Exodus 3:1–14
St. Matthew 17:1–9
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Behold, there appeared Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus. In Luke’s Gospel, it says, Moses and Elijah… appeared in glory and spoke of Jesus’ Exodus, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem (Luke 9:31). So, here we are, on a mountain, with Moses, and the Lord who is appearing in a bright and amazing vision, and they’re talking about an Exodus, a way out. This is the Exodus of Jesus’ death and resurrection—how He would make for His people a way out of the slavery of sin and death into the promise of forgiveness and life. So, this must remind us of another time, also on a mountain, where Moses talked with the Lord in a bright and amazing vision about a different Exodus. That was the Exodus of Israel—how the Lord would make for His people a way out of the slavery of Egypt and into the promised land. And that bright and amazing vision of the Lord was the burning bush.
Let’s back up, in case you’ve forgotten. The people of Israel had moved to Egypt during the days of Joseph and his 11 brothers, and things went well for them there. But then generations later, they were enslaved by the Pharaohs. Moses, one of those Israelites, was spared death as a baby and adopted by Pharaoh’s daughter, but he murdered an Egyptian and fled into the desert. There, he married a Midianite woman and became a shepherd. And this is why we find Moses now in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, tending his father–in–law’s flock, when he sees a bush on fire, yet not being burned up.
But before he can get too close, the Lord speaks to Moses from the burning bush and introduces Himself: “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Then the Lord goes on to talk with Moses about the Exodus, which He was about to accomplish, for His people—bringing them out of Egypt and giving them a new identity and a new home. And He says that Moses will be the one to lead them. Moses makes his excuses about why he’s not the right man for the job, but the Lord knows better.
Then, Moses asks God a very important question, “What is Your name?” Clearly Moses knows this God in the bush is real. In a similar way, the First Commandment tells us that there is a God. But that doesn’t tell us that much about who exactly this God is, what kind of God, or what He does. In fact, you cannot know God, and Moses could not know God, if God did not introduce Himself to us. So, the Second Commandment tells us that this God has a name. And the Third Commandment tells us that this God speaks to us. Moses came to know this God by God telling him His Name and speaking to Him about what He does. Likewise, you know there is a God, and you know what kind of God He is because He has told you His Name and spoken to you His Word. We need all three commandments in order to fear and love and trust the one true God.
So, Moses’ question is important: If the people of Israel ask me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?”God said to Moses, “I AM Who I AM.” I AM—in Hebrew the name is “Yahweh,” in English we sub–in the title “Lord.” I AM Who I AM. What a name! What does it mean?
It means a great deal. It means, “I AM Myself and no other”—totally unique and not limited by anyone else. It also contradicts any pagan ideas where there are gods of trees or gods of rivers or gods of the son or moon: “I AM not a local desert god that lives in this bush.” And it contradicts other pagan, Far Eastern ideas where god is indistinguishable from the natural universe, where god is in everything and everything is in god: “I AM not the world and the world is not Me.” There is a difference between this I AM, the Creator, and His creation.
In fact, this name means that He is the One Eternal Being who made all other beings. “I AM the God who spoke the world into existence. And because I speak, I can tell you who I AM. I can tell you the story of Myself and this world, and that story can be repeated and told so that others may know who I AM.” He told Moses, “I am the God of your fathers.” Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob told the stories of this God who is, who has the name above all names, this God who can be heard and known by the Words He speaks.
So, what does all this tell us? It tells us that we can know who God is and we can know things about this world He has made. Maybe you think that’s obvious and nothing new. But that’s not how many think in our world. People doubt everything today. “Fake news” is just the tip of the ice berg. People think that you can’t know anything for sure, or that there is no truth that applies across the board to all people. Others think there’s no way to know if any god exists, or that if there is a god, you can’t say anything about it definitively.
But the Lord, the I AM, tells us this is not so. There is such a thing as knowledge and certainty and truth. The world is good as the Lord, the I AM, has declared it good. And that means this world is worth knowing. This is why real science and philosophy and art can exist, and why these things do not need to contradict Christian truth, unless sinful men twist them. Real science and philosophy and art is responding to the good and knowable God, the I AM, and responding to His Truth, wherever He makes it known, both in the “book” of nature and in the book of His Holy Word.
The Lord invites us to know Him and to know His world. Christians can and should ask questions, and seek answers. We don’t have to be afraid of who we are, or what this world is, or who God is. He is good and you can know Him. He has given you His Name and spoken to you so that you may speak back to Him and know Him better. That is the basis for a good relationship after all: communication. And rightly knowing this good God makes you good, and helps you to better know others and this world.
So, who is the one true God? Yahweh, I AM, the One Who Is, who speaks and creates, the One who gives meaning and truth. But what’s even better than that? How do we know this I AM, this Lord, even better? He became a man like you and me. The Lord, Yahweh, perfect God and perfect man in one person: Jesus. He’s kind of like the burning bush: the divine nature is in Him but not burning up His human nature. Actually, Jesus is better than a burning bush, because in the burning bush, God was in the bush but God was not the bush and the bush was not God. Yet, in Jesus, God is not only in this man, but God is the Man and the Man is God. He is Yahweh, I AM, the Lord Jesus Christ, and His eyewitnesses saw the blazing fire of His divine nature shining through His human face as bright as the sun.
Faced with such a bright and amazing vision, we might ask like Moses, “Who are you? What is your name?” Or in other words, “How can we come to know you better?” Like Peter, we may want to know, “How can we be with you? To stay with you?” And once again, this Lord gives an answer to our questions: A bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to Him.”
Listen to Him. This means He is good and you can know Him. He speaks, so you can know who He is and what He wants for you. You can learn from Him. In fact, you must learn from Him. You must be His disciple and listen to the Truth He speaks: Truth that you cannot know without Him, Truth that you may not always want to hear, but Truth nonetheless, because He is I AM, the Source of all Truth, and it’s Truth that’s good for you.
If you want to be good, if you want to have meaning in your life, then you must begin by listening to Him. He is not an obscure god, or hidden, carved by human hands or invented by human ideas. And He is not difficult to understand. He has caused His Word to be written down, in plain language. He has caused His love to be shown by dying to rescue us from evil and by rising again. And He has caused His forgiveness to be made known in the speaking of His Word, and in the washing of water with His Name, and in the eating and drinking of His divine body and blood. This Jesus on the mountain, this Jesus here today, is the Lord, I AM. He is good and you can know Him. In fact, you do know Him. So, listen to Him. Because rightly knowing Him makes you good, and it helps you to better know others, and to better know your place in this world that He has given you.
In the Holy + Name of Jesus. Amen.
The section on the Name “I AM” is based on a CiRCE podcast episode with Andrew Kern on the Biography of Reason.
Artwork copyright (c) 2010 Edward Riojas. Used by permission.
