Exodus 3 - God Is.
God's name for Himself may seem simple, but it's amazingly profound.
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Exodus 3 (ESV)
1 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.
2 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.
3 And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” 4
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.”
5 Then he said, “Do not come near;
take your sandals off your feet,
for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”
6 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.
7 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,
8 and I have come down
to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians
and to bring them up
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, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
9 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 oppress them.
10 Come,
I will send you to Pharaoh
that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.” 11
But Moses said to God,
“Who am I
that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”
12 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.”
13 Then Moses said to God,
“If I come to the people of Israel and say to them,
‘The God of your fathers
has sent me to you,’
and they ask me,
‘What is his name?’
what shall I say to them?”
14 God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.”
And he said,
“Say this to the people of Israel:
‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ”
15 God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel:
‘The LORD,
the God of your fathers,
the God of Abraham,
the God of Isaac,
and the God of Jacob,
has sent me to you.’
This is my name forever,
and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.
16 Go and gather the elders of Israel together and say to them,
‘The LORD,
the God of your fathers,
the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob,
has appeared to me, saying,
“I have observed you and what has been done to you in Egypt,
17 and I promise that I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, a land flowing with milk and honey.” ’
18 And they will listen to your voice,
and you and the elders of Israel
shall go to the king of Egypt
and say to him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews,
has met with us;
and now, please let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness,
that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.’
19 But I know that the king of Egypt
will not let you go
unless compelled by a mighty hand.
20 So
I will stretch out my hand
and strike Egypt with all the wonders that I will do in it;
after that he will let you go.
21 And
I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians;
and when you go, you shall not go empty,
22 but each woman shall ask of her neighbor, and any woman who lives in her house,
for silver and gold jewelry, and for clothing.
You shall put them on your sons and on your daughters.
So you shall plunder the Egyptians.”
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Exodus 3 Summary
We catch up with Moses after he's run away from Egypt, having been raised as a prince, but yet having been witnessed killing an Egyptian to protect a fellow Hebrew.
He's lived a quiet, peaceful life as a shepherd, when out of nowhere a bush erupts into a flame that doesn't fizzle out. As he approaches the burning bush, he hears:
Do not come near... the place on which you are standing is holy ground! (v5)
The voice proceeds to tell Moses he's been drafted to lead the massive community of Hebrews from their slavery in Egypt to the Promised Land, flowing with milk & honey.
This is the amazing story of Exodus, which is a picture of the gospel: A holy God frees His stubbornly rebellious people from slavery to salvation.
Dig Deeper
It's customary for a royal figure to be announced with what's known as a heraldry, which is often a long and complicated recitation of all of that person's titles. Each of the names read off has meaning, and the more names a royal has, the more important he is.
The official heraldry God gives for Himself is neither long nor complicated, yet it is immensely profound:
I AM who I AM
In other words, GOD IS. God is His attributes; that is, He isn't just good, rather He defines goodness. He doesn't just act lovingly, love exists because God exists.
God exists in and of Himself. He had no beginning and will never end. Time itself is one of His creations, and He lives outside of and above it. He always was, is now and always will be.
All things that God has made are in the process of becoming, that is undergoing constant change. Except for God: GOD IS.
Remember that the story of Exodus is the story of your life as a Christian. You are a pilgrim being taken from one existence, corrupted by sin and death, to the Promised Land by a God who powerfully exists above all things: a God who IS.
AAA Prayer:
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father in heaven, whose name is holy.
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that when God calls your name that you will respond as Abraham and Moses did: Here I am.
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
