Exodus 3:1-14
“Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb.
2 And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.
3 And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.
4 And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.
5 And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.
6 Moreover he said, I am the God of thy 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 upon God.
7 And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows;
8 And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
9 Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them.
10 Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.
11 And Moss said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?
12 And he said, Certainly I will be with thee; and this shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee: When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain.
13 And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them?
14 And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.
The most important day in the life of any person is the day they come face to face with their Creator. For Moses, the day of divine visitation came while he was tending the flock of Jethro, his faither in law, in the land of Midian. As Moses came to a mountain of God named Horeb, an astonishing event happened. Moses saw a bush burning with fire, but not being consumed.
As Moses drew near the fiery bush to investigate this marvel, he heard a majestic voice saying, “Moses, Moses. Do not come any closer. Take off your shoes for the place you are standing on is holy ground.”
Before Moses could say, or doing anything, the voice continued to speak. It was the voice of God who wanted Moses to know Him in a personal way. To that end the Lord revealed several truths about Himself.
First, God is the One who is eternal. He is, not was, the God Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Therefore, the Eternal One is the God of Moses and all the Hebrew people.
Second, God is the One who can see. “I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt.” If anyone believes God is not aware of, or interested in, the sufferings and sorrows of individuals, these words from the Lord should dispel any such wrong belief. The Lord is the God who cares. His children call him, “Abba,” a term of intimacy meaning, “Father.” “And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father” (Gal. 4:6).
Third, God is the One who can hear. “I have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters.” The way God listens is just as important as the fact that He can hear the prayers, pleads, and praises of His people.
God hears us with a view to answering our prayer requests. “And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us” (1 John 5:14).
God hears us to manifest His steadfast love and mercy. “I cried unto him with my mouth, and he was extolled with my tongue. 18 If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me: 19 But verily God hath heard me; he hath attended to the voice of my prayer. 20 Blessed be God, which hath not turned away my prayer, nor his mercy from me” (Psalms 66:17-20).
God hears us to comfort our hearts. “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you (1 Peter 5:7).
Fourth, God is the One who can feel. “I know their sorrows.” There is Divine empathy for Jesus entered into the word to be tempted, and to suffer, as we are tempted and suffer. Yet, He was without sin (Heb. 4:15).
Fifth, God is the One who commands. “Moses, I will send you unto Pharaoh, that you may bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.”
Suddenly, Moses had another question. “Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?”
It was a good question which Moses asked. Every person should ask themselves, “Who am I in the sight of God?”
There are some who believe they are God. Certainly, they are the most advanced expression of a cosmic accident, provided there is no more evolutionary determinism taking place in Homo Sapien.
There are some, such as the Hindu and the Buddhist, who see themselves as part of an eternal universe, without beginning or end.
There are those who believe humans are immortal souls called “thetans” that are trapped in multiple bodies over various lifetimes. Scientologist believe thetans originated billions of years ago with the original Cause. Thetans emerged early in creation, and through their interaction created the physical universe of matter, energy, space, and time. Over time, the thetans fell into the physical universe and got trapped. They were slowly stripped of their creative abilities and memories of who they were and eventually ended up on earth (Crosswalk.com).
The Bible would have individuals see themselves in the sight of God as being His creation, made after His likeness, and perfect in every way, until the Fall. With the Fall, sin entered the world causing the mind, the will, and the emotions to be tarnished. Now, in the presence of God, individuals are to see themselves as standing on holy ground but with dirty feet, filthy hearts, and unclean lips, in desperate need of forgiveness, and cleansing. The plight of man before the Holy God is not a pretty picture to contemplate, but it is important to understand.
If a man sees himself correctly before God, he must then seek to know who God is. In The Institutes of the Christian Religion, John Calvin correctly notes that we as humans do not know God until we know who God is.
Only God can tell us who He is. He is the God who sees. He is the God who hears. He is the God who is filled with compassion. He is the God who is eternal. He is the God who is powerful enough to change hearts, and the course of nature, when, and where, and how He so chooses. He is the God who will have mercy on whom He will have mercy, and will harden whom He will harden. He is the God that will not be dismissed from His own universe, though men try to do just that in a variety of ways.
Some dismiss God, by boldly asserting He does not exist. “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God’” (Psalms 14:1).
Some dismiss God by pretending to be agnostic. They do not deny God’s existence, but neither do they affirm God. They are uninformed. The Bible challenges the agnostic, by asserting they do know Him for He has made Himself known through nature and through the conscience so that everyone is without excuse. “Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. 20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse” (Rom. 1:19, 20).
Some dismiss God, by acknowledging He does exist but, in a mystical way as a Higher Power, a Force, the Cosmos, Nature, or a Being Beyond Knowing,
The attempt to depersonalize God is deliberate, because such a God does not demand holiness or threaten divine retribution on the unrighteous. If a personal God does not exist, then everything is permissible. Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow you will die.
When Moses asked, “Who are you?” God said, “I AM THAT I AM.”
God is ‘hayah [haw-yaw] asher hayah” in Hebrew, or, “ego eimi,” in the Septuagint, the “Self-Existent One.” Study Exodus 3:14; John 9:8-9
God is El Shaddai, the Mighty One who shall deliver Israel from the Land of Bondage (Ex. 3:9, 15-22).
“El Shaddai, El Shaddai,
[God Almighty, God Almighty
El-Elyon na Adonia,
[God in the highest, Oh, Lord”]
Age to age You’re still the same,
By the power of the name.
El Shaddai, El Shaddai,
[God Almighty, God Almighty
Erkamka na Adonai,
[We will love You, Oh, Lord]
We will praise and lift You high,
El Shaddai.”
~Michael Card and John Thompson
Do you love the God of revelation? Will you forsake all other non-biblical images and ideas about God, and bow before Him while you stand on holy land? Oh that the Church might know, not only that God exists, but who He is in His divine essence. When that awareness dawns in the soul, it will be the day of Divine visitation.
