The Fire of God: Fire in the Bush – Fused Together
The Fire of God:
Fire in the Bush – Fused Together
Scripture: Colossians 1:24-29
Major Matthew Riley
Administrator
Atlanta Adult Rehabilitation Center
Lessons in the Fire
Moses learned some incredible lessons from his experience with the burning bush. One, is that the fire dwelt in the bush. What was Yahweh trying to show him? That the bush was at the mercy of the fire? We have already established that Yahweh sets Himself forth by figures and likenesses. One of His favorites seems to be fire. He came to Israel as a fire at night in the wilderness, He dwelt between the wings of the cherubim as fire, and on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Ghost came upon the disciples He came as cloven tongues of fire. The very presence of Yahweh is fire. Yahweh wants Moses to experience His presence like never before.
Yahweh’s presence dwelt in the bush. It wasn’t the bush, and the bush wasn’t the fire but the presence of Yahweh. The two were fused together. Two very different things. Said another way, if you put an iron in a fire and blow the old-fashioned bellows, soon you have fire in the iron. You do not have loss of either personality. The iron is still the iron, and the fire is still the fire, but you have them fused together in experience. If the fire goes out of the iron, you still have the two.
One of the things Yahweh showed Moses and us as well, is that He enters the human heart, fuses His divine uncreated personality with a created personality. You, I and Yahweh become one. The fire of Yahweh’s presence in the breast of a man, makes man a little like Yahweh. Yet I am not Yahweh and Yahweh is not man. Yahweh is Yahweh and man is man, but our personalities are united. And so ….
The Fire Transfigured the Bush
The bush was only a scrub bush, an ordinary bush! Have you ever stopped to think how ordinary it was? All the fungi, bugs, larvae, and worms all perished in the fire. Nothing can withstand raw fire – all life dies in the flame. There are evils within a person that can stand the presence of revival meetings, church services, and prayer meetings. But no sin can stand under the presence of the indwelling God.
Another lesson Moses learned is that God takes that which is ordinary and transforms it, giving it meaning and purpose. This flame transformed an ordinary scrub bush and made it the most famous bush in all history! Yet its glory was not its own. People talk about this bush; artists paint this bush, and we preach about this bush. Why? Because it was a great bush? No, because what was in it was a great fire!
The Fire Protected the Bush
As I already alluded to, no critters, goats, hawks, or anything of that nature could come close to that bush without being burned up. If the fire dwelt in that bush, the bush was safe.
The lesson that Moses learned should be a simple lesson for you and me. If the fire abides in us, we are protected by Yahweh. Think about Job – the devil couldn’t touch him. Yahweh had a hedge of protection around the man of God. It was only when Yahweh allowed it that Satan could test Job. This was all for Yahweh’s glory. The same holds true for us as well. When the fire is in us, the church, we are safe by the power of the Holy Ghost. Lastly,
The Fire Made the Bush Beautiful
I do not think anyone would have ever brought this bush home as a plant or something to grow in their yard or give it as a gift to someone. It had no beauty of its own, yet, with the fire that dwelt in it, it was now beautiful because it was glowing! The beauty of God was in that bush.
We are called to be burning bushes! Someone out there is looking for someone who looks like Yahweh. Someone who has fire in him.
Unlovely Christianity has driven more people away from the church than anything. Until Christian people meet Yahweh in the fire and get His glow in their hearts, the Kingdom of God will remain as it is. Our calling is to be a burning bush. Matthew 5:14 says we are the “light of the world … nobody lights a lamp and puts it under a basket …”
- We have enough promoters of the gospel; we need prophets.
- We have enough organizers; we need men and women who met God in the fire.
- We have enough entertainers to draw crowds; we need people in whom the fire burns.
The bush became beautiful in the fire. Moses wrote, many years later, Psalm 90 “Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us.” I wonder, was he was thinking about the bush? The bush was beautiful because Yahweh dwelt in it. Yahweh is holiness! Holiness is nothing less than a holy God dwelling in a human heart. The bush had no purity of its own. When the fire went out in that bush, no doubt before the next day, the bugs were back. Without the fire dwelling in our hearts, the bugs (sin) will come back. Yahweh wants us to be holy, and where Yahweh is there is holiness. Where Yahweh isn’t, there is just us.
Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me,
All His wonderful passion and purity.
Oh, Thou Spirit divine, all my nature refine,
Till the beauty of Jesus be seen in me.
May it be so in our lives.
Our Corporate Prayer
Dear Father, I place myself in Your hands to be Your burning bush. Please burn away anything that doesn't belong. Let me know that any power that is there is Your power in me, that I cannot create a single spark without You. But when you kindle a spark in me, let me burn for You, let me be ablaze for You and like that burning bush, let me be a witness for You in a world that is a wilderness. Speak through me, dear Lord, as You spoke through the bush. I am Your servant because I can be nothing more and I dare be nothing less. In Jesus' name. Amen.
Thinking It Through
Major Riley said that the fire transfigured, protected, and made the bush beautiful. In what ways has the Holy Spirit worked that way in your life? Is He at work in you now?
Our Worldwide Prayer Meeting
South America East Territory
Notable Quotables
Spirit filled souls are ablaze for God. They love with a love that glows. They serve with a faith that kindles. They serve with a devotion that consumes. They hate sin with fierceness that burns. They rejoice with a joy that radiates. Love is perfected in the fire of God. - Samuel Chadwick
A song we don't hear much anymore but with a message we very much need in these days: "Hallelujah! Send the glory, revive us again!" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VN4N7hOMvTk
We would appreciate any feedback and/or suggestions on how to improve these devotionals. Please email comments to: SpiritualLifeDevelopment@uss.salvationarmy.org or by going to our website: https://southernusa.salvationarmy.org/uss/spiritual-life-development.
We would love to hear from you.
Lt. Colonel Allen Satterlee
Territorial Spiritual Life Development Officer/THQ Chaplain
USA Southern Territory