God Reveals:

• Who Moses Is
• Who He is
• His plan and promise

The two most important things for us to know as we walk through this desert is:

1. Who God is
2. Who I am

Once we figure this out, we can figure out who we are in God. To be more specific, who God says we are. Because that is usually very different from who we say or believe we are.

v. 1 Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb.

Remember last week, the Israelites were blessed, but Now…. When Now happens, everything changes.

Moses was a Prince of Egypt. Now he is tending someone else’s sheep on the backside of the desert. It’s funny, because “backside” has a negative sound but actually this was the most fertile part of the desert.

v.2 And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.

When God says behold, I think of when a magician says TADA!  2 Corinthians 5:17 says Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. Can you hear the TADA? So here Moses is on the backside of the desert shepherding, and he suddenly sees a bush on fire. It is completely engulfed, but when he looks closer, all the leaves are still intact. In my mind, I have always thought of this as being a branchy type bush, but in my research I found that the bush Moses saw burning was possibly a blackberry bush.  These blackberry bushes are hearty bushes that have small fruit on them, and a rose like flower. I am not sure why, but for me, the imagery of a hearty bush burning is quite different from a dried up branchy bush. And if it does have fruit and flowers on it, what happens when you apply heat? You get aroma.  Hopefully, you are getting a nice visual of the scene.  Moses is in the backside of the desert with stinky sheep, and all of a sudden, TADA, he sees and smells this amazing thing.  That would be something that would definitely catch your eye.

This did make me wonder….why such a show? I mean God only spoke to Abraham. Possibly this was because it was going to take some work to get Moses to believe who He (God) was, to believe in himself, and to be able to do the huge work that God was preparing him for.

Also, this verse says that an angel appeared, but we will see that it is actually God.  The word angel means a messenger, but I think the more appropriate interpretation is that God has come with a message.  An important message.  And an important message needs an impressive presentation.

v.4  And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said Moses, Moses. And he said Here am I.

This verse reveals so much.  It reveals who God is by the names used for God.  The Hebrew word for LORD is Yehovah (Jehovah) which means the Existant or the Eternal God

God is the Hebrew word Elohiym which means The Supreme God

When we know that Moses wrote the Torah, we understand that if he wrote the word LORD and God, he understood the meaning.  This was the place where the God that he had probably learned about at his mothers breast was revealed to him. The existant, eternal, and Supreme God.  There is no other.

This verse also reveals to Moses who he is in God.  Remember we talked about how important names were?  God not only addresses him as Moses, but He says it twice.  There is a reason. When God repeats something, He establishes it. Pharaohs daughter named him Moses because she “drew him out of the water”.  By repeating his name twice, He is establishing that Moses was drawn out of the water for divine purpose.  It was neither chance nor luck. “I drew you out of the water”.

v.6 I am the God of your father,

God not only reveals himself in this verse, He reveals who Moses is. When scripture uses the term your father, it usually means the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. So God is taking Moses all the way back to Jacob, which is when the Hebrews came to Egypt and reminding him of where he came from.

v.7 And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmaster; for I know their sorrows.

Isaiah 53:3 says that Jesus was a man of sorrows.  Remember when I said that God lives outside of time? When He looks at the beginning, He also sees the end. When He looked at their affliction, He could also see Himself in the flesh, and He personally knew what sorrow was. When God says I know, it represents intimacy. There is a huge difference in knowing about someone, and knowing someone.  So when He said, I know their sorrows, Moses understood that God was personally involved in, and intimately aware of their sorrows. And as we study this chapter, we can be assured that  He also knows our sorrows.  He sees it all through the lens of eternity.  Not unfolding, as in the story, but all at once. It is so hard for our finite minds to understand, or comprehend infinite.  When we say a prayer, or cry out to God, He has all eternity to decide what to do. He is not bound by our time. When He tells us to be still, He really does have all the time in the world to take care of our problem. And while I may not truly understand one single thing that I just typed, I know that it is so.

In this verse, God continues to establish who Moses is.  When God says “my people”, Moses understands that God is talking about the Hebrews, and Moses is a Hebrew. The Existent, Eternal, Supreme God, Jehovah is intimately saying to Moses, “I possess you. You belong to Me”.  And as a Christian, Jehovah is speaking the same thing to you. God never spoke more intimately to mankind, than He did by offering Himself as a sacrifice for our sins.

v.8 And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up and out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites, and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites.

This verse reveals 4 very important promises:

1. I will come down…
2. I will deliver…
3. I will bring up and out…
4. I will give you a good and large land flowing with milk and honey.

And then in v.10 He reveals the plan. Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.

I think at this point Moses has a WHOA!! Back up the train moment! YOU’RE GONNA SEND WHO?? And I think God, likewise, thinks….Did you pay attention to who I said I AM, and who I said YOU are? AND THE BUSH????? HELLOOOOO!!!! DID YOU SEE THE BUSH??? DID YOU SMELL IT???

v.11 And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?

This verse makes me think of the Casting Crowns song, Who am I? One part of the song says, “Who am I, that the eyes that see my sin, Would look on me with love, and watch me rise again?”. I don’t think Moses ever forgot that he murdered someone. I often think, “God, You know me. How can You possibly use me?”.  Perhaps you too have felt that way. It is funny that we think as Christians, we are to be perfect, but God gave us one example after another of how He uses imperfect people. The only perfect fleshy person in the Bible was Jesus, everyone else was jacked up in one way or another.

v.12 Certainly I will be with thee.

God knows who Moses is, and the only way he will be able to accomplish this overwhelming task is because God is going to be personally involved. The only way we can accomplish our walk in the wilderness according to God’s plan is for Him to be personally involved.  He never intended for us to do this on our own. As I have said before, and will probably repeat often, God’s desire, from Genesis to the Revelation, is an intimate relationship with us. One where He is personally involved.

v.13-14 And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.

As I said earlier, when God says Behold to us, it is like He is saying TADA! However, when we say behold to God, it is like we are saying, But… Or perhaps Wait a minute…. Listen…. I am sure that Moses was thinking of a million reasons why God could not use him.  I think the wording is interesting. Moses asks God in v.11 “who am I?” and God answers in v.14, do you know who I AM? I AM THAT I AM.  Again, He repeats it twice to establish it.  Who we are won’t matter if we truly understand who God is.

Now that God has shown Moses who He is in v.15-16, He commands him to go tell the children and elders of Israel who He is. That is Gods command to us as well.  Once you understand that Jesus is I AM, go tell others. And tell them God’s promise is to bring us “up and out of affliction and into the good land”.

v.18 And they shall hearken to thy voice: and thou shalt come, thou and the elders of Israel, unto the king of Egypt, and ye shall say unto him, The LORD God of the Hebrews hath met with us, and now let us go, we beseech thee, three days journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.

Don’t miss this.  Not just anyone could go to the King of Egypt and speak to him anymore than I could just go into the White House and speak to President Obama.  We know the previous Pharaoh died, (Exodus 2:23), but the next Pharaoh would have most likely been either Pharaohs brother or perhaps his son. And if he had no brother or son, then his daughters son might have succeeded him. That means that this new Pharaoh was most likely an uncle, cousin or possibly even a brother to Moses.  That would be why he was able to have direct access to Pharaoh.

So in closing this chapter, God assures Moses that even though He will be with him, it is not going to be easy. Jesus tells us the same thing in John 16:33, These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

To navigate this wilderness that we find ourselves in, we must understand these foundational truths:

1. Who God is (I AM)
2. Who we are (Who am I?)
3. The only reason we can make it is because He promises to be with us!

This is the ultimate revelation of God.  I AM!  What do you need?

• A savior? I AM!
• A God? I AM!
• A protector? I AM!
• A counselor? I AM!
• A father? I AM!
• A husband? I AM!
• Whatever you need…. I AM!
• I AM the eternal, existant, Supreme God!

And the crazy thing is that He promises to be with us.  He repeats this promise to Joshua in Joshua 1:9 – Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.

This promise was for Moses. This promise was for Joshua. And this promise is ultimately for anyone that calls God “Father”.