"The Angel of the Lord appeared to him…And Moses
hid his
face; for he was afraid to look upon God."—Exod. 3:2-6
An avenue of sacred story leads to this wondrous scene.
The prelude is awakening which introduces the grand subject. In the
foreground Moses is seen. Forty years had run their course since he fled
from the court of the Egyptian king. His burning zeal and patriotic spirit
had flared too high. The fears of a suspicious monarch had been roused, and
the safety of the reputed grandson necessitated flight. His refuge was the
land of Midian. Here he long dwelt in peace, as a shepherd among shepherds.
His calm employ would give abundant leisure for communion with heaven.
Reflection would review past days. Thus profitable training schooled him for
his destined course.
God frequently ordains that early obscurity should lead
to most distinguished work. Dark hours precede the break of day. Joseph
rises from prison to sit beside the king. From the sheepfolds David is
called to occupy the throne.
The set time has now arrived. The deliverance may no
longer tarry. The discipline has ended, and the prime instrument is
prepared.
Moses, now seeking refreshment for his flock, leads them
to Horeb, the mount of God. As he journeyed, his eye is attracted to a bush.
Great indeed is his amazement as he surveys this sight! It was bright with
fire; but though it blazed, it still retained its substance. Each branch,
each fiber, was wrapped in flame; but the flame was harmless to destroy.
Each leaf was clasped in the fangs of a devouring element, but still each
leaf remained as if untouched. The fiery fury seemed to be in sport. The
bush defied the attack. It stood uninjured, as if incapable of losing
verdure.
The gazing shepherd would indeed be rapt in wonder. But
amazement deepened into awe, when in the bush he saw the form of "the Angel
of the Lord." A voice too addressed him, "Moses, Moses." He replied, "Here
am I. And the Angel said, Do not come any closer: take off your sandals, for
the place where you are standing is holy ground." (Exod. 3:5)
What constitutes the sanctity? Why is the rash approach
of mortal foot forbidden? Surely one more than man must now be revealed!
Present Deity must hallow the spot. It was so. The voice continued: "I am
the God of your 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." (Exod.
3:6)
We here learn that Jesus is "the Angel of the Lord." The
voice announced, "I am God," and the appearance exhibited a human form. Who
can be both God and man but Jesus? The Father never appeared as man. The
Holy Spirit never thus condescended. But the blessed Jesus, anticipating the
time when earth should claim Him as its child, not infrequently assumed our
form. Therefore, without hesitation, we receive "the Angel of the Lord" as
Jesus the incarnate God.
Here let a pause be conceded, which without digression
asks, What brings Jesus to the burning bush? What feelings actuate His
heart? The reply lingers not. We hear the voice: "I have surely seen the
affliction of My people, who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by
reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows; and I have come down
to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians." (Vers. 7, 8) Exquisite
tenderness melts in these words. Assurance of compassion is most sweetly
stated. Let no believer faint in the hour of trial. His feet may travel in
affliction's road. He may be called to lie on the hard couch of sorrow.
Troubles may roll over him as wave upon wave. But the eye of love ever
watches him, the heart of love ever throbs sympathetically for him, the ear
of love ever listens to his cry, the hand of love will in due season be
outstretched to help him. The patient sufferer will sing with David, "He
brought me forth also into a large place; He delivered me, because He
delighted in me." (Psa. 18:19) Thus comfort to the sorrowing is an
early lesson from the "Angel of the Lord" appearing in the burning bush.
It is, too, scarcely a digression to note, that this
appearance was deeply engraved on the patriarch's mind. His course
throughout the wilderness was not external ease. Hard were his toils, and
grievous his afflictions. But in his trials thought would fly back and take
solace from this scene. The recollection of his Lord's appearance would
check desponding fears. Strength would revive, refreshed by these sweet
memories. Thus it is wise to erect Ebenezers in the course of Christian
pilgrimage.
The closing scene shows this appearance to have been a
life-long comfort. Forty years again rolled on, and the man of God reached
the conclusion of his earthly career. Before his lips are silenced, a legacy
of precious gifts, brilliant with prophetic luster, is invoked. The
treasures of earth are ransacked to find suitable gifts for the tribe of
Joseph. But the crown of desired mercy is, "the good will of Him who dwelt
in the bush." (Deut. 33:16) Thus, when ready to depart, Moses remembers "the
Angel of the Lord," and he recalls Him as the source of blessings to the
sons of men. Here let the ready prayer ascend, Good Lord! give us grace ever
to bask under the sunshine of Your good will; Your favor is life; Your smile
is deliverance from all woe!
The vestibule is now passed, and we are prepared to seek
general instruction from this title.
I. It is obvious that the name mainly denotes that
Jesus is the channel of communication between heaven and earth. There
was a time, but it was very brief, when communion with God was free. In
Eden's happy hours charming communion was maintained. A loving child drew
near, a loving Father given a welcome. No barrier intervened; no separating
obstacle presented checks; access was unimpeded. The garden was the open
door of heaven.
But sin comes, and instantly a breach is made.
Illimitable distance now parts God and man. Can that distance be removed,
and converse be again established? "The Angel of the Lord" appears, and in
His mission there is full reply.
Restoration to this blessed communion springs directly
from His wondrous person. Jesus, as both God and man, brings heaven to
earth, and raises earth to heaven. Thus the mountains upon mountains of
obstacles are swept away, and intervening seas are annihilated. Thus a
ladder is constructed, resting on earth, and soaring above the skies.
Let each aspect of our Lord's person now be pondered in
confirmation of this truth. It cannot be kept too constantly before the
mind, that He is very God—co-equal with the Father—His partner in majesty,
in dignity, in power, in glory, in all preeminence. For a moment imagine
Jesus displaced from the throne of Deity. The whole fabric of salvation
crumbles into dust. No expiation can made, no sin pardoned, no soul saved.
But on all His acts on earth the impress of Deity is inscribed. His
footprints are Deity. The echo of His voice is Deity. The whole gospel-story
resounds, "Behold your God!" Of all the truths of revelation, none more
brightly shines than that "the Angel of the Lord" is Himself God over all,
blessed forevermore. What God is, He is. What God knows, He knows. What God
wills, He wills.
If He were only God, the separating distance would still
check communion. But all praise to His unbounded love, in the plenitude of
overflowing grace He becomes an inhabitant of earth! Without ceasing to be
God forever, with no diminishing of essential Deity, He enters the family of
man. Without the capability of sin, He is as truly man as any woman-born can
be. "As the children were partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself
likewise took part of the same." (Heb. 2:14) He humbles Himself to be "the
first-born among many brethren." (Rom. 8:29) As God, He is one with God; as
man, He is one with man. On each His hand is placed. In Him as a center they
can meet. The link is perfect, an unobstructed way unites our earth to
heaven.
II. But as "the Angel of the Lord," He especially
reveals God to the sons of men. He visits earth, not only that He may
live our life and die our death, and suffer our sufferings, and pay our
every debt, and bear our every curse, and make atonement for our every sin,
and redeem us from all iniquity, and work out for us a heaven-deserving
robe. This is indeed His glorious work, as the Savior of His people from
their sins. But He came, moreover, on a sweet embassy—to open out the
Father's heart, to tell us the Father's will, to shine before us as the
express image of His Father's person.
Let a kindred title here give light. Jesus is announced
as "the Messenger of the Covenant." Almost the concluding words of prophecy
in the ancient Church proclaim, "Behold, I will send My Messenger, and He
shall prepare the way before Me: and the Lord, whom you seek, shall suddenly
come to His temple, even the Messenger of the Covenant, whom you delight in:
behold, He shall come, says the Lord of hosts." (Mal. 3:1) It is faith's
privilege to know, that before time was, an everlasting Covenant secures
salvation. In all its terms Christ has essential part. He stipulates to God
for man. He speaks to man for God.
But not only is He its Surety, He is also its
Messenger—its Angel. He reveals its mysteries, and opens out its wonders,
and invites to the contemplation of its grace. Let no doubts here intervene.
Let all mists of hesitating ignorance disappear. Hear the grand word, "God,
who at sundry times and in diverse manners spoke in time past to the fathers
by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son." (Heb. 1:1,
2) Through Him, the Eternal Word, the counsels and purposes of heaven are
announced. We are invited to draw near and give heed. "This is My beloved
Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear Him." (Matt. 17:5) We are called to
receive the message, "Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters, and he
who has no money: come, buy and eat; yes, come, buy wine and milk without
money and without price. Why do you spend money for that which is not bread?
and your labor for that which satisfies not? Listen diligently unto Me, and
eat that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness." (Isa.
55:1, 2)
Sweet promises, also, cheer obedient hearers. "Take My
yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and you
shall find rest unto your souls." (Matt. 11:29) And again, "Behold, I stand
at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will
come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me." (Rev. 3:20) Rich is
the heritage of the listening Mary. She sat at the feet of Jesus to hear His
voice, and received the full assurance, "She has chosen that good part,
which shall not be taken away from her." (Luke 10:42)
Is not the same access open to us now? May we not at all
times and in all places cry, "Speak, Lord, for Your servant hears?" "In Him
are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." (Col. 2:3) And the
gates of this storehouse are never closed. He has come, a light into the
world, that those who follow Him should not walk in darkness, but should
have the light of life. Never is the Sun of Righteousness eclipsed. It is
faith's chosen pleasure-ground to come apart from lesser luminaries, and to
revel in the rays of this unclouded sun, and to rise above schools of
nature, science, philosophy, and to drink lessons from celestial springs of
truth. Are our souls athirst for God, for the living God, eager to know Him
as He really is? In this ardent desire we may fly to "the Angel of the
Lord." He replies, "Look unto Me." "He who has seen Me, has seen the
Father." (John 14:9) He is the light of life, and on this brightness we may
gaze. "God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in
our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the
face of Jesus Christ." (2 Cor. 4:6)
Here we may study, written as with a sunbeam, all the
Divine attributes. If we seek such discoveries from this world's school,
how blighting is our disappointment! If we ask, "What are the feelings of
God's heart?" The world presents a fearful roll, written within and without,
with "lamentations, and mourning, and woe." (Ezek. 2:10) Misery stalks up
and down the earth, wretchedness sits beside each hearth, tears are ever
flowing, sighs are ever heaving, pain is a constant visitant, apprehensions
are ever banishing repose, earthquakes and storms and floods and famine, and
wars and rumors of wars, move on with desolating speed. These dark spots
affright, and we ask, Can these be offshoots of benevolence?
"The Angel of the Lord" appears, and all is bright. He
gloriously shows that "God is love." The proof is His own mission.
"Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His
Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins." (1 John 4:10) "God so loved
the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him
should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16) "The Angel of the
Lord" exhibits Himself as sent by the Father, to rescue immortal souls from
misery, to crown them with eternal bliss, to wash out in His blood their
every sin, to robe them with unfading righteousness, to fill them with all
the fullness of God, to make them sharers of all the glory of heaven
forever. Thus He illustrates the glorious truth, "God is love."
Similarly He commends every attribute. All are
conspicuously glorified in Him. Justice is honored; all that is asked
is fully given; not one debt remains uncancelled. Much is demanded. Jesus
paid all. Truth sits triumphant on its highest throne, not one word
from its lips fails, not one promise is unfulfilled, not one threat is put
aside. It is declared that without holiness no man can see the Lord; that
none but the sanctified can sit down at the marriage-supper of the Lamb.
"The Angel of the Lord" assures us, that for all this blessedness there is
full provision, that a new creation shall be established in the hearts of
the redeemed, that "old things shall pass away, that all things shall become
new." Thus "the Angel of the Lord" is the channel of communication between
heaven and earth, and gives full manifestation of the Father's essence.
Angel of the Lord! who will not adore You as the way to
heaven, and the source of all saving light! We beseech You to enlighten us
more and more, to sanctify us daily by Your truth; "Your word is truth;" to
fulfill in us Your blessed declaration, "O righteous Father, the world has
not known You: but I have known You, and these have known that You have sent
Me. And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it; that the
love with which You have loved Me may be in them, and I in them." (John
17:25, 26) When other teachers would perplex, mislead, beguile; shine forth
in all the luster of heaven's own light! From our inmost souls we profess,
Angel of the Lord! "we know that You are a Teacher sent from God"—to none
other will we go; "You have the words of eternal life."