1. God’s Amazing Appearance
As we read in this section, Moses had been pasturing his father-in-law’s sheep in the desert for the last 40 years. He had come a long way in the 80 years of his life so far. Some would say a long way in the wrong direction. As an infant, Moses was hidden away by a God fearing mother who hoped to save her child. When he was scooped up and adopted by Pharaoh’s daughter things seemed almost better than she had hoped (though being raised in the midst of paganism is probably not any godly mother’s wish). He was being groomed to become Pharaoh. But in the midst of this he sought to align himself with his Israelite brothers (his mother’s training in the few years she had with him paid off and he recognized who he really was). So in seeing an Egyptian harming an Israelite he sought to deliver him by killing the Egyptian. When the Pharaoh heard about the event, he sought to kill Moses so he fled into the desert. There he met his wife and picked up the shepherding job. And 40 years later we see God’s amazing appearance to Moses.
What is so amazing about God’s appearance at this point is the fact that God didn’t appear to Moses when he was ready to ascend the throne in Egypt and could deliver the Israelites by his political power. He didn’t appear to Moses when Moses himself thought that he could deliver them physically by the strength of his might (one Egyptian at a time if need be). But God appeared to Moses when Moses was a nobody. Verse 1 says it all. “Now Moses was pasturing the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law. Here he had been pasturing sheep for the last forty years. And it was not even his own flock! He was not your typical Washington power broker. He had no political power. And Moses was in the declining years of his strength (He was not the strong armed impetuous youth of 40 when he thought that by his own hand he could free his people from slavery).
No, God appeared to Moses when he had been humbled by failure (he messed up in his attempt to deliver the Israelites through his might) and he had been humbled by occupation (he who should have been pharaoh in Egypt was tending sheep in a desert). Before God appeared to Moses, Moses had to be ready to listen to God. For God doesn’t use the proud, the strong, the powerful. God approaches those who are willing to humble themselves before Him.
God isn’t looking for people ready to call the shots but for those who are ready to listen to the shots that God calls. Was Moses the man God wanted to use all along to rescue the nation of Israel? Yes. But God had to send him to school. Stephen in the book of Acts said that Moses was educated in all the learning of the Egyptians and he was a man of power in words and deeds. But though he got his initial education at EU (Egypt University) yet God had to send him on to postgraduate work at Humble U. And that degree took him another forty years before He was ready for the God Who Is to appear to him.
So in this passage of the Lord’s amazing appearance to Moses we see a small glimpse of the God Who Is and if we look very carefully (as Moses did at the blazing fire) we too might have an encounter with the God Who Is and may find out that He still calls people today.
2. The God Who Is Holy (Yet He Calls)
The first characteristic of the LORD that we see in this passage this morning is that He is the God who is holy. We see this in verses 4-5. “When the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush, and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then He said, “Do not come near here; remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”
The reason that the place where Moses was standing was holy ground was because the holy God was there. What does it mean that God is holy? The word holy has the idea of being separate. God is holy because He is separate from or set apart from His creation. He is not part of the creation, He is completely separate from it. He is not dependent upon it though it is dependent upon Him. Also God is holy because He is separate from sin. He hates sin and for this reason He separates Himself from it.
So in two statements that God makes here in these verses we see a small picture of His holiness. The first statement God makes that reveals His holiness is, “Do not come near here.” God told Moses to cease his progress toward the bush. He must not come any closer if Moses wanted to live. Because He is holy Moses was to keep His distance.
We must recognize that because He is holy there was a separation between God and Moses. Likewise, there is a separation between God and mankind. What is it that has brought about this separation between God and us? The Bible makes it clear that it is that we are not holy. Isaiah 59:2 says, “Your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God.” The fact that people have a sin problem with which they have never dealt separates them from God. There is a solution to the fact that we have been separated from God but we will discuss that later. If you remain separated from God listen up for this good news in just a few minutes.
The second statement that God makes that reveals His holiness is, “remove your sandals from your feet for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” This was a call for Moses to worship the LORD. Because God is separate from His creation, because He there is no one like Him, God deserves and demands our worship. God is calling Moses to remove his sandals that Moses might recognize this great difference between himself and God. God’s character of holiness (or separation) ought to cause us to humble ourselves and bow in worship. We should recognize that His Holy character makes Him so much greater than us.
We see Moses’ response to the holiness of God in verse 6. The end of the verse says, “Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.” The holiness of God caused Moses to see himself as the sinner that he was. When we truly come to recognize the fact that God is holy and we are corrupt, we stop seeking to justice ourselves and justify our actions before God and man. The recognition of God’s holiness and our corruptness is called the fear of the LORD. And this fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom. It caused Moses to hide his face. Do you have the fear of the LORD this morning? Do you recognize His holiness? I hope you do. Because it transforms the way we look at ourselves and how we act.
But before we move on from the God who is holy. Notice that though God is holy and separate, yet He still calls Moses. Though His holiness demands separation, yet God makes a way for man to interact with Him. This is called God’s grace and this is what we will discuss later that will bring us into a relationship with God.
3. The God Who Is Concerned (v. 7)
So this brings us to see not only is He the God who is holy but He is also the God who is concerned. We see this in verse 7. The Lord says, “I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt, and have given heed to their cry because of their taskmasters, for I am aware of their sufferings.” If all we saw of God was His holiness we would find a God who is separate from sinners and refuses to be involved with them. But here God says to Moses, “that he has seen the affliction of his people and has given heed to their cry.
God is intensely concerned about us. He desires that we cast our care upon Him. He is grieved when His people seek to find their own source of refreshment apart from Him. In Jeremiah 2:13, the LORD says, “My people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters to hew for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.” When the nation of Israel was languishing in the slavery of Egypt, God was concerned for them. When Jesus saw the people of Israel, as it says in Matthew, scattered as sheep without a shepherd, He had compassion on them.
To see God as an unconcerned, impersonal being in the universe is to misunderstand the God of the Bible. To see Him as someone who wound up the universe only to let it fall apart is to embrace the God of the deists whose God has no personal power to save. No we serve a God who is not only holy but is also compassionate and concerned about us.
4. The God Who Delivers
But next we also see that He is the God who delivers. We see this in verse 8. He says that He has come down to deliver them from the power of the Egyptians and to bring them to a good and spacious land. If God merely had concern but did not deliver His people it would have shown that He was merely a powerless being who lacked the ability to do what He wanted. But here the Scripture says that He would deliver them out of the power of the Egyptians and into a good land.
When God delivers, He delivers completely. He would not simply remove them from slavery. He would not simply let them go out on their own. Sort of what this country said to the slaves. “You’re free. Go do what you want.” But where could they go? For that reason many stayed right where they were. But God said that He would take them out and lead them to a blessed land. He would give them no reason to turn back to the slavery that they once knew.
In the same way God saves people today. He doesn’t save people from physical slavery but from the slavery of sin. And He provides a deliverance to a blessed life full of the Holy Spirit so that we might not desire to go back to our old life. Paul said in Philippians 1:6, “I am confident that He who began a good work in you will complete it.” God doesn’t do anything halfway. What He begins He completes. He is a God who delivers. And He wants to deliver you today.
5. The God Who Equips
But next we see also that He is a God who equips. In verses 10-12, God tells Moses that He will send him to bring Israel out of Egypt. Moses questions his own adequacy in accomplishing the task of bringing the nation of Israel out from under the hand of the most powerful nation in the world. He was probably right to doubt his ability to do it. After all he tried once before and failed miserably. He was unable to stand before the Pharaoh.
Yet God let Moses know that it would be different this time. There was one key element missing in Moses’ attempt to liberate the Israelites 40 years before. Verse 12 describes the difference. God tells Moses, “Certainly I will be with you.” Moses would be able to accomplish the task because the LORD would be with him.
The truth for us is that God never asks us to do something, as His children, without outfitting us for the task. How does He equip the believer today?
First, He equips us through the Spirit of God to be able to serve Him. In Romans 7:6, Paul says that we serve God in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the commandments.
Second, He equips us through the Word of God. Paul again says in 2 Timothy 3:16-17, that all Scripture is God breathed and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction and instruction in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
Third, He equips us through the Church of God. The apostle Paul again in Ephesians tells us that God gave gifted people in the church for the equipping of the saints for the work of service for the building up of the body of Christ.
God doesn’t tell us to accomplish our service for Him and then leave us to do it by ourselves. He gives us three strong pillars to be able to accomplish it. He gives us the Spirit of God and the Word of God and the church of God. We have a God who equips us that we might serve Him. We are without excuse for not accomplishing what He calls us to do. If you are not serving the Lord in His church you are without excuse.
The most important truth in all of this is that God says, “Certainly I will be with you.” Jesus made that very same statement to his disciples in Matthew 28:19-20. In outlining for them the task that He laid before them, namely, Go and make disciples of all nations, Jesus says, “Yes I am with you always, even unto the end of the age.” Literally that verse says, “I am with you all of the days.” There is not a time when He is not with us as believers in Christ. He has given to us the promise of His presence.
6. The God Who Is
Finallly we see the God who is. That’s right, simply, the God who is. In verse 13, Moses asks God, “Well I’m going to the sons of Israel and I am going to say, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you.’ What if they ask, ‘What’s His name?’ What shall I tell them?” Now here is a good question. Everyone has a name. In the OT, a person’s name told something about the nature and character of that person. Likewise, God has a name. And Moses was saying, “Who was it you said you were again?” And so in verse 14, God tells Him that his name is “I AM WHO I AM.” Friends call me “I AM” for short. So tell the sons of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”
Now the name that God gives to Moses here has a few implications concerning what God is like. It describes Him. It is a great statement of the reality of His being (of who He is).
The first implication of the name, “I AM” to us is that God is in some way mysterious. Though He reveals Himself to us through His name, yet there is much more about Him that we do not know. We may ask, “God who are You?” and He simply says, “I AM.” God is so deep a being that, in this lifetime, we could never plumb the depths of the character of God. People have given their whole life to knowing God and the realization that they come to is simply the more they know about Him the more they understand that they know very little about Him. He tells Moses, “I AM. Any more questions?”
But before we leave the implication of the mysteriousness of God. I want you to make sure that you understand that in all of God’s mysteriousness, He still makes Himself known to us (Don’t miss that). And He makes Himself known to us in such a way as to allow us to have a relationship with Him. This mysteriousness of God’s character should in no way stop us from seeking to know Him. For throughout the Scripture He has made Himself plain enough so we can know Him.
The second implication of the name, I AM is that God is unchangeable and eternal. His name is the present tense of the “to be” verb. He doesn’t call Himself the I was, or the I will be. But the I AM. All of eternity is in the present to Him. He watches over time as if it were a racetrack. He sees from beginning to end. And time is simply another dimension over which He superintends.
The third implication of the name I AM is that God is self-existent. He is not dependent on anyone or anything else. Another way to say this is that He is self-reliant (sufficient). He does not have any unmet needs or unmet desires. He does not need any help. He does not need any of us. He could carry out all that He desired to do without us.
God further revealed Himself as the I AM later in Scripture. As a matter of fact to know Him simply as the I AM here in this encounter with Moses will not give you a relationship with God. God had to further reveal Himself to mankind. Perhaps you have come to accept God’s existence in a general sort of way but have never come to Him in a relationship of trust and friendship.
The only way to know God in this personal way is through Jesus Christ. Jesus of Nazareth went around making some serious claims about being God. In one particular instance, Jesus said that Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing His day. The Jewish leaders scoffed at that since Abraham had been dead for 2,000 years. They said, “You are not yet 50 years old and you have seen Abraham.” Jesus’ reply was astounding. He said, “Before Abraham was, “I AM.” The Jews began to pick up stones to kill Him because they realized that He claimed the name of God for Himself. He was claiming to be the I AM. Skeptics sometimes say that Jesus never claimed to be God. But the Jews who were with Jesus that day knew better.
Have you met the great I AM in this personal way through Jesus Christ? Jesus said, in John 8:24, “If you do not believe that I am, you will indeed die in your sins.” He is the LORD. And if you will not believe this then you too will die in your sins.
We have seen that God is holy, He is concerned, He delivers, He equips and He is. He is still holy today. This has two implications. First, if you have not had your sins forgiven, you are separated from God. Second, if you are a believer in Christ, you ought to be holy as He is holy. Do not make any more excuses for the sin in your life. Allow God’s Holy Spirit, who dwells in you, to strengthen you to live in a manner pleasing to Him.
God is still concerned today. If you do not know Him as your Savior, He is concerned that you come to know Him. If you are hurting or struggling in your life He is concerned about that. That is why, believer, God says in 1 Peter 5, “Cast all your cares on Him because He cares for you.”
God still delivers today. He was so concerned for you that He came in the person of Jesus Christ to die for your sins. So that you might be delivered also. If you are a believer in Christ, He promises to deliver you safely unto heaven. Whatever promise He makes He will not break.
God still equips today. The Scripture says that He has given us all we need for life and godliness. To whatever He calls you, for that He equips you. Don’t sit back and say that you can’t accomplish anything for the Lord. He not only equips you but He expects you to go about His work. And because He equips us we can be assured to have success in the work for which He calls us.
And God still is today. He still is the self-sufficient unchangeable God. And that gives us hope because He won’t change His mind concerning His work in your life. He won’t renege on His promises. He is always faithful to carry out what He says He will do.
This is our God. Do you want to know Him? He still calls today. He wants you to know Him. Why don’t you put your name in the passage where God calls to Moses. And then be willing to answer with Moses, “Here I am.” Will you answer Him today? Will you do what He is calling you to do?
Let’s Pray:
Father,
Holy One, You who are concerned about us, concerned enough to deliver us from all evil, and to equip us and to reveal yourself to us. May You work in us this morning. May You reveal Your holiness to us so that we may fear You. May we come face to face with Your true character.
As you call us into your service O great I AM may we say, along with Moses, “Here I am.” Since You are certainly with us may we sense Your presence and may You empower us to carry out Your will in service to You.
And Father, if there are some here today who have not come into a personal relationship with You through Your Son, Jesus Christ, may they today see Your glory and no longer have any reservations about putting their trust in You and letting others know about it.