Exodus Chapter 3 Verses 1-5 

:1 “Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb. 2 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. 3 And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. 4 And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I. 5 And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.”

Moses was forty years old when he fled Egypt and he was eighty years old when he began to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt.  Therefore, Moses had been keeping the flock of Jethro his father in law, for about forty years.  When Moses fled from Pharaoh, he was learned in all the wisdom of Egypt and was mighty in words and in deeds.  He had been the adopted son of Pharaoh’s daughter.  He thought at that time that the children of Israel would have understood that it was he that God would use to lead them out of bondage.  Now after forty years of training in keeping a flock of sheep, we will notice a drastic change in Moses attitude and self confidence.   

Sheep in the scripture are often associated as a type of the elect family of God.  There are a lot of similarities between the actions of sheep and God’s born again children.  It was fitting that Moses keep a flock of sheep because God was going to direct him to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt and through their wilderness journeying for forty years.   

“Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb.”  Every God called pastor must lead the flock of God over which God has made him overseer.  He is not to drive the flock but to lead them.  Sheep are not easily driven for they will scatter.  However, sheep can be led.  Likewise, God’s children are not easily driven for they will scatter.  They can, however, be led to serve the Lord.   

Moreover, when serving the Lord, we will from time to time come to the mountain of God.  We do not always dwell upon the mountaintop, but thanks be to God, that we are sometimes blessed to dwell in the mountain of his kingdom blessings.   

“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.”  There are numerous typical word pictures of Christ and of his works.  This is in keeping with what the Lord said in John 5:39 “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.”  The scriptures are a continual testimony of Christ and we should continually be searching for Christ throughout the scriptures.   

The word “fire” and the term “flame of fire” are frequently used in the scriptures to represent the judgment of God.  The bush in the above scripture is a figure of Jesus Christ.  The fire is a symbol of God’s judgment.  When Christ suffered and died on the cross of Calvary, he did so under the judgment of God for the sins of God’s people.  While the fire consumed the sins of the children of God, Christ was not consumed by the judgment but after three days and nights he arose victorious over sin, death, Satan, hell, and the grave.  Neither Christ was consumed by that judgment nor were the elect children of God consumed by that judgment.   

“And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.  And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.  And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.”  As you would have suspected, Moses was quite curious to see this supernatural phenomenon.  No doubt he wondered how a bush could burn with fire and the bush not be consumed.  He very quickly found out as God called to him out of the midst of the bush.  Thus, we are not left to speculate that the bush represented God or Christ.   

God called Moses by name, just as he calls his elect children by name.  He knows us all personally and has a name for each of us.  Salvation from sin is a personal salvation to each of member of the elect family of God.  God stopped the path of Moses by telling him to “Draw not nigh hither.”  There are some things that God had to do for us and that we cannot help or assist in.  Salvation from sin is one of those things.  Next, God told Moses to “put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.”  Similarly, when a child of God comes to the realization that Christ alone put away his sins, he is on holy ground.  As Moses was instructed to put off his shoes, so we should put off any man-crafted devices to help God in his work of saving his people from their sins.   The feet have great sensitivity.  We should be satisfied to feel after God and his work of salvation.