of a Called One.
• Further reading: Basic Lessons on Service, lsn. 20; Elders’ Training, Book 2: The Vision of the Lord’s Recovery, ch. 3.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # Just a common bush to be, / Something in which God can dwell, / Something thru which God can speak, / Something thru which God can tell.
  # Glorious church life, / Feasting from such a rich store! / Here where we’re dwelling in oneness / God commands life evermore.
  # A generation… / With a goal to bring You back. / Their treasure is You, / You’re their future too. / They care for only You. / This goal is deep within, / A fire that’s burning in them. / They’re consumed by this zeal, / This only is real, / Lord, to bring You back.