Footnote Exodus 3:2 - 2 (MC)

(2)flame, (2)thornbush,

The flame of fire denotes the glory of God's holiness, which excluded fallen man from direct contact with God as the tree of life (Gen_3:24 and note). According to Gen_3:17-19 thorns were part of the curse that came because of man's sin. Hence, thorns are a symbol of fallen man under the curse. The thornbush here represents Moses himself as a redeemed sinner. The flame of fire burning within the thornbush signifies that the glory of God's holiness would burn within and upon Moses, God's called one, even though he was a sinner under God's curse. This was possible because of Christ's redemption (Gen_3:21; Gen_4:4), which satisfied the requirements of God's holiness and removed the curse, allowing the divine fire (the Spirit) to visit and to indwell the thorn-bush (the redeemed sinner), making the fire one with the thornbush (Gal_3:13-14). The fact that the fire burned in the thornbush without consuming it indicates that God Himself, not Moses, would be the "fuel" for the burning (cf. Rom_12:11; 2Ti_1:7; Phi_4:13; Col_1:29). Moses would be only a vessel, a channel, through which the glory of God's holiness would be manifested (cf. 2Co_4:7). 

According to Deu_33:16, the thornbush was God's dwelling place. Since God's corporate people are His actual dwelling place (Heb_3:6 and note), this implies that the thornbush refers also to God's redeemed people as a corporate entity. After the tabernacle, a symbol of the children of Israel as God's dwelling place, was built up, at night the cloud of God's glory upon it had the appearance of fire (Num_9:15-16). The fire burning upon the tabernacle signified that the people of Israel were a corporate burning thornbush. The church as God's dwelling place is also a burning thornbush-the Triune God burning within and upon a redeemed humanity (Luk_12:49; Act_2:3-4). Through the burning of the holy divine fire, the once cursed and redeemed thornbush is transformed to be God's dwelling place. This is God's economy.

Light and Enjoyment

Salvation, Provision (Supply) and Revelation (Vision): 
Christ possessed, enjoyed, and experienced by us in resurrection and in the heavenlies.

God’s building material: 
Christ possessed, enjoyed, and experienced by us in resurrection and in the heavenlies offered to God.