3:1 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.”1 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,2 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.320 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.”
Footnotes
[1]3:14Or I am what I am, or I will be what I will be [2]3:15The word Lord, when spelled with capital letters, stands for the divine name, YHWH, which is here connected with the verb hayah, “to be” in verse 14 [3]3:19Septuagint, Vulgate; Hebrew go, not by a mighty hand
3:1 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.”1 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,2 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.320 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.”
Footnotes
[1]3:14Or I am what I am, or I will be what I will be [2]3:15The word Lord, when spelled with capital letters, stands for the divine name, YHWH, which is here connected with the verb hayah, “to be” in verse 14 [3]3:19Septuagint, Vulgate; Hebrew go, not by a mighty hand
Redeemer exists to celebrate and declare the gospel of God as we grow in knowing and following Jesus Christ.
Joel Brooks:
Invite you to open your Bibles to Exodus chapter 3. Exodus chapter 3, we have started a new series. It's not in another skin. I keep looking at the, the posters around here. We're actually looking at the gospel through the life of Moses, and it is our last Sunday of the month.
Joel Brooks:
And typically for our last Sunday of the month, we've been taking a meditation on the cross. We're gonna break from that since we just started a series. And so we're gonna postpone that this month, as we continue to study Exodus or the life of Moses, really the gospel through the life of Moses. Now, one of the reasons that we are looking at Exodus is because that it's here that we find our roots to our Christian vocabulary. It's here that we come to understand words like salvation, words like redemption, words like freedom.
Joel Brooks:
Last week we we we we got our first taste of that in the in the story and the narratives in chapter 1 and 2. We're going to carry that on, in chapter 3. And I'll read the first 15 verses in this very familiar passage. 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.
Joel Brooks:
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. And Moses said, I will turn aside to see this great sight why the bush is not burned. When the lord saw that he turned aside to see, god called him out of the bush. Moses.
Joel Brooks:
Moses. And he said, here I am. Then he said, do not come near. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground. And he said, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.
Joel Brooks:
And Moses hid his face for he was afraid to look at God. 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 and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of the land to a good and broad land. 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.
Joel Brooks:
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 oppressed them. Come, 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 bring the children of Israel out of Egypt? He said, but I will be with you. And this shall be a sign for you that I have sent you when you have brought the people out of Egypt.
Joel Brooks:
You shall serve God on this mountain. 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 and they ask me, what is his name? What shall I say to them? 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.
Joel Brooks:
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, the God of Jacob has sent me to you. This is my name forever, and thus I'm to be remembered throughout all generations. Pray with me. Lord, we thank you for your word. We thank you that your word works its way into our hearts, into our minds, and through your spirit begins changing us in ways we we would never have anticipated, and I pray that would happen tonight.
Joel Brooks:
Spirit, you are free to move in this place, to have your way with us. We need you to, sharpen our dull minds, to open up our calloused hearts. We desperately need this. Lord, I pray that my words would fall to the ground and blow away and not be remembered anymore. But Lord, let your words remain, and may they change us.
Joel Brooks:
And I pray this in the strong name of Jesus, amen. Last week we looked at how the Israelites, they cried out to God for salvation, freedom from oppression. And so what does this salvation look like? You know, for for god, he can save pretty, you know, I would imagine a variety of ways, and so you have, you know, pharaoh there. He's oppressing the Israelites.
Joel Brooks:
Certainly, cry of salvation. Alright. Legions of angels could come. Could instantly rescue Israel or, you know, if God wanted to, all he'd have to do is say the word blink, snap his fingers, smite all of the Egyptians, free the Israelites. He could do all of these different things to save them, but he doesn't do that.
Joel Brooks:
Instead, he goes to one person. He goes to a very unlikely person, and he picks him and says, I want you to go and speak deliverance. Speak it. Tell pharaoh to let my people go. Tell the Israelites you were free.
Joel Brooks:
Speak it. Declare that salvation is here. And this is how god works. And and, you know, if you can wait for, you know, the the angels to come, the skies to open and all this, but god says, you want deliverance? This is how it happens.
Joel Brooks:
I pick someone. I use humans. And I say, go and speak it. Speak it. We left off last week with Moses being raised in Pharaoh's own household.
Joel Brooks:
He is he grew up basically as a prince of Egypt. He got this great education there. He had a position of power. It certainly seemed like that God had strategically placed Moses in the perfect place to have maybe some influence over pharaoh, to maybe start working in salvation through through that means, maybe get pharaoh to soften his stance on slavery. But right when you expect things to start happening along those lines, everything just kinda falls apart.
Joel Brooks:
Moses's life takes this downward spin. The things that that I would have planned don't go as I would have planned. Basically Moses, he saw this Egyptian beating on an Israelite. And so he killed the Egyptian. Just killed him right there.
Joel Brooks:
He thought he was safe. He thought nobody saw me do it, but then later he found out that when there was another fight between some Israelites and he was trying to break it up. They said, Are you gonna kill us like he did the Egyptian? And he realized, they saw me. And he he flees.
Joel Brooks:
He he runs away fearing for his life, and he settles into Midian where he becomes a shepherd. And so at this point, he has seemingly wasted his education. He has wasted his position of power in which God had raised him. He had wasted the influence that he once had. All of that gone.
Joel Brooks:
He's been rejected by the Hebrew people. He has now been rejected by the Egyptians. And in the verses we just read, we find Moses out just taking care of sheep in the middle of the wilderness. Literally, it's in a dry place and it's here that Moses meets God. Now this is the over and over again, you're gonna see this.
Joel Brooks:
This. This is the God of the Bible. God does not if the picture you have of God is one who, you know, He comes to you once you get your whole life together, once you put it all in order, then God comes to you. That's not the God of the Bible. He comes to those who have wasted their lives.
Joel Brooks:
He comes to those who have wasted the opportunities that they had before. He comes to the nobodies. He comes to the ones who's been rejected by others, and he speaks to us. He pursues us when we don't pursue him. And and look how God gets Moses's attention.
Joel Brooks:
Look at chapter 3 verse 2. It says, 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. Through this burning bush, Moses sees this bush. It's on fire and it's yet it's somehow it's not burning up and and he looks at this and goes, something here just it doesn't make sense.
Joel Brooks:
This this is doesn't make sense at all. And for the first time in his life, he's confronted with something that doesn't fit into his paradigm of thinking. It doesn't fit into what he knows to be true. He's looking at something that is there's no way that can happen. The bush is on fire, yet it's not being burned up.
Joel Brooks:
This simply cannot be. And so he turns to look at it. And so he becomes very curious about this and it actually when it says he turned aside, it means he he detours. He takes a detour there and he goes to this. And notice he's not going to meet God, he's not he's curious, that's it.
Joel Brooks:
He's simply curious, Something I can't explain. But then when he went, he met god, and god still speaks through burning bushes just like he spoke to Moses. If you're a Christian, you're called to be a burning bush actually because the Spirit of God dwells inside of you, and you're to live your life in such a way that it cannot be explained by those around you. Simply there's no explanation for the way that you were living. You know, maybe it's when you go through a terrible tragedy, something happens and so normally tragedy happens.
Joel Brooks:
Then a person's life falls apart and but yet when you when tragedy happens people look at you. You have peace. You have joy. People look at you and like, that doesn't make sense. That does not fit into my paradigm of thinking, and you become a burning bush.
Joel Brooks:
Or maybe at work somebody slanders you. And so what do you do when somebody slanders you? Normally, people they lash back. That's what happens. But when you're slandered through the spirit of God, you just speak grace and peace to the person.
Joel Brooks:
And people look at you and they're thinking, wait
Connor Coskery:
a second, that doesn't fit. That doesn't fit with what
Joel Brooks:
I know how people are supposed to respond. You become a burning bush to people. People see burning bushes all the time, I think, but rarely do they take time to actually stop, to turn aside, and to notice them. One burning bush that I think it happens a lot is most people have in mind kind of their dream life, what they what they aspire to. You know, we all have that whether it's, you know, wanting the the even if you're in marriage, you do now you want this this perfect marriage.
Joel Brooks:
And you want this this this this this good house or a good neighborhood or really just a job that you even like. And you keep thinking if I, you know, had a different boss, I'd be happy. Or if happy. Or if had a car that worked, I'd be happy. And and you're always thinking these things, and then you get those.
Joel Brooks:
And some of you in this room have been privileged to actually get the things that you have dreamed about. You get them. And so according to your former paradigm of thinking, it was, I get those things. Now I'm completely satisfied and happy. And then you get them and wait.
Joel Brooks:
You're not. That's a burning bush.
Connor Coskery:
It doesn't fit with what
Joel Brooks:
you thought was true. And what we should do is you should stop, examine. Why is it? I always thought if I
Connor Coskery:
had this, I'd be happy, but
Joel Brooks:
I get this and I'm not. And if you take a closer look, you just might hear the lord's voice speaking to you, calling you, wanting you to wanting to free you from those things. Now when god does speak to Moses here from the fire, look at what he says. He tells him to go to pharaoh, free the people from slavery. God's commands pretty direct.
Joel Brooks:
Details, fuzzy. There there really aren't any details here. You know there's over a 1000000 people in slavery, Moses. Go free them. Look at verse 10.
Joel Brooks:
Says, come I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people the children of Israel out of Egypt. There it is. It's it it would be the equivalent really if during a prayer time, all of a sudden God speaks to you and says go to Darfur, fix the problem. Okay. Just go there.
Joel Brooks:
Fix it. I know there's all this history, all the suppression, all of this stuff there. Go there. Fix it. It have been a very similar command.
Joel Brooks:
So here you have 400 years of oppression. Moses is supposed to try to fix this. Well, Moses, he struggle with obeying this command just like I would imagine any of us would. And so we would probably start wanting some more details or we'd start coming up with some excuses, and Moses does the exact same thing. He gives God 4 excuses, 4 reasons why it's a really really bad idea.
Joel Brooks:
God, this is a really bad idea. By the way, one of the the ways that I I have found that there's a god idea verse a me idea. Usually, when I come up with an idea, I'm fired up about it. And if somebody says, well, what about this? What about this?
Joel Brooks:
It's like, hey. It doesn't matter. I can I can make this thing work? When it's a god given idea, usually, all I see is, oh my gosh. This is gonna be terrible.
Joel Brooks:
This is absolutely gonna flop. I really don't wanna do this, and that's just how I work. But when it's me, I, you know, I kinda know what I can handle, and I get excited about it. This is obviously a god given idea and Moses begins to panic. And so the very first question or first excuse that he has is he says, well who am I?
Joel Brooks:
Verse 11 says, who am I that I should go to pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt? This is a great question. It's a great question. I mean, Moses grows up in a pagan environment. He doesn't have the theological training that's necessary to do this.
Joel Brooks:
He doesn't have the upbringing for for this task. And god says in verse 12 that he will be with Moses, and I love this. He says, I'm gonna give you a sign. I'm gonna give you a sign. Look at verse 12.
Joel Brooks:
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. So I don't know if you get this when you read it. Moses hears the sign. You're gonna deliver people, and they're gonna they're gonna worship on the mountain.
Joel Brooks:
And here's the sign. It's gonna happen. That that's the sign right here that that I sent you to pharaoh. The the the the sign is you're gonna go, and it's gonna happen. So the sign that Moses gets comes after it happens, that they worship on the mountain.
Joel Brooks:
It doesn't come before. That's not this sign that says, give me a sign, you know, fire coming down from heaven or, you know, an angel talking to me, telling me more things or whatever it's like that. No. Here's the sign that you're gonna deliver the people. You're gonna deliver the people, and that's how God signs work sometimes.
Joel Brooks:
I know a lot of times we pray, Lord, give me a sign. Give me a sign, and then we wait, and we wait. But for god, sometimes the sign is, hey, it's gonna happen. Do it. It will happen.
Joel Brooks:
There's my sign. Don't think of my sign as like a freeway sign in which you need to say, turn here, turn here. No. It's after you pull up on the ramp. It says, you have turned here.
Joel Brooks:
Like, okay. Now I get this. Not how we would do it, but it's how the lord does it here. And I think it's because he wants us to walk by faith. You're not gonna mess up the lord's sovereign will for your life.
Joel Brooks:
Moses's second question is, I don't even know your name. And God answers in verse 14, I am who I am. And I want you to tell people that I am has sent you. I am has sent you. Now all of us here we inherited a name.
Joel Brooks:
You didn't get to choose the name that you were given. For example, my middle name is a lot of you know is Eugene. I would have never ever ever chosen that. And everybody's like, well, who in your family's named Eugene? I'm like, well, nobody actually.
Joel Brooks:
My parents just liked the name. But I didn't get to choose this. I inherited it. God gets to choose his name. He chooses it.
Joel Brooks:
And his name reveals so much about who he is. And so when God is asked, what is your name? He doesn't say, you know, things like Bob, you know, or my name is Luke, Dion, Isaiah, or something like that. He doesn't he doesn't do a name like that. And he doesn't even do a name, you know, if you wanted to sound really religious or profound or powerful like, I am the omnipotent creator of the universe, or I am, you know, I don't know, the most loving being you can imagine.
Joel Brooks:
He doesn't say any of that. He says, I am. And you kind of wait for him to finish. I am. And he doesn't finish, he says, I am.
Joel Brooks:
I Lauren, was trying to teach this to Caroline the other night. She said, she's going through the story and she's saying, you know, God says his name is I Am. Caroline completely did not get it at all. And then she kept saying, he is what? He is what?
Joel Brooks:
And she goes, no, his name is I am. She's, he is what? And we kind of feel that I mean, thankfully a 5 year old can say it and get away with it. We can't just say that, you know, because we don't want to sound ignorant. But we wonder the same thing.
Joel Brooks:
What do you mean when you say I am? I am. Oh, one of the things I believe that God's name reveals about himself is that you cannot compare God to anything else in this universe. Anything else in this universe. He is the starting point for everything or or a better way to say this is, you cannot explain God.
Joel Brooks:
You can't explain him. You know, you explain things by telling how something comes into being, how something comes into life, but God has always been. He simply is. He simply is. You know, everything is a part of something.
Joel Brooks:
If I were to ask you, who are you? You could say, I am a human. You belong to this class, humanity. If you could talk to a star and say, what are you? And they would say, I am a star.
Joel Brooks:
There's a lot of stars and you say, what are you? They say, I am a galaxy. People, they they belong to a class. They belong to something. But when God has asked, what do you belong to?
Joel Brooks:
What are you? He has to say simply, I am, because he doesn't belong into any class. He does not fit into any category. He simply is. Basically, this is another way of saying, I am holy, because the word holy simply means other.
Joel Brooks:
It means not like us. The word holy means utterly distinct, can't place in a category. So when God says, his name is I am, he's simply saying, I'm holy. I'm holy. You know, if he had used the adjective, like I am powerful, as great as that sounds or I am all knowing that's my name, he would have instantly placed himself into a category.
Joel Brooks:
If he had said, I am I am powerful. You would have thought powerful. I get that. I understand power. So you're like the most powerful being ever.
Joel Brooks:
And then God would have said, no. Because my power is nothing like the power you know. I don't fit in that category. If you had said, I am faithful, you'd have thought, okay, I understand faithfulness. So you're the, like, the most faithful being there is, and he would have said, no.
Joel Brooks:
Because the picture you have of faithfulness is nothing like my faithfulness. You can't even put it in the same category. I simply am. I simply am. Isaiah would later say, to whom then will you liken God?
Joel Brooks:
Or what likeness will you compare with him? And this is actually really good news for us. It's really good news for Moses. Because a God that is like you cannot save you. A God who is like you cannot save you.
Joel Brooks:
A god that thinks like you would think, or loves the like you would love, or does things like you would, can't save you, But this god can. This god can save them and salvation is what we need. Moses's third excuse is usually all of our favorites, It's one I hear all the time. It's probably, you know, the reason only a couple of you stopped by at 3 to help us set up. It's not my gift.
Joel Brooks:
You know, it's not my gift. I don't know how to set up drums or things like that. We use this excuse all of the time. Moses, he basically says, I'm not eloquent. I'm not one of those really good speakers.
Joel Brooks:
Actually, I'm kind of a brute god. I kind of, you know, I'm a shepherd because I don't like being with people. It's not gonna fly. It's not gonna fly. You know, Moses, he doesn't just give this objection here actually three times in the following chapters.
Joel Brooks:
He's gonna tell God, people won't listen to me because I'm a horrible speaker. Three times later, they're gonna I'm a horrible speaker, And god finally responds. He says, who cares? Who really cares? I I mean, how does your giftedness have anything to do with your obedience?
Joel Brooks:
It doesn't matter. I'm gonna take care of your weakness. You know, your giftedness doesn't make you able for the task or it doesn't exclude you from the task. It is irrelevant. And and you know that actually this is extreme arrogance to tell God you're not gifted, or that you're not really good at this and get somebody else.
Joel Brooks:
That is one of the most arrogant things you can say, because what you're saying is, I realize God your task depends on the person, not on you. It depends on my ability. That is so arrogant. We should respond in humility and just simply say, okay, what do you want? I'm not gifted but it doesn't matter.
Joel Brooks:
It doesn't matter. Moses' 4th excuse is said in a panic. He's becoming frantic because he realizes all of his excuses are pitiful. And so verse 13, I love, he says, just send someone else. Just send someone else.
Joel Brooks:
Sorry, that's in that's in chapter 6. He says, just send somebody else. God, I know that I don't really have a reason to go, but I just don't want to do it. And God finally says, alright, I'm gonna send Aaron your brother. He finally says, alright I'll send somebody else with you, but you are going to go.
Joel Brooks:
I I think a lot of this boils down to what Moses misunderstood god commanding him to do. Earlier, I said that god had commanded him to to free the Israelites from slavery, but he actually really didn't quite say that. Look at Exodus 6 chapter 1. Sorry. Exodus 6 verse 1.
Joel Brooks:
But the lord said to Moses, now you shall see what I will do to pharaoh. For with a strong hand, he will send them out with a strong hand. He will drive them out of this land. Look at verse 6. Say therefore to the people of Israel, I am the Lord and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery.
Joel Brooks:
I will redeem you with an outstretched arm with acts of judgment. I will take you to be my people. I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. I will bring you into the land that I swore to give Abraham to Isaac and to Jacob. I will give it to you for possession.
Joel Brooks:
I am the Lord. Over and over here, I am. I will do this. I'm gonna do this. I'm gonna deliver.
Joel Brooks:
I will redeem. God is doing all of the work. The only thing that Moses is asked to do or is told that He will do, he says, I'm gonna do all of this and you will know that I am God. That's the only thing Moses is responsible for, is knowing that He is the Lord. Knowing he's the lord.
Joel Brooks:
I'm gonna do all of the rest. And so as we begin to walk in obedience, what happens is we begin to see god move, and we know him more and more and more. We know him. Before we we end here, there's one final thing, one one final question that you gotta ask of this text. Maybe some of you were thinking about this earlier.
Joel Brooks:
How can Moses get away with this stuff? I don't know if you've ever thought of this. How how can Moses get away with this? I mean, how can he say all that he has to god? God's calling and he's just kind of talking back to God.
Joel Brooks:
No, I'm not gonna do this. No, you better send somebody else. No, I don't care God, here's my excuse to get. He's talking back to God, and God doesn't just strike him dead. I mean, if I were God and Moses talks to me that way, I'd be like, wham, next.
Joel Brooks:
Okay. Because there's nothing in Moses that drew god to him. It's like, alright, next person, you know. And I bet the next person wouldn't talk back. But here he is before a holy god, and he's talking back to him, and god doesn't strike him dead.
Joel Brooks:
And if you remember when Moses first comes to this burning bush, it says, the angel Lord says, stop. Not you're about to be on holy ground. You're approaching holy ground, says stop. Take off your shoes for you are on it. You are already on it.
Joel Brooks:
You're already in my presence. You're on holy ground. And you're gonna see later in the book of Exodus that anybody who is on holy ground, if there's a holy mountain when which God comes down with fire, very similar. If you touch it, you die. If you're on holy ground.
Joel Brooks:
Touch it dead. Here's Moses on holy ground talking back to god. He's not struck down. In 3 verse 2, it says that it was an angel of the lord who was in that fire. This is not an ordinary angel.
Joel Brooks:
Whenever you you see the definitive article there, the angel of the Lord, It's talking about the Lord himself. You see that even later because this angel accepts worship, which no angel can do. And what you're seeing is this angel here is somehow acting. This Lord here is somehow acting as a mediator. A mediator.
Joel Brooks:
Look at John chapter 8. It's one of my my favorite passages here. Jump to the new testament. I feel like I say all the time, this is one of my favorite passages. It's because during the week when I'm studying it, it becomes one of my favorite passages.
Joel Brooks:
John chapter 8. Here Jesus is arguing with the Jewish leaders. And at one point they say that they certainly didn't think that He was better than Abraham. You're certainly not better than any of the prophets. And Jesus responds by saying these words.
Joel Brooks:
Look at verse 58. Jesus said to them, truly truly I say to you, before Abraham was, I am. Before Abraham was, I am. Now this does not make grammatical sense at all. You know, you could say before Abraham was, I was, but he says, no, before Abraham was, I am.
Joel Brooks:
And they all got the point. They got it. He's saying, you know what? There is never gonna be a time where I cease to be, and there was never a time that I was not. I have always been.
Joel Brooks:
I am. I am. The burning bush, the angel of the Lord that spoke to Moses, me, I am. That's why I'm greater than the prophets. That's why I'm greater than Abraham.
Joel Brooks:
That's why I'm greater than Moses. Before they even were, I am present tense. And you see, Jesus doesn't fit into any category that we have, like this burning bush. When you go to the gospels and you start trying to explain Jesus, you can't explain him. You can't.
Joel Brooks:
He is far more liberal than any liberal you could possibly imagine. Jesus, he gets up there and he tells people, judge not. He gives free food to 1,000. You don't have to pay anything. I'm just gonna give everybody free food, free health care.
Joel Brooks:
Come, all of you fully healed. Everybody, he is the most liberal guy you can imagine, freely just forgiving people. And you think, okay. Well, I got him pegged. He's a bleeding liberal.
Joel Brooks:
And you're like, no. Wait. He's actually more conservative than you can possibly imagine. He'd say things like this. Yes.
Joel Brooks:
Okay. You know, murder is wrong. But let me tell you what, if you have even thought an angry thought in your heart towards your brother, you have committed murder and you're guilty of hell. Wow. That's oh, that's pretty far right there.
Joel Brooks:
And he says, you know what? How about punishments? Hey. If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. Throw it away from you.
Joel Brooks:
You cause a little child to stumble, tie a millstone around your neck and throw yourself in the sea. That's pretty far right. And so he is as more liberal than any liberal. You can imagine he's more conservative than any conservative. And he's more gentle than you can ever imagine.
Joel Brooks:
Little children getting in his lap, and then he's blessing them. At the same time, or later, he would go into a temple, and he would drive them out with a whip. At times, his closest friends were scared to death of him. Yet little children would flock to him. You can't explain Jesus.
Joel Brooks:
He's a burning bush. He simply is. You can't place him in a category of liberal, conservative, gentle, or strong. He doesn't fit anywhere. He simply is.
Joel Brooks:
And this is good news for us, because it means we didn't create him. We didn't create him, and it also means that he can save us because he is not like us. You cannot look to a god that you fashion with your own ideas, you fashion with your own intellect, you fashion to be who you want him to be. You can't look to a god like that to save you, but Jesus can save you because he simply is. And this is the Jesus we worship and adore.
Joel Brooks:
This is the Jesus who finds people who have wasted their lives, wasted every comes and he rescues them. Pray with me. Lord, you are the great I am. Jesus, you are the great I am. Even back then with Moses, you're mediating for him.
Joel Brooks:
You are allowing him to stand on holy ground and talk back to you, just like you allow us in the midst of all of our sin to come before you and worship, because you're our mediator. Thank you. I ask that your spirit would so fill us in this place, that when we leave, we would be burning bushes. We would live lives that cannot be explained. And I pray this in the name of Jesus.