Dramatic Moments in Scripture: Moses and the Burning Bush

Lessons for life in seven dramatic moments.

Names. Names. They identify us, don't they? Who is that person? and we tell somebody that person's name.

Some names we remember easily. Some we tend to forget. But names are important. When we name our children, we spend a lot of time, don't we, thinking about what is the right name for this child. And our lesson today is a lot about names.

There are some names from Scripture that we quickly and easily remember. Names like Moses. There are other names that none of us probably remember. I've read the Scriptures through a number of times and I was reading through Exodus and I ran across two names that I never remember sticking in my mind before. Those were the names of Shiphrah, Shiphrah, and Puah.

How many of you know who Shiphrah and Puah were? women in the scriptures. Only mentioned once. Shiphrah and Puah. Nobody?

Huh? Uh-oh. I had a hand go up. Who are Shiphrah and Puah?

Whoa! Give him a star.

When the king said, kill the children, the newborn Jewish children because the Jewish people are getting too prolific. There were two midwives who feared God more than they feared the Pharaoh and refused to abort or kill the children as they were born. They were Shiphrah and Puah. Names like Amram and Jacobed. Who were Amram and Jacobed?

after the midwives said the babies come out too quick these vigorous hebrew women deliver their babies so quickly we don't have time to kill them the king said okay we'll take care of this problem i order everyone in the land upon the birth of children jewish children boys throw them in the river if they're girls you can let them live because you know girls can't do anything to harm If they're boys, throw them in the river. But Amram and Jacobed, the parents of a guy named Moses, feared God more than they feared the Pharaoh. And they took their child and they put him in the river. And that child was protected from the evil of the Pharaoh. But all of these names, many names in Scripture, several names we'll talk about this morning, There is one name that is above every name.

That is the name I want us to leave remembering today. If you have your Bibles, let's turn to Exodus chapter 2.

Exodus chapter 2.

I want to start at verse 23.

Exodus 2, 23, which says,

During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. God heard their groaning, and He remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them. Now go over to verse 10, where God is now speaking to Moses.

Chapter 3, verse 10.

God says to Moses, So now go, I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt. But Moses said to God, Who am I? Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt? And God said, I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you.

When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain. Moses said to God, Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, The God of your fathers has sent me to you. And they ask me, What is his name? shall I tell them? God said to Moses, I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites.

I am has sent me to you. God also said to Moses, say to the Israelites, the Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob has sent me to you. This is my name forever. The name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation to generation to generation down to the year 2005. Let us pray.

Lord, this day, open our eyes that we may see. I pray in Christ's name. Amen. Joseph had died. The year was about 1800 B.C., scholars estimate.

and a new king who did not know Joseph began to reign over the people. This new king began a policy of enslavement and oppression against the Jewish people. It's not going to be the first oppression the Jews have in their history, but this would be a very difficult oppression. The oppression took the form, three different forms. The first king had the Jews conscripted into slave labor.

They were used to build two what were called store cities for the Egyptians, Pithom and Ramses. A second order of oppression and persecution was the order for the midwives to kill all the newly born male babies. It is believed that Thutmose I, Pharaoh Thutmose I of Egypt, issued this decree to kill all the newly born male babies. This is an actual obelisk that exists today in Egypt that was erected in honor of Thutmose I by the Egyptians. The Pharaoh that we believe issued the decree to kill the baby boys.

And then the king, as a third measure of oppression, ordered all parents to throw every Jewish boy that was born to them into the Nile River. Moses was hidden in the bulrushes. And there he was found by Pharaoh's daughter, a daughter named, we believe, Hachaput. Hachaput. Hachaput, another name.

She would be a powerful woman in the history of Egypt. And most scholars believe it would be in her court that Moses would be raised. At age 40, Moses murders an Egyptian who he finds beating a Hebrew. Moses, knowing his Jewish roots, when he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, could not contain himself. He attacks the Egyptian and kills this particular Egyptian.

And at age 40, Moses would flee to the land of Midian for 40 years, a fugitive, an alien in a foreign land. He would marry there, he would have children there, and he would become a shepherd of his father-in-law in an uncultivated, uncultured desert area. But then the king of Egypt would die around 1450 B.C. And the scriptures talk about the death of a king. and we believe the death of that king was Thutmose III.

Here's an engraving from Egypt that shows a picture of this pharaoh of Egypt, Thutmose III, who died basically at the end of Moses' 40 years in the land of Midian. And a new king, a new pharaoh would come to power named Amenhotep II, we believe. This is a cast engraving of Amenhotep, and there is Amenhotep's mummy. We actually have his body mummified. And Amenhotep II would be the Pharaoh of the Exodus, the Pharaoh to whom Moses would go to say, let my people go.

And Amenhotep would refuse.

but it is at the death of Thutmose the third

after this king has died that God hears the groaning of his people and he is reminded of their particular suffering and God we are told at the end of chapter 2 remembers his covenant with Abraham now I want you to go look at this with me chapter 12. And if you are willing to mark in your Bible, I suggest you mark this. Because the beginning really of our lesson today is the death of the Pharaoh, Thutmose III. God remembers His people, their suffering, and He remembers the promise He made to Abraham where God said to Abraham in Genesis 12, 2, these words, I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you. I will make your name great and you will be a blessing.

I will bless those who bless you and whoever curses you I will curse and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you. This is the great commission of the Old Testament. This is the foundation for all missions efforts because God says to Abraham, through you, through your descendants, I am going to bless everybody on earth. And through Abraham, a descendant of Abraham would be Jesus Christ through whom all people would be blessed. would be the Apostle Paul through whom all nations would be blessed as he spread the gospel.

And God is still carrying out this promise made to Abraham that he would bless all nations through Greer First Baptist Church today as we take the gospel. God is still fulfilling the promise made to Abraham that Abraham's descendants would bless all nations. Are we Abraham's descendants? Yes, we are in a spiritual sense. And God is still fulfilling this promise He made to Abraham in the Old Testament.

But when we go to Thutmose III, the death of Thutmose III, and God remembers this promise He made to Abraham to bless all nations on earth through the descendants of Abraham, God's facing a problem. His people are enslaved. They're not in a position to go out and bless all the nations. So God develops a plan to send somebody to help set his people free. And those people, that person was named Moses.

Moses, when he comes and is met by God in the desert in Midian, he asks an important question of God when God tells him his mission. God says Moses I'm going to send you back to Egypt and I'm going to send you to help set my people free. And Moses says who am I? It's an important question isn't it? Who am I?

It's a question that at some point in our lives most of us ask this question of ourselves. Who am I? What significance do I have? What is my role in life? What am I here to do?

What is my purpose? And Moses asked when God says, I'm going to send you, Moses says, but who am I? Sometimes when we ask this question, we feel our inadequacy, don't we? We see opportunities set before us by God, but sometimes we ask ourselves, Who am I to be able to carry out the mission that God has given me? Moses asked this question of God about himself.

Who am I? Moses' circumstances were these. He's now 80 years old.

he was raised in the palaces of Egypt by Hatshaput but then he murders an Egyptian at age 40 has to flee from Egypt goes to the desert of Midian where he hides out for 40 years he has fallen from the heights from position, from prominence to being a nothing, a nobody in the backwoods of the desert of Midian. He's an alien in a foreign land, in a desert, an uncultivated, uncultured area. And now he's serving as a shepherd, a lowly occupation, and worse than that, a shepherd for his father-in-law. Can you imagine having to work for your father-in-law in the lowly occupation and care for his sheep, not your own sheep, his sheep? to do his bidding, do his commands, 40 years, day in, day out, every morning.

All right, Father-in-law, what would you have me do today? Keep the sheep. Feed the sheep. Lead the sheep. Care for the sheep.

What about today? Feed the sheep. My sheep. Care for my sheep. And be careful how you care for them because they're mine.

Moses had gone from somebody to nobody.

In his own eyes and in reality, He had really become nothing. No plans. No great future. All he could see was caring for the father-in-law's sheep. Day in, day out.

His responses to God when God confronts him tell us something about Moses' view of himself. Moses viewed himself as inadequate to answer God's call and really unable to answer God's call. Listen to how Moses talks back to God when God says, I want you to go and lead my people out of Egypt. Moses says in Exodus 3.11, Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt? Exodus 3.13, Moses says to God, Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, you and they ask me what is his name then what shall I tell them he's fearful that he will be inadequate to explain who this God is exodus 4 1 Moses answered what if they do not believe me or listen to me and say the Lord did not appear to you Moses is not persuaded that he can convince the people that he has really met the living God.

Exodus 4.10, Moses said to the Lord, O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue. Don't make me go and be your mouthpiece.

Four responses where Moses focuses on his own inadequacy and his own inability. Was he inadequate? Was he unable? Have you ever felt inadequate? Have you ever felt that you did not have the ability to serve God in the way that he wanted you to?

Maybe it's because of your past. Moses was a murderer. Maybe it's because of your position in life now. You're just in a lowly job serving somebody you'd rather not be serving, doing something you'd rather not be doing. Maybe the location where you are now isn't what you had in mind for your life, stuck in some place.

Or maybe you have some circumstance that you're dealing with that has beaten you down so far that you just don't feel adequate or able to do anything for anybody, but particularly the living God. Have you ever felt inadequate and unable? I sure have. I sure have. And I imagine we all have at some point.

And you know what? The reality is when we look at what God has called us to do, we are all inadequate. awkward we are all lacking the ability the skill in and of ourselves to do what god has placed before us to do i'm going to submit to you the most important question when we encounter the living god is not who am i that's the question the culture wants us to keep asking it's all about us it's all about me it's all about my ego God says no the most important question is not who am I the most important we need to ask is God who are you what is your name and that's what Moses finally asked God what is your name now Understand, when Moses asked God, what's your name? He was asking something more specific than just telling me the letters or the word that identifies you. In the biblical thinking, a name was something that represented the character of a person.

The name was not just an identifier. It was something that showed who you were. It showed what your nature was. when we were choosing names for our children we were thinking about we wanted names that weren't just identifiers but names that said something about what we wanted our children to be. We picked a name like Joshua.

As for me and my house we will serve the Lord. That was a name not just to identify but a hope about the kind of character our son would have. like Caleb, not just to identify him, but because we remembered that Caleb who stood firm when no one else would, who said, we can take the promised land. Let's not turn and run. Let's trust in the living God.

And Caleb was of a different spirit. And even at age 85, he's still going to fight the enemies of God and take the hill country. When we named our son Caleb, we weren't just identifying him. we were giving him a name that we hoped would portray his character and his nature.

[Personal prayer concern omitted.]

But in that name, it was not just an identifier, but it was a name to identify her with her mother. And to say, my perspective, I hope you grow up to be a woman like your mom. With the character and nature that she displays.

Names tell us more than just identification. They often tell us about character and nature. And that's really when Moses asked, what is your name? He was asking God to tell him who he was. To disclose his character and his nature to Moses.

Before he set out on this mission for God. And we learn some things from the story about who God is. About his nature and his character. We know he is a compassionate God who keeps his promises. the fact that God heard the groanings of His people and He remembered the promise He made to Abraham and He decided to do something to make sure He kept His promise.

Never doubt, folks, no matter what you're going through, God doesn't always deliver us from the difficulty, but He will always deliver us through the difficulty because He is a compassionate God and He will never forget the great promises that He has made to us because that is His character and nature. He is also a holy God who finds us and calls us to service. We see His holiness displayed at the burning bush. You remember Moses is in the desert of Midian. And as he passes by, he sees an ordinary thorn bush, maybe something like a blackberry bush.

But there's something different about this bush. It is burning with a fire that never consumes the bush. And Moses says, hey, I better stop and check this out. This is a little unusual. In the ordinary moment, when Moses was tending the sheep in an ordinary place that he had been every day for 40 years, God does something extraordinary to catch Moses' attention.

And as Moses approaches the burning bush, God says, Moses, Moses, stop. Do not come any closer and take off your shoes because you are on holy ground. God said to Moses, you sinful humanity, don't get to come too close.

You got to stop and keep your distance.

And show that you submit to me and are my servant by removing your shoes, your sandals. Most servants in that day went barefoot. So God says, take off your shoes, your sandals. You're in the presence of your master. and a holy God.

And the text of Scripture tells us that Moses, upon hearing God's voice, hid his face. He didn't want to look on the face of God because he knew that his sinful humanity, if he looked on the face of God, he would likely be consumed.

Have you ever met the holy God where you knew you weren't worthy to be there? worthy to look on his face where tears began to roll down your face as you considered your sinfulness when looking at a holy God when you knew you ought to be on your face before him I was listening to a tape that Dr. Barry Corey of Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary did on this passage this week and as he began to talk about Moses encountering the holy God and the character of God tears started to run down my face as I thought about my unworthiness to be in His presence. He is a holy God. But then, He is the great I Am.

Moses said, God, if they ask me what your name is, what should I tell them? And God disclosed to Moses not just His name, but His character and nature when He said, I am what I am, or a shortened version, Yahweh, I am. That's what you tell them, Moses. You tell them, I am. What did God mean?

What was God trying to disclose to Moses about his nature and character when he said, I am. My name is Yahweh. I am.

I think he was trying to tell Moses at least these things. When God said, I am, he wanted Moses to know that God exists. He always has existed. He always will exist. God did not say, I might be or I could be.

God said, I am. I exist. Always have. Whenever you ask God His name, no matter at what point in time His name is always, I am. Because He always has been, always will be.

He is real. I am. In other words, God is not imaginary. You remember Sigmund Freud? You've heard of this guy, this psychoanalyst?

Sigmund Freud said God was a crutch for the weak.

God says I am. I am not imaginary. I am not an imaginary crutch for the weak of heart or the faint of mind. I am no fairy tale created by human beings. Instead, I am a true and living being.

I am the God who is here. I am objective reality. and by saying I am he let us know that he defines life and reality completely for all life and reality flow through him when he said I am he was telling us he is self-sustaining he is uncaused reality God needs nothing to sustain him and he needs no one to sustain him he is completely independent burning bush just burned god just burns he needs nothing to ignite him to start him to begin him or to keep him burning he is fire that always burns and he is self-defining in other words god is not a concept defined by human beings god is not someone that human beings define instead god God tells us who He is. We do not define what He is. And He is inexhaustible power.

When He said, I am, He said, I'm inexhaustible power. I just keep on burning like the bush was burning. God is a flame that never goes out. He never sleeps.

he never slumbers there is no point at which God does not know exactly where you are what you are doing what you're going through what you're experiencing the difficulties you face in life the pain you have in life the grief you have in life the disease you have in life the hurt you have in life the sorrow you have in life the disappointment you have in life God always knows sleeps, nor slumbers. There is no point. Never has been, never will be when His power goes out. You never have to call the CPW to get God started back. He's always burning.

He is unchanging in His character.

What He was, He still is. is, He will always be. What He was, He still is. What He is, He will always be. And He is unshakable. There is nothing that will overcome the great I Am. No power, no king, no army that can overthrow or defeat the great I Am.

This great I Am is not just an Old Testament figure. He's also a New Testament figure seen in Jesus Christ. Over and over in the Gospel of John, Jesus declares, I Am. Do you hear me? Over and over in the New Testament, Jesus declares, I Am.

doing so he is identifying himself as being the god the same god that moses met in the burning bush jesus said i am the bread of life he who comes to me will never go hungry and he who believes in me will never be thirsty i am the light of the world whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life i am the door whoever enters through me will be saved. I am the good shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep. I am the resurrection and the life. No one who believes in me will ever die. I am the way, the truth, and the life.

No one comes to the Father but through me. I am the vine. You are the branches. And when God told, the teachers of the law when he said before Abraham was I am do you hear that? before Abraham was I am Jesus was saying before Abraham existed I existed I have always existed because I am the great I am and he told those who followed him if you do not believe that I am If you do not believe that I am, you will indeed die in your sins.

There's only one lesson for life today.

And it's a lesson that if we don't get, no other lessons matter. And here's the lesson.

We may hear many lessons about life. but until we meet and submit to the one who is the great I am, we have not learned any lesson for life. Do you hear me? We may hear many lessons about life, but until we meet and submit to the one who is the great I am, we have not learned any lesson for life.

God does not ask us simply to know a lot of things about him. He wants us to know things about him. But what he calls us to do in his presence is to take off our shoes. Submit to him as slaves to a master. Who will always, always follow him.

Once we learn that lesson for life,

every other lesson will fall into place. But until we learn that lesson for life, no other lessons really matter. Are you willing to undertake barefoot ministry? To take off your shoes in the presence of the great I Am and give everything to Him who is all-consuming all-powerful, unshakable, never-ending. My words aren't adequate to tell you how important this is.

This week, remember, Yahweh, I am. It'll change how you live. Let's pray. Lord this day I pray

whether we know you in a personal way or don't know you in a personal way I pray that today we will know you in a new way in a deeper way in a greater way may we understand your raw consuming unshakable self-defining self-sustaining self-determining power and may we yield ourselves to the one whose name is above every name and before whom one day every knee will bow and every tongue confess. May we submit to the great I am who we have seen most clearly revealed in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in whose name I pray. Amen. Will you permit me just to remind you about two things? On the table as you came in, how many of you saw the Grammy Awards?

It's all right to admit it. Million Dollar Baby, right? Best Picture. Johnny Price. Excuse me?

I said that wrong. That's Grammys music, right? Oscars or the movies? The Oscars. Million Dollar Baby, Best Picture.

Johnny Price, who taught here a few weeks ago, wrote an editorial in an op-ed piece. He was asked by the Greenville News to write this. He didn't just write in a letter. He was requested by the Greenville News to write a review. And he has written a review on the movie Million Dollar Baby.

I highly recommend you get it and read it so you can view that movie in biblical truth. It's a great, great piece. I want to ask you to do. How many of you got let us turn? How many of you picked that up?

Okay. If you didn't pick it up, on the back table is a statement called let us turn. I'd like you to take time to read that. And starting today and for probably the next couple of weeks, if you're willing to endorse that statement after you've read it and thought about it, you'll have the opportunity to sign your name and we'll have some sheets out on the table at the back, if you're willing to affirm and have your name identified as affirming this statement, I would ask you to do that. We're hopeful to get a thousand names.

And I'm going to read this to you for those of you who don't have it. And with this, we will conclude our lesson for today.