The gift of the name (Exodus 3)

Short teachings from Hillcrest Church further exploring Sunday's teachings.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey, uh hope you're doing well. Tim here, and we are diving deep into the 10 words of life. Um I uh yeah, I want to follow up on Sunday's message talking about the um bearing the name of the Lord and the how the people of God receive the gift of the name and are called to represent uh the name. Um and I, you know, I think uh probably what I'll do is I'll probably do a few podcast episodes on each topic, some on receiving the name, and then some on representing the name. There's just I said this on Sunday, there's so much uh content on this. Um it uh I yeah, I'll probably just camp on on uh camp out on this for for a while, and I think uh I think it'll be encouraging. So first let's talk about receiving the name. Um the you know, I mentioned on Sunday that there's a few key moments in the book of Exodus where God reveals his name um to uh Moses and then kind of through Moses then on to his people. Uh the first of this is at the burning bush uh encounter in Exodus chapter 3. And this is one that I encourage you to spend some time with. Um this is one of these holy moments in scripture. I encourage you to, yeah, meditate on it. Um but in this uh in this encounter, of course, uh Moses um you know grew up in Egypt, his life was preserved uh by being on the the basket in the Nile, a mini ark, you know, calling back uh kind of God's preservation of Noah and his family, a mini ark on the Nile, brought safely to the waters, um, and then raised there, and then of course commits murder of an Egyptian who is uh beating uh a Hebrew, one of his countrymen, and then um Moses flees. He's living in the wilderness. And there one day he walks by and he sees this um this burning bush. Um one of the first interesting things about the burning about this moment, even before we get to the revelation of the name, is the um uh, you know, I said this is a holy moment. Literally in Exodus 3, chapter 5, um, God says, Do not come any closer. Um, take off your sandals, for the place where you're standing is holy uh ground. This uh holy is the first time in the Bible the word holy occurs. Um it doesn't occur in the book of Genesis. Um there's a verb where God hallows, makes holy, that verb, but the noun holy, um uh I guess noun, adjective. Um, it's you know, it's bonifying the ground. Um this is the first time uh it occurs. So there's something significant. The first use of the word holy in the whole Bible here in Exodus chapter 3, the burning bush moment, um, this holy moment. And then it goes on, um, and God says, of course, I've indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I've heard them crying out, I'm concerned about them, I've come down to rescue them. Um uh so go now. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt. Um, and then um there's some back and forth. And then Moses, in a very kind of near ancient Near Eastern way in a roundabout way, says, So who who are you? Who is sending me? Um the way he says it is 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? Um, so who are you exactly? Who is sending me? Uh and then this becomes the moment, this revelation of the name. And um there's essentially, if you're if you've got your Bible open, um this happens in Exodus 3, 14, 15, and 16. Um and essentially there's this threefold repetition of um uh God said, uh God said, Um, God said. So um verse 14. God uh said to Moses, I am who I am, or I will be who I will be. Uh and then uh it gets lost a little in the NIV. I've actually pulled out my NASB um uh Bible, because I NASB is a more literal translation, so the NIV actually obscures the God said part. Um, but so uh okay, I'm just gonna read out of the NASB, that'll be easier. And God said to Moses, verse 14, I am who I am. And he said, so the second time, thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, I am has sent me to you. And then verse 15, and God furthermore said, there's the third one, God said, to Moses, thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, the Lord, and that's Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is my name forever, and this is my memorial name to all generations. So, um uh yeah, that sometimes these literal translations are more helpful for close, kind of close study. Um, but yeah, you get this you you get this threefold repetition. God said, he said, God furthermore said, and each one kind of gets an unfolding of God's identity. I will be who I will be. Um and uh I Richard Balcombe has a great little book, Who is God? Key Moments in Biblical Revelation. And there's a chapter in there um called The Revelation of the Divine Name, where he talks about this. Um where he points out this first one, I will be who I will be, is God essentially saying to Moses, I cannot be constrained or contained or controlled by humans. Um I am who I determine myself to be. I am the uncontainable one. Uh and so at first that wouldn't seem entirely helpful uh to the Israelites. Um but then in the second um time when God says this, uh God goes on, he says, I am, has sent me to you. And so now what essentially um God is saying is uh that um here's this here I'm just gonna read from Balcom because I think it um is helpful. Moses is to say, I will be, or I am, has sent me. It means that the one who cannot be constrained, even by Israel's cries for help, commits himself to a course of action for Israel's sake. The self-determining one determines himself to be Israel's savior, the one who is sending Moses to deliver the people. Um by using the statement of his freedom to be who he chooses in the way he does, God is uh making it function like a name and a statement of commitment. God declares himself to be the God who himself has chosen in his grace and his love to be Israel's God, dedicated to Israel's good. This is a name that expressing his loving commitment to Israel, um, but cannot be used to constrain or control him. And so um he says, I am, he says, tell them I am and sent you. The I am is choosing to commit himself to your rescue. That's the second time. And then the third time is essentially a play on words. The the word Yahweh, uh which in Hebrew is Yod He Vav He, um looks like the the to be verb in Hebrew. It looks like I am. Um and scholars debate whether that's exactly that or something else, but clearly everybody agrees it's it looks like um I am. In fact, Bruce Walkey in a he um in his um Old Testament theology oftentimes just translates it, I am, just capital I, capital A, capital M. I am. Um and so then uh God goes on to say, tell them, I am, Yahweh has sent you. Um and again, um, and it's this this revelation of the name of God that clearly is this revelation of God's character and his commitment um to uh to Israel uh to their rescue, which is a gift to the people of God. Again, Balcom here in the same chapter, he says, this is what personal names do. They identify someone and point to all that we know about that person. They sum up who a person is as far as we know that. In God's case, all that God is cannot be known to finite creatures. God remains the infinite mystery that we cannot sum up or pin down, but we can know the particular identity that God has given himself within the world so that people may know and relate to him. His name names that identity. The revelation of the name is a supreme act of God's grace, making himself accessible and knowable, making himself Israel's God. And so the gift of the name, it starts in chapter three at the burning bush. Um on Sunday we looked at Exodus 33 and 34 where the name is reset. Um and I think uh, yeah, I think in the next episode we can talk about how this gets carried forward into Jesus because um because this has significant implications for the New Testament. But for us today, I think the main thing is that we have a holy God who wants uh to be known by his people, who wants to make himself known. We do not know God by reaching up to him, but by him coming down to us, by him saying, This is who I am, and I commit myself to you for your good and your rescue. So praise in peace. Have a great day.