Burning Bush and I AM: The God Who Delivers You

Introduction

Small god, small deliverance. Great God, great deliverance. That’s the thread the preacher lays down right from the start while meditating on Exodus 3 and 4. If you want to know the God who made a covenant with Abraham, who sent his Son Jesus Christ, you’re going to have to let him introduce himself. You can’t know him from your impressions or your feelings. He has to speak, and you have to listen.

That’s exactly what happens at the burning bush. Moses is tending the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, in Midian. Life goes on as usual. Then, suddenly, a bush is on fire without being burned up. Moses turns aside to look. And there, the invisible God makes himself present: he speaks, he names himself. This encounter happened once, for us. It prepares an even greater encounter: the one we have in Jesus Christ, who will take up this very name, "I AM," for himself.

The question that holds together Exodus 3 and 4 is: who is the God of the promise? The promise made to Abraham, fulfilled in Jesus Christ for every nation that believes in him. The text gives three clear answers. He is the God of the covenant. He is the God of deliverance. He is the God who is worthy of trust.

Sermon Outline

1. He Is the God of the Covenant (Exodus 3:1-6)

Moses was tending the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law. He could have been a prince of Egypt; instead he’s dressed in animal skins somewhere in the desert with his family. Life goes on as usual until the angel of the LORD appears to him in a flame of fire in the middle of a bush. The bush burns, but it is not consumed.

That already tells us something about God. He is the God you don’t just walk up to, and yet he is the God who wants to make himself present. He tells Moses: "Take your sandals off your feet, for the place you are standing on is holy ground." Then he adds: "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob."

The reason he speaks, the reason he reveals himself, the reason he is about to intervene, is because he is the God of the covenant. He had made a covenant with Abraham, and he himself is the guarantor of that covenant. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were not able to keep it themselves. They had died long before. And yet God still says, "I am the God of these men." He himself guarantees the covenant.

Look around you. Covenants between friends, in marriages, in professional commitments, between nations, are quickly weakened, relativized, often broken. The good news is that you belong to the God of the covenant. The God who does not lie. When he says something, he does it. You can let that renew you.

2. He Is the God of Deliverance (Exodus 3:7-22)

How is God’s faithfulness shown? Through the great deliverance he brings about for his people. The God of the promise is the God of the covenant who keeps his word, but he is also the God of deliverance. You see this especially from verse 7 to the end of chapter 3.

On either side of the text, in verses 7 to 10 and verses 16 to 22, God’s plan unfolds like an echo: "I have surely seen the affliction of my people because of their oppressors. I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and large land, a land flowing with milk and honey." The whole story is already written. God is the great author of what is about to happen. He has already worked out the ins and outs, the twists, the obstacles, the breakthroughs, the deliverance, and the destination.

In the middle of this unfolding plan comes the revelation of his name. Moses asks: "If they ask me what his name is, what should I tell them?" God answers: "I AM WHO I AM... You shall tell the children of Israel this: 'I AM has sent me to you.'" This expression has been discussed at length. It first says that he escapes our control. He is free and sovereign. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. You cannot fit him into a small box.

But when God explains to Moses how to say this to the people, he returns to the covenant and to deliverance. In other words: "I will be who I will be. To know me, you will have to see what I do." To know the living God, you need to know his deliverance. He wants to be known as the God who acts to free his people, because the fulfillment of the great promise comes through a great deliverance.

The deliverance the Bible speaks of is no small matter. It is an impossible gap to close between man, who has rebelled against God, and God himself. It is a prison to be opened, not just for Israel, but for a humanity held captive to slavery in every form. It is victory over death. That is what Revelation 21 promises: no more mourning, no more crying, no more tears, because the old things will have passed away.

3. He Is the God Worthy of Trust (Exodus 4:1-31)

If God does so much himself, if the story is already written, what role does Moses play? He is not useless. God insists on putting him in his place. And Moses has understood exactly what is at stake. He answers in verse 1: "They won't believe me, or listen to my voice." It is not that the people need to act. It is that they need to believe.

This is where the signs come in: the staff that becomes a snake, the leprous hand that becomes clean again, the water of the Nile that will become blood. Look at verse 5: "This is so that they may believe that Yahweh, the God of their fathers, ... has appeared to you." Verse 8: "If they won't believe you or listen to the voice of the first sign, they will believe the voice of the latter sign." The purpose of the signs is that the people believe the word Moses brings them. Faith comes through trusting the word.

Moses keeps backing away: "Lord, I am not eloquent." God reminds him that he is the one who gives the mouth. Then Moses goes so far as to say, "Oh, Lord, please send someone else." At that, the LORD’s anger burns, and yet he does not abandon Moses: he gives him Aaron, his brother, to be his mouth. Aaron will repeat to the people the word God gives to Moses.

Nothing will stop the LORD from carrying his plan of salvation through to completion. Not Pharaoh’s hard heart, not Moses’ resistance, not the circumstances. Even the difficult episode where Zipporah circumcises her son and saves Moses from judgment (Exodus 4:24-26) reminds us that the sign of the covenant must be honored by those who belong to the covenant people. The result, in verse 31: "The people believed, and when they heard that Yahweh had visited the children of Israel, and that he had seen their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshiped." God made sure the people were ready to believe in the God of the covenant, the God of deliverance, the God worthy of trust.

Key Takeaways

• Small god, small deliverance; great God, great deliverance. As long as you shape God out of your own feelings, you end up with a pocket-sized god. You have to let him introduce himself through his Word.
• The God of the covenant is faithful in himself. He keeps his promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob centuries after their deaths. Your belonging to this God is far more solid than any human covenant weakening around you.
• The name "I AM" speaks of his mystery and his presence. He escapes your control, and yet he makes himself known through what he does. To know the living God, you have to look at his deliverance.
• The deliverance of the exodus is a small deliverance that prepares for the great one. The crossing of the sea, the plagues, the leprous hand: these are unique in history. But they announce the great deliverance accomplished at the cross of Jesus Christ.
• God is waiting for a response: believe. The people bow down and worship. Today, he still asks you to listen, to be amazed, to believe, and to worship.

Personal Application

1. Which god are you talking about when you think of God? Is it the God who reveals himself in Exodus 3 and 4, or a god built out of your own feelings?
2. Where in your life do you feel stuck like Moses at the question "who am I?" How does the fact that God answers "I will be with you" change the way you move forward this week?
3. Which human covenants around you are letting you down right now? How does belonging to the God of the covenant strengthen you without making you indifferent to others?
4. The cross of Jesus Christ is the place where you see the God of the covenant, the God of deliverance, and the God worthy of trust. When was the last time you looked at the cross without rushing on to something else?
5. Who around you can you tell this week that believing in Jesus is not "switching to a different category of human being," but entering into the great story?

Scriptures Cited

• Exodus 3 · The burning bush and the sending of Moses.
• Exodus 3:14-15 · "I AM WHO I AM."
• Exodus 4 · The signs, Aaron's mission, the people who believe.
• Isaiah 43:10-13 · "Besides me there is no savior."
• John 17:3 · "This is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and him whom you sent, Jesus Christ."
• John 8:58 · "Before Abraham came into existence, I AM."
• Romans 15:4 · "Whatever things were written before were written for our learning."
• Revelation 21 · No more mourning, no more crying, no more tears.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

What does the expression "I AM WHO I AM" mean?

This is the name God gives himself in Exodus 3:14. It says two things. First, that he escapes our control: he is free, sovereign, eternal, the same yesterday, today, and forever. Second, that he will be known through what he does for his people. For Moses as for you, knowing this God means seeing his deliverance.

Why does God answer Moses "I will be with you" instead of telling him who he is?

Moses asks the question, "Who am I?" God's answer shifts the center: the question is not Moses or his abilities, but the God who sends him. Christianity is this Copernican revolution: the center is not me, it is the living and true God. The sign given to Moses ("you will serve God on this mountain") will be fulfilled once everything is done, because God is sure of what he is doing.

What is the connection between the burning bush and the cross of Jesus Christ?

The burning bush is a unique historical encounter. But it is a small deliverance that announces the great one. Jesus takes up the name "I AM" for himself in the Gospel of John: I am the bread of life, the light of the world, the door, the good shepherd, the resurrection and the life, the way, the truth, and the life, the true vine. At the cross, you see God in his holiness, his justice, his love, his grace, and his faithfulness. Through the blood of Jesus, the covenant is unbreakable, the deliverance is complete, and God is worthy of trust.