Exodus 3:1-15 | Yahweh | 23 Aug 2026 AM
Wildfires in the heatwave. Spain, France, Scotland, Suffolk. Fire consuming everything in its path. Devastating destruction. That’s the nature of fire. It burns up whatever it touches.
Except there was one fire that behaved very differently.
Moses had grown up in Egypt where his people - the nation of Israel - had been enslaved for hundreds of years. He had fled from Egypt after killing an Egyptian soldier who had attacked an Israelite. And now he was working as a shepherd for Jethro having married his daughter.
That’s how we find Moses in Exodus 3. Perhaps he carried...
The guilt of knowing that he had taken the life of another man.
The burden of knowing his people are suffering at the hands of the Egyptians.
Maybe even the shame of knowing that he had got to safety while the rest of the Israelites remained in slavery.
That’s the Moses that unexpectedly meets with God in Exodus 3, where the first thing he encounters is a peculiar sight:
Exodus 3:2
NIVUK
There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up.
Before Moses heard a single word from God, he was shown everything he needed to know about God in this bush that was on fire but did not burn up.
When God did speak, the name he revealed confirmed it.
It’s a strange name. Mysterious!
But speaks so powerfully to Moses in his desperate situation, and to whatever situations we find ourselves in, whenever they might occur.
We’re looking at different names used of God found in Scripture.
But this one is The Name of God. The name he gave to Moses and to Israel.
I AM WHO I AM. Or I AM for short.
This one Hebrew word reveals that God is unchanging, God is self-sufficient, God is powerful.
God is unchanging
While everything else, including us, is subject to change God always remains who he is.
Moses himself had seen so much change during his lifetime.
He was born to Israelite parents, but raised in the Egyptian royal household.
He had witnessed his people suffering as slaves, and had to flee Egypt because he had killed an Egyptian protecting a fellow Israelite.
He had been taken in by a Midianite family, married and had children, and now took care of sheep.
Lots of change and uncertainty, lots of turmoil in the 80 years of Moses’s life to this point.
And in Egypt he would have been accustomed with the Egyptian gods, who were sometimes considered unpredictable (tied to created order - ie flooding of Nile).
But now he meets the God of the burning bush.
Exodus 3:4–6
NIVUK
When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, ‘Moses! Moses!’ And Moses said, ‘Here I am.’ ‘Do not come any closer,’ God said. ‘Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.’ Then he said, ‘I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.’ At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.
And God says (v7) that he has seen what his people are going through in Egypt - he cares, and he’s going to do something about it. He will rescue them and bring them to a land of their own.
Exodus 3:13
NIVUK
Moses said to God, ‘Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, “The God of your fathers has sent me to you,” and they ask me, “What is his name?” Then what shall I tell them?’
Exodus 3:14–15
NIVUK
God said to Moses, ‘I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: “I am has sent me to you.” ’ God also said to Moses, ‘Say to the Israelites, “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 for ever, the name you shall call me from generation to generation.
On one level, this is a very simple name. It comes from the Hebrew verb meaning “to be”.
Made up of four consonants (Hebrew bible originally written in consonants only - a lot like Welsh).
YHWH. Later came to be pronounced Yahweh, and sometimes Jehovah.
No one really knows how it was originally pronounced - lost with time.
In part, that’s because ancient Jews refused to use the divine name YAHWEH for fear of misusing it and so breaking the third commandment.
Instead, they used the Hebrew word for Lord (adonai). Most English translations follow that same tradition, and translate YHWH as “the LORD” (in capitals) to distinguish it from adonai.
So, when you see “the LORD” in your English Bible, you are reading the divine name that we pronounce Yahweh.
But, what does it mean?!
Well, as I said on one level it’s a simple name in that it is a single word in Hebrew with a simple meaning - I AM.
But on another level it is a very mysterious name! Reveals that God is mysterious to us - there are things about God that we can’t comprehend or understand because he is so different from us.
And one of the ways he is so different is that he is eternal - unchanging.
There was never a time when God didn’t exist, and there will never be a time when he ceases to exist.
What he is, he has always been and will always be.
It means that God is. He is who he is. He will be who he will be.
And NOTHING can change that!
Not the Egyptians, not slavery, nothing whatsoever.
Several months ago I started listening to “The Rest is History” podcast. Highly recommend! So far, I’ve learned about the Spanish invasion of Peru, the life of Samuel Johnson, the Ku Klux Klan, and the history some national anthems (World Cup special!).
Just those few subjects are enough to make me feel overwhelmed - so much has happened! So much has gone before us - radical, history shaping events.
And yet, even as we look back in history, unspoken as it may be, there is one absolute constant through it all - YAHWEH - I AM.
He is the same yesterday, today and forever. He isn’t swayed by events or circumstances, invading armies or natural disasters.
Which means that Moses can be sure that when God calls him to go back to Egypt and lead his people out, in face of the might of the Egyptians, he can be sure that nothing will change who God is.
And it means we too can rely upon him in absolutely everything.
He does not change like shifting shadows (James 1:16).
He is constant, steadfast, unmoving and unmoveable - like the bush on fire but doesn’t burn up.
God - the great I AM - is unchanging. And he is...
God is self-sufficient
The name I AM (Yahweh) also tells us that God is not defined by anything outside of himself.
The burning bush also demonstrates that. The flames might be burning with the intensity of a heatwave wildfire, but the leaves, the branches, the bark, the roots are untouched.
It is. I AM.
God is not contingent upon anything or anyone else. Again, what he is, he has always been and always will be.
This is another of God’s attributes that is mysterious to us. We can’t understand it, because we are completely dependent on things outside of ourselves for everything - life, existence, everything!
We need parents to give us birth, feed and raise us.
We need oxygen to breath, water to drink, sunlight, sleep, food, protection from disease, interaction with others, help to do any number of things throughout our lifetimes.
We are contingent - dependent - on things outside of ourselves in order to exists and survive.
But not I AM - not Yahweh!
He is completely self-sufficient, self-dependent, self-existent. That is to say, that God’s existence doesn’t come from anything outside of himself.
(Theologians call this the aseity of God)
Which means that God is only one who is truly able to self-identify!
He can declare I AM because his existence, his attributes, his being comes from no one and nothing except himself.
There is only one logical conclusion from all of this.
That God is self-sufficient, and we are dependent, means that we owe our existence entirely to God, and we depend upon him for all that we need.
The trouble is we get that all messed up in our heads and our hearts, don’t we?!
We’ve come to believe that we are the masters of our own destiny, that we can be in charge and be self-dependent.
Even as Christians, we can believe the lie that we are capable of running our lives in our strength, according to our wisdom.
We don’t depend upon God as we should!
Most of the country is officially in drought. I don’t think most of us realise the implications of that!! We’ve come to expect, assume, that food will appears on the shelves in Tesco, and water will always come out of the tap - that we’ll always have bread to eat and water to drink.
In times past, there would be calls for the nation to pray for rain!! Because there was a recognition of the need we have for God to move and act for our provision.
Whether in times of drought or otherwise, whatever our situation, we are always and absolutely dependent upon God in everything.
We should pray like it! Live like it. Think like it.
And we can pray with confidence, because we know that...
God is powerful
Implied in the name Yahweh - I AM - is God’s imminence. His presence and action in creation.
The very fact that God is revealing himself to Moses in creation (a burning bush) demonstrates that God is active and present, and strongly suggests that his power.
It demonstrates his power over creation - subverting the normal behaviour of the created order, using it to reveal his being and glory to Moses.
It will not be the last time that he does this! In fact, the Lord Jesus showed his divine power repeatedly as he calmed the storm, walked on water, caused large catches of fish etc.
But the Lord also revealed his power to make and keep promises to Moses.
To promise
He said,
Exodus 3:6
NIVUK
Then he said, ‘I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.’
This reminds Moses and us of all the promises made to the patriarchs, the covenant made with Abraham. The promise of people, land, blessing.
Perhaps those promises had been forgotten, or worse had been disbelieved. Understandable in the face of 400 years of slavery.
But now, God appears to Moses and reminds him of the promises he made, and says that is now going to keep them.
Which shows his power to save.
To save
Exodus 3:8
NIVUK
So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey.
Bound up in all of this is God’s mercy, grace, and love. He cares deeply for those he has made, and he is moved to rescue and save them from their dire circumstances.
That is the God revealed in the whole Bible. Even as humans repeatedly reject and disobey God, getting themselves into all manner of trouble, God is patient, faithful, loving and kind.
And finally, he acted to bring about salvation for everyone, not just Israel.
It’s not Christmas, but we often read these words spoken to Joseph...
Matthew 1:21
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She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.’
Jesus is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Joshua, which means YAHWEH saves.
Throughout his life, Jesus demonstrated that he is the great I AM.
John’s gospel reports seven I AM sayings (see previous Gather series!), and Jesus said this...
John 8:58
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‘Very truly I tell you,’ Jesus answered, ‘before Abraham was born, I am!’
In many ways, Jesus embodied the burning bush during his lifetime - facing the intense heat of persecution, opposition and suffering, and yet not being consumed by it, rising from the dead victorious.
In short, Jesus is the ultimate revelation of God.
Jesus is the Great I AM!
And everything that is true of God - that he is unchanging, self-sufficient, powerful - is true of Jesus.
Acts 4:12
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Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.’
He is the God who saw the suffering of mankind in slavery to sin and came to leads us out.
Philippians 2:6–11
NIVUK
6 who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
7 rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!
9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
The ultimate name of God is Jesus.
There is no other name to call on.
No other to depend on.
