The approach to God

Tom Torrance remembers a trip to the Sinai desert:

Night after night we made our camp in the wilderness, and as the darkness fell we gathered sticks of acacia and camelthorn, the dry sapless bushes of the desert, with which to make a fire. They burned up so quickly and brilliantly, but almost as soon they died away. They had so little substance that when kindled they were consumed almost immediately.

I always thought of Moses when that happened, and his astonishment at the fire in the desert that did not die down. But what was even more astonishing was that the bush itself was not consumed but remained intact [...]

What are we to see in [the burning bush]? Fire that is steady and undying, fire that burns and does not burn away, fire that has no tendency to destruction in its own nature, and fire that is not consumed by its own activity. Surely all that may well be taken as a symbol of the One divine Being whose being derives its law and life from itself [...]

But here is a remarkable fact in this Old Testament record that we must consider: The fire of God had no destructive nature - on the contrary it gave life - but immediately Moses approached the burning bush there leapt out of its flames a voice of urgent command: "Draw not nigh hither put off they shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground." Instantly, Moses knew that his life was threatened [...] Now why was it that although the fire carried no threat to the desert bush, but rather enhanced its life, yet when Moses came near, it terrified him and menaced his soul? Burning in this bush and not consuming it was the eternal flame of the life of God, the power of an endless life, the inexhaustible source of love. This is the very God to whom all men aspire, and for whom our mortal souls pant. Human beings grow weary and decay and crumble away into the dust, but here is the fountain of unending life, life that burns like a fire, so gently that it does not burn or consume [...]

Moses draws near, but immediately he is thrust back, and he is afraid because he is a sinner. He is unclean, and God is infinitely holy, and in the presence of sin even God's love is as a consuming fire [...] How are we, then, to approach Him? How can we share in the life and the love which He offers to us, who are sinners? [...]

Jesus washes the feet of the disciples and makes them clean, and in which through the Holy Supper He gives them to participate in the life and love of God.

(pp.127-135, When Christ Comes and Comes Again)

That is a bit of a long quote. But I thought it was about time I gave you a taste of When Christ Comes and Comes Again which is a beautifully written book of evangelistic sermons by the young(ish) Tom Torrance. Highly recommended, although you will have to get it second hand.