Man’s situation in Exodus 3 is much different from that in Genesis 3. In Exodus 3 the cursed thorn becomes the vessel of God, and the flame of fire becomes one with the thorn-bush. Through redemption, signified by the lamb slain and offered to God for fallen man (Gen. 4:4), the curse has been taken away, and the fire has become one with the thorn.
The reality of this picture is seen in Galatians 3:13 and 14. Verse 13 says, “Christ has redeemed us out of the curse of the law, having become a curse on our behalf.” This means that through the death of Christ on the cross the curse has been taken away. Verse 14 continues, “That the blessing of Abraham might come to the nations in Jesus Christ, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” Therefore, according to these verses the curse has been taken away, and the Spirit, the fire, has been given to us.
Acts 2:3 and 4 indicate that the outpoured Spirit is symbolized by tongues of fire. This outpouring of the Spirit as fire was predicted by the Lord Jesus in Luke 12:49: “I came to cast fire on the earth, and what can I desire if it has already been kindled?” On the day of Pentecost the promised Spirit, given through the redemption of Christ which took away the curse, came upon the disciples in the form of fire. This fire no longer excludes us from God; instead, it is the flame of God’s visitation.
Considering this in the light of the picture in Exodus 3, we see that the thorn and the flame are one. In Genesis 3 fallen man was under the curse signified by the thorn. There the flame of fire excluded this fallen man from God as the tree of life. In Exodus 3, however, the thorn-bush, which can be considered a type of vessel, and the fire are one. In Genesis 3 the fire keeps the man who is under the curse away from the tree of life, away from God as the source of life. But in Exodus 3 the flame of fire visits the thorn-bush and indwells it. This indicates that through the redemption of Christ the very God Himself, the holy One whose holiness excludes sinners from His presence, can come to visit us, to stay with us, and even to dwell in us. Hallelujah, Christ has taken away the curse and has cast down to earth the fire of the Holy Spirit! Now that the curse has been taken away, we are no longer excluded from God as life. Praise the Lord that the excluding flame of Genesis 3 has become the visiting and indwelling flame of Exodus 3! Now the once-cursed thorn can become God’s dwelling place.
Those who have been Christians for years may sometimes be tempted to regard themselves as rather good or holy. If you have followed the Lord and have experienced some success in your Christian life, you may secretly consider yourself an outstanding “saint,” one who is more spiritual than other believers. However, we should realize that we are still a bush full of thorns. Do not think that you yourself are so marvelous, and do not appreciate too highly those you may admire. We all are still a thorn-bush. I am very much aware of the fact that I am a thorn-bush.
If we are like Moses, the man of God, we shall have a twofold consciousness. On the one hand, we shall be conscious of the fact that we are thorn-bushes; on the other hand, we shall be conscious of God’s glory dwelling within us as a burning flame. Moses became a man of God, but he still considered himself a thorn-bush. In the same principle, God’s glory dwelt among the children of Israel and made them His glorious dwelling place, but they were still a thorn-bush, even a corporate thorn-bush.
As an individual thorn-bush, Moses was redeemed, sanctified, and transformed. Some may wonder what ground we have to say that Moses was transformed. Although the words “transformed” or “transformation” are not found in the writings of Moses, the books written by him nonetheless reveal the fact that Moses was transformed. We have pointed out that, according to Deuteronomy 33:1, Moses was a man of God. This indicates transformation. Apart from the process of transformation, how could Moses, a man so strong and active in his natural life, become a man of God? Only through transformation could he become such a person.
One example of Moses’ transformation was his experience with the Lord on the mountaintop. After Moses had been with the Lord on the mountain for forty days, his face was shining because the flame of God’s holy fire had been burned into him. Moses was like steel that is thrust into fire and kept there until the steel glows with the fire that has been burned into its very essence. When Moses was on the mountaintop, God’s glory was burned into his being. When he came down from the mountain, his face was shining. Thus, “when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone” (34:30). Was that not a sign of transformation? It was a sure indication that Moses was being transformed. According to his training in the palace, Moses could have become an expert in all the Egyptian knowledge. But because he had been redeemed, called, sanctified, and transformed, instead he eventually became a man of God.
Certain essential elements or themes can be traced throughout the Scriptures. Without a proper understanding of these matters, it will be impossible for us to know the Bible adequately. These crucial elements include redemption, sanctification, and transformation. Moses was redeemed, sanctified, and transformed; we today are redeemed and we are being sanctified and transformed. Moses became a man of God, and we too are becoming men of God. According to the revelation of the New Testament, as believers in Christ, we are even becoming God-men, those who are one with the Triune God and mingled with Him. The day is coming when we all shall be men of God in reality.
In the Lord’s recovery we do not care for a large number; we care for the genuine experience of transformation. I am happy that we are under the divine burning, the burning that transforms us and makes us dispositionally different from the worldly people. Because the element of God is being burned into our nature, we are becoming men of God. This is what it means to be a burning thorn-bush in an individual sense. According to our nature, we are still a thorn-bush, but according to God’s burning within us, we are transformed people. On the one hand, we are a thorn-bush; on the other hand, we are men of God.