The goodwill of him that dwelt in the bush.--

The goodwill of him that dwelt in the bush.--

The goodwill of Christ the best of blessings

I. What this goodwill is and whose it is. It is the love and free favour of Christ to all His covenant people: that grace of His, in which there is continuance, which He ever bears towards them that are His.

1. Christ ever bears a goodwill towards His people. They are precious and honourable in His sight, they are highly favoured; His thoughts towards them are thoughts of peace, and so they were from eternity (Micah 5:2). The Church is His spouse, His body, His fair one. Every dispensation of Providence is for our good; the sorest strokes that befall us come in love; when persecuted, forsaken, made a shame of before men, His heart stands towards us the same as ever; underneath are His everlasting arms: we endure the fire, and come purged and refined out of it. 2 This favour and goodwill Christ is pleased to discover to His people for their edification and comfort (Song of Solomon 2:4).

II. Why this goodwill is thus particularly described as “the goodwill of him that dwelt in the bush” (Exodus 3:12).

1. Because the fire in the midst of the bush was a type of the incarnation and sufferings of Christ. For man’s nature is a poor, despicable thing, like a dry bramble bush that would be soon fired, as it were, and utterly consumed by the approach of God; but the Son of God dwells in this bush, and though the flame is seen, the bush is not burnt.

2. Because God revealed His covenant to Moses at the time of His glorious appearance. God is a fire to consume, not to enlighten, warm, and refresh ungodly sinners, such as have not made a covenant with Him by sacrifice.

3. This appearance of the angel in the bush sets forth the love and care of Christ to His Church, even in their greatest troubles and dangers. All Christ’s mercy, wisdom, power, love, and grace are for us; yea, His very life is on our behalf (John 14:19). It is good to remember former deliverances even in the want of present mercies.

4. Because Moses had at this season the most special experience of the love and goodwill of Christ; it is one of the top manifestations of the Redeemer’s fulness and grace to his own soul. There is a great deal of emphasis in my text, “And for the favourable acceptation of my dweller in the bush.” As if Moses had said, “Then He revealed Himself to be mine, I saw His glory as my Surety, my Redeemer, my God manifest in the flesh, and to my soul He sealed all the love and grace of the everlasting covenant.” Our first views of God and Christ are often exceeding precious ones. This was Christ’s first visible appearance to Moses that we read of; now the visions of God began; and what so sweet an introduction to his after-communion with Him as a sight of the second person in the Godhead united to flesh, and in our nature transacting all the concerns of salvation?

III. How or in what manner this goodwill is to be sought.

1. Seek this goodwill of Christ, His free grace and favour, as a blessing distinct from and over and above what God the Father hath promised on His own part in the everlasting covenant.

2. This goodwill of God-man mediator is to be sought, as what alone can give life and liberty to the believer in all acts of Gospel worship. Take away the person of Christ as God-man, and the object of worship is as it were lost, for there is no going to the Father but by Him. What can sinners do with an absolute God? Take away Christ’s sufferings, merit, righteousness, and intercession, what plea can there be for faith? And believers, when they go in Christ’s name, yet if their spirits are not taken up in the exercise of faith on His goodwill, grace, and acceptation, there is no nearness to God. Christ’s presence is our life, we have none in ourselves; Gospel liberty is Christ’s purchase and gift.

3. This goodwill is to be sought with great expectation and hope. Jesus loves a fear which produces watchfulness in the soul, but He hates those fears which breed torment. The goodwill of my dweller in the bush, says Moses; the goodwill of my Lord and God, say thou. Keep in view the sense thou hast had of past brace and favour under thy burden, and grieve for want of present tokens of it.

4. This goodwill is to be sought in its higher manifestations, and a sweeter experience of it from day to day. Moses leaves the decree wherein this goodwill should be shown to Joseph, to the sovereignty of Him in whom it dwells; but withal, the manner of expression he uses shows that it was no small portion he asks of it for him, the goodwill of my dweller in the bush.

IV. Wherein consists the greatness of the blessing, which renders it so well worthy of all our seeking.

1. The goodwill of Christ, who of old dwelt in the bush, lies at the foundation of every other blessing. The day is coming when none but Christ, an whole Christ, will be deemed a portion sufficient for an immortal soul. Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness: this is the one thing needful.

2. Every other blessing is comprehended in this. If Christ be thine, all is thine.

3. This is needful to make our other blessings blessings indeed. The whole world cannot satisfy a soul without this: men may be in straits in the abundance of their possessions; have, and never enjoy; be crying, Who will show me any good? They see nothing worth calling so in what they have already. Now, whence is this? It arises from a want of God, and Christ, and covenant love, and goodwill, to put a sweetness and relish into creature comforts, and to make up all creature deficiencies.

4. This is a blessing infinitely better than all outward blessings, and makes up the loss of all. (John Hill.)