A wonder before the Gospels
The Burning Bush
On the far side of the desert a bush blazes and is not consumed, and out of the fire comes a voice. Here God gives Moses his commission and reveals the name that Jesus would one day take as His own.
“And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.”Exodus 3:2
What happened
What happened. Moses had fled Egypt and settled to the quiet work of keeping the flock of Jethro his father in law. In Exodus 3 he led the flock to the backside of the desert, to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush, and Moses saw that the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. He turned aside to see this great sight, why the bush was not burnt. When the LORD saw that he turned aside, God called to him out of the midst of the bush and said, Moses, Moses. He answered, Here am I. God warned him, Draw not nigh hither, put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. Then He declared, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God. When Moses asked by what name to answer Israel, God said, I AM THAT I AM, and, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.
What it revealed
What it revealed. The fire that burns without consuming shows a God who is present yet never diminished, holy yet drawing near. He commissions a reluctant shepherd not because Moses is able but because He Himself will deliver His people. The command to remove the shoes teaches that His presence makes common ground holy, that access to God is on His terms and not our own. Above all the name I AM THAT I AM reveals a God who simply is, self existing, dependent on nothing, the ground of all being. He is not a local deity among Egypt's many gods but the eternal LORD who remembers His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and who has heard the cry of the oppressed. The bush that is not burnt becomes a picture of Israel itself, afflicted in the furnace of Egypt yet not destroyed, because the God who is in the fire is with them.
How it points to Christ
How it points to Christ. The name given at the bush is the name Jesus deliberately claims. In John 8:58 He tells the crowd, Before Abraham was, I am, and they took up stones to stone Him, for they understood He was taking the divine name to Himself. This connection is explicit in the Gospel, not a mere echo, for John repeatedly places I am upon the lips of Jesus. The eternal One who spoke from the fire is the same Word who was in the beginning with God and who was God. Many Christian readers have also seen in the unconsumed bush a picture of the incarnation, deity dwelling in frail humanity without destroying it, though this is a traditional typological reading rather than a claim the New Testament states outright. What Scripture does state plainly is that the God of the burning bush stood among us in Christ, and the ground where He walked was holy.
Questions people ask
Did Moses actually see God at the bush?
The text says the angel of the LORD appeared in the flame, and that Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God (Exodus 3:2, 3:6). He encountered God's real presence and voice, though he did not gaze on the fullness of God's glory, which Scripture elsewhere says no man can see and live.
Why did Jesus say Before Abraham was, I am?
In John 8:58 Jesus takes to Himself the very name God gave at the burning bush, I AM (Exodus 3:14). His hearers grasped the claim and reached for stones. It is an explicit assertion of His eternal deity, not a coincidence of words.