SCRIPTURE: Exodus 6
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
‘Your father Abraham rejoiced as he looked forward to my coming. He saw it and was glad.’ The people said, ‘You aren’t even fifty years old. How can you say you have seen Abraham? Jesus answered, ‘I tell you the truth, before Abraham was even born, I Am!’ [John 8:56-58] In Exodus 6:2-3, God reminds Moses of how He helped Abraham as el-shaddai (God almighty), but that Abraham did not yet fully know who YHWH (“I AM”) was. Jesus suggests that though Abraham did not know exactly who He was, He was looking forward to His coming. Then Jesus states, ‘I am the I AM!’
Most people believe in “God” in some form. Since there is only one God, whatever name people give God (Allah, Zeus, Elohim, Great Spirit, etc.), they are talking about the same God. This is not to say that everything they say about God is right, it’s just that they are responding to the evidence of His existence in creation.
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob did not fully understand everything about God, but they still experienced His presence and power and purpose. God reveals Himself in time, and this new revelation of God as YHWH (I AM WHAT I AM) sheds new light on what God is like. As we saw in Exodus 3, this name reveals more than the mystery of God, it reveals the grace of God: everything that I am, is all that you need! This is the personal, covenant Name of God, the Name that expresses a close, personal relationship.
But the old testament picture of God was still incomplete. Abraham and Moses and David and Isaiah were still waiting for more, when the God that is YHWH comes in the flesh, when the fullness of God is revealed in bodily form [Colossians 1:19, Colossians 2:9]. Jesus is YHWH in a human body, the great I AM Who is everything we need – bread, light, way, truth, life, etc.
In Exodus 6, Moses is still struggling with this concept, uncertain that He can rely on YHWH, doubtful that YHWH can overcome pharaoh. In this passage God Almighty reaffirms that He is YHWH, everything we need to overcome whatever and whoever life sets against us. Nothing, nothing at all can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus!
We have seen His coming, we too can be glad with Abraham! If only those who know about God in other ways (Allah, Zeus, Elohim, Great Spirit, etc) could meet Him as Jesus!
PRAYER:
Lord, You are everything I need, and more! Help me to trust You today!
LORD, thank You that You are LORD. I give thanks and praise to You, our Redeemer, our Deliverer. Thank You LORD for the promise that You will claim us as Your own people and that You will be our God and that we will know that You are the LORD our God who has freed us from oppression. Thank You LORD for the new life that is ours when we come to You.
LORD, so many today are too discouraged to hear Your Truth. So much suffering, so much uncertainty holds so many in captivity, immobollized, unable to have their hearts penetrated by Your Truth, by the Hope that is ours by faith.
LORD, empower our lives that we may be living testimonies for Your Kingdom, may we never give up! LORD, it is beyond our comprehension, to know what You are actually doing in and through our inadequate attempts to serve Your Kingdom purposes. LORD, thank You for the reminder that it is You at work in and through us it is NOT us, NOT our work but rather that we are but vessels of Your love, instruments in Your hands. LORD, may Your will be done!