The Name of God

Some people are tinkerers.

They have a hot rod, that they occasionally mess with.

It’s in the garage, and they are always tweaking it.

Some have hobbies, that they dabble in.

They know just enough to do damage.

I recently got a chain saw.

I’ve got some trees in my front yard that I’ve wanted to trim.

So I got the chainsaw.

Because you don’t want to know how I’ve been trimming them till now.

I know just enough to do damage.

I cut off one side of the tree, and definitely didn’t make it look any better.

If I were a barber, I did the equivalent of a bowl cut.

You see what I mean, I know just enough to do damage.

In the same way, some people are religious tinkerers.

Religion is more of a hobby.

They sit and ponder the mysteries of God.

And in the process they make up who God is.

People usually begin these conversations by saying, ‘I think God is like ...”

Then they say some quasi-spiritual idea.

They know just enough to be dangerous.

Instead of speaking truth, they philosophize.

They invent a god that they like.

We don’t need religious tinkerers.

We don’t need people to dabble in religion.

We don’t need people to philosophy about God.

We need God.

We need to know Who God is.

We need God to reveal Himself to us, so that we are more than tinkerers.

So that we do more than cause damage, and speak heresies about God.

In II Timothy 2:15, Paul told Timothy, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.”

We don’t need to do to the truths of God, what I did to my tree with a chainsaw.

That’s why today is so important.

In today’s text, we learn about God.

And in today’s text He reveals Himself to us.

Let’s look at it together.

We are in Exodus 3:13-22.

Read Exodus 3:13-22.

We are going to learn about God.

What’s great is we are learning about God from God.

Often times this passage used as an example of Moses’ humility.

Especially verse 13.

Moses comes off incredibly humble.

God says that He will send Moses to Pharaoh.

Moses wonders if he is the best man.

He sounds humble.

“Why should they listen to me?”

He was humble.

But that’s not what this is about.

This is about God, and this is about God declaring who He is.

God gives Moses 3 messages that are to be delivered.

These messages are to be delivered to Israel, the Elders, then to Pharaoh.

And the messages follows a formula.

Moses is to deliver the name of God, and then there is a promise that is attached to the name.

So we have 3 messages.

One to Israel.

One to Egypt.

One to Pharaoh.

Each message contains the name of God, and a promise from God.

The first message that Moses was to deliver was God’s Words to Israel - v. 13-15

Let me set the scene for you.

Moses is in the Midian wilderness, and God has appeared to him in the burning bush.

This is where we’ve been.

We started there last week.

God has told Moses that he will be used to go to Pharaoh, and bring Israel out of Egypt.

Moses feels ill-equipped for this task.

He thinks he’s too much of a nobody.

Why should anyone listen to Moses?

Moses was not raised like his brothers in Egypt.

He was never a slave.

He was a fugitive.

What does Moses have to offer?

Under what authority does Moses have to speak?

And God gives Moses something incredible, a description of Himself, His name.

Look at verse 14, “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.’”

God gives a description of who He is.

I AM WHO I AM.

He is the I AM.

We learn 7 things about about God in this name.

First, God has no beginning.

God’s description answers the question your children have asked you.

Have your kids ever said “Who created God?”

The answer is that God has not beginning.

He is not created.

He is outside of creation.

Genesis 1 says, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”

When everything started, God was already there.

Creation has a beginning, God does not.

I AM has to do with existence.

He has always existed.

There never was a time when God wasn’t.

The second thing we learn is that God is eternal.

I AM WHO I AM means that He has always no beginning,

He is eternal.

No starting.

No ending.

If He is outside of creation, He also is outside of time.

The third thing we learn from this name is that God is the only true being.

Humans are often called human beings.

But that’s not entirely accurate.

Because we are not being, we are becoming.

God is being.

He IS.

He exists, exactly how He’s always been.

With not change.

Have you ever been to the Statue of Liberty in New York?

From ground to the tip of her torch, 305 feet.

But what you see is not what she’s always been.

She’s not always been on that island.

She was designed in France, shipped in containers, then put together in the US.

And she has stood proudly on Liberty Island since 1886.

She has a beginning.

We see her in lime green coloring.

But originally, she glimmered because she’s made of copper.

Over the years, the copper has oxidized and changed colors.

That statue changes.

All of God’s creation changes.

But not God.

That’s why He is.

That’s why He can say I AM WHO I AM.

What are we?

Well we aren’t beings.

That implies a state of finality.

God is being

We are becoming.

We experience change in life.

You grow.

You learn.

You change.

You repent.

You start going one way in life, then you change directions.

You grow older with time.

And with that brings changes in your thinking and changes in your body.

Husbands and wives, hopefully you are improving in your roles in life.

Parents, you are improving in your efforts to care for your children.

You are becoming.

You are becoming something that you didn’t start of as.

But God is being.

When there was nothing in existence:

God was holy.

God was loving.

God was just.

God is not becoming more holy, or more loving, or more just.

He’s already those things.

He is just as holy today, and just as loving today, and just as just today, as He was before that first day when matter was created.

The fourth thing is God is independent.

He’s the I AM.

He doesn’t need anyone else.

He didn’t need anyone to create Him.

He doesn’t need anyone to teach Him.

He doesn’t need your counsel or advice.

He is completely independent, having no needs.

Standing at the Areopagus, in Acts 17:24-25, Paul said, “The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.”

He needs no one.

But all of Creation needs Him.

Colossians 1:17 says of Christ, “And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”

The individual atoms that compose all of creation exist only because of Christ’s sustaining power.

The only thing that keeps tiny electrons from spinning out of control, away from the protons and neutrons in the nucleus of an atom and causing a nuclear explosion that would end all of creation and all of matter is Christ Jesus who “holds all things together.”

Fifth, God has no equal.

He’s , “I AM WHO I AM.”

In Isaiah 40, in talking about the greatness of God, the rhetorical question is asked, “To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare with him?”

The answer is no one.

This is why the second commandment is more than a command to not make false gods, or create idols.

Exodus 20:4 says, “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.”

You don’t make images of God, pictures of God, or drawings of God because they will never capture His real majesty.

No sculpture or painting can accurately depict who God is.

Every single drawing of God will fall short in its representation of God.

It will never be accurate about God.

And thus is a lie about God.

No matter the motivation behind.

It will never display His true glory, because God has no equal.

Sixth, God cannot be improved.

God is the I AM.

He’s complete.

This means that God cannot change.

If God were to change, that means He can either be improved, or worsened.

That’s what change does.

It’s either new and improved.

Or tweaked and worse.

God can either get better or worse.

There is no change in God, because He’s already as perfect as He can ever be.

And finally, God alone is worthy.

He alone is the I AM WHO I AM, all others are beneath Him.

Therefore He alone is worthy of our worship and admiration.

If there were any change in Him, He wouldn’t be worthy.

This is the essence of Who God is.

God describes Himself in verse 14, “I AM WHO I AM.”

Then in verse 15, He gives His name, “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.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.”

There in verse 15, you see His name, THE LORD.

In your English Bibles, when you see the word LORD in all capital letters, it’s the holy name of God, Yahweh.

Out of fear of using the Lord’s name in vain, a tradition was developed where people stopped using His holy name, and they would simply write THE LORD, instead of Yahweh.

The world around us argues over who God is.

We know who God is.

He has defined Himself for us, as the I AM, the Lord, Yahweh.

You know HIm.

He’s no secret.

He’s no conspiracy.

God tells Moses to tell Israel His holy name, and this holy name brings with it a promise - God never changes

Israel is in slavery.

Thinking they are abandoned.

Without hope.

Lost.

But there is the I AM, Yahweh.

Verse 15 says, “This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.”

He isn’t to be thought of as the I AM only sometimes.

This isn’t a promise for the past only.

Or for present dark times.

Or for the dreary future.

This is all time.

Throughout all generations God is Yahweh.

The promises that God gave to Israel’s past, to the patriarchs - Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, they continue for Israel while in chains.

The promises of God have power.

His words have power.

This means God can be trusted.

His unchanging essence, His complete perfection, being I AM WHO I AM, means that He alone can be trusted in.

Church take full advantage of this.

In our English, we reduce the name of God to simply God.

We say, “Do you believe in God?”

Politicians believe in god.

Your neighbor believes in god.

Mormons believe in god.

Muslims believe in god.

Those in AA believe in a higher power.

Thus you can have people from various religions, who believe completely different things talking about god and worshipping god, and never know that you are actually talking about different things.

Sure the word “god” is thrown around, but there isn’t any real agreement.

But they don’t know it because they are using a generic term.

God gave us His name for a reason.

Because it tells us who He is.

It makes Him distinct from every other religion or man made deity.

We don’t worship the same lower case god as the world, and just give him a different name.

This is Yahweh, the I AM.

This message was given to Israel while in slavery.

The name of God was a comfort and a source of strength.

Where are you in life?

What is life like?

Go to the God who never changes.

Go to the I AM.

Go to Yahweh.

God giving His name was a blessing.

As we go through this book, you will see God frequently refer back to this name.

It was a gift to Israel.

Let’s take advantage of this gift.

Let’s talk about Yahweh.

Let’s give praise to Yahweh.

Let’s start addressing Him as Yahweh.

You see if God were not the I AM, if he were subject to change then He be no God.

Later on in Exodus, we will learn of the plagues.

Each of these plagues was an attack upon the gods of Egypt.

God would darken the sun, showing that He could make an Egyptian god change, because Yahweh dimmed the sun.

God would turn the Nile to blood, making a change in another Egyptian god.

God would kill the first born son of Pharaoh, bringing harm upon Pharaoh who made himself a god.

In each of these plagues, God, Yahweh, demonstrated, that they were not worthy to be worshipped.

You worship, He who is unchanging, Yahweh.

There is a second message, Moses gives God’s Words to the Elders of Israel - v. 16-17

After, telling the nation, Moses gathers the elders, the wise men of the nation.

And again, Moses announces the Name of God.

Verse 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,”

God reaffirms His commitment to the people.

God had been silent for 400 years.

Israel became slaves in Egypt during this time and were wondering where God was.

God communicates:

Yahweh communicates.

The God of the fathers of Israel communicates.

He is not a new god.

Moses isn’t returning from the desert with some new invention or model of God..

Moses returns with a familiar God.

Their ancestors, the patriarchs, worshipped this God.

By God referring to the patriarchs, this is comforting to them.

God hasn’t forgotten them.

We see the compassion of God.

He observes.

He knows affliction.

He knows suffering.

He acts.

The name Yahweh, brings with it the idea that God is faithful.

This means that God is faithful in His plans towards those that He has chosen.

Time did not lessen God’s commitment to Israel.

That’s what His name told the Elders of Israel.

Then in verse 17, there is another Promise - He will deliver out of Egypt

Last week we saw God’s message to Moses.

God’s plan that He would use Moses to bring Israel out of Egypt.

This is now a message to Israel.

This isn’t a secret plan.

Notice it’s being announced to the elders of Israel.

Genesis 15:13 said that they would be in slavery for 400 years.

Those 400 years had finished.

Now God is going to act.

God promised to bring them out of slavery into the promised land, a land flowing with milk and honey

Notice, that God is not just going to stop the slavery.

He’s continuing in His plan to make a nation out of Israel.

In order to be a nation, they need three things.

There needs to be people.

There needs to be a law.

And there needs to be land.

That is where God is going to take them, to a land.

He’s not taking them to become slaves in someone else’s kingdom.

He’s going to take them to become a kingdom in their own land.

And as a special bonus, notice that at the beginning of verse 18, God reassures Moses, “And they will listen to your voice ...”

Moses isn’t being sent on a mission that will fail.

He is not wasting Moses time.

He will succeed.

God has given them a promise to look forward to here.

In the same way, God has given you a promise.

You face hardships in life.

Sometimes following Christ is hard.

Obedience is hard.

It’s hard to be humble.

It’s hard to be forgiving.

It’s hard to battle sin.

Your hope is found in Yahweh.

Remember Him.

Remember His nature.

Remember what it means that He is the I AM.

And remember His promise.

Christ has promised that He will return.

John 14:3, “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”

He will make a new heavens and a new earth, which far surpass what we have now.

This is something that we look forward to.

He sees your suffering.

And He brings comfort with promises of relief.

Revelation 21:4, “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.””

These days will end.

And a time of freedom will come.

This is something that God will usher in.

We are in a political season.

Politics are front and center in our nation.

Everyone is promising hope.

The Republicans think they can usher in hope.

The Democrats have their version.

But notice who brings hope, verse 17, “I promise that I will bring you up ...”

The solution to our nation isn’t Christian politicians.

It’s not even Christian laws.

God has given great promises of a coming kingdom where there is no suffering, but we will not be fulfilling these promises.

The church will not be fulfilling these promises.

Becoming active in demonstrations, or so called peaceful protests will not fulfill these promises.

Our democratic system can never fulfill these promises.

This is what God does.

Our hope is in the promise of eternal life.

When God makes all things new.

When He makes a new heavens and a new earth.

When it comes to Exoduses or politics, we don’t find our hope in Yahweh, Who alone is sovereign.

There’s a final message that will be delivered, these are God’s Words to Pharaoh - v. 18-22

Notice the confidence that God has as He speaks.

There are no ifs, maybes or possiblies.

God is speaking in absolutes.

He is the I AM, Yahweh.

He cannot be compared to anyone.

When Moses speaks to Israel, they are persuaded.

When Moses speaks to the Elders, they are persuaded.

Remember, verse 18 affirms that the Elders will listen to His voice.

And now God is going to address Pharaoh.

And it’s the same idea.

No possibilities.

No attempts.

No trying.

This is what will happen.

Like the other 2 addresses, this one begins with the name of God.

In verse 18, the elders and Moses are to go to Pharaoh, and they begin the name of God, “The Lord, the God of the Hebrews.

Remember their condition.

They are in slavery.

They are being abused.

Do they like slavery?

No.

They’ve been crying out to God.

Do they want it to stop?

Yes.

But the motivation here is that the Lord God has commissioned them, not just anyone.

They are on a mission from God.

They don’t like their slavery.

But they aren’t going to Pharaoh on their own initiative.

We continue in verse 18, “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.’”

They would go to Pharaoh, introduce their God, Yahweh, the Lord.

What sets this God, this Yahweh apart?

Yahweh is worthy of worship.

He is not a god that can be passively recognized.

So many people are passive about their god.

There are people who claim to have a god, but they don’t practice their religion.

I always think that’s a strange phrase.

How can you say you believe in a god, you know there is a god, but you don’t practice that religion?

Whatever god you think you have is no real god.

Yahweh is worthy of worship.

The recognition and worship of God is only response that makes sense.

When contemplating God, we cannot be neutral about Him.

He isn’t a theory, or an idea that can be accepted or not.

The name of God means something.

Not just in definition as we’ve seen, but also in response.

Philippians 2:9-10 - “Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Names are important.

The name of Christ is so highly exalted, that every knee will bow.

Not just God’s loyal subjects, but even His enemies will bow and confess Him as Lord.

They will be crippled before Him as conquered foes.

Moses and the Elders are to confront Pharaoh, and again, there is no mention of possibilities.

God already knows the outcome of this conversation.

He doesn’t say, “If Pharaoh listens … then do this or that.”

God says, “But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless compelled by a mighty hand.”

God has a plan.

What’s interesting is in ancient Egyptian literature, especially literature that spoke of Pharaoh’s accomplishments, it talked about Pharaoh’s mighty hand or outstretched hand.

That phrase was an Egyptian phrase.

But notice who uses it this time?

Not Pharaoh.

God.

God uses Pharaoh’s own phrase against him in verse 19 and 20, “But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless compelled by a mighty hand. 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.”

I think that this is divine humor.

God using Pharaoh’s own boasts against him.

Which brings us to our next promise, and this is a promise of judgment.

God knows the heart of men.

And He knew that Pharaoh would not release Israel.

God would stretch out His hand in judgment.

If you know the story of the Exodus, you know there will be a series of plagues.

This judgment would come in the form of wonders.

There would be 10 wonders or 10 plagues, that would each strike at the heart of Egypt and their gods.

The promise here is of judgment.

Egypt would be judged, and convinced that Israel had to leave.

Verse 22 says that Israel would plunder the Egyptians.

They would be sent on their way with the treasures of Egypt.

The promise of judgment is that the wicked cannot continue in their wickedness.

The day will come when every sinner is brought before God.

Pharaoh was a powerful man who had no fear of judgment, because he was the law of the land.

But the day would come when Pharaoh would be judged.

Today, many people think that the only law that matters is themself.

Be true to thine own self is the law of the land.

This serves as a warning.

God will judge.

It doesn’t matter what you think.

For example, you can stand out on the 15 freeway and say that you don’t believe in the danger of a bus running over you.

But there is the reality that if that bus hits you, it will flatten you, it doesn’t matter what you believe, physics will crush you.

In the same way there is a judgment coming for all men.

Men proudly live their lives thinking that they are immune.

That the judgment is what they make of it.

All that matters is personal happiness.

So if you want to lie, then lie.

If you think its okay to kill babies in the womb, its up to you.

If you want worship god in some new way, go for it.

Eternity is what you make of it.

God is who you envision Him.

But like the bus that hits you by surprise, or the reality of God’s judgment upon Pharaoh, Hebrews 10:31 says, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

There is a judgment that has been promised to those who live in disobedience and rebellion to God.

It is fearful.

It is awful.

And it is certain.

It’s promised.

So while you still have time, repent.

Hear what has been said this morning.

In the letters to 7 churches in Revelation, Jesus says, “He who has ears to hear ...”

So hear.

Remember the name of the Lord.

He is the I AM.

He is Yahweh.

He is sovereign.

Turn from your sin.

Trust in Christ.

This certainly is a promised warning to Pharaoh, but it’s also a promise of justice to the weak.

It’s a promise to know that there is evil in this life.

People are oppressed.

People are hurt.

Crimes happen.

The promise is that they do not escape.

The justice of God is that He will punish all sin.

We rejoice in the justice of God displayed.

Today we see that God has given us His name.

We need to be specific in what we know about God.

We cannot be religious tinkerers.

We cannot know just enough to be dangerous.

There was a day when Jesus was with His disciples, and he asked them, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”

And the disciples gave different answers.

John the Baptist.

Others said Elijah, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.

Then Jesus turned to Peter and said, “But who do you say that I am?”

And Peter said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”

We need to be accurate in what we know about God.

We need to be true in what we know about God.

What do you know about the Lord?

Eternity depends on this.