Connecting With the Word
7 The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. 8 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—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 9 And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them.10 So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.” 11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” 12 And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you[b] will worship God on this mountain.” 13 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?” 14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am.[c] This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’” 15 God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord,[d] 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,
the name you shall call me
from generation to generation.
16 “Go, assemble the elders of Israel and say to them, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—appeared to me and said: I have watched over you and have seen what has been done to you in Egypt.17 And I have promised to bring you up out of your misery in Egypt into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites—a land flowing with milk and honey.’
18 “The elders of Israel will listen to you. Then you and the elders are to go to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has me twith us. Let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrificesto the Lord our God.’ 19 But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand compels him. 20 So I will stretch out my hand and strike the Egyptians with all the wonders that I will perform among them. After that, he will let you go.
21 “And I will make the Egyptians favorably disposed toward this people, so that when you leave you will not go empty-handed. 22 Every woman is to ask her neighbor and any woman living in her house for articles of silver and gold and for clothing, which you will put on your sons and daughters. And so you will plunder the Egyptians.” Exodus 3: 7 - 22
Connection Points
1. How did God reveal Himself to Mosses?
Point to Ponder: God revealed Himself to Mosses as “I AM”.
o Define “I AM”
a) YHVH – Covent keeper
“Jehovah” – I Am, would remind the people (Elders) of the convents He (God) had made with Abraham…
b) YHVH – Related to a Hebrew verb which means “I AM WHO I AM”, “I AM THE Becoming One”.
Ø His being in Himself. He is Self-existent, depends on nothing or no one except His own will.
Ø Eternal & unchanging
Ø Incomprehensible
Ø Faithful and true to all His promises, unchangeable in His word as well as in His nature.
He was referring to His active, life – giving existence.
c) “I Am”: I am who I need to be, what I need to be, when I need to be it. I am always present.
2. How did God reveal himself to His people?
Point to Ponder: God remained true to His name, “I AM”.
o Savior
God rescued His people from the hand of Pharaoh at the Red Sea. (Exodus 14: 1 – 31)
The Hebrews wouldn’t stand a chance against Pharaoh’s Army. They were hemmed in by the sea with nowhere to run, they were laborers not warriors. But God saved them, without anyone lifting a sword or spear.
Point to Ponder
One of the blessing of obedience is found in Trusting in God to fight our battles.
o Liberator (Exodus 12: 31- 42; 13: 17 - 22)
God liberated His people form the bondage of slavery and oppression.
o Sustainer (Exodus 16)
God sustained His people in the wilderness.
He was:
Ever Present: Cloud in the day, Pillar of fire
He provided: Water, Manna and Quail
Point to Ponder
He provided for His people in spite of their mistrust & disobedience.
3. How has God revealed Himself to us?
Point to Ponder: God remains true to His name. “I AM”
o Savoir
Just like the Hebrew children, we are in need of a Savoir. We cannot save ourselves. There are none among us, nothing within us “Good” enough to redeem us from sin… it is only through the grace and forgiveness of God that we are saved.
For God so loved the wolrd that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. John 3:16. 17
… “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Romans 10: 13
o Liberator
Acts 2: 1 – 13 : The coming of the Holy Spirit liberated us from the bondage of sin and the influence or orginal sin. God not only being present with us but within us.
o Sustainer
Conclusion
To the seven churches in the province of Asia:
Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits[a] before his throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.
To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, 6 and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.
7 “Look, he is coming with the clouds,”[b]
and “every eye will see him,
even those who pierced him”;
and all peoples on earth “will mourn because of him.”[c]
So shall it be! Amen.
8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.” Revelation 1: 4 - 8