Awesome Hands – part 43: “A burning bush but not consumed”
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Awesome Hands – part 43
“A burning bush, but not consumed”
Previously, we studied book two of Exodus and discovered how the Lord works with His hands to form the situations that cause us to be His chosen people.
Whether good or bad form our perspective, and just as happened with a baby Moses, the Lord uses all circumstances; yay, He has formed all circumstances to serve His own purpose and for His own glory.
With the admonitions, type and shadows found with Moses and his upbringing we have started to see a pattern immerge of how the Lord works with us to mold us into the vessels which will be used for honor in His kingdom.
In our study today, we are going to continue to follow Moses as he starts off in the wilderness and finds himself staring at a very “great sight” of a burning bush which is not consumed.
As we will see, Lord willing, this will be a very pivotal happening in our life and it will forever change the direction of our walk on this earth seeing as we are entering unto Holy Land.
“Moses kept the flock”
Exo 3:1 Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb.
Exo 3:2 And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.
Exo 3:3 And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.
We ended the last study looking at the Hebrew word for shepherds or pastors and we compared the spiritual difference between the pastors that drive away those who come to the well for water versus those who help those who come to the well by helping to water the flocks.
As we start of in chapter 3, we now see that Moses has been invite to eat bread with the family of Jethro and was also given a place in Jethro’s family by being given Ziporrah, meaning “bird,” and representing the heavenly.
It is here, in type and shadow, in the heavenlies that we will get to know the start of the commandments of our Lord as we also discover His name.
It is on the backside of the desert that we come to the mountain of the Lord to Horeb, meaning desolate.
The angel of the Lord appeared from the middle of the burning bush because He is in the middle of His people. His people dwell comfortably in the fire, and you cannot separate the Head from His body.
Lev 1:7 And the sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire upon the altar, and lay the wood in order upon the fire:
Lev 1:8 And the priests, Aaron’s sons, shall lay the parts, the head, and the fat, in order upon the wood that is on the fire which is upon the altar:
Lev 1:9 But his inwards and his legs shall he wash in water: and the priest shall burn all on the altar, to be a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD.Jer 23:28 The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the LORD.
Jer 23:29 Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?Isa 33:10 Now will I rise, saith the LORD; now will I be exalted; now will I lift up myself.
Isa 33:11 Ye shall conceive chaff, ye shall bring forth stubble: your breath, as fire, shall devour you.
Isa 33:12 And the people shall be as the burnings of lime: as thorns cut up shall they be burned in the fire.
Isa 33:13 Hear, ye that are far off, what I have done; and, ye that are near, acknowledge my might.
Isa 33:14 The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?
Isa 33:15 He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil;
Isa 33:16 He shall dwell on high: his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure.
Isa 33:17 Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off.
We come to this point, where we are least aware that we are about to presented with the Fire of the Word of God, that the Lord sends an “angel of the Lord” to bring a message to us.
Keep in mind; this is all in type and shadow but indeed the Lord dwells in His people and He sends His messengers of Light to bring the Fire in their mouths. Christ is in their MIND and as such, we can know that just as the bush represents Christ, we represent Christ to those who we are sent to.
Exo 3:4 And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.
Exo 3:5 And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.
Exo 3:6 Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God.
Exo 3:7 And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows;
Exo 3:8 And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
If we look closely at this first encounter with the Lord, we’ll notice that there is an event the Lord Himself has created knowing that this event ALONE would have Moses turn aside to see this “great sight”.
From this, the Lord tells Moses that his walk is about to change. “Put of thy shoes…the place you stand is Holy Ground,” means this is the Rock of foundation of which we all start off from.
The Lord then goes on to tell Moses that He has seen the affliction of His people and heard their cry.
Do you think that Moses is included in this group? Is Moses one of God’s people? Of course He is!
Did you notice in verse 3:8 that the angel of the Lord says, “I am come down to deliver my people”?
It is the Lord who comes down and is stripped of His glory so that He can take on the form of man. It is when the Lord “comes down” to His people AGAIN, that He comes down from the heavenlies to dwell in the hearts and minds of His people and this starts at the mount of Zion, in Horeb, where there is DESOLATION.
“I will send thee unto Pharaoh”
Exo 3:9 Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them.
Exo 3:10 Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.
As we have covered in many of the previous studies, it is the Lord who puts the circumstances and situations in our lives in order to have everything shaped so that His will can be accomplished.
If a leopard cannot change his spots nor an Ethiopian change the color of his skin, how then can we expect that anything we do can change one iota of an inch of what the Lord is going to do or is actively doing in our lives?
Jer 13:20 Lift up your eyes, and behold them that come from the north: where is the flock that was given thee, thy beautiful flock?
Jer 13:21 What wilt thou say when he shall punish thee? for thou hast taught them to be captains, and as chief over thee: shall not sorrows take thee, as a woman in travail?
Jer 13:22 And if thou say in thine heart, Wherefore come these things upon me? For the greatness of thine iniquity are thy skirts discovered, and thy heels made bare.
Jer 13:23 Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.
Jer 13:24 Therefore will I scatter them as the stubble that passeth away by the wind of the wilderness.
Jer 13:25 This is thy lot, the portion of thy measures from me, saith the LORD; because thou hast forgotten me, and trusted in falsehood.
All we are given to do is act upon the faith the Lord has given us to PRAY to Him that we be delivered from the situation He has placed us in.
This is all orchestrated so that the Lord can cause us to be in distress so that we can call out to Him for deliverance. That is why we are sent to the “mount of desolation”.
1Th 3:7 Therefore, brethren, we were comforted over you in all our affliction and distress by your faith:
1Th 3:8 For now we live, if ye stand fast in the Lord.Psa 107:25 For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.
Psa 107:26 They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble.
Psa 107:27 They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end.
Psa 107:28 Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.
Psa 107:29 He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.
Psa 107:30 Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven.sssss
Psa 107:31 Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!Jer 42:11 Be not afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom ye are afraid; be not afraid of him, saith the LORD: for I am with you to save you, and to deliver you from his hand.
Moses, as a type and shadow of all who are brought to the Lord, are brought to the king of Babylon/ the Pharaoh of Egypt, in order to be recused from the same by the hardened of the Pharaohs heart.
In other words, the Lord creates the entire scenario form a to z so that the “old man” can be confronted with the fire of the Word of God of which represents the Truth that we have always been slaves to the old man and the Lord and His angels are here to deliver His people from this bondage!
Exo 3:11 And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?
Exo 3:12 And he said, Certainly I will be with thee; and this shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee: When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain.
We have just been told that we are going to come BACK to the Lord to this same mount, but the second time we are going to come SERVING the Lord.
This first time around though, we think we are somehow involved in that we think just like Moses, “who am I, that I should go….”
This is very similar to how Saul answers the Lord when he recognizes the Lord after seeing a “great sight” and says, “what would you have me do Lord?”
Act 9:3 And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven:
Act 9:4 And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
Act 9:5 And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.
Act 9:6 And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.
Indeed, when the Lord initially works in our lives and shows us a “great light from heaven” we are going to tremble because we recognize a great thing is happening before us.
At the same time, we initially want to help the Lord along instead of diligently listening to what the instructions of the Lord are. Such is how the Lord has designed us in our initial blind state.
Exo 3:13 And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them?
Exo 3:14 And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.
With this mindset of wanting to come in the name of the Lord and do something for Him at the same time, we want to make sure we are in the “right” with the Lord, so we make sure we are bringing the name of the Lord.
However, in type and shadow, the Lord telling us His name is “I AM THAT I AM” is just another way of saying we are going to come as carnal Christians who are not truly bringing the name of the Lord stamped on our foreheads having Him at the helm of every aspect of our walks.
Rev 17:4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:
Rev 17:5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
Rev 17:6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.
Contrasted with:
Rev 19:10 And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
Rev 19:11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.
Rev 19:12 His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.
Rev 19:13 And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.
The Head we will possess, as a token and a covenant the Lord makes with us, is that we will have Christ sitting on top of the “cherubim beasts” and the name we will have then will be, “the Word of God.”
“Say unto the children of Israel…”
Exo 3:15 And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.
Exo 3:16 Go, and gather the elders of Israel together, and say unto them, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared unto me, saying, I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done to you in Egypt:
Exo 3:17 And I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt unto the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, unto a land flowing with milk and honey.
So, we are going to go and tell the children of the Lord just what we have been told. Only initially, they will not have seen the bush burning but not consumed but will rather they will see it in the Words which we speak to them as the angel of the Lord.
Later, they will know that we dwell in the fire and have spoken the words of the Lord to them.
The thing that Moses tells God’s people initially though is that He is going to take them to the promised land, which milk and honey flow, but He doesn’t tell them this is only the beginning!
Exo 3:18 And they shall hearken to thy voice: and thou shalt come, thou and the elders of Israel, unto the king of Egypt, and ye shall say unto him, The LORD God of the Hebrews hath met with us: and now let us go, we beseech thee, three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.
Exo 3:19 And I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not by a mighty hand.
Exo 3:20 And I will stretch out my hand, and smite Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in the midst thereof: and after that he will let you go.
The mere will of a man, even the hand (that is to say the work of the hands) of a mighty man will not be enough to un- harden the hardness the Lord has placed on the Pharoah’s heart.
When the Lord creates a scenario, it can only be relieved, changed or done away with by the Lord.
The Lord showed us this Truth from the foundation of the world, in that when He created everything He told us that it was good.
Apart of that creation is the creation of the adversary of the Lord of which is a very good adversary indeed! Such is the same with the Pharaoh.
It will take something the Pharaoh can absolutely not “buck” against that will eventually cause Him to let the children of Israel go.
This is no different in the spirit when the old man is confronted with the new man’s mind of Christ and that new man comes saying, “the LORD God of the SPIRITUAL Hebrews…hath met with us”.
Rom 2:28 For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:
Rom 2:29 But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.Exo 3:21 And I will give this people favour in the sight of the Egyptians: and it shall come to pass, that, when ye go, ye shall not go empty:
Exo 3:22 But every woman shall borrow of her neighbour, and of her that sojourneth in her house, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment: and ye shall put them upon your sons, and upon your daughters; and ye shall spoil the Egyptians.
When this all happens to us as spiritual Jews, it is of a special note that the Lord will bless us with the spoils of the Egyptians just to later use it for our destruction!
The Lord will constantly take what He has created in our lives and mold it into a situation that will then be cast into the Fire so that we can learn to JUDGE what is happening with His righteous judgment and realize that unless the Lord establishes a thing, it is NOT established!
Exo 32:19 And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses’ anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount.
Exo 32:20 And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and strawed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it.
Exo 32:21 And Moses said unto Aaron, What did this people unto thee, that thou hast brought so great a sin upon them?
Exo 32:22 And Aaron said, Let not the anger of my lord wax hot: thou knowest the people, that they are set on mischief.
Exo 32:23 For they said unto me, Make us gods, which shall go before us: for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.
Exo 32:24 And I said unto them, Whosoever hath any gold, let them break it off. So they gave it me: then I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf.
Exo 32:25 And when Moses saw that the people were naked; (for Aaron had made them naked unto their shame among their enemies:)
Indeed, the gold that will be tried in the fire will be there with the wood, hay and stubble and anything that remains will be purified and will be a reward for us, the children of the Lord.
What can be hard to grasp at times, is that the Lord uses everything to bring about His glory so “at the end of the day,” all we can do is give honor, glory and lips of thanksgiving to Him alone.
Gen 9:17 And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.
Exo 6:4 And I have also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, wherein they were strangers.
Col 1:16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
Col 1:17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
Col 1:18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.
Other related posts
- Exo 24:1-18 And the Sight of the Glory of the LORD was Like Devouring Fire (September 26, 2022)
- Does God Give us Sicknesses? (January 20, 2022)
- Awesome Hands - part 43: "A burning bush but not consumed" (October 2, 2013)
- Awesome Hands - part 38: "The Son of the Right Hand" (August 17, 2013)