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.
Speaker 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. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame a fire, out of the midst of a bush. He looked and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not. Called him out of the bush, Moses, Moses.
Speaker 1:
And he said, here I am. Do not come near. Take off your sandals for the place on which you are standing is holy grail. And he said, I know their sufferings. And I've come down to deliver them out of the hand of 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 Parasites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
Speaker 1:
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. And then Moses said to God, what if I come to the people of Israel and say to them, the God of your fathers has sent me to you and they asked me, what is his name? What should I say to them then? God said to Moses, I am who I am. Say this to the people of Israel.
Speaker 1:
I am. They sent me to you. 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.
Jeffrey Heine:
If you would pray with me. Our father, we thank you for your word. We thank you that you are not a distant God who doesn't care, but you are consistently reaching out to us. One of the ways you reveal yourself to us is through your word. So, God, we want to know you in this moment.
Jeffrey Heine:
I pray that whatever blinders we bring in this room, you would tear those down, and we would clearly be able to see you. Lord, in this moment, I pray that my words would fall to the ground and blow away and not be remembered anymore. But, Lord, may your words remain, and may they change us. We pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen.
Jeffrey Heine:
One of the reasons we've begun this series going through the book of Exodus is because it's here that we find really the foundations of our faith. We we find the roots of our Christian vocabulary. And so it's here we come to understand terms like salvation, redemption, phrases like saved by the blood of the lamb. Now, last week, we saw how the Israelites, they cried out to God for God to save them from the oppression, from the slavery that they were in. And now we're gonna begin to see how this salvation comes, because it doesn't come in a way that you would first expect.
Jeffrey Heine:
God could save the Israelites a number of ways. I mean, as I'm reading through this story, I'm thinking salvation would actually be pretty easy from the Lord. He could just kinda get a legion of angels, and he could send them down, and and he could just deliver them. Or he could just strike all of Egypt maybe with a sickness, one sickness to wipe them all out, and then you would have Israel free. There's a lot of different ways the Lord could do this, but he doesn't choose any of those ways, which teaches us a lot about how God delivers us.
Jeffrey Heine:
God rarely works in that one huge sweeping fashion, like sending an army of angels. What he does do is he picks an unlikely person to go and to speak to his people words of deliverance. When we left off last week, we saw Moses. We were introduced to Moses, and we saw how he was being raised up in pharaoh's household. So he grew up as, you know, likely one of the princes of Egypt.
Jeffrey Heine:
He would have received a royal education. He would have had a position of power. And just from thinking through those things, it looks like God has put Moses in the perfect place in which Moses can now begin exerting some of his influence to make changes to how the Hebrew people are treated. But right when you begin reading this and you think, okay. Now I know where things are going, you get this unexpected turn of events.
Jeffrey Heine:
Moses's life begins taking a downward spiral. Things don't go as we would have planned. The story goes like this. Moses, he saw a Egyptian beating up on a Hebrew, and so he killed the Egyptian. He didn't think anybody saw him do it, but later when 2 Hebrews were fighting, he said, hey, y'all are brothers.
Jeffrey Heine:
You shouldn't be fighting. They said, are you gonna kill us just like you killed the Egyptian? And so he realized he had been seen committing murder, and so he knew he had to flee. And so he flees Egypt and he goes to a remote place in Midian where he becomes a shepherd. And so at this point in Moses's life, it looks like he has wasted the things that were given to him.
Jeffrey Heine:
He has wasted his good education that was provided for him. He has wasted the sphere of influence that he had. And by the time we get to chapter 3, he's already spent much of his life in the wilderness simply watching sheep. He has been rejected by both the Hebrews and by the Egyptians. And now he's far away from home and use in the wilderness in this place called Horeb.
Jeffrey Heine:
Horeb literally means dry place, wilderness. And the author puts this here because he wants you to know not just where Moses physically was, but this is where he was emotionally. This is where he was spiritually. He was washed up. He was in a dry place, and but it's here that he meets God.
Jeffrey Heine:
It's one of the first things we realize about the God and how he works salvation in our lives is that God doesn't wait for us to get our lives together. He doesn't wait for us to make something out of our life, for us to turn over a new leaf, become a great moral person. And then God says, that's a person I could use. That's who I wanna meet with. Instead, he he he comes to those who have squandered the gifts he has given them, Who have wasted their life.
Jeffrey Heine:
He comes to people who are in a very dry place. To people who are not even looking for him. God pursues us before we ever pursue him. Let's look at how god gets Moses's attention. We see this in verses 2 and 3 where it says, and the angel of the Lord appeared to Moses in a flame of fire.
Jeffrey Heine:
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. So Moses, he's just shepherding and he's happens to see a bush that is on fire yet it's not being consumed. And so he's looking at this and he's studying this and he realizes this doesn't make sense. This isn't computing with him.
Jeffrey Heine:
For the first time in his life, he is confronted with that doesn't fit into his paradigm of understanding things. He's like, I I I know bushes, and I know fire, and and when a bush is on fire, it's consumed. But here I see a bush on fire, and it's not. And so he's drawn into this strange thing happening in which he sees this cannot be, yet it simply is. And so he becomes curious about this.
Jeffrey Heine:
And so he decides to take a closer look. And I want you to notice here that Moses doesn't go to the bush intending to meet with God. That's not why he goes there. He he went because he saw something that he could not explain. Something that went against what he knew to be true.
Jeffrey Heine:
Something he knew about fire and bushes. And he turned aside to look at that, and then he found God. And the reason I wanna point that out is because I want you to know that God still uses burning bushes. He still speaks through burning bushes. If you are a Christian, then you have been filled with the spirit of God and the spirit of God empowers you to live a life in such a way that it cannot be explained, where people will look at you and wonder.
Jeffrey Heine:
Every Christian is called to be a burning bush, and that happens a number of ways. Perhaps you you go through a time of tremendous grief. Perhaps you you lose somebody in your family or a dear friend dies, and yet your friends look at you and how you deal with that, and you don't grieve as somebody without hope. But in the midst of that grief, you have a peace, and you have a joy, and your friends are looking at you, and they say, I I don't understand this. That is not how a person is supposed to respond.
Jeffrey Heine:
You're a burning bush. And so they take a step closer, and they just might see Jesus. Or perhaps it's when somebody slanders you at work, and instead of lashing back, you compassionately respond with love, peace, joy. People are thinking, woah. That that that that doesn't fit into my paradigm of understanding.
Jeffrey Heine:
That's not how you're to respond. And what you've done is you've become a burning bush. Or perhaps you've rised up in your profession, and you're now making a whole lot of money. But when you choose not to buy a bunch of adult toys, you know, the the cars and the the the mansions and they're like everything else that you you adults spend all their money on. What you're expected to spend all your money on if you really make it, but instead, you spend money for the good of others, for the glory of God.
Jeffrey Heine:
People are gonna look and think, that's that that doesn't fit into my paradigm of thinking. That's not why you get wealthy. You become a burning bush, and you can lead others to Jesus. I think some of you have experienced burning bushes. Whether you're a believer or not, I think you've experienced it in that there might be some things you thought for sure.
Jeffrey Heine:
Once I get this, once I achieve this, I'll be happy. And then you've got it, and then you're still empty. And now it doesn't fit into that paradigm of thinking you once had. That's a burning bush. And I would just challenge you to stop and to listen because God very well might be speaking to you in that moment, calling you to himself.
Jeffrey Heine:
Now when God does speak to Moses here, what he says is really interesting. He tells Moses to go to pharaoh and to free the Israelites from slavery. His command is very direct with very few details, very fuzzy when it comes to the implementation of this, because he doesn't give any details. You know, there's a 1000000 people enslaved, and God says, okay. I would like you to go in freedom.
Jeffrey Heine:
It'd be similar to if god, you know, just told you, hey, you know, Darfur is a bad place. Could you go and fix that for me? You know, just just just go just go and and fix that without any details. If that were to happen to you, you would probably have a lot of the same struggles, probably a lot of same questions as Moses would have. Could could you give me just a few more things?
Jeffrey Heine:
I've got a few excuses, a few questions I'd like to run by you. So Moses struggles just like we would, And he gives God 4 excuses or he asked 4 questions, and I want us to look at these. Because in return, God really only gives one answer. The first question Moses gives is found in verse 11. He says this, but Moses said to God, who am I that I should go to pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?
Jeffrey Heine:
It's actually a really good question. Who is Moses? Because all we know about him at this point is he's he's somewhat of a a brute, we think. I mean, he murders somebody. He's a loner.
Jeffrey Heine:
He flees. He's just a a lonely shepherd. We really don't know much about him. Nothing that's really positive. We know he didn't get a good theological education, but he was raised in a pagan environment.
Jeffrey Heine:
So who is he that he should do this? God says in verse 12 that he will be with Moses, and I love this. He says, I'm gonna give you a sign, and I'm gonna give you a sign to show show you Moses that it this is really what you were supposed to do. And and look at this. Look at verse 12.
Jeffrey Heine:
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. I don't know if you got that, but but the sign comes after Moses does what he's supposed to do. It it doesn't come before. Says, okay.
Jeffrey Heine:
You wanna know that you're supposed to deliver God's, you know, the the Hebrews out of slavery? Well, when you do this, I'll tell you about it at this mountain as we meet together. And as you're reading through this, you're like, that's not a sign. That's a joke. That that really is not a sign here because signs are supposed to come before you make a decision, before you take a step.
Jeffrey Heine:
That's the point of a sign. It points you in the direction to go, but not here with Moses. God's signs aren't like how we think of signs. Like, you're driving down the road, and you put up a sign, turn next right to get to this city. God puts up the sign after the turn, verifying that you're on the right path, not telling you to go on this path.
Jeffrey Heine:
So why does God do it this way? Why does he set up signs that confirm something, but not point to something. And the reason is, and we're gonna see this all throughout Exodus and all throughout the bible, is that god desires to grow a people who will walk by faith and not by sight. Trust me in this, Moses. Here's the sign.
Jeffrey Heine:
You're gonna do it, and then I'll meet you at this mountain. There's your sign. Moses has another question. This question is I I don't even know your name. Look at verse 13.
Jeffrey Heine:
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 asked me, what is his name? What shall I say to them? God says in verse 14, he says to Moses, I am who I am. And he said, say to the people of Israel, I am has sent me to you. Now we just got here a bunch of children, you know, and the names that were given to them.
Jeffrey Heine:
None of them got to choose their own name. None of us got to choose our own name. My middle name is Eugene. Okay? I didn't choose it.
Jeffrey Heine:
I would never have chosen it. It's not a family name. My parents simply liked the name Eugene. And so I am forever Joel Eugene Brooks. But God was not given a name.
Jeffrey Heine:
He got to choose his own name. And that name would reveal something about him. So so when God has asked his name, he doesn't say something like, you know, it's Bob or it's it's Luke or he doesn't just say a name or he doesn't give a title. Like, my name is omnipotent creator. My name is the majestic one.
Jeffrey Heine:
He doesn't do that. He he says, well, I am, and you're kind of waiting for him to finish. I am it's like, I am who I am. That really clear things up, God. You could tell them, I am sent me to you.
Jeffrey Heine:
He just simply says, I am who I am, or you could translate it. I will be who I will be. So what does God's name reveal about himself? What does it reveal? First thing it reveals about him is that you cannot compare God to anything else in this universe, he will not be compared.
Jeffrey Heine:
And this is different than everything else. Everything else has a Genesis. Everything else has a starting point, but God has no starting point. God cannot be explained. There's another way you could put this.
Jeffrey Heine:
You know, you explain things by telling how they came into being, but you can't explain how God came to being. He simply is. Everything else is a part of something. Everything else belongs in a category. If I were to ask you, if you were to ask me who I am, I could tell you, well, I am a human.
Jeffrey Heine:
I fit into a category of human. If you were to ask the sun, what are you? The sun would say, I am a star. If you were to ask the Milky Way, what are you? I am a galaxy.
Jeffrey Heine:
Everything fits into a category And so you get to God and you say, what are you? God says, I am. He doesn't fit into any category. He simply is. He has no beginning.
Jeffrey Heine:
He has no end. He's the one absolute. He's the one constant. 10,000,000,000 years ago, God is. 10,000,000,000 years from now, God is.
Jeffrey Heine:
There's 1,000,000,000 of billions of facts in this world, but god is on top and underneath and central to every one of them. Or as Paul would say, for from him and through him and to him are all things God simply is. You kinda get this when you when you have children and you, you know, when the children are really young, you're exhausted simply because you're sleep deprived. Then when they get older, it's a little more emotionally taxing and mentally taxing because you were asked the question why every few minutes. At least every few minutes, it is why why why why.
Jeffrey Heine:
And so why is the sky blue? You know? And so I actually I actually knew the answer to this one, you know, and I would I would tell, Caroline at the time. I was like, well, it's because there's, you know, trillions of little dust particles, particulates in the atmosphere. And the size of them just happens to be the same size as the wavelength for blue.
Jeffrey Heine:
And so when the sun is giving off its light, the the little blue wavelengths, they hit those little dust particles because of the exact same size, and then they're scattered all over the sky. So the sky is blue, and I felt really good about that. And then she goes, well, why does that happen? It's like, well, you know, what well, how is it that the sun, like, can give, like, the light that comes all the way over here? Why doesn't the sun you know, what fuels the sun?
Jeffrey Heine:
Why doesn't it burn up? Why and she just kept going, why why why? And I kept doing my best to try to answer, well, yours nuclear fission. Well, fusion. When is that gonna stop?
Jeffrey Heine:
Well, you you quickly, you drown. And the thing is, if she were to keep going, why why why? You know where you will eventually wind up? God. He's the one thing he was never started.
Jeffrey Heine:
He is the one person who cannot be explained. He is the foundation under it all. He simply is. He isn't is because of something else. He simply is.
Jeffrey Heine:
He has no starting point, no beginning, no end. So God reveals that about himself. Isaiah would say, to whom will you liken God? What likeness will you compare with him? He simply fits into no category.
Jeffrey Heine:
I could go on about the name of God, but let me just point out one little thing in in verse 15. If you look at it. Says, god also said to Moses, say to this 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. That word the Lord there, if you notice, is in all caps. That's the name of God.
Jeffrey Heine:
That is the Hebrew word Yahweh. Anytime in scripture you see Lord in all caps, think Yahweh, which means he is that's God is explaining his name. When he says, I am who I am. You could tell him I am who sent me. And then he gives his name Yahweh, in which when we say, God, your name is Yahweh.
Jeffrey Heine:
We're saying he is. And I want you to, you know, to make a mental note of that. Every time you're reading through scripture and you see the Lord in all caps, remind yourself that that's the word Yahweh. The only reason they translators write it out the Lord is because they're trying to guard people against taking the Lord's name in vain, in which they don't want us using the name Yahweh so carelessly. But mentally, I want you to be thinking the I want you to be thinking Yahweh Yahweh because God gave us his name for a reason.
Jeffrey Heine:
Lauren and I, we sold a oven on Craigslist yesterday. And, so when she put it up on Craigslist, she didn't put her name. I said, why not? She goes, are you crazy? I'm not gonna put my name out there.
Jeffrey Heine:
Because she wasn't looking to build a relationship with anybody. She just wanted her money for them to take a stove. I mean, that's what we wanted. We we weren't looking to build anything. So there was no need to know the person's name or for them to know ours.
Jeffrey Heine:
God gave us his name. And what that means is he wants a relationship. He does not want to be some distant god out there, but he wants you to talk to him and he will talk back. There is a intimacy there implied with God giving his name to Moses. Yahweh he is.
Jeffrey Heine:
Let's look at the third excuse. It's usually my favorite, the one I kind of my go to excuse. Would you say it's not my gift? We'll find this in chapter 4 if you wanna turn there, verse 10. But Moses said to the Lord, oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent.
Jeffrey Heine:
Either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, or deaf or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord, Yahweh? Now, therefore, go and I will be your mouth and teach you what you shall speak. So Moses's objection is, God, I'm not very eloquent. I I kinda, you know, speak with these.
Jeffrey Heine:
I don't I don't speak with my mouth. I'm kind of a brute. I don't work well with people. That's why I'm a shepherd. I'm just kind of a loner.
Jeffrey Heine:
God says, I don't really care. Moses, he doesn't just give the objection here 3 times in the following chapters. Moses is gonna say the same thing. Really? In case you didn't get it the first time, I am really not a good speaker.
Jeffrey Heine:
I don't want this. And each time God responds by saying, who cares? What makes you think for a moment that your giftedness has anything to do with your obedience? What makes you think for a moment that your talents are what I can use for a task and your weakness is what disqualifies you from a task? Do not be so arrogant as to think that.
Jeffrey Heine:
You you might think that Moses is being humble here. You know, I really can't speak. That is not humility. That is arrogance. Because he says, God, I listen to your plan, and it depends upon me being really good at something.
Jeffrey Heine:
God is in no way limited by Moses's weakness. Finally, probably because I think God's just sick of listening to Moses, he says, fine. I'll send Aaron your brother. He could speak on your behalf. And so we have Aaron come to the scene later.
Jeffrey Heine:
Moses' 4th excuse, also in chapter 4 verse 13, it's said in somewhat of a panic. He says this, but, oh, my lord, please send somebody else. I like that one. It's not really even an excuse. It's just the final, like, okay.
Jeffrey Heine:
I've run out of excuses. Just I really, really, really, really, really don't wanna do this. Just send somebody else. I realize my excuses are pitiful, but please send somebody else. And that's at that point is when god gets angry and says, fine.
Jeffrey Heine:
I'll send your brother as a help, but you're still doing it. Yeah. I think one of the things that really just kind of Moses was hung up on is he misunderstood what the Lord wanted him to do. Because he was thinking kind of like if I said, okay. I want you to go to Darfur, and I want you to, you know, to just fix the whole situation there, Then I'm telling you what you need to be doing, and that you're gonna have to do all of these things, but that's really not what God is telling Moses to do.
Jeffrey Heine:
God isn't telling Moses to deliver the people. Moses feels like he's supposed to be the one to deliver the people, but God's not asking him to do that. He's only asking Moses to go. Look at chapter 6, if you would. Chapter 6 verse 1.
Jeffrey Heine:
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, and with a strong hand he will drive them out of his land. Look at verse 6, say therefore to the people of Israel, I am the Lord, 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 of the Egyptians. I will bring you into the land that I swore to give Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
Jeffrey Heine:
I will give it to you for possession. I am the Lord. Over and over and over again, I will. I will do this. I will do this.
Jeffrey Heine:
God's the one who does it all. He is the one who redeems. He's the one who saves. He's the one with the mighty displays of power. He only asked Moses to go.
Jeffrey Heine:
The only time that Moses god tells Moses what to do is in verse 7 when he says this. Says, I will take you to be my people, and I will be your god, and you shall know. You shall know that I am the Lord your God. Okay? That's what you're supposed to do, Moses.
Jeffrey Heine:
I do all of this, and when it comes to you, you just know that I am God as all of this unfolds before you. So as you take that step of obedience and you go, you begin to know the Lord, and you begin to see him work before you. You shall know that I am God. We could go on in Exodus, but I I wanna I wanna at least mention one more thing before we end. One final thing.
Jeffrey Heine:
A final question. When I'm studying through a text, I have a notebook here, and the first thing I do is I just write out questions. It's a good good way to learn a text. You write out every single question. Over and over and over, I just write these down.
Jeffrey Heine:
And a question that I had was, how can Moses get away with this? I mean, how? How can he say this to God? I mean, if my children were to talk to me like that, they'd get punished. And Moses just keeps, like, pushing God's buttons, just pushing them and pushing them, and you just kind of cringe.
Jeffrey Heine:
You're waiting for the hammer to fall, and it never does. When Moses first approached the burning bush, god tells him, stop. You gotta stop right there. Don't come any closer. Remove your sandals for you are standing on holy ground.
Jeffrey Heine:
God does not say stop right there because you're about to tread on holy ground. He says stop right there because you are already standing on holy ground. Now you're gonna see later in the book of Exodus, people who stood on holy ground died. Sinners can't stand on holy ground. They can't stand before God that way.
Jeffrey Heine:
So so how is it that Moses here can stand on holy ground, have a disrespectful conversation with the creator of the universe, and walk away. In chapter 3 verse 2, it says that it was the angel of the Lord who spoke to Moses in that fire, the angel of the Lord. And that's not an ordinary angel. Anytime you see the phrase in the old testament, the angel of the Lord, this is somebody different. The angel of the Lord can accept worship.
Jeffrey Heine:
We see that all throughout the old testament, and we know only God can accept worship. The angel of the Lord has sacrifices that could be made before him. Worship given to him. This angel here is some kind of mediator between God and between men. And Jesus lets us know who this is in John chapter 8.
Jeffrey Heine:
In John 8, we find Jesus arguing with the Jewish leaders. And at one point, they're just like, who do you think you are? I mean, certainly you're not greater than Abraham. Certainly you're not greater than the prophets. Who do you think you are?
Jeffrey Heine:
Jesus And Jesus responded to them by saying, truly, truly, I tell you, before Abraham was, I am. Which makes no grammatical sense whatsoever. But it makes perfect sense in light of what you just read, which Jesus is saying that he is the I am. Before Abraham was, I am. Yes.
Jeffrey Heine:
I'm superior to Abraham. Yes. I'm superior to Moses because I am the I am. I'm the same yesterday, today, and forever. I do not depend on anyone.
Jeffrey Heine:
Nothing affects me. Nothing changes me. There is never a time that I was not and there will never be a time that I will not be. I am. And I love it.
Jeffrey Heine:
If you read through the gospels, try to read them with fresh eyes, and you will notice that Jesus does not fit into any category. You try to pin him down, read through the gospels and try. I love it. Like, you know, liberals will claim Jesus to be one of their own. Conservatives will claim Jesus to be one of their own.
Jeffrey Heine:
Why? Because they all can pull from something. Jesus is actually more liberal than the most liberal person that I know. He'll go around saying things like, judge not, gives free food to 1,000, gives free health care to everyone. Yet, he is more conservative than the most staunch conservative person I know.
Jeffrey Heine:
He would say, well, yes, adultery is wrong. And I tell you what, if you have a lustful thought, you have committed adultery. Of course, murder is wrong. You know it? You think an angry thought, you have committed murder.
Jeffrey Heine:
You know what? If your right hand causes you to sin, you should just cut it off. He's he's more liberal than the the most, you know, liberal person I know. He's more conservative than the most conservative person I know. You can't fit him in any category.
Jeffrey Heine:
Then you look at the gentleness of Jesus. Children would run, get into his lap, and he would bless them. And then sometimes his own disciples were scared of him. Sometimes he would go into the temple, pick up a whip, and he would drive people out. So is it gentle Jesus meek and mild, or or is it Jesus filled with passion and with zeal?
Jeffrey Heine:
Who is this Jesus? Every time you look at Jesus and you go to the gospels, you will find a person that cannot be explained. He does not fit into any category. He simply is. And let me say that is the Jesus that we serve and the Jesus we worship.
Jeffrey Heine:
He is nothing like us, and that is a good thing. Because if he was like us, he couldn't save us. This is the Jesus who finds people who live in Horeb, who have wasted their lives, people who are in a spiritually dry place, and he seeks them, and he draws them to himself, and he gives them his name, and says, I wanna have a relationship with you. That's the Jesus we love and we serve and we adore. Pray with me.
Jeffrey Heine:
Son of god, we thank you that you are our mediator. There's no reason, Moses should not have been smitten where he lie. But, Lord, you, son of god, you you mediate on behalf of the sinners, and you allow us to stand before a righteous god. And, Jesus, we look at you, the great I am, and We say, you don't fit into any category. There is not a praise that we could give that you are not so higher above.
Jeffrey Heine:
And we simply, in this in this moment now, we say we love you, we adore you, and we praise you, Jesus. You were, you are, and you will always be. We pray this in your name, Jesus. Amen. Invite you to go ahead and you could stand, and we're gonna sing some songs that are in celebration of the truths that we have heard.
Jeffrey Heine:
I'm gonna sing praises to our great I am. Sing about a father who is in control of this universe and of this world. And let me just encourage you to, when you sing, to not hold back. We have this, idea that to be reverent means to be reserved, and you need to throw that out. In scripture, you're always asked to be reverent, but you were never ever asked to be reserved in your worship towards the Lord.
Jeffrey Heine:
And so with all of your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and your strength, sing your praises to him.