The Burning Bush

Scripture Passage: Exodus 3:1-14

What is Trinity Fellowship - North Jefferson, AL?

In recent years, members of Redeemer Community Church from across north Jefferson County began praying and dreaming together about seeing a similar church planted in their community. This had already happened once before in Homewood when Grace Fellowship was planted in 2017 and they wondered whether it could happen where they lived. The more they prayed and discussed this with the leadership of these two churches, the more it became clear that God was leading them to partner together to plant Trinity Fellowship.

The long-term aim is for Trinity to be an independent church that continues to partner with the Redeemer family of churches in celebrating and declaring the gospel across the region.

Good morning, everybody. Brandon asked me to read our passage for this morning, so we'll

get started. It's in your worship guide here. Exodus chapter 3 verses 1 through 14.

Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his

flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the angel of

the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold,

the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. And Moses said, I will turn aside to see this

great sight, why the bush is not burned. When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see,

God called to him out of the bush, Moses, Moses. And he said, here I am. Then he said,

do not come near, take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing

is holy ground. And he said, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac,

and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

Then the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and

have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, and I have come down to

deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of the land, out of that land

to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey to the place of the Canaanites,

the Hittites, the Amorites, and the Perizzites,

the Hivites, and the Jebusites. And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me,

and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppressed them. Come, I will send you

to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt. But Moses said

to God, Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt? And he

said, But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you that I have sent you. When you

have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain. Then Moses said to

God, If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, The Lord your God, the God of your fathers

has sent to me. And they asked me, What is his name? What shall I tell them? God said to Moses,

I am who I am. And he said, Saying this to the people of Israel, I am sent me to you.

This is the word of the Lord.

Let's pray together, shall we?

God, as you were present with Moses here, I pray that we would know your presence

with us. Lord, I pray that by your spirit you would open our eyes to see more of your glory

in the face of Jesus. In his name we pray. Amen. Well, I don't know about you, but I love a good

fire, and it's supposed to be getting cold, so we might need to depend on that. I hope not.

But a few years ago, Levi and I were out behind our house, and we were burning

Christmas boxes. And let me tell you that we were having a great time. He was, I don't know,

like four or five at the time, and we were throwing all the boxes in, the flames were going up,

and our wonderful time ended when his mother came home. And we were finished by then, but

she walked in and she said, Brandon, where are Levi's eyebrows?

I forgot something. Fires are dangerous. Nevertheless, there is something about the

light and the warmth of a good campfire that kind of draws us in. I'm sure we've all experienced

that deep friendships can be formed around a fire. I love gathering with family or friends

around a good campfire. Well, this morning our passage brings us to a fire. We're walking

through the book of Exodus this morning. We're really coming to a very central passage. Moses

has been looking after his father-in-law's flock, and we read and thought about that a little bit

last week. And so now as he's looking after his father-in-law's flock, he's making his way through

the wilderness, and he comes to a place called Mount Horeb, the mountain of God. While he's there,

he looks up and he sees that there is a bush that is burning. And the closer he looks at the bush,

he sees something is mysterious happening. The bush is burning, and yet it is not consumed.

But what he still doesn't realize is that this moment is going to change his life forever,

because it's at this very place that he is going to come to know the living God.

As we've gone through the book of Exodus, we've seen that knowing God is what this book is all

about. God is making himself known to his people, and he's making himself known through them,

to the nations. This is what he desires to do with our lives as well. So on this cold

January day, let's receive this scene here as an invitation to draw near to this same God,

that we too might come to know him, and that our lives may be transformed by him.

So as we take our place next to Moses, as it were, looking on this burning bush, the aim here is for

us to come to know this relationship with the God that the burning bush is pointing us to.

And we're going to look at three things, primarily, that it's telling us about

this God. I'll go and tell you what they are so you kind of know where we're heading.

First of all, we see he's the God who is seen, and then he is the God who speaks, and then finally

we're going to see that he is the God who sends. First of all, the God who sees.

To state the obvious, fire gives off light, helps us to see. And the passage doesn't kind of make

that kind of an outright connection with fire and seeing. Nevertheless, if you look closely

at the first nine verses in particular, you will notice over and over and over again there are

references to sight. So he sees, or the word behold, or he would not look. So there's all

these references to seeing. It's how the previous chapter ended as well, and it's they're dealing

with these sight words, both with what Moses sees as well as what God sees. But let's take

them in that order. First of all, let's look at what Moses sees. What does he see? Well, he's

looking at, of course, this burning bush, this fire that is there and present in the bush yet

not consuming it. So it's amazing that as Moses is looking on, the fire is present, and yet it is

not using this bush as fuel. So this is a miracle here, and this miracle comes with a message.

So let's see, as Moses is looking at this bush, he's not just seeing a bush here. It says that

the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of this bush.

So the word angel simply means messenger. So there's a messenger who is appearing to Moses

in this fire, and then the messenger calls out Moses' name, and he says,

Moses, Moses. He tells him to take off his sandals because he is standing on holy ground.

And we're going to see that this ground is holy because of who this messenger actually is,

because this messenger is none other than God himself. We see that for the rest of the passage.

So the messenger is not only speaking on behalf of God or for God, this messenger is speaking

as God when he speaks here. You know, just like fire is to be taken very seriously,

how much more is God and being in his presence to be taken seriously? So he's told to take off

his shoes because he's standing on holy ground. And now that Moses knows that this is God who

is speaking, he hides his face because it says in verse six, he was afraid to look at God. So he's

not afraid to see. You know, later on in Exodus, in chapter 33, God will say to Moses, you cannot

look at my face, for no one shall see me and live. So we might wonder if that's the case,

what's going on here? How are we talking about God being seen, and yet God in this very book

says that he cannot be seen. No one can see him and live, right? So Moses is doing the right thing,

kind of covering his face here. Well, Moses is seeing what is often referred to as a

theophany. So what's a theophany? It's a visible manifestation of God's presence.

And a few of these occur in scripture. So you're not like looking directly at God as it were,

but at this visible manifestation of his presence that he brings about so that you

know that he is present with you. But the burning bush is a great example of this.

As it's burning here, it's burning as a kind of visible word before Moses and before us,

a parable, if you will, about who God is. We're going to refer back to that a few times,

but just let's see one thing it tells us about who God is. It's like, well, just like this fire

is present in this bush without consuming it. So the holy God makes himself present in history

and amongst his people without consuming them. So how can a holy God dwell with unholy people,

right? So this is the kind of question we should be wrestling with as we're seeing

this here. So God is holy and set apart, and yet he wants to dwell with simple people like us.

He's like this fire in the bush that is present and yet not consuming. And this becomes even

clearer to say this fact that the holy God wants to dwell with us when we see not only what Moses

sees, but when we see what God sees. If you look back at the end of the last chapter, you'll see

that it ended by Scripture telling us that God sees the affliction of his people. He knows what

they are going through. He hears their cries, and he doesn't just see them. He sees Moses. He knows

what Moses has been through these past 40 years as an exiled shepherd. So this is why he appears

here. Why does God come near? Because he knows his own. He loves his own. So he wants to be present

with us. He sees what his people are going through. So he draws near first to Moses and then later to

the rest of his people.

And many years later, God draws near once again in a very similar way. Shepherds were abiding

in the fields by night, as Luke tells us. And while they were abiding in the fields,

what happened? An angel of the Lord appeared, and the glory of the Lord

shone round about them, and they were sore afraid. But those angels came bringing good news of great

joy for all people. What is it? Unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior who is

Christ the Lord. God was present in the person of Jesus Christ dwelling among us. John put it this

way, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father. The Word was made

flesh and dwelt among us, just as God was present in this flame. God was even more present with us,

fully present in the person of his Son, Jesus. In Jesus, God came to dwell with us.

He saw what we were facing. And the question of how can an unholy people be in the presence

of a holy God is answered in Jesus. It's in Christ that we are found holy and blameless

in God's sight. You know, God tells Moses, take off your sandals, don't come any closer.

But in Jesus, we are told to draw near in him and by his blood. So today, we can draw near to this

God. We can know his presence with us. Second Corinthians chapter three is one of my favorite

chapters of scripture, but it talks about how God's spirit, God's presence in our lives,

opens our eyes that we might behold his glory in the face of Jesus. So how can we know that God is

present with us now as he was present with Moses? When we see Jesus for who he truly is and put our

trust in him, we can know that it is the Spirit of God enabling us to see more and more of the light

of his glory. And as we look to Jesus, we can see, yes, the beauty of God's holiness,

but also we see the depths of his love for us. We can know that he sees us and he truly cares

and wants to be with us right where we are. We come to see this person, Jesus, in the light of

his words. This is why we come to his word, we can and we can't. So the burning bush is a place

where God is seen, but it's also a place where God speaks. So just as we see these seeing words

all the way throughout the text, so we see God speaking all the way throughout the passage too.

We've got this back and forth between God and Moses. You've got divine revelation and then

human response. But when God speaks, and he's the central character here, when God speaks,

he makes a couple of major things known here. First of all, he makes himself known,

and then he makes his plans known. So God makes himself known. So what we're reading about here,

as Moses goes up and he's listening to God at the burning bush, this wasn't Moses going up on a

mountain to meditate and to think about life and to try to figure out who God is and what the purpose

of everything is, and all of a sudden coming to this revelation himself. No, this is divine

initiative. This is God himself interrupting Moses's life, revealing himself. This is

self-disclosure. And yet, although God is the one taking the initiative,

he also welcomes conversation. So what are we making this? A lot of what God is revealing

about himself is also in response to what Moses is saying and what Moses is asking.

So what are we to make of this revelation in response thing happening here?

What's this? It's that revelation leads to relationship. So God is making himself

known that we might truly know him. This isn't about just imparting theological information.

He's doing this that we might have a relationship with him, the living God.

We're told about the nature of this relationship here as well.

One thing is that it's an eternal relationship that we're invited to know with God. When God

makes himself known here, first of all, he identifies himself as the God of Abraham,

Isaac, and Jacob. He's the God of Moses's forefathers, and that's repeated throughout

the chapter. So he isn't just a God. He is their God. He is the God who entered into this

covenant relationship with his people all of those years ago. He's the God of relationship.

But also, notice he doesn't say, I was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He says, I am the God.

What are we to make of that? Well, Jesus tells us what to make of it in Mark chapter 12,

verses 26 and 27, because he says what he's saying here is that he is not the God of the dead,

but the God of the living. So his relationship with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is ongoing.

So just as he is there present with Moses and in this relationship with Moses, so he continues to

be in this relationship with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. So what can we see here is he's not

the God of the dead, but of the living. So in Christ and by the blood of his eternal covenant,

here's what we can know today that all saints, all believers on earth and in heaven have this

living, eternal relationship with God. We are all united together with this same God right now,

consciously, those on earth and in heaven. It's an eternal relationship, but it's also a relationship

where God reveals his name. Part of getting to know somebody is getting to know their name.

And let me call you out right now because I guarantee you there's somebody in here and you

can't remember their name. It's not that you've not met them. It's not that you've not asked their

name. You may have asked it more than once and you can't remember their name. So let's just make

this day a special dispensation so anybody can ask anybody's name and there's no shame,

no embarrassments. We could all admit this together so we might forget it all over again.

Well, it's good for us to be reminded of names. We all need it. I've got a cheat sheet on my

phone, by the way, in case you're wondering. Don't always use it. It's good for us to be

reminded especially of God's name because his name speaks of his nature. Let's go to verse 13.

After God told Moses that he is sending him to deliver his people, one of the things that Moses

says is, if I say that the God of your fathers has sent me to you and they ask me what is his name,

what shall I say to them? What does God say? I am who I am. And he said, say this to the people of

Israel, I am has sent me to you. And he goes on to say, this is my name forever and thus I am to

be remembered throughout all generations. So what is God's name? I am who I am. This is the name

that he is referred to by most frequently throughout scripture. It's the name Yahweh.

In English, it's translated often Lord with kind of capital L-O-R-D. As you're seeing that repeated

throughout scripture. Well, what does this name mean? One thing to just point out today is this

passage doesn't exhaust the meaning of his name. And it's actually been suggested, I think rightfully

so, that the whole kind of point of the book of Exodus is to tell us about what the meaning of

this name is, who this actual God is. So the meaning of I am who I am is going to be unpacked

over the next several chapters. So we can't fully exhaust God's name, certainly not here this morning,

but let's just begin here. It's connected with the Hebrew verb to be. It's connected with the

fact that he is the God who is, the God who was, and the God who will be. He simply is. And that

is to say a few things. One is that God is self-existent. He is self-sufficient. Just

like this flame is present in the bush and yet it is not fueled by it, so God is not fueled by

anything outside of himself. He simply is. He exists fully self-sufficient. God's existence

isn't contingent upon anything outside of him. Everything is dependent upon God, but he is not

dependent upon anything. It's also to say that he is eternal. Because he is eternal, he is also

unchanging. If he is unchanging, that means that he cannot be improved in any way. If he cannot be

improved in any way, that means he is perfect in every way. This is who God is.

And this is who is present speaking to Moses here. He's glorious. And this is the God who

made himself present and spoke to us through Jesus. And these aren't just similar ideas.

Oh, isn't it interesting? We see this in Exodus. We see this in Jesus. God actually came to be with

us in the person of Jesus, the I Am. Let me remind you, for those of you who were here last year,

we went through the I Am statements of Jesus in the Gospel of John. In John chapter 8, Jesus

made it very clear. He said, before Abraham was, I Am. And we know exactly what he meant because

of how people reacted. They picked up stones to stone him. This was either true or it was blasphemous

for him to say, I Am. So Jesus wasn't just a good man or a moral teacher or something like that. He

was God incarnate. It is amazing as we think about the definition of what it means for God to be,

for him to be the I Am who I Am, for him to take on flesh and dwell among us. It's beyond

understanding. Many people have their own ideas about God. Oftentimes, they'll take a bit of truth

here and then kind of mix it with their own ideas or preferences or experiences. Maybe they even

refer to that God as Jesus, but this is not how we come to know God. We come to know God not through

speculation but by revelation because God speaks. He makes himself known to us in his word and then

ultimately in the person of his son. And it's through that revelation that we're brought into

that right everlasting relationship with God where we know him by name. So God makes himself known,

but also notice he makes his plans known here. He tells Moses what he is going to do. So he's

calling Moses and he's also going to commission Moses. We're going to look at that in a second,

but he tells Moses what he has planned for his people. He talks about how he's heard the crime.

He's going to deliver them from the hand of the Egyptians that they might serve him.

He's going to lead them into the good land that he has promised them. We're going to be seeing

that in detail over the next few weeks, but notice he also tells him how he is going to do this.

He's going to do this by sending Moses as the deliverer, but throughout scripture God

reveals his great plan of redemption just as he does here in this text for the people of Israel.

You see there's this overarching plan of redemption that he accomplishes by sending the ultimate

deliverer. So he sees our sin and our suffering. Jesus comes to deliver us from our sin that we

might know him as our Savior and King, and he's bringing us to our eternal home.

This is God's plan that he's revealed for us in Jesus. So as we look to Jesus we

see where we are, where we're at in that plan.

So God makes his plan known that we might put our hope in Christ and know God through him.

All right, so this is good news, but lastly this doesn't sound like good news to Moses.

Let's see this. Chapter 3 verse 10. After God says what he's going to do, he says,

Come, I will send you to Pharaoh, that you may bring my people, the children of Israel,

out of Egypt. But Moses says to God, well who am I that I should go to Pharaoh

and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt? So here's how God's going to do it. He's going

to send Moses. So lastly he is the God who sends. This past weekend I went to the movies with

some friends and Elijah and Gideon to see the 25th anniversary of, and I'm sure all of you're

excited about the 25th anniversary of the release of The Fellowship of the Ring. And it was great to

see that. I think I was 14 years old or something in high school watching that when it first came

out. And so to be sitting there watching it again was wonderful. And one thing I'm always

struck by when I'm either like reading The Lord of the Rings or watching one of the movies is the

fact that the smallest characters, the hobbits, were the ones who were chosen for the greatest

work that was happening in the movie. And I think Tolkien knew exactly what he was doing when he

wrote this. He knew that God works through weakness. God uses the weak to accomplish

great things because all the glory belongs ultimately to him. And so we really see this

in the passage here. So God says he's going to send Moses. But Moses as he hears this really feels

inadequate. As Matt pointed out last week, when Moses was in Egypt, he had a lot of things going

for him. He was highly educated. He was strong. But that's not the Moses we find here. It's been 40

years now since he ran from Egypt. He's 80 years old. And it seems like all this time in exile as

an immigrant, working as a shepherd has taken its toll on him. You really hear this in all the

questions that he starts posing to God. They're all expressing a sense of lack in some way.

He's thinking surely there's some other way God you can do this apart from me.

So he asks, you know, verse 11, well, who am I? This is not an identity crisis here. Moses knows

who he is, but he's saying, I am not enough. Like, who am I? I'm not up for this. I'm a nobody.

He says in verse 13, well, what shall I tell them? He doesn't think he knows enough.

Well, what if they do not believe me? Chapter four in verse one. You know, what if this isn't

successful? You know, God says he's going to do it, but Moses is focused on himself. What if they

don't believe me? Chapter four in verse 10, he talks about how he's not good with words.

Now it's interesting that he doesn't seem to have any trouble talking here with God. And as you're

reading the first five books of the Bible, we've got a lot of words from Moses here. Nonetheless,

he certainly feels, for whatever reason, unable to speak with the kind of eloquence that he

thinks he needs to do this. And I identify with Moses here. Like, I remember the first time I

preached, like, I was the shyest kid in church, and I was absolutely terrified. And more weeks

than not, I feel the same thing in me. You'll find me wrestling with God in the same way in

the week. It's a struggle. And then you've got verse 13. By the end, he's saying, please

send someone else. It's kind of like Isaiah, you know, in Isaiah six, where he says, hear my

Lord, send me. Because at the start, at the burning bush, Moses says, God says, Moses, Moses.

He says, here I am. And then the last thing Moses says is what? Please send someone else.

It's the opposite. I'm here, but don't send me. This, we're told, stirs God's anger, but he

agrees to send his brother Aaron with him. But in each one of these questions, we could delve

into each one of them. But let's see the bigger picture here. We've got this similar theme. Moses

feels insufficient. He sees his lack. You know, if before, in Egypt, if his problem was pushing

forward in his own strength, now his problem is holding back because of his own weakness.

But it's all got the same root problem. I mean, imagine, for example,

you're babysitting a couple of three- and four-year-olds, a couple little boys,

and you're going to take them to Dairy Queen, and you're going to treat them. And so one of

them, before they goes out the door, stuffs their pocket full of Monopoly money, and the other's

got a couple of pennies. And when you get there, the one with all the Monopoly money thinks, you

know, he can just buy the store, he can buy the menu, because he's got everything. And the other

one looks at all that money and thinks, well, I don't know that I can afford an ice cream. And he

can afford an ice cream, and he starts to worry a little bit. But the truth is, both of them have

it wrong. Why? Because you're treating them. You're the one who's going to be buying it.

So one person thinks, well, I've got what it takes. There's a kind of an arrogance, like a

sense of self-sufficiency and pride. You've got another person looking at the week ahead of them

even thinking, there's no way I'll be able to do this. I can't make it. But you know what?

They're both wrong. But the good news is, the God who sends us is the God who supplies

everything that we need to live a life that is glorifying to him. It's not about whether or not

we have enough or whether or not we don't have enough. It's about who has called us and who has

promised to equip us. Because our sufficiency isn't of ourselves. Our sufficiency is of God.

This is what Moses needs to learn. He needed to learn it when he felt his strength, and he needs

to learn it now that he feels his need. Because at every turn, God is going to show himself to be

all-sufficient. He's the I Am. So what is God going to give Moses? Well, he tells us a few things.

Let's look at a few of them. One thing, he's going to give him his presence.

Right from the start, God says to Moses, I will be with you. There in verse 12,

God says, here's what I'm going to give you, Moses. I'm going to give you myself, and I'm enough.

He doesn't say to Moses, hey, cheer up. You are enough.

But he does say, I'm enough, Moses. I will be with you. And this is going to be a crucial truth

that his people are going to need to be reminded of time and time again. Later on, we hear in

Deuteronomy 31.8, it is the Lord, the I Am who I am, who goes before you. He will be with you.

He will not leave you nor forsake you. So do not fear or be dismayed.

This is the same one who said to us, behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

So God gives his presence, but he also gives his promises.

So as God is speaking to Moses here, he isn't saying like, Moses, we need to deliver my people,

so come up with a plan. No, God says, this is what I'm going to do, and I want you to

participate in what I'm going to do. I promise you I'm going to accomplish this,

and I'm going to use you to that end. So this is where we rest. We must rest in God's promises. We

don't rest in our thoughts about what the future may or may not hold or how we're going to cope

or be enough or do enough to get there. We rest in God's promises. He will fulfill his good plans.

For us. Also, God gives his power. You see that in chapter four. He tells Moses that he's going to

lead his people out with a mighty hand. So God is going to do the heavy lifting. He starts to give

Moses kind of a preview of the kinds of signs that he will perform. You read about Moses' staff being

turned into a snake and then back again. His hand is turned leprous and then it is

healed. And the signs that would be performed here were so that God's people would believe

his word. But the power wasn't going to be of Moses. It was God's power at work.

But all throughout this, the question isn't, who is Moses and does he have what it takes? The

question is, who is God and is he able to supply what Moses needs?

And this is the question we must ask ourselves. It's not, who am I and do I have what it takes?

It's who is God and will he supply all that I need? When we look at God, we can know, yes, he will,

because he supplied his son who was crucified in weakness and raised in power. As we look to this

God, we see this is the same God who says, my grace is sufficient for you and my power is made

perfect in weakness. That's 2 Corinthians chapter 12 and verse 9. So when we think,

who am I for such a task with all that's in front of me? Do I have what it takes to glorify God

in this situation, whatever it is, whatever is before you? Let's replace that question

with two different ones. Just as we close, who is God? So what is his name? He is the I am.

The God who is is the God who is enough. He's the God who delights to be present in extraordinary

ways in the midst of an ordinary people, just like this flame is present in this bush. We're

not able, but he is. Here's the second question.

It's what we find in chapter four and verse two. This question has been an encouragement to me

more than once. The Lord said to him, what is that in your hand? So ask yourself that question.

Well, the answer for Moses wasn't, well, it's a scepter. It's a symbol of power here. No,

it was just a lowly shepherd's staff. Like the burning bush, God is going to take this

ordinary thing and do something extraordinary with it. He's going to take this ordinary thing

that he's placed in Moses' hand and he's going to use it to bring great glory to his name.

That's what he does in our lives in a general sense, but also in the particulars.

You might look at what's in the hands of other people around you and you think, well,

I don't have their gifts. I don't have their resources. I wish I had that.

Then again, you're not them. God doesn't ask you what's in their hands. He says, what's in your

hands? I was watching a young blind fiddler play. He's playing amazingly. This is an old video.

He was asked by somebody in this video about his blindness. This boy was probably, I don't know,

nine years old at the time. I thought the wisdom that came from him was unbelievable. I said,

tell us about your blindness. He said, well, I don't think about it too much.

He says, there are some things that I can't do, but I'm going to do with the things that I can do.

He'd obviously been told that many times over. He had a gift and he used it wonderfully.

So, instead of fixating on what we don't have, we would do well to trust God with what we do have

and then see what he does with it. God can use your unique gifts and opportunities and yes,

even your weaknesses for his glory when you give them over to him.

But like Moses, I recognize that learning that doesn't come quickly. It's a struggle

that takes place over years. So, let's continually come to the fire of God's word.

Let's wrestle with him in prayer and step out by faith. We might see what he can do

because he is and he's enough. So, let's pray.