Exodus 3

Hey, hey, good morning, good morning. Welcome to coffee and devotions. So good to be with you. Let's go ahead and have some coffee. We'll pray. We'll get into God's Word. We'll grow in our love for the Lord together. And this year, Lord willing, we'll make it from Genesis to Leviticus. We're at Exodus 3 today. Let's have some coffee and pray. Lord, we thank you so much that you are a God who reveals yourself to us. and you do so in intelligible ways. And we pray now that your spirit would be working in our hearts, that we might know who you are, that we would hear from this passage, learn from it, and that we might walk in your ways in Jesus's name. Amen. All right. So we're at Exodus chapter three, a very famous passage of the Bible, a very important passage of the Bible.
Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. Then Moses said, I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn. So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, Moses, Moses.
And he said, Here I am. Then he said, draw near this place, take the sandals off your feet for the place where you stand is holy ground. Moreover, he said, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face for he was afraid to look upon God.
And the Lord said, I have surely seen the oppression of my people who are in Egypt, and I have heard their cry because of their taskmaster, for I know their sorrows. So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land. to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites. Now therefore behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to me. And I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them.
Come now, therefore, and 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 that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt? So he said, I will certainly be with you. And this shall be a sign to 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, Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, The God of your fathers has sent me to you, and they say to me, What is his name? What shall I say to them? God said to Moses, I am who I am.
And he said, thus you shall say to the children of Israel, I am has sent me to you. Moreover, God said to Moses, thus you shall say to the children of Israel, the Lord 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 this is my memorial to all generations.
Go, and gather the elders of Israel together, and say to them, The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared to me, saying, I have surely visited you, and have seen what is done to you in Egypt. and I have said I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Canaanites and the Jebusites to a land flowing with milk and honey then they will heed your voice and you shall come you and the elders of Israel to the king of Egypt and you shall say to him The Lord God of the Hebrews has met with us. And now please let us go three days journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to Jehovah our God. But I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not even by a mighty hand. So I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all my wonders, which I will do in its midst.
And after that, he will let you go. And I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians and it shall be when you go That you shall not go empty-handed but every woman shall ask her neighbor namely of Her who dwells near her house articles of silver articles of gold and clothing and you shall put them on your sons and on your daughters so you shall plunder the Egyptians whoa Lots going on in this story, not a lot of time to talk about it, but we do need to ask ourselves three questions. A, what's this about? B, what's the best verse to summarize this? And C, what are we called to do in response to this?
Well, Moses has been tending the flocks for his father-in-law, Jethro, otherwise known as Rul. And as he's there, he goes deep back into the wilderness and he comes to the mountain of Horeb. And as he's there, he sees a bush. It's on fire. It's not burning up. And that's weird. I mean, we live in the country. So we, whenever we have brush, you know, we've got to burn it. And how I've never seen a bonfire. I've never seen something on fire that isn't consumed by the fire, but somehow this bush is on fire, but it's not being consumed. Moses has never seen anything like this either.
So he's like any, any man. Ooh, a fire. I gotta go check this out. And then something happens that he didn't expect even more. Out of the fire, God calls him by name, Moses, Moses. He says, here I am. God says, take off your sandals. the ground that you are standing upon is holy. Now isn't that interesting? The ground is more holy than Moses because God is there.
Moses has to respect the sanctity of God's holiness in his presence. And they continue this dialogue and God tells him about who he is. I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Now this word God is just a generic word for God. It's El. I'm the El. I'm the God of Abraham. Isaac and Jacob, he identifies himself with Moses' patriarchs.
He knows of the promises, he knows of that oral tradition that would have been passed down from generation to generation of the promises, the covenant that God had made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But this God hasn't spoken to them for generations. And here he is, speaking to Moses out of a burning bush.
And the Lord says to him, I've heard, I've heard my people in Egypt. Their cries have come up to me and I'm coming down to them. I'm gonna redeem them. And he says, therefore, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my children the children of Israel out of Egypt. Now, this is where the rub comes in. Moses isn't too much of a fan of this idea. Why? Well, Moses just murdered a guy. He had to flee to Midian, afraid for his life.
That's great, God, but the bounty's still on my head there. Then God said, no, no, no, right, I'll be with you. That's what he, how does he care for Moses and his fear? He says, I will certainly be with you. You shall serve God on this mountain. I'm gonna give you a sign, but I'm going to be with you.
That is the comfort that Moses is to have when he goes before one of the most powerful kings of the universe, the Pharaoh of Egypt. How is he going to have confidence? because he's going to know that God is with him. That's where he will receive his strength. That's where he will receive his comfort, knowing that God is with him.
But see, Moses isn't content in just knowing that there is a generic God, God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob. That's great. But Moses wants to know more about him. He wants to know him intimately. If he's going to put his whole life at stake, he wants to know his name. Who are you?
When I go to the Israelites and they say, well, it could be any God, right? You've been a Midian, your father-in-law's a priest in Midian. How do we know this is our God? How do you know this is the God of our fathers? What's his name? And God said to Moses, I am who I am.
In the Hebrew it's Ahareh Asher Ehareh Ehe Ehe sorry Ehi Asher Ehi I am who I am. The self-existent one. I'm the eternal one. I'll be what I'm going to be. I am what I am. I always was. I always am. I always will be. Existence being determinate in Him. He is the one who spoke all things out of nothing by the word of his power. He is that powerful one.
Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, I am sent me to you. And then he reiterates, moreover God said to Moses, thus you shall say to the children of Israel. Remember, this is the name that they had been calling him for centuries. This is a name that they began to call upon him before the flood. That she shall say to the children of Israel.
And if you have a physical Bible here in verse 15, when he says, I am who I am, that is summarized in verse 15. In the physical Bible, it will say capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D, Lord. It's not capital L, lowercase ord, but it's in all caps.
Why? Because this is the divine name. Now the Jewish people, when they would come to this name, right, later on in Exodus chapter 20, we're gonna get to the third commandment, not mistaking the name of the Lord your God in vain. Because the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.
So they would just say Hashem, the name. They wouldn't even say this name. Or when they would come to this, there's a perpetual lemma. You always just read it this way. Instead of reading what was written, you always just read it Adonai, meaning Lord. But if we were to read the name, it'd be Jehovah.
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 this is my memorial to all generations. God reveals himself to Moses intimately, tells him his name, and tells him you can rest in me.
I'm going to tell you the plan again, Moses. I'm going to send you. I care for you, give you signs and wonders. I'm not going to want to let you leave, but I'm going to bring in all my strength and might behind me. I'm going to bring this about. You're going to do these great things and you're not going to leave empty handed. You're going to plunder the Egyptians as you go.
What's the best verse to summarize this? Well, it's kind of hard not to underline verse 14, but I think verse 15 is just as important. But I also have, I have underlined verse 10. And I have verse eight underlined. Ooh, that's a whole lot to be underlined. What would you underline in your Bible? Well, lastly, we have to ask ourselves, seek calling. What are we called to do?
Do you call upon the name of the Lord? Do you rest in God as your strong tower? Do you know that he alone is the redeemer of God's elect? Do you trust in him and take courage in him, that if he has entrusted something for you to do, he is able and powerful to enable you and protect you as you do it? Do you believe that he is the one who hears the cries of his people? That he listens to them, loves them, and redeems them?
We follow him. We take comfort in him, knowing that he is the great I am. The real, true, living God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Rest in him. Cling in him. Trust him. He's our rock. He's our tower. He's our strong defense. Let's pray. Father, you are holy. And you are perfect in your being. You do not need anything. You are not dependent upon your creation. But Lord, you are the one who is. who was and who will always be.
Lord, we marvel when we think that such an amazing God would take notice of us. Lord, we thank you for who you are and we pray that you would please teach us and let us walk before you in humility and in confidence in Jesus's name. Amen. May the Lord bless you. May you walk in the joy and peace of Jesus Christ and I'll see you tomorrow. Bye.
Thanks for listening to this week's message from God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in rural southeast Iowa. We pray that the message would be used by God to transform your faith and your life this week. If you'd like to get more information about us, feel free to go to the website, SharonRPC.org. We'd love to invite you to worship with us. Our worship time is 10 a.m. every Sunday at 25204 160th Avenue. Morning Sun, Iowa, 52640. May God richly bless you this week.