Hebrews - Back to the Burning Bush

The account of Moses’s distraction by a bush that appeared to be burning but never consumed is well known. The initial distraction quickly transformed into a holy encounter with God, Moses removed his shoes and walked barefoot on holy ground.

This is as typical as it is unique. Something gets our attention and before we know it we’re grappling with a depth of thought that carries us towards God…or God comes close to us.

I’m reading through Hebrews in the New Testament (my money is on Paul as the author, but the authorship isn’t known).

This series is like a journalist reporting on scenes he’s been sent to comment on.

Report One looks at the opening verses in chapter 2

‘How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him. God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts (or distributions) of the Holy Spirit according to His will for He has not put the world to come, of which we speak, in subjection to angels.’

For intellectual study, you may be drawn into the importance of unravelling the timelines discussed in these verses. And it is important and should not be shirked. Apart from never wanting to avoid the truth, the contrast between what happened in the past what is and what is to come is of paramount importance to the writer of Hebrews. The whole letter is written to a group of Jewish believers who were under immense pressure to return to the past, to being Jews under Moses, under the Law and not pressing forward in Christ.

The writer is pleading with them to press on to maturity in Christ (read the end of chapter 5 and the start of chapter 6).

But the heart of this passage contains a line that seems to be almost thrown in as an afterthought…but for us in our generation and context in many western churches, whether liberal or evangelical are like the burning bush.

God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts (or distributions) of the Holy Spirit

I was discussing Christianity with a friend of mine whose image of Christianity is all about following rules, regulations, good works, and religious rituals. Such a travesty. So far removed from the Jesus we encounter in the gospels, or the disciples preaching the good news (‘gospel’) after the resurrection and baptism in the Spirit at Pentecost.

Normal Christianity is summarised in these verses.

at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him. God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts (or distributions) of the Holy Spirit

Jesus preached ‘repent and believe because the kingdom of God is within reach’. After the resurrection, the disciples and believers repeated the message and, just as miracles became the norm in Jesus’ ministry so too with the disciples.

This is true Christianity. We preach or proclaim the good news, and God bears witness with signs, wonders, and miracles.

Moses had no power of his own. But God’s power was seen acting through him.

So…it’s easy for us to get all worked up over the interpretation of timelines and the theological implications of each verse…but we need to take off our intellectual shoes and realise we’re on holy ground. Only God can bear witness in signs and wonders and miracles. Let’s get this dimension back in church, then we can discuss eschatology.

we need to take off our intellectual shoes and realise we’re on holy ground

The only thing that bothered Moses in those moments wasn’t his own history, or the destination of Israel, but loosening his laces, hopping on one foot as he hurried to remove his other shoe and standing on holy ground.

First things first. And here it is the ministry of the Holy Spirit.