Biblical Illustrator Ex 3

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BIBLICAL ILLUSTRATOR EX 3 CHAPTER III. Veks. 1-6. A flame of fire out of the midst of a busb. — Bloses at the Inirning hush : — I. The story of Moses is the story, at first, of failure. Two gi-eat streams of influences moulded his life — the one drawn from the Egyptian surroundings of his early days, and the other drunk in with his mother's milk and his mother's teaching. On the one side he had before him the revelation of the world in its majesty and power, brute energy and magnificence, massive pui-pose and force, and splendid genius, with a kind of weird and magical faith in the dim powers of the unseen — those speechlesseyed deities of Egypt looking for ever into his face ; and, along with these, a rugged sense of the responsibility of human life. And then, from the Hebrew side, another strain of thought. There came belief in the governing providence of God ; there was belief in something more than might and majesty of force, and brute power ; something like a belief that the weak might yet become strong — for the early history of that people was the history of the individual, or of the tribe waiting, not for his power upon the tokens of brute force, but waiting, rather, for his power upon the evolution of their history under the providence of God. But where he expected amongst people of his kin to find aspirations after better things, and responsiveness to his own spirit, he met only with chillness, coldness, and refusal to follow. Then came his exile in Midian — an exile from all his early dreams and hopes, an exile from the splendid position he had in Egypt, an exile from the future which glowed before him, and an exile, too, from the confidence he had that there was the power capable of lifting the hearts of his people and making them fit to strike a blow for freedom, II. Look, now, at the vision which restored him to faith and energy. 1. A revelation of permanence. The bush was not consumed ; it held its own life amidst the devouring flame. Moses' feeling was one of suffering from that which, after all, is so common an experience of Ufe — from the temptation to cry, " Vanity of vanities, all is vanity." It was something at such a moment to find that the revelation was to him one of permanence, where everything had slipped from his grasp. A while ago young dreams were his ; a while ago, in his manhood, a noble purpose was his ; and now all is gone, the temptation is to sit down and take a cynical attitude, and say, with a world where all things change, and where notliing abides, the safest and the wisest course is to laugh at existence, and take up either the language of despair, which wails out vanity of CHAP, ni.] EXODUS. ' 51 vanities, or the easy cynicism which treats life as a joke. But to the man in that state came a revelation of permanence. In the midst of all this change of things there is something which abides. Do not believe the answer to the cry of your heart, that all things perish, that the powers of decay touch everything in your life. There is in the uncousumed bush, there is in the change and policy of the world, an element of permanence. 2. A revelation of purity. " The place whereon thou standest is holy ground." In our first thought we think of permanence in material things. We see intellectual and moral things pass away and the materials remain ; but the revelation of faith, the revelation of God, the revelation of all noble impulses of men, is everlastingly this : it is in the elements of purity that the powers of permanence are concerned. Mark you that the revelation given to Moses was not simply of the burning bush. Thrust thine hand into thy bosom ; and he thrust it in, and drew it out leprous. Thrust thine hand into thy bosom again ; and he did so, and drew it out clean, ^^^lat significance is here to remind him Ihat the cause of his failure lay not in the want of high purpose and high moral methods ! The failure was not the failure of Moses' purpose, it was not the failure of his high hopes ; there was permanent power, possibly, but there was a leprous stain within the breast of the patriot, and he understood it so ; for when at last his dream was nearly accomplished, and he had led the people out from beneath the trj-annies of the Pharaohs, and had planted them in the wilderness, then he drew from the throne of God that real law, that holy code, and he gave it to them graven as the image of eternity upon permanent stone, and said tliis is the law of the longevity of the people ; these ten commandments, engrafted into the people's life, made part of their aspirations, part of their feelings, part of their intellectual powers, part of their whole social life, will guarnntee their permanence. It shall be your life if ye will observe to do these things. The vision had taught him that permanence was to be found in purity. 3. A revelation of personal power and love. Behind the purity is a personal God. We might pause a moment and say, Yv'hy is this ? If I have this moral law, and if the possession of this righteous strength gives permanence, why this personal God behind ? The answer is simple. You and I may think there is energy in law ; but, after all, law is merely a name given to certain causes and effects and sequences. There is no inspiration necessary in law. To tell Moses, indeed, that here this people could live, that there was no reason why Israel should die, that the element of permanence might be there if only the element of righteousness was there, would be to mock Moses, who might have said, "All my patriotic hopes are gone ; here I get the answer of permanence, but I do not get the guarantee of it. I get no inspiration as to whether any one cares." Lo ! the answer is given : " God cares ; these people that seemed God forsaken, have yet God as their God ; righteousness is not a dead letter, righteousness is an expression of a living will, and an expression of a living will moulding human life to achieve some great and final thing." Thus he began to see that he was not struggling merely against the nerveless hearts of men, but living and loving hearts were co-operating with his, and the aspirations which had dawned within his breast were not simply his own weak thought, but were the answers back to the purposes of God ; for in the best sense it is true that the aspirations of man are the aspirations of God ; and when you realize that, then you begin to see how needed is the guarantee which Moses asked, " Give me strength ; what am I that I should go? " Because He is the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob — the God of this people who seemed to be no people ; therefore their resurrection is possible. III. The re\'elation was not foe Moses alone. You remember the scene in "Alton Locke," where the poet would go to the Southern Pacific, and there find inspiration for his song, and a shrewd Scotchman took him into the slums of a great city, where the squalor and dinginess of life existed, and said to him that the poet sees poetry everywhere — the poetry is there if you will turn your poet's eye upon it. So also is religion. There is in every common bush the light of God, and only those who see it draw off their shoes. It is the old story again. God is near, God is in this place, and we knew it not. You may say that the vision, and that faith which the life which has surrounded you, has slowly dimmed and numbed, and you say, " There is no revelation for me ; my heart, my mind, is a wilderness now ; there were little fruits and flowers in the garden of my early Hfe, and I hoped to dedicate my life, and consecrate my services, to God — perhaps as a minister of His Church, perhaps in a high calling in the State ; but now I have grown confused with new and strange thoughts, that rise sirocco-like ; new things have swept away the old, and have left me no verdure and flowers in their place ; I 53 THE BIBLICAL ILLUSTRATOR. [cahp. ra. am in a wilderness, and there is no revelation of fire for me." Pardon me, there is: Alter your views. Do you never feel a sense of dissatisfaction ? did ever cross your mind the law of self-condemnation, and have you not said, " I meant to make more of my life in this place of study, and meant to have worked for a purpose ; and now I am dissatisfied ? Where I meant to be a living agent, I have only become an idle dreamer. I look back upon a wasted and unprofitable life, and say, Woe is me ! all the bright, hopeful views have gone, and my life is like a shipwrecked thing." Is not that pain, which is the witness of your failure, the fire of God? He lets it burn, that it may bum away the base thing, and that you may see in the voice of noble discontent the possibility of stepping up once more to the dream of your early life, and by the strength of God achieving it. But we forget to turn aside to see the great sights about us. Give your hearts leisure sometimes to meet with God, and God will meet with you. Give your souls the opportunity of letting the light of God's vision shine sometimes with a possibihty of reflection upon your own life, and the fire will glow, and the bush will burn, and the revelation will begin. {Bp. Boyd Carpenter.) The vision and the roiee : — I. The VISIO . 1. The vision was miraculous. 2. Moses had this vision when he was in solitude. 3. It was symbolic — (1) Of Israel in Egypt. (2) Of the Church . in the world. (3) Of the truth of the gospel. (4) Of ourselves, who have the religious life within us. II. The voice. 1. It revealed the majesty and grandeur of God. 2. It revealed the special providence of the great God — the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 3. It proclaimed the faithfulness of God. 4. It demanded reverence. {T. Jones.) Biases at the bush: — This narrative is a chain of glorious wonders. We see here — I. An old man c.\lled to go o0t on THE GREAT EUBA D OF HI8 LIFE. The educatiou of Moscs for the great mission of his life lasted eighty years. God never sends forth fruit until the season is fitted for the fruit, and the fruit for the season ; when the hour was ready for the man, and the man for the hour, then God sent forth Moses. II. The burning bush FROM wuicn THAT CALL WAS SOU DED. 1. Tliis was a sign to indicate the peculiar presence of God. 2. It was also a symbol of His people, eminently adapted to encourage the prophet in undertaking their cause. III. The angel who urTEBED THIS CALL. We see at the first glance that He is Divine ; we next learn that He is an angel ; we further find, from a chain of Scripture proofs, that He is Christ. IV. The COVE A T under WHICH THE A GEL GAVE HIM HIS COMMISSIO . It WaS the same covenant that had been given to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. V. The angel's name. That name asserts — 1. His real existence. 2. His underived existence. 3. His independent existence. 4. His eternity. VI. The effect to BE wrought by the remesibrance of His name. 1. It was intended to inspire profoundest reverence for the Being to whom it belongs. 2. It reveals the infinite sufficiency of a Christian's portion. 3. It gives encouragement to evangelical enterprise. (C. Stanford, D.D.) Moses^ education and life-uwrk : — I. How was the earlier history of Moses an education for the great work of his life? In order to free his people from their bondage, Moses needed sympathy and faith ; and the Bible gives us three phases of his life, wonderfully adapted to educate him in these qualities. 1. His education in the Egyptian court. 2. His attempt to convince the people of their brotherhood. 3. His flight into the wilderness. II. How did this vision explain to Moses the work of his life ? 1. The vision of God prepared him for the work of his life. It showed him the everlastingnesa of God, and his own unworthiness to do God's work. But the voice upheld him amid the overwhelming sense of his nothingness, and made him feel his vocation. 2. The vision of God gave endurance in fulfilling that work. Even should hi3 work seem to fail, he had a grasp on eternity which would keep him strong and true. (-E. L. Hull, B.A.) The Divine call and its sign : — I. The call op the CHOSE leader. Moscs was already a believing man, walking in favour and fellowship with God, and in sympathy with his down-trodden people. We must carefully distinguish between Moses' decision for God, and God's disclosure of duty to Moses. The one took place in his early manhood; the other was defeiTed till the threshold of old age, when God gave the charge of the story before us, and the servant's self-denying choice was rewarded by the sovereign's honourable commission. The two experiences differ, you see, as conversion from service, as personal consecration from official appointment, as entrance on a hfe of hoUness from entrance on a life of work. 1. And here comes our first lesson — a lesson for all who, like Moses, await God's call — the lesson, namely, of faith and of selfrestraint. . Are we struck with the fact that of the hundred and twenty years assigned to Moses, CHAP, ni.] EXODUS. 53 eighty were spent in preparation, and only forty in work ? But it is God's way. What seems a time of uselessness as regards the world may be a time of probation as regards yourself. And the time of probation, if quietly endured and conscientiously improved, may issue, ere God has done with you, in a work of deliverance on the earth, whose concentration, rapidity, and success may amply explain the preceding delay. 2. Take a second lesson at this point in passing — a lesson of diligence. I know not how God means to meet and to summon you, if, as in Moses' case, He has special service in store for you ; but I am sure of this, that revelations of special service are given only in the midst of conscientious application to ordinary duty. 3. Learn here yet a third truth — a lesson of constant watchfulness. For though Moses was at the time unexpectant, he was not upon that account heedless. His mind was in sympathy with the spiritual and eternal, and his eye was kept open to discern it. Be sure that, for all his industry in his worldly calling, the mood of Moses was such that no indication or hint could escape him from the world that is unseen and Divine. And let us take that spirit along with us, if, like Moses, we would find the lights and the beacons of God on our path — a spirit of devout and careful attention, of inquiry, and of vigilant thought. 4. The lesson of reverence is needed too. While the secret of the Lord is for those that seek Him, it is also for those that fear Him. 5. Holy diffidence. Much of the best work with which the Church has been served lias been rendered by men who, like Moses, were at first overcome by the thought of it, aud would fain have drawn back had Providence permitted. Take the example of the great pioneer of the Church in Scotland — the leader of its glorious exodus from the superstition and tyranny of popery to the heritage which God had prepared for it, in the light wherewith His Spirit illumines, and the liberty wherewith His truth makes free. When Knox was called to the pastorate of the church of St. Andrews, and the first step was disclosed to him of a road that led onwards to service and fame, we read that a strange thing happened. The audience were gathered, the service was proceeded with, the wish of the people was announced by the officiating minister, and echoed back as he spoke by the cries of the people themselves. But when Knox rose to speak in return, he broke down into tears, left the meeting-place abruptly, and enclosed himself in the privacy of his house ; " aud from that day," as the chronicler tells of him, " till the day he presented himself to preach, his countenance and behaviour did sufficiently declare the grief and the trouble of his heart, for no man saw any sign of mirth from him, neither had he pleasure to accompany any man for days together." Such feelings of diffidence and misgiving will a true man feel whensoever he is honoured with special service ; nor, if he is wise, will he seek to repress it. II. The revelation of the changeless God. othing will establish the Church, nothing will support and encourage its leaders in times of trial such as those through which Israel was passing, like ihe thought of the changelessness of God, and in especial the changelessness and eternity of His love, of which trials, however grievous, and temptations, however scorching, form only a brief and a passing phase. The processes God employs may be many, but the principle He acts on is one. The manifestations He makes of Himself may be various, but the character that underlies them is the same. (IF. A. Gray.) Man in relation to mystery : — I. That sometimes men meet with mtstery im the PUESDiT OF their DAILY CALLI G. 1. This visiou was Unexpected. 2. This vision, was educational. II. That sometimes mystery is associated with things of a VERY ordinary CHARACTER. " A bush." The smallest, the most trivial, tbe apparently unmeaning things, events of life, are full of mystery, contain a heavenly presence, a Divine voice, will teach a reflective spirit, will become an impulse to a higher life — avocation. The bushes of life are full of mystery. The world is a great secret — is vocal with messages of freedom to listening souls. III. That MYSTERY SHOULD BE I VESTIGATED WITH THE UTMOST DEVOTIO OF SOUL. " Put off thy shoes from off thy feet." 1, There must be devotion in opposition to levity. 2. There must be devotion in opposition to curiosity. Why this devotion ? (1) Because mvstery is holy. (2) Because mystery is authoritative. It commands us to take off our shoes. Its authority is Divine ; will be recognized by true manhood. IV. That sometimes good men are favoured with a grand unfolding of MYSTERY. " I am the God," &c. 1. God observes the conduct of men in relation to mysteiy. " And the Lord saw that he turned aside to see." What a subduing, inspiring thought, that God knows all the efforts of our souls in their investigation of mystery. 2. God speaks to men who are anxious to investigate mystery. " God called to him out of the midst of the bush." God speaks — allows us to investigate. 54 THE BIBLICAL ILLUSTRATOR. [chap. m. 3. God reveals Himself as the great solution of all mystery. (/. S. Exell, M.A.) Desert revelations : — I. Let us contemplate the element of wonder in the history. 1. This was the crowning preparation and call of Moses for his hfe's work. 2. This was to be the beginning of a new stage in the life and history of the chosen people, and of the history of the Divine unfolding. II. Some of the elements of wonder HERE are old. 1. The Angel Jehovah was not a created Being. The designation is evidently used in a special sense, because, He speaks as God Himself and receives Divine homage. Here it means the Divine as self-revealing ; the Infinite bringing Himself into relations of knowledge with a limited and finite creature, and into relations of covenanted grace and mercy. It is God to whom we can get near, understand, grasp, love, serve, obey. 2. The Angel Jehovah was God of the fathers. But He was revealed to them as El Shaddai, God Almighty. 3. But what He had been to the fathers He still was. The fathers' God ! The God of our dead ! The sanctities of home life go into and along with our religion. 4. There was still another old element in the wonder ; and that was the Fire. This was the same element which appeared amid and upon the cherubic symbols, darting hither and thither like flashing sword in the sunshine at the gate of Eden, and which we read of as " the Presence," the faces of Jehovah ; and as " the glory of the Lord." III. But to the wonder which was old there were elements added which are new. God reveals Himself here under a new name. An old word is vitalized with a new meaning, and is laid at the foundation of a dispensation. He will be known in all the Mosaic times and institutions, not as El Shaddai, but as Jehovah, " I am that I am." He is the one self-existent, unchangeable, ever-Uving God of ages. From everlasting to everlasting God. But the name is adopted and comes mto use, specially in relation to the deliverance from Egypt and the constitution of the nation. So it means, the Sovereign Ruler and Ordainer of the Ages, who has become a Righteous Deliverer and Redeemer. {W. H. Davison, D.D.) The buruinghush : — 1. Observe the substance of the figure. ot a fine tall tree, a cedar or a cypress, but a bush — a mere bush. Such is the unage of the Church — poor and humble. It was at one time in the ark, and there was a wicked Ham, at another in the family of Abraham, and there was a mocking Ishmael. It was now in Egypt, consisting of slaves and brickmakers. Jesus had not where to lay His head. His followers were the common people. His apostles were fishermen. 2. Observe the condition of the bush. It burned with fire. Fire denotes suffering. Christians must have tribulation in the world. They are never to consider " fiery trials " as strange things. Of how many can God say, "I have chosen thee in the furnace of allliction "? 3. Mark the bush's presei-vation. The bush was not consumed. Sometimes the Church has burned in the fire of persecution, and sometimes of derision. But with what result ? Whilst kingdoms and empires have passed away, and not a wreck of them is left but some vestiges in ruins, lingering in monumental mockery of the boasts of men, the Church still stands, as she is destined ever to do, in the light and strength of her omnipotent and faithful Lord. And this is as true of every individual believer as of the whole Church collectively. (A. evins, D.D.) The bush as an emblem : — Some also see in this bush an emblem of — 1. The awfulness of God's offended justice (Deut. iv. 21 ; Mai. iii. 2). 2. The incarnation and sufferings of Christ, the bush representing His human nature (Isa. liii. 2), the flame of fire shadowing forth His Divine nature (Deut. iv. 24), and the union of the flame with the bush denoting the union of the Divine with the human nature. 3. Those dreadful sufferings by which sin should be expiated— Christ enduring the fierce flames of the wrath of God, yet not consumed (Heb. ix. 28). (Ibid.) Was this a great sight ? — 1. It was the great I Am who exhibited it. 2. It afforded a bright gleam of hope to Israel, that their bondage was nearly over (vers. 7, 8). In order to see this great sight, we must turn aside — 1. From the world (1 John ii. 15 ; 2 Cor. vi. 17). 2. Carnal reasoning (1 Cor. ii. 14 ; John iii. 9). 3. All known sin (Eph. iv. 17, 18 ; 2 Pet. i. 9). (Ibid) The God of Moses : — Here we have an account of God's disclosure of Himself to Moses ; we have that which is the root out of which Moses' whole conception of God and His government grew. Laying aside all preconceptions and prejudices, let us see what sort of a portrait this chapter ^ives us: 1. It shows us a self-reveaUng God ; a God who discloses Himself to the human race, and communicates with them. 2. This God is one who is not indifferent to the woes and sufferings of His people. 3. He is a God of deliverance. 4. In working out this deliverance. He chooses human and imperfect instruments. 5. The very name by which God at once reveals and conceals Himself suggests the similitude between the Old Testament and the ew Testament revelations. " I am," says Jehovah to Moses ; " you must trust CHAP, m.] EXODUS. 55 Me and walk by faith in My assurance, and not in an intellectual comprebension of My character and My purposes." " I am," says Christ to Philip ; " you must trust in Me, and walk by your faith in Me : not by an understanding of what the Father is who hath sent Me, or a comprehension of what the Father purposes to ace >mplish in and by you." In a sense the Egyptian inscription, the Athenian altar, and Herbert Spencer's definition are true ; God is the Unknown and Unknowable. The intellect tries in vain to draw aside the veil ; but love and sympathy pass behind it. Philosophy in vain endeavours to analyse and interpret mother-love ; but the child in simplicity and faith reposes on it. The God of Moses and the God of the twelve disciples are alike in this — that Tbey are the incomprehensible " I am " ; to be loved, trusted, obeyed, rested on, but never to be measured, fathomed and understood. Sometimes from my hill-side home among the Highlands of the Hudson I see, fifty miles away, obscured by haze and overhanging clouds, and partially veiled, perhaps, in mist or rain, the distant outline of the Catskill range ; and then tbe veil is drawn aside, the turbaned mist is lifted off their foreheads, and that which before was dim and indistinct stands out against the dark background of sky in clear, intelligible outline, yet leaving all the dress of grey rock and green tree and foaming cataract, and dark gloom, and Hitting sunshine breaking through the trees, to the imagination ; for at best it is only an outline I can see. So in the Old Testament I look upon the outline of my God veiled in cloud ; in the ew Testament the cloud is lifted, the mist is cleared away, and through an atmosphere like that of the most perfect October day I look on the same outline, distinct and beautiful against a heavenly background : and still it is but an outline that I see of the mystery and majesty of the nature I shall never know, never be able even to explore, until I stand in His presence and am invited to know Him even as I am known. {Lijwan Abbott, D.D.) Mones and the burning hush; or, a picture of a true student and the Bible : — I. That God's purposes are punctual in their accomplishment (see Gen. xv.). The clock of time had now struck the four hundred years, and God forthwith began to redeem His pledge. 2. That God's purposes, in relation to our world, are generally accomplished by the agency of man. 3. That the men whom God employs for the carrying out of His pui-poses. He qualifies by a special revelation. 4. That this special revelation which He vouchsafes, is frequently symbolical in its character. All nature is a symbol. Truth in symbol is palpable, attractive, impressive. The burning bush was a symbol. But what did it symbolize? God's presence. I. Obseeve Moses dieectixg his e.vrnest attention to the Divine revelation. 1. Moses directs his attention to it, under an impression of its greatness. 2. Moses directs his attention to it, in order to ascertain its imj)ort. It is ever so with a true student of the Bible. He will seek to find out " the reason of things." II. Observe Moses holding intercourse with God through the Divine revelation. 1. God's communications depended upon his attention. Only he who looks and inquires, hears in the Bible the voice of God. 2. God's communications were consciously personal to him. 3. God's communications were directive and elevating. III. Observe Moses realizing the profoundest impressions through the Divine revelation. "Hid his face,"