Read Exodus 3, Job 20, and Hebrews 9.
This devotional is about Exodus 3.
Here in Exodus 3, God commanded Moses to lead Israel out of Egypt. In verse 10, God said, “So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”
But Moses had tried this before and had failed. In Exodus 2, he killed an Egyptian who was beating one of his Hebrew brothers (2:11). Acts 7:25 talks about this incident and says, “Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not.” Moses had to run for his life to escape being killed himself by Pharaoh, so he knew he was not up to the task of delivering Israel. That’s why he objected in verse 11 and in verse 13 to doing what God commanded.
Moses’s second objection in verse 13 was that he didn’t know God, he didn’t even know God’s name. Understand that Moses wasn’t here trying to get God to say his name; he was just trying to get out from the assignment God had for him. Nevertheless, God used Moses’s objection to reveal himself powerfully to Moses and to us. In verse 14 we read, “God said to Moses, “I AM who I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” This phrase, “I AM” is one word in Hebrew: Yahweh. It is the personal name of God himself. Sometimes it is mistranslated Jehovah, but the name is Yahweh. And in revealing his name to Moses, God revealed at least four incredible truths about himself
First, this name, YHWH, comes from the Hebrew word, “to be.” That’s why the NIV translated it, “I AM.” This name reveals God’s aseity—that he is self-existent. Gods’ name tells us that he exists. He was not created like we were and like everything else was. He just is. He exists on his own. He does not depend on anyone or anything else for his existence—either in origin or in the present.
Second, God’s name reveals God’s eternality. Because God is the one who is, that means he has always existed. There was never a time when God did not exist. There will never be a time when he ceases to exist. As Moses put it in Psalm 90:1, “From everlasting, to everlasting you are God.”
Third, this name reveals God’s role as Creator. If he is the one who is, then everything that is came from him. Of course, God tells us again and again in scripture that he is the Creator. But his name tells us why he alone can be the Creator, because he is the self-existent one, so nothing else can exist without him.
Finally and fourthly, God’s name reveals God’s independence. He stands apart from his Creation. That means God is not bound by time. He lives in a perpetual state of present. God is not not bound by anything. He created everything that is not himself and, therefore he stands outside of all of his creation.
This is God. This is our God! This is the one we worship.
The final phrase of verse 15 instructs God’s people to use this personal name from now on and forever. It says, ““This is my name forever, the name you shall call me from generation to generation” (v. 15). If anyone in the present or future worships God, they should use this name and know this God.
That means you and me, too. Christ did not become or reveal a new God but he created a relationship for all Jews and Gentiles alike with the one true God YHWH.
This is my call to action for this devotional. Worship YHWH our God right now, praising him for being the one who is, the one who exists on his own, the one who created everything else that exists, the one who stands apart from his creation and who will continue to exist forever and for all eternity.