Scripture Reading: Exo. 3:2-4; 1 Tim. 3:15-16; Luke 12:49; Acts 2:2-4 3:2And the Angel of Jehovah appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a thornbush. And when he looked, there was the thornbush, burning with fire; but the thornbush was not consumed. 3And Moses said, I must turn aside now and see this great sight, why the thornbush does not burn up. 4And when Jehovah saw that he had turned aside to look, God called to him out of the midst of the thornbush and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here I am.
Ⅰ
Because of God's redemption, the excluding flame of Genesis 3 has become the visiting and indwelling flame of Exodus 3—Gal. 3:13-14; Rom. 12:11; 2 Tim. 1:6-7:
A
The thorns in Genesis 3 indicate that fallen man is under a curse—vv. 17-18.
B
Sin brought in the curse, and the curse brought in the excluding flame of fire—v. 24.
C
In Exodus 3 the cursed thorn becomes the vessel of God, and the flame of fire becomes one with the thornbush—vv. 2-4:
１
Through redemption, signified by the lamb and 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.
２
The redeeming Christ has taken away the curse, and the Spirit as the fire has been given to us—Gal. 3:13-14; Luke 12:49; Acts 2:3-4.
D
The record of the burning thornbush is to be a continuing memorial and testimony to God's called ones—Deut. 33:1, 16; Mark 12:26.
Ⅱ
The church is a corporate thornbush burning with the God of resurrection:
A
God's ultimate goal is to obtain a dwelling place, to build up His habitation—John 1:14; 2:19; 1 Cor. 3:16; Rev. 21:3, 22.
B
The church is the Triune God burning within a redeemed humanity; this is the divine economy—Luke 12:49; Acts 2:3-4; 1 Tim. 3:15-16:
１
The children of Israel, typifying today's church, were a corporate thornbush, who were redeemed (Exo. 13:14-16), sanctified (v. 2), transformed, and built up:
ａ
Do not say that the church is poor, low, or dead; the more you say this, the more you put yourself under a curse, but if you praise the Lord for the church life and speak well concerning it, you will put yourself under God's blessing:
⑴
"He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel"—Num. 23:21.
⑵
"How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel"—24:5.
⑶
"Blessed is he that blesseth thee, and cursed is he that curseth thee"—9b.
ｂ
In spite of all the division, sin, confusion, abuse of gifts, and heretical teaching in the church in Corinth, the apostle still called it the church of God, because the divine and spiritual essence which makes the assembled believers the church of God was actually there—1 Cor. 1:2.
２
Being a corporate thornbush as God's dwelling place today is a matter altogether in resurrection:
ａ
The church is "Christly," "resurrectionly," and heavenly— cf. Gen. 2:22; Eph. 1:19-23; 2:6.
ｂ
Resurrection is the life pulse and lifeline of the divine economy—1 Cor. 15:12.
ｃ
Our labor for the Lord in his resurrection life with His resurrection power will never be in vain, but will result in the fulfilling of God's eternal purpose through the preaching of Christ to sinners, the ministering of life to the saints, and the building up of the church with the experiences of the processed Triune God as gold, silver, and precious stones—1 Cor. 15:58; 3:12.