Advent Midweek I:
“Symbols of Salvation: Old Testament Christmas”[1]
December 1, 2021
Text: Ex. 3:1-14; John 15:1-8
You
know that this is no mere angel appearing to Moses in the burning bush. This is THE Angel of the LORD, the Second
Person of the Holy Trinity, the eternal Son of the Father, the pre-incarnate
Christ. This is the λόγος, the eternal
Word of God. The Hebrew word translated
here as “angel,” מלאך (or in Greek, for that matter, άγγελος), simply
means “messenger.” In the Scriptures, it
can refer to the majestic spiritual beings we usually call “angels;” or, it can
refer to human messengers, as, for example, the Prophet Malachi, “My
Messenger,” or as it does in reference to the pastors of Churches in Revelation
(Rev. 2-3). But above all, it applies to
the Word that was in the beginning, the Word that was with God, the Word that
was, is, and ever shall be God with the Father and the Holy Spirit (cf. John
1:1).
That
Word, who is God, comes down to inhabit a particular bush in the
wilderness of Horeb, Sinai, the Mountain of God. In the same region, there was Moses out in
the field, keeping watch over his father-in-law Jethro’s flocks. And the Angel of the LORD appeared to him
there, a Flame of Fire in the midst of the bush. Moses turned aside to see this great sight,
how the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed.
Is
this not the very image of the incarnation?
Of the infinite, holy, almighty God coming into finite, common, mortal
human flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary, yet not consuming that flesh? This teaches us at least two very important
things about the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. First, it teaches us about His essence as one
Person with two Natures. As the fire
came to inhabit the bush, becoming one with the bush, interpenetrating the
bush, so God the Son came to inhabit flesh in His conception by the Holy Spirit
of the Virgin Mary, such that His divine nature, begotten of the Father from
eternity, now takes on a human nature, conceived and born in time. The two become one, not in such a way that
they are like two distinct boards glued together, but having no real
communion. Nor in such a way that they
are mixed into some new substance. But
the divine nature interpenetrating the human nature, in such a way that there
is one Lord Jesus Christ, who is both God and man.
Second,
that the bush is burning, but not consumed, teaches us why the Son of
God came down into our flesh in the first place. That is, not to destroy us. But to save us. The flame should have burned the bush to a
crisp. But it does not. God should annihilate us with a great
conflagration in the act of sending us sinners into the eternal flames of
hell. But He does not. Our God, who is elsewhere described as “a
consuming fire” (Deut. 4:24; 9:3; Heb. 12:29; ESV), clothes Himself in our
substance, our flesh, that He might dwell among us without consuming us. That He may be with us, bone of our bones,
and flesh of our flesh, to save us. That
we may have access to Him and to His salvation.
Just as God heard the cries of His people Israel, and saw their
oppression at the hands of the Egyptians, and so came down into the bush to
grant deliverance, so our God hears our cries from our bondage to sin and
death, and sees our oppression at the hands of the devil, and so comes down in
the flesh of Jesus, to rescue us, and lead us out of our bondage and
condemnation, into the joy and freedom of His salvation.
He
does that, of course, by His taking our bondage, our sin and death and
condemnation, upon Himself, and bearing it all the way to the cross. This is why the eternal Son of God, the Word
of our Father, became flesh. To suffer
and die. For you and for me. In our place.
Our Passover Lamb. The Sacrifice
of Atonement. The blood that marks our
doors, so that the angel of death passes over.
As magnificent a mystery as it is that God became flesh, not to consume
us, but to save us, it is an even more wondrous mystery that He accomplishes
that salvation when this God of flesh and blood dies. Of course, God cannot die. He must be a flesh and blood man to die. But He must be God for His death to be
sufficient for all the sins of all the sinners of all time, including you. God became man for this very purpose. As Luther famously said, “The manger and the
cross are never far apart.”
And
because He is God, the sacrifice of His flesh is, indeed, sufficient. And that is to say, your sins are forgiven,
and you are free. And the proof of it
is, Christ Jesus is risen from the dead.
In His flesh and blood, born of the Virgin Mary. God is still a man, for us men and for our
salvation.
Now,
there is much more to be said about His appearance to Moses in the burning
bush. But I would like to conclude
tonight’s meditation with two more points that have direct bearing on our own
life in Christ. And they both have to do
with naming. First, from the bush, God
calls Moses by name: “Moses, Moses” (Ex. 3:4). And even as He exhorts him to take off his
filthy sandals, He invites Moses by name into His presence on Holy Ground. And second, He bestows His own Name upon
Moses: “I AM WHO I AM… Say this to the people of Israel, ‘I AM has sent
me to you’” (v. 14). That is, YHWH. Thus He reveals Himself intimately.
When
Jesus unites Himself to the water of our Baptism, He calls us by
name. And even as He washes away the
dirt and grime, the filth of our sins, he invites us by name into His
presence, in fact, to be in Him, here on Holy Ground, in His
Church and at His Altar, where He dwells with us. And He bestows His Name on us, baptized as we
are in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. And then He speaks a promise that connects
the whole thing with this encounter at the burning bush. He says, “And behold, I AM with you
always, to the end of the age” (Matt. 28:20; emphasis added). The Greek is even more poetic in terms of
word order. We could, to get the sense
of it, translate it this way: “I, with you, AM.” And there is His presence, tucked right into
the revelation of His Name. That is,
where His Name is, there He is, present with you.
The
flame is in the midst of the bush, yet the bush is not consumed. Jesus is the Flame. “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12). Jesus is the bush. “I am the vine” (John 15:5). And you are in Jesus… “you are the
branches.” You abide in Him, and He
in you. Because His Name is in you. And in all of this, you are not
consumed. You are saved. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
[1] The theme and a number of the
elements in this sermon are taken from Aaron A. Koch, Symbols of Salvation:
Foretelling Christ’s Birth (St. Louis: Concordia, 2021).
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