Exodus 3:13-22
13 Then Moses said to God, “Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?”
14 And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, I AM has sent me to you.’” 15 Moreover God said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: ‘The LORD 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 this is My memorial to all generations.’
16 Go and gather the elders of Israel together, and say to them, ‘The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared to me, saying, “I have surely visited you and seen what is done to you in Egypt; 17 and I have said I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, to a land flowing with milk and honey.“‘
18 Then they will heed your voice; and you shall come, you and the elders of Israel, to the king of Egypt; and you shall say to him, ‘The LORD God of the Hebrews has met with us; and now, please, let us go three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.’ 19 But I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not even by a mighty hand.
20 So I will stretch out My hand and strike Egypt with all My wonders which I will do in its midst; and after that he will let you go. 21 And I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians; and it shall be, when you go, that you shall not go empty-handed. 22 But every woman shall ask of her neighbor, namely, of her who dwells near her house, articles of silver, articles of gold, and clothing; and you shall put them on your sons and on your daughters. So you shall plunder the Egyptians.”
Moses met God and learned His name spoken by Him out of the burning bush. He heard the command of the LORD for him to be sent and lead his people out of the bondage of Egypt and questioned his ability to do so. God told him that He would be with him to get them all and return to the mountain there in that holy place to worship Him afterwards. Moses tried to change the subject by asking what he should tell them when they asked the name of their God and deliverer. God simply replied that He is who He is and that Moses should tell them, “I AM has sent me to you.” This name means that He is self-existing, without beginning or end, not made by anyone but Himself. The name says it all. He just IS. No man carved an image of anything He had created on the earth to be alive and worthy of worship but the One who created all things and alone was worthy of praise from all of His creation, so He is unlike any idol Moses or his people had seen in Egypt or anywhere else before. This is the self-existing omnipotent God who was sending Moses as a messenger in His hand to deliver the suffering slaves of Israel out of bondage in a land of sin, of immorality and idolatry. Moses was commanded to go to Egypt, gather the leaders together, and tell them how the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had met him and gave him this mission to deliver them. He was to bear witness to the fact that heir God had seen their affliction there and would lead them out and into the promised fruitful land first described here as “flowing with milk and honey.” This country in our day certainly had been transformed from desert to paradise in that regard as a foretaste of the eternal heavenly country to come. Moses therefore was told to meet the leaders and then stand before Pharaoh to demand he let His people go to sacrifice and worship in the wilderness outside of Egypt in holiness. God also told him up front that by no means would the king allow this and that God would hit Egypt with severe wonders beyond human abilities and smite them until they released God’s children. On top of that, they would plunder the Egyptian people on their way out the front door! God would move the citizens to favor them and willingly give them great riches and attire when asked as they left that they might plunder in return for the four hundred years of subjugation and poverty thrust upon them as a recompense for all the misery and mistreatment. All these things were told to Moses before he even journeyed back to the land he was exiled from! Think of how we who are in Christ as exiles from God’s presence will reap eternal recompense at His hand for our deliverance out of the world as we are set free from the bondage of sin and enter into glory in the end! This is the good news as a shadowing of the gospel by this message of deliverance from bondage.
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