THE BURNING BUSH by John Nevins Andrews

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Dec 2, 1880

THE BURNING BUSH.

By John Nevins Andrews

WHEN the angel of God gave Moses his commission to deliver Israel, he chose a most significant form in which to manifest his presence. Moses had led his flock to the foot of Horeb, and here the angel of God met him. He saw before him a bush enveloped in a flame of fire, yet not a twig nor a leaf was consumed. The bush stood in the midst of the flame of fire as though it were in its natural element. The fire preserved, rather than devoured, the bush. So wonderful a sight caused Moses to turn aside to see it. No sooner did the angel of God perceive that his attention was arrested, than he bade him not to approach nearer, but even to remove his shoes, for the very spot on which he stood was holy ground. See the record in Ex. 3.

This wonderful manifestation was, beyond all doubt, chosen for a wise and important reason. A bush burning with fire, and yet not consumed, was a most significant sight. Both the righteous and the wicked are represented in the Bible as having to meet the fire. But there are two reasons why we cannot understand this as referring to the wicked. 1. The angel of God could not properly stand as the representative of the wicked. 2. When the wicked are cast into the fire it is for the very purpose that they may be consumed. But the righteous are indeed most fitly represented by this emblem of a bush on fire without consuming. The angel of God could fitly represent the people of God. The very words that he uttered relative to the affliction of his people showed that this was what he had now specially under his attention and care. The Bible does likewise speak of the righteous according to this very figure, thus, Isa. 43:2: "When thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned." How wonderfully appropriate was the burning bush to represent the exact situation of the church of God. The iron furnace by which their servitude in Egypt is so often represented in the Bible did even then glow with intense heat, yet the people of God in the midst of it were preserved from ruin. The flames were fierce, but in the midst of them they flourished as though it had been their natural element.

The burning bush is a fit representation of the church of God in all ages. The fire has had power to burn off the bands with which they had been bound by Satan, and by worldly influences. But it has not destroyed them. They have lived in the fire, yet have never ceased to live. Individual members have been destroyed by the malice of the enemy, but God has had some one else to take their place. Experience shows that the people of God can bear the fire of affliction, but cannot bear worldly prosperity, only in the smallest measure. So God preserves his people in this fierce element till the time of their deliverance. Then they shall come forth out of the flame without the smell of fire upon them.

J. N. A.