“WHO IS GOD?” (Exodus 3:13-4:17) | 2/12/23
Exodus 3:13-4:17 | 2/12/23 | Thad Yessa
Last week Moses had this incredible encounter with God through the scene of the burning bush. With Moses’ encounter, we might suspect that he would have complete trust in God. I mean God directly spoke to Moses through a burning bush! God was calling Moses to the specific task of freeing the people of Israel from captivity in Egypt. But Moses, even through this remarkable experience, had doubts. As we work our way through these two chapters, we will see the greatest Old Testament prophet still stood in uncertainty. Have you ever wrestled with the Lord over something you knew he was calling you to do? Have you ever struggled to believe the promises of Scripture that they will be fulfilled? Have you ever felt insufficient or inadequate for a task that God laid on your heart?
You are not alone.
God is going to reveal his name to Moses — Moses was not out there looking for God. Yet God commissions Moses to speak to Pharoah and bring God’s people out of Egypt. Moses wasn’t sitting around and determined that the Israelites needed to be saved and to take matters into his own hands. No, Moses is an 80-year-old shepherd who is content with his life. God is the main character in the story. Even the amazing signs God tells Moses that he is going to perform in front of Pharaoh and his court are conceived, scripted, choreographed, and powered by God.
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Exodus 3:13-4:17
[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.”
Exodus 4:1-17
[1] Then Moses answered, “But behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice, for they will say, ‘The LORD did not appear to you.’” [2] The LORD said to him, “What is that in your hand?” He said, “A staff.” [3] And he said, “Throw it on the ground.” So he threw it on the ground, and it became a serpent, and Moses ran from it. [4] But the LORD said to Moses, “Put out your hand and catch it by the tail”—so he put out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand—[5] “that they may believe that the LORD, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.” [6] Again, the LORD said to him, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” And he put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous like snow. [7] Then God said, “Put your hand back inside your cloak.” So he put his hand back inside his cloak, and when he took it out, behold, it was restored like the rest of his flesh. [8] “If they will not believe you,” God said, “or listen to the first sign, they may believe the latter sign. [9] If they will not believe even these two signs or listen to your voice, you shall take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground, and the water that you shall take from the Nile will become blood on the dry ground.”
[10] But Moses said to the LORD, “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.” [11] Then the LORD said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the LORD? [12] Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.” [13] But he said, “Oh, my Lord, please send someone else.” [14] Then the anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses and he said, “Is there not Aaron, your brother, the Levite? I know that he can speak well. Behold, he is coming out to meet you, and when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. [15] You shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth, and I will be with your mouth and with his mouth and will teach you both what to do. [16] He shall speak for you to the people, and he shall be your mouth, and you shall be as God to him. [17] And take in your hand this staff, with which you shall do the signs.”
PRAYER
Who am I?
Who are You?
God of *PROMISES. (3:13-15)
What’s in a name?
God doesn’t answer his question at first. Instead, God describes Himself in terms that supersede all notions of deity. In verse 14 God says, “I AM WHO I AM.” This is not a name; it is a statement of being. The Hebrews words mean “to be”. So the first thing God does here is to give Moses a verb, not a noun, and God does this to set himself apart from all other so-called-gods. He is emphasizing that He is matchless. Before He gives Moses His name, God defines His essence or His character. God is saying that He is the Creator and the Sustainer of all that exists. From Him flows everything that is or will ever be. God is who He is and that is all there is. He is everything!
In the later part of verse 14, God restates this concept with “I AM.” This means many things. It means that God is unchanging and eternal. It means that He is the One who always is. But it also means that He is self-existent. He causes everything to be, since He never wasn’t. God doesn’t owe His being or essence to anyone else. God is who He is all by Himself. He is dependent upon nothing outside of Himself; He is totally and eternally self-sufficient. Finally, verse 15 actually gives us the name that we will see all over the Old Testament.
“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.” (Exodus 3:15, ESV)
God now uses a third-person form of his essence to create his name. It is found in your Bible as LORD, and in the Hebrew it would read YHWH or Yahweh. This was the sacred name of God, rooted in the very character and essence of God. And it means that He is above and beyond everything else in life. God simply and eternally IS. And that God desires a relationship with His people.
David Murrary, “God reaches into the dark attics of their minds and helps them find dusty recollections from their dim and distant past. As he wipes the dust off his name, he essentially says, “ You’ve forgotten my name, so let me help you remember it. It is ‘I AM WHO I AM.’ Who I was to your fathers, I am to you. I was who I was, I am who I was, I was who I am, I am who I am, and I am who I will be.”
Every promise made is a promise kept because of who I am.
The rest of the book of Exodus is the story of God living up to His name.
Jesus, in response to the Pharisees’ question “Who do you think you are?” said, “‘Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.’ ‘You are not yet fifty years old,’ the Jews said to him, ‘and you have seen Abraham!’ ‘I tell you the truth,’ Jesus answered, ‘before Abraham was born, I am!’ At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds” (John 8:56–59). The violent response of the Jews to Jesus’ “I AM” statement indicates they clearly understood what He was declaring—that He was the eternal God incarnate. Jesus was equating Himself with the "I AM" title God gave Himself in Exodus 3:14.
God of *PROVISION. (3:16-22)
Plan (Table of contents. These verses are a forecast, a map, of how it is that He plans to accomplish to do all that He has promised.)
Elders - God has observed their affliction.
People
Pharaoh - God wants Pharoah to His name, and the ask for three days journey indicates what God desires, WORSHIP
Problems - Pharoah won’t be convinced except by a mighty hand.
This is all a part of God’s plan.
Plunder
The prediction that the Israelites would leave Egypt with riches freely given by the Egyptians, is the fulfillment of God's promise of future provision prophesied in Genesis 15:14, where God told Abraham that his descents would “come out with great possessions”. After centuries of slavery, the compensating gifts to the Israelites at their departure will show that God sovereignly provides for His children. “God is telling Moses that on their way tell the women to go on a shopping spree, and let the children pick up something nice as well. The inclusion of the children is a reminder to tell future generations about the overwhelming kindness and riches that Yahweh had provided for them.
7 Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace, which was given me by the working of his power. 8 To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 9 and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in[b] God, who created all things, 10 so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.
Ephesians 3:7-10
What if they won’t listen to me?
Israelite turned Prince turned murderer, turned fugitive, turned vagabond, turned shepherd…turned savior?
God of *WONDERS. (4:1-9)
Signs point beyond themselves.
serpent - power over Egypt (Power over Satan)
What is in your hand?
When God asks a question, it’s not because He needs to know the answer OR doesn’t know the answer, it’s because He is teaching.
Moses runs away, understandably. But God calls him back and commands that he would pick the snake up by its tail. I don’t know how many of you have gone to snake handling school, but You don’t grab the snake by the tail! If you do that the snake could turn and strike.
God is showing His power on display.
What is He trying to show Moses with this sign?
V5 “that they may believe that the LORD, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.”
The sign of the serpent.
The serpent that slithered on to the scene in Genesis 2 in the Garden of God and deceived Adam and Eve.
In Genesis 3 God promises that one day the seed of the women would crush the head of the seed of the serpent.
This sign is a reminder that God keeps His Word and soon Moses who is the seed of the woman will deliver his people out from the seed of the serpent.
This is also a sign that Yahweh is greater than the most powerful governmental power. Even one whose symbol of power was the snake itself. The Egyptians consider Pharoah to be a “son of God” whose crown had a serpent on it. Egyptians worshiped the serpent as a sign of wisdom and healing in their lives.
God is showing His power over Egypt, over their king, and over Satan himself.
hand - power over human health (Death to Life)
Next God commands Moses to put his hand in his cloak. It comes out leperous.
No cure. A death sentence
God’s power to create, control, and cure the most feared disease in the ancient world. God is sovereign over all disease.
God has power over human health, that He can bring dead things to life.
Nile - power over livelihood
If they don’t believe either of these signs, they will believe this.
This last sign becomes the first sign of what we know as the 10 plagues.
The Nile River was “god” to them. God would judge their source of life by turning it to blood. It was a warning to Israel that God would judge those who are not his people. God is showing that the Nile River in comparison to God is merely a trickling stream. As much as the Nile River sustained life, God is showing that He is the ultimate sustainer of life.
Each of these signs teach Moses and teach us the power of God.
For us though we have been given a different sign, a sign using a different piece of ordinary wood. One where Jesus willingly sacrifices Himself on our behalf to die in our place on the cross. BUT the second sign is the empty, where Jesus showed his power over death, over sin, and over the great serpent Satan.
God over *WEAKNESSES. (4:10-17)
But Moses said to the LORD, “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.” [11] Then the LORD said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the LORD? [12] Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.”
God is not oblivious to Moses’s shortcomings.
Who made man’s mouth?
We see that God makes no mistakes, even in the physical disabilities of his people. There is no disability that has missed His eye. In love God has made everything for His glory according to His plan. God comforts and says I will be with you .
God speaks both of those who are deaf (who can’t listen well) and those who are mute (who can’t speak well). And then, for good measure, he speaks of those who can’t see — a picture of those who lack insight into the identity and purpose of God. IN other words, he addresses both of Moses’ fears — his fear that people will not listen well and his fear that he will not speak well.
God’s response is, I give words. I give hearing. I give insight.
Our powerful God speaks through powerless servants.
God was never concerned with Moses’ speech problem, He was concerned with Moses’ heart problem. Ultimately God will go on to do many great and wonderful things through this reluctant servant.
Moses exhausted all of his excuses and his heart was revealed. He has raised all of his concerns and God has met them all with His comforts. Moses sighs, “I don’t want to go!” Moses shows his apathy, his insecurity and his desire to flee God’s call on his life.
In this moment God doesn’t move on or abandon Moses. God doesn’t send a fireball out of the burn bush to destroy Moses.
Pick up that staff. Moses seems to doubt God and His sufficiency. The wonderful signs that God provides Moses are meant to bolster Moses’ confidence is simply not enough for Moses. Moses looks at his own wisdom, his own strength, and his position and determines that he cannot do that. AND He is right. He can’t do these things, but God can! Often in our lives as Christians we can have this same tendency to look at our wisdom and our strength and come to the same conclusion that I can’t do that!
Look to Christ as the sign of our sufficiency. Look to the common piece of wood that held Christ as He sacrificed Himself in order to provide salvation for us, who were unable to save ourselves.
Francis Schaeffer in his sermon series, “No Little People” says this: “Consider the mighty ways in which God used a dead stick of wood. “God so used a stick of wood” can be a banner cry for each of us. Though we are limited and weak in talent, physical energy and psychological strength, we are not less than a stick of wood. But as the rod of Moses had to become the rod of God, so that which is me must become the me of God. Then, I can become useful in God’s hands. The Scripture emphasizes that much can come from little if the little is truly consecrated to God. There are no little people and no big people in the true spiritual sense, but only consecrated and unconsecrated people. The problem for each of us is applying this truth to ourselves.”
God is all-powerful and He can take anything in His hand and use it for His purpose.
9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12:9-10
Consider how God could use your life and mine if we consecrated our lives to him? Trust in his fathomless power? Believe