some intervals of comparative rest. And, considering that all the powers of the world have been confederate against it, we may well be amazed that it has not been utterly consumed. But it has endured the fiery trial to this hour, and still defies the impotent attacks of all its adversaries.]
3. Of every individual in the church —
[The declaration that " all who would live godly in Christ Jesus should suffer persecution," has been verified in every place and every age : " the third part are, and ever will be, brought through the fire." And it is no less than a miracle, that, when the believer has so many enemies, both without and within, he does not " make shipwreck of faith and of a good conscience." But the furnace, instead of destroying, purines and refines him ; and his very graces are perfected by the trials that endanger their existence d.]
Having pointed out both the primary and more remote signification of this phenomenon, we shall,
II. Account for the miracle which it exhibited — Well might the sight of a bush burning, but not
consumed, excite the astonishment of Moses : but
his wonder would cease when he found that God zvas
in the bush.
The person here called "the angel of the Lord"
was Christ —
[The angel expressly called himself " The God of Abra- ham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob;" which sufficiently proves that he could not be a created angel, seeing that it would be the most daring blasphemy in any creature to assume that incommunicable title of Jehovah : yet it was not God the Father : for St. Stephen, recording this history, informs us, that " God sent Moses by the hand of the angel e:" consequently the angel was God the Son, and not God the Father. Indeed Christ, who is elsewhere called " The angel of the covenant," was the person, who, in all the appearances of God to man, assumed the human or angelic shape ; thereby preparing the world for the fuller manifestation of himself in his incarnate state. And it is on this account that he is called " The image of the invisible Godf."]
It was his presence with the Israelites that pre- vented their destruction —
[He was in the bush, and therefore the bush was not con- sumed : so he was in the midst of his oppressed people ; and
<> Rom. v. 3—5. e Acts vii. 30—35. f Col. i. 15.
63. j THE BURNING BUSH. 321
therefore the Egyptians could not prevail against them. Christ was among them before he gave them any symbol of his presence; for it was he who rendered the assistance of the midwives unnecessary, and emboldened them to withstand the commands of Pharaoh. He was afterwards with them in the pillar and the cloud, protecting them from the Egyptian hosts, and stopping the progress of their enemies till they were over- whelmed in the sea. When, for the punishment of their sins, he refused to go with them, they were sure to be overpowered8 : but whenever he returned in mercy to them, they prospered and prevailed.]
It is that same presence that preserves the church and every member of it —
[Christ has said, " Lo, I am with you alway, even to the end of the world ;" and hence it is that " the gates of hell have never prevailed against the church ;" yea, we are assured, they never shall prevail. We are also told that " he dwelleth in the hearts" of all his people11, and is " their life1 ;" and that, whereinsoever they live and act, it is not so much they, as Christ in themk. It is by this consideration that he en- courages them to "go through fire and water," persuaded that no evil shall happen to them1. And to his continued inter- position and support they must ascribe their preservation in every danger, and their deliverance from every enemy™.]