Moses also had to realize his inability (4:10-13). He came to fully realize that in himself he was not the right person to answer God’s call. Perhaps during the forty years in the wilderness he even experienced failure in shepherding the flock. God sovereignly might have created certain circumstances which Moses was not able to overcome. All this was designed to help Moses realize his inability.
At the time God called him, Moses considered himself good for nothing but death. Remember, when God appeared to Moses in chapter three, Moses was eighty years of age. In Psalm 90, written by Moses, he says, “The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away” (v. 10). This indicates that, at the age of eighty, Moses considered himself ready for death. When God called Moses, Moses might have said within his heart, “Lord, why didn’t You use me when I was forty? Then I was capable, active, and fresh. But now I am ready to die. I am eighty years old, and the time of my death is at hand. Nevertheless, here You are coming to me and asking me to do something. It seems to me that You are coming at the wrong time. Lord, I am no longer capable or useful. I am just an old man good for death.” This was Moses’ feeling about himself when God came to him to call him to deliver the children of Israel from Egypt.
In 1950 I gave a message along these lines to the young people in Manila. The next day, the young people began to pretend that they were aged and ready to die. Although many of them were still teen-agers, they acted as if they were eighty years old. This behavior, however, lasted only a few days. If we are old, we are old, and if we are young, we are young. There is no point in pretending or performing. We can only be what we are. If you are like Moses smiting the Egyptian, then that is where you are. And if you are like Moses at the age of eighty, then that is where you are. One day we all shall reach the point where we consider ourselves good only for death. Everyone called by the Lord must pass through a period of time in which he loses his confidence, realizes his inability, and considers himself good only for death. Eventually, we shall have the same realization about ourselves that Moses had at the age of eighty.
At the very time Moses considered himself ready for death, God came in to charge him to be a sent one (3:10, 15). God was the sending One, the Initiator, and Moses was to be the sent one to carry out the wishes of the sending One. To emphasize this point, the word “send” is used a number of times in chapters three and four. In His calling of Moses, God seemed to be saying, “Moses, I, the Lord, am sending you. You are not to be the sender or the initiator. You are to be the sent one to carry out My will.” In a forthcoming message we shall see that when Moses confronted Pharaoh, he did nothing on his own. On the contrary, he acted as the Lord’s sent one, doing whatever God charged him to do.
To be a sent one means that we do nothing by ourselves. Instead, we simply carry out the wishes of the one who has sent us. To be a sent one is blessed and brings us fully into rest. In order to be a sent one, we must pass through a great deal of training and discipline. A number of times I have sent people to do some specific task for me. Although they said they were clear about what I wanted them to do, they eventually did things according to themselves. This indicates that it takes training to be a sent one.
Before God spoke to Moses, He showed him the sign of a burning thorn-bush. He “appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a thorn-bush” (v. 2, Heb.), a bush that burned with fire without being consumed. Seeing this burning thorn-bush, Moses said, “I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the thorn-bush is not burnt” (v. 3, Heb.). The thorn-bush represented Moses himself. This indicates that everyone who is called of God must realize that he is just a thorn-bush with a fire burning within him and that this fire is God Himself. Although God desires to burn within us and upon us, He will not burn us; that is, He will not use us as fuel.
According to Genesis 3, thorns signify the curse that came because of sin. This indicates that, as God’s called one, Moses was a sinner under God’s curse. Moses was a thorn-bush, not a cedar of Lebanon.
The fire burning within the thorn-bush signifies the manifestation of God’s holiness. Genesis 3:24, the first mention of fire in the Bible, speaks of “a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.” This fire appeared after man fell by eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This flame excluded man from the tree of life; it kept him from even touching it. In Exodus 3 fire is mentioned again. Here the fire does not exclude man from anything; rather, it indicates that the glory of God’s holiness should burn within Moses and upon him, even though he is a thorn-bush, a sinner under God’s curse. How is it possible for God’s holiness to burn within us? This is possible only through God’s redemption, which fulfills the requirements of God’s holiness. Therefore, today God’s holiness no longer excludes us from the tree of life; it burns within us, although we once were sinners under God’s curse. The holy fire is now one with the cursed sinner and even burns upon him.
The fact that the thorn-bush burned without being consumed indicates that the glory of God’s holiness should burn within us, but that we should not be exhausted. If a servant of God is exhausted, it may mean that he is using his own energy to do something for God. God does not want to use our natural life as fuel. He will burn only with Himself as fuel. We are simply to be a thorn-bush with the divine fire burning within it.
I believe Moses never forgot the sight of that burning thorn-bush. The memory of that vision must have worked within him to constantly remind him not to use his natural strength or ability. Through the sign of the burning thorn-bush, God impressed Moses that he was a vessel, a channel, through which God was to be manifested. It is not easy to learn that we are simply a bush for the manifestation of God. Throughout the years I have been learning one lesson: to work for God without using the natural life as the fuel, but letting God burn within me.
In Mark 12:26 the Lord Jesus refers to the bush of Exodus 3:2. In his translation Darby adds the words “the section of” before “bush”; the American Standard Version adds “the place concerning.” The record of the burning thorn-bush is to be a continuing memorial and testimony to God’s called ones. It bears witness to the fact that we can be nothing other than thorn-bushes.
In these days we have seen that all the saints can be apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherds and teachers. However, if we would function as such gifts to the Body of Christ, we must first be burning thorn-bushes, those, like Moses, who have no confidence in themselves and who do not burn for God according to their natural energy.
From the time God called Moses, Moses no longer had any confidence in himself. When others rebelled against him, he did not argue with them; he went to God and fell down before Him. In doing so, Moses showed that he was a burning thorn-bush. As Moses prostrated himself before God, God came forth as flaming fire, manifesting Himself from within Moses as the thorn-bush.
May this record of the thorn-bush make such a deep impression upon us that we never forget it. In ourselves, we are nothing; we are mere thorn-bushes. But God still treasures us and desires to manifest Himself as a flame of fire from within us. We should treasure His burning by never putting any trust in what we are according to the natural man. Our natural man with its energy, strength, and ability must be terminated and forgotten. Our ability and strength mean nothing. What can a thorn-bush do? Nothing. Although you may consider yourself to be capable, you will eventually realize that you are merely a useless thorn-bush. We all must have such a view of ourselves. Thank God that He visits us, stays with us, and burns upon us. Although the divine flame burns within us and upon us, we ourselves are not consumed.
After God called Moses and sent him to Pharaoh, it was not Moses but God Himself who did everything and who was glorified. Moses had no weapon; he had only a rod. With that rod he went to Pharaoh at the word of the Lord, and God did everything. Therefore, the glory was manifested not for Moses, but always for God. Within Moses and upon him the glory of God was manifested.
We all should be called ones like Moses. Sooner or later, we all shall behold the very sight Moses saw in chapter three of Exodus, the vision of a bush that burns without being consumed. This vision needs to be stamped upon our being. Then whenever we touch the work of God or the service of the church, we shall be reminded that we are nothing more than a thorn-bush. The day is coming when we all shall realize this.