The Non-burning Burning Bush

by Terry Wane Benton

Moses's first question was, "Why doesn't this bush burn up?" (Exodus 3). He soon heard a voice from the bush and learned that God was in the bush. God told him to take off his shoes because the place he was standing on was holy ground. God revealed at the bush a mission God had for Moses to help free the Israelites from the bondage they were in in Egypt.

The conversation at the bush broke down his excuses and gave him a new purpose, mission, and destiny. Nothing would ever be the same for him since he met God at this non-burning burning bush. We like to study such events and probe why God chose this display for this meeting. God controls nature; perhaps this non-burning burning bush showed Moses that only God could do such a thing. Perhaps it has symbolic value.

God is a consuming fire and the lifegiver and sustainer in One. Both aspects of God can be seen in this non-burning bush. God can sustain His people through the fires of testing. God helped Moses accomplish his mission even though the people tested him to the core. However, such events are often portrayed in the Old Testament as a shadowy form of Jesus's cross.

The burning bush drew Moses to God, and the cross of Jesus has drawing power. Jesus said, "If I be lifted up (on a cross), I will draw all men to Myself." The burning bush became sacred ground to stand on, and at the cross, we find a different kind of holy ground on which to stand. At the burning bush, a fire of passion and mission was ignited in Moses' heart to help free the people of Israel. At the cross of Jesus, a fire of passion and mission is ignited in our hearts. We go with the desire to free people from the bondage of sin and condemnation because the love of Christ burns in our hearts, and we know that God wants us to have a mission to help save others.

It looked wrong; it was a bush on fire but not being consumed. But God was in it to show us that He can sustain us through the fires of testing. The cross of Jesus looks like the work of hateful men, but God was in it, showing the greatest love one can show another man!

Come see a tree that burns with love and is never destroyed! Come see a place for making you holy! Come see a tree from which God speaks to your heart and gives you a mission! Come! Study this tree that burns with the love of God for you!