When God Comes a' Callin

Exodus Part 1  •  Sermon  •  Submitted
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Big Idea

Tension: Who is God that he is able to save Israel by the hand of Moses?
Resolution: He is the great I Am, the God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob.
Exegetical Idea: Only if God is the great I AM, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob can he save Israel by Moses’ hand.
Theological Idea: Only the God who is self-existent and yet covenants with his people can save them by weak hands.
Homiletical Idea: A self-existent, covenant-keeping God is the only one able to save through weak servants.
Big Idea: The self-existent, covenant-keeping God alone can save us through weak servants.
So our story starts out today with Moses coming to the edge of the Mountain of God. Now, this is what we will later come to call Mt. Sinai. But here it is called, “Mount Horeb” which means, “Desolation.” So Moses is at the mountain of desolation, he is in the wilderness. This very much describes Moses’ life up to this point. Moses spent his early life travelling from home to home. He was the son of the daughter of Pharaoh, but he threw that all away because he could not bare to share in their sin any longer. So he went out to see the sfuferings of his people. And there, he killed an Egyptian who was beating another Hebrew. So he is now persona non grata in Egypt, and he flees to Midian. Well, in Midian, he meets some women at a well. And he takes justice into his own hands again when they are being oppressed, but eventually he finds a home here. He marries the daughter of the priest of Midian, and he becomes his son. Yet, he names his son, “Gershom” which means “Place of a foreigner.” You see, Moses has been wandering and travelling his whole life. ANd he has finally found what he is looking for: a family, a place to call home, a profession. Yet, he still knows that there is something missing. He still knows that he is not where he will be. He still feels like a wanderer, a sojourner, a traveller. And so he feels like his life is pretty much empty. And this is when he comes to teh Mount of Desolation. You see, it is in our emptiness that God so often meets us. God often does not meet us in fullness, he meets us when we are in the desert, in teh dry place, in the place of desolation. That is when God shows himself to us as he did to Moses. And this is something that Moses will never forget.
1. : So Moses is at the Mountain, and look at how the Bible describes this in vs. 2. It says that the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold the bush was burning and yet it was not consumed. Now, this is a fascinating way for Moses to meet hte Lord. Because here, the Lord appears as both fire and life. The appearance htat Moses sees is twofold: it is a bush which is burning to a crisp. It is on fire. Yet, it is not consumed. It lasts. It is still alive. Here is Moses’ first glimpse into God, his first udnerstanding of theology: God is both a consuming fire, and a resilient tree. These two things seem to go against each other, don’t they? Where I grew up, there were lots of forest fires that would come through. And they were needed for the forest, because they would actually help clear out some of the undergrowth. The consuming fire later gave way to life. But here we see God is both at once. His holiness does not give way to his life, nor his life to his holiness. They both exist in him at once. And it is terrifying to behold.
2. : Well, Moses turns aside. And he sees this. And God calls out to him. God says to him, “Moses, Moses!” Moses is beckoned in. He is called in. He is welcomed into the presence of God. God draws him in. But just as quickly, God keeps him away. Look at what he says in vs. 5. “Do not come near, take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” In the Middle East, the feet represented the dirtiest part of the human being. So it becomes a symbol for our sin and depravity, for our wicked and evil hearts. And God says, “There is no place for sin in my presence.” So here is Moses, welcomed into the presence of God, but kept out by his sin. God has with one hand welcomed him in, and with another, kept him out. And God tells Moses, “I am teh God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” He is the same God who has covenanted to Abraham that he would make him into a great nation and bless all the nations of the world through him. He is the same God who brought Isaac forth when Abraham and Sarah were in an old age. He priomised that Isaac would continue to bear his promise throughout his life. THis is the same God who appeared to Jacob as he was fleeing to his uncle Laban. And it is the same God who appeared to Jacob as he was fleeing from Laban. This is the same God who promised Jacob when he was going down to egypt htat he would bring him back again. This is the same God who has promised that he will never ever ever leave or forsake his people. He has promised himself to be near to them, to be close to them, to never abandon them. Yet, this same God, this personal, and relational, and loving God, is also terrifying. See how Moses hides his face from him. He is terrified to look upon God. He doesn’t know what to make of it. He doesn’t know how to be in his presence. He is fearful, and he knows that he cannot expose his face to him lest he dies.
3. : So the Lord speaks to Moses. He tells him that he has seen teh affliction of his people. he knows their sufferings. he has come down to deliver them. This is the God of the covenant. This is the God who never lets his people go. This is the God who is close to his own. He loves them and cherishes them. he will never abandon them. He is, as the theologian Donald Bloesch said, “Infinitely present.” He has not let go of them and he, in fact, has come down to deliver. them. But this is not just the God who loves his people and who is near to his people and who holds his people so dearly, this is the God who delivers. This is teh God who is strong. This is the God who is powerful. This is the God who is not bound like humans are. This is the God who can do what he wants to do how he wants to do it. And he looks at Moses and he says, “Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel out of Egypt.” Now, of course, Moses is freaked out. How in the world is God going to bring his people out by the hand of Moses? How could God work through someone who has made such a mess of his life as Moses has? But the thing is, salvation does not depend on the hand of Moses but on the hand of God. Salvation does not come by us gritting our teeth and putting our head down. Salvation does not come by us holding on to them so tightly. No salvation comes by grace. Salvation comes not because it depends on man, but because it depends on God. God gives salvation as a gracious gift. Here is this God: he is loving and kind and tender. But he is powerful and mighty and strong. He binds himself to Israel in a covenant. But he keeps teh covenant even when Israel fails. He is mighty and he is tender. He is powerful and he makes promises.
So Moses wants to know, who in the world is this God? Who does he think he is? He is both a consuming fire and an un burnt tree? He tells me to come in and then says don’t take another step. He says, “I have seen the affliction of my people, and I will delvier him.” Who in the world is this God? So he says in vs. 13, “ What is your name?”
4. Vs. 11-12
4. : Well, God answers in two parts, we might say that God is self-existent, but that he is also covenant-keeping.
Self-Existent: The first part, probably the better known part is where Moses says, “I am who I am.” Notice how this is set aside from the rest of the dialogue. that is because it is so very important. now, there are a lot of things we could say about this little phrase. It is three words in Hebrew, and it is notoriously hard to translate and understand. And yet, it is so fundamental to the rest of the Bible, that we need to just try to grasp it. Let me give you four things that are important about God’s self-existence.
First, God defines himself. He says, “I am who I am.” Now, you and I cannot do that. Right? I cannot say, “Matt is who Matt is.” I can’t do that, because I don’t exist in a bubble. I am embedded. I am, for better or worse, a product of my parents, both genetically and behaviorally. I am like them in a lot of different ways. I am a product of my education, my experience,s my successes, my failures. I don’t define myself. I dont’ get to be who I want to be. But God does. God defines who he is. When we want to udnerstand God, we don’t look to God’s origins. We don’t look to God’s experiecnes, his parents, his successes, his behavior. No, when we want to understand who God is, we have to ask who God says he is. God defines himself. He decides who he is. The only way to really answer, “Who is God” is to ask, “Who does God say that he is?”
Second, notice that all existence is wrapped up in him. He is nothing less than pure reality. From him comes everything. There is nothing that is that did not come from him. He brought forth all creation by the Word of his power. And yet, his being is more true, more pure, more existent than anything else. Think about it this way. We live in four dimensions. Up and down, side to side, front and back, and there’s another one somewhere, not quite sure. Well GOd lives in an infinite amount of dimensions. It is mind boggling.
Which means, third, that he can do whatever he wants. Because if God is who he wants to be, and if he is real true being and all being comes from him, then he has authority over all thigns. He is “all pwoerful” because from him comes all power. He is all knowing because from him comes all knowledge. He is everywhere, because there is not a “where” which did not come from him. He is totally purely, truly, other and different. Human life is defined by our limitations, but God’s is not. We can do somethings, but he can do everything. We can know somethings, but he knows everything. We can be in one place at one time but he is in all places at all time. He can do whatever he wants.
Fourth, notice that there is nobody else like him. He is unique. Nobody else can make this claim. Nobody else is like him. He is unique. Sometimes we think Satan is a match for God, but Satan is not a match for God. All the power, all the authority, all the effort that Satan can muster does not even come close to the power and authority and majesty of God.
Fifth, he never changes. He doesn’t say, “Well, I am now, but I might be soemthign later.” No he says, “I am who I am.” It’s not going to change. As Moses will write in , from age to age he is. James says every good and perfect gift is from above, from teh Father of lights with whom there is no shadow or variation due to change. God doesn’t change. He doesn’t alter. He doesn’t evolve. He doesn’t progress. WHo he was and who he will be is who he is. He is who he is.
We might call all of this God’s transcendence. God’s transcendence means that he transcends all things. He is above all things. he is not bound to human limitations. This is why God is a consuming fire, this is why God tells Moses not to come with his shoes on, this is why God is able to deliver Israel, this is why God can work even through a weak man like Moses. He has no limitations, no restrictions, no boundaries, no fences. He just is.
But God is not just self-existent, he is also covenant-keeping. Because God does not just say, “tell them I am has sent you,” no, he keeps going. He says this in vs. 15… God is covenant-keeping. And this otehr side of God is so important too. Because God isn’t just a consuming fire, he is a tree of life. God is not just a repulsive holiness, he is a beckoning presence. God is not just able to see Israel’s afflictions, he knows them. God is not just able to deliver them, he wants to deliver them. The technical word for this is God’s immanence. And there are at least five important things about God’s immanence, or his covenant-keeping.
First, God is close. God is close. He has not abandoned or forgotten his people, but he is close to them. He hasn’t forgotten about them. In fact, he hasn’t ever really abandoned them. We’ve seen this throughout the book. God doesn’t just know about what they’re going through. he knows what they’re going through. God knows their sufferings. God knows their afflictions. He went down wtih them into the land of Egypt. He just told Moses, “Hey, I have come down to you.” he descends and condescends to be close and near to us.
Second, God almost tells us he is near us through the covenant. The covenant is different than a contract. A contract is you hold up your end of the deal and I will hold up my end of the deal. But a covenant is, I am committing to hold uop my end of the deal, and come hell or high water, I am not going to stop. This is why the traditional wedding vows are: in sickness and in health, til death do we part. right? You don’t make a wedding vow with the expectation that the other person is going to keep their side 100% of the time. You make a wedding vow with the intention to keep your side as best as you can. Yet, the covenant of God is more than this. because, while we make covenants, and we break them all the time before we even want to. God makes covenants, and he keeps them through all time, more than we expect. God does not falter in his covenant.
Third, when God tells them he is a covenant-keeping God, he is reminding them of their past sins. Notice, how he says, God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. You know who were three pretty sketchy people? Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I mean, here’s Abraham, trading his wife for his safety in Egypt. here’s Isaac, deliberately playing favorites with his children. Here’s Jacob, playing favorites with his wives and children. Playing tricks. Being deceptive. And all three of them have God’s covenant. Not because of how amazing they are, but because of how good God is. The covenant of God tells us that God has not abandoned their people despite all their messed up mistakes in teh past .He hasn’t forgotten about them.
Fourth, notice how he says, “Oh yea, and you will remember my name for all generations.” So not just is he reminding them of their past sins, but he is predicting their future sins. Because God is under no illusion. The minute they get out Egypt, they’ll start complaining. The minute they get to Mt sinai, they’ll be like an unsupervised toddler and just make a mess of it. The minute they arrive in hte promised land, they’ll screw it up. But God has said, “Look, we’re going to work on this, and I might discipline you, but in the final analysis, I will not abandon you.
Fifth, God provides a deliverer. As part of this immanent, near, close, relational, personal, loving God, he sends to Israel a deliverer. Notice how he says, this is the God who has sent me to you. God sends Moses to them. In fact, later on, God will tell Moses, that he will be God’s mouthpiece to them. Moses is here to mediate God’s presence. You see, when we say that God is near, we are saying that God wants to save his people from their sins. He wants to help them. He wants to be close to them, and come hell or highwater, that’s what he’s gonna do.
Both holy and love: Here is this God. He is both big and he is near. He is who he is and he can do what he wants to do. He has no limitations. He has no change. He just is. ANd this God is also near. He comes to us in the covenant. Commits himself to his people and he is close to them. He has not forgotten about them. He has not forsaken them. His faithfulness is there for them even when they don’t know him. That’s why he’s so good. God is, on the one hand, transcendent, and mighty, and powerful, and holy. And he is on the other hand, immanent, and close, and empathetic, and loving. Now you might say, “wait a minute. I really like the idea of a God who is loving, but I’m not crazy about the idea of a God who is holy. Or vice versa, you might say, “I like the idea of a God who is holy, but I don’t really see any need for God’s love. but here’s the thing, you cannot have one wihtout the other.
If God was all holiness and no love, yes, God would have been able to save Israel, but would he have ever done it? yes, God would have been able to help, but why would he? God would have always been there, but whose to say he would have always been there for Israel? But if God was all love and no holiness, if God was all immanence and no transcendence, then God would have wanted to help Israel, but he would not have been able to. He would have wanted to deliver Israel but would have been powerless to do so. he would have longed to help his suffering people, but there would be nothing he could do.
No, the only way God can save Israel is if he is a loving holiness and a holy love. If God is a loving holiness, then not only is God all mighty and all pwoerful, but he is all mighty and all powerful for Israel. Not only can he do anything, but he will do anything to save them. Not only is he always faithful, but he is always faithful to them. And if God is a holy love, not only does God want to help, but he actually can. Not only does God love them, but God can sanctify them. Not only does God desire to save them, but God actually can deliver them. The only way that God can save Israel is if he is both self-existent and covenant-keeping.
So it is with us. If Christ was all holiness and no love, then he perhaps would have come down to earth. But not as an infant, not as a child, not as one of us. But as one over us. He would not have come down and called us to himself, but he would have come down and put us under himself. He could have gone to the cross, but he would not have. But if Christ was all love and no holiness, then Christ never would have been able to become human. He never could have been born as an infant. He never coul dhave atoned for our sin. You cannot have the covenant of God without the might of God. You cannot have God’s love without God’s holiness. You cannot have a God with all holienss and no love or all love and no holiness. THis is our God, both in one, the God who exists in Himself, and the God who keeps his covenant. The Savior who said, “Nobody takes my life from me, I lay it down of my own accord.” This is our God, our savior, our Jesus. A God who loves us enough to send his son to be crucified in our place. And a God mighty enough to raise him from the dead.
Big Idea Reveal: The only way that God can save us is if he is both covenant-keeping and self-existent. The self-existent, covenant-keeping God alone can save us.
5. : This is Exactly the kind of God that Israel needs for her Exodus. So God lays out his plan to Moses. First, he will send Moses out. ANd Moses will go to the elders and tehn to Pharaoh and ask for permission to leave the land. Now, Pharaoh won’t let them go unless compelled by a mighty hand. So God will do all sorts of mighty wonders to pry Pharaoh’s filthy fingers off of his beloved people. Now, for time reasons, I am not able to spend too much time on hti sportion. But notice how we see both God’s might and God’s lvoe for his people. We see God’s love in that he makes these stunning promises to Israel that he will bring them out and bring them to the land that he promised their fathers. He loves them so much that he will bring them out of their suffering and slavery and affliction. But we also see his might and his power. Because he knows that pharaoh will never let them go unless he is compelled by a mighty hand. And the mighty hand of God intends to compel the hardened heart of Pharaoh and will apply all the pressure needed until hsi people are home again.
6. : Now, Moses here is disbelieving. So Moses says, “Okay, God, whatever. Why in teh world would they believe me?” So God gives Moses 3 signs. Now, there has been a lot that has been said about how God did these signs and why God does these signs. But notice how each of these signs shows part of the way that God intends to save Israel.
The sign of the snake: First, God has Moses’ staff turn into a serpent. And Moses reachess out his hand and grabs the snake. Pretty cool, right? Well, now, remember what God promised the serpent in the garden of Eden, that one day the seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent. So here is Moses, who has been saved by woman after woman in this story. And he grabs the serpent and it becomes nothing. And yet, Moses himself here is just a foreshadow of Christ. Because one day, Christ would come and he would crush teh serpent. He will throw the dragon down to the earth, and he will throw him into the pit of fire. There is a day coming where that foe, the devil, teh serpent, will no longer have influence in our world. This first sign shows that God will triumph over Satan.
The sign of leprosy: Second, we see that God tells Moses to put his hand into his cloak. And Moses pulls it out again, and low and behold. There it is, a hand that is white as snow because of leaprousy. Then God tells Moses to put his hand back in and it becomes clean. Now, a huge part of the law that God will give Moses has to do with purity and impurity laws. And one of the major kinds of impurity is leprosy. So here is the implication of this second sign: God will take what is impure, what is unworthy, what is dirty, and make it pure, worthy, and clean. God will make what is leaprous healthy. God will defeat the power of impurity. And we know that God has done this through the cross and resurrection of Christ. He has washed us clean with the blood of Jesus. And he has given us a new life through the resurrection. So we are no logner slaves to sin, we are no longer slaves to the law, we can now be slaves to God.
The sign of the Nile: But, most impressively, God tells Moses to take some waters of the Nile and to pour it out on dry ground and it woudl become blood red. Now, we will see later in teh book one of the implications about that. But here this is very important. For the Egyptians and Hebrew slaves, the Nile was a source of life and fertility. And God says, that the only way that life comes is through blood. You know, this verb for “poru out” is only used one other time in the book of Exodus. It is used to describe pouring out the blood of the sacrifice of teh altar. Only by atonement for sins can there be peace with God. Only through death can there come life. Only through blood are we made alive. THis third sign is a foreshadow that God will atone for the sins of all Israel, which he does on teh cross. he has made his son to be sin who knew no sin that we might become the righteousness of God. He has poured out the blood of his own son so that we might be acceptable in his sight. He has put our death on his son and put his life in us.
So here is the significance of these signs, they show not just that God is able to save Israel, but they show the way God will save Israel. He will defeat Pharaoh yes. The serpent will turn into the staff. But it is so much more than that. He will purify them, sanctify them, consecrate them, make them holy. He will atone for them, provide a sacrifice, make an offering. He will remove their sins. This is not possible apart from either the holiness or hte love of God. This is what the self-existent, covenant-keeping God does. He both can and does save his people.
7. : Of course, Moses says, “Well God, I cannot speak well.” And God says, fine, I will send a mouthpiece. But notice that as he does so, he is both powerful and yet he is also tender. See how he says, “Look, whois the one who gives the mouth, who is the one who makes people talk? I am.” Yet, he says, “Nevertheless, I will be with you.” This all powerful God bends himself down to help Moses even in his moment of weakness.
8. : And this God also is kind to Moses, even when Moses resists him even when MOses says, “God please send someone selse.” notice in this last section once again both teh might of God, and the mercy of God. Both the power of God, and the pardon of God. Both the holiness of God, and teh love of God. Notice how God is angry with Moses, how God is frustrated that moses will not obey. And yet, out of his great mercy and compassion, he sends Aaron to him to be his partenr, his mediator, his helper. God could have struck Moses dead, but God had promised Moses that he would keep his covenant. And so, this all mighty all powerful all loving all merciful God shows grace to Moses.
Now, as we have been walking through this passage, perhaps you have been wondering, how in the world does this apply to me? Well, let me just say this. If you are a believer in Christ, this ought to humble you. God did not use or call Moses because of how impressive he was. He didn’t think Moses was al that. If we’re honest, so far Moses’ attempts to do anything redemptive in Exodus have always backfired on him. But God uses him at his weakest, to show that he is strong. If you are a believer in Christ, this ought to fill your mind with humility and joy. Humility, because you and I are not all tha tunlike Moses; we keep talking back to God, keep making excuses, keep looking for someone else to do his work. But God in his grace and in his mercy says, “No, no, I’m not doing this so that I can make much of you, but so that you will make much of me.”
But if you’re an unbeliever and you’re here, perhaps you are like Moses, here. God has shown himself to you. You ahve seen who this God is from his word. And youy keep making excuses to God, “God that’s not for me,” “God I’ll come to you tomorrow,” “God, let me spend my life on my career first.” But God says “Come now.” Will you obey? About the only thing Moses got right in this passage was that he finally obeyed God. Will we follow his cue? Will we learn from his example? Let’s pray.
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