"I Am the LORD"

I hate to break it off when you guys are having such a good time enjoying one another's company,

but let's turn in our Bibles to Exodus.

We're back in Exodus today, chapter 5, starting in verse 1.

We'll go all the way to chapter 6, verse 9.

Let me pray for the reading and preaching of God's Word.

Heavenly Father, just as you revealed yourself to Moses,

and to Israel,

we know that today you are revealing more of yourself to us from your Word.

So we incline our ears and our hearts to you.

Show us that you are the faithful God,

the God who is with us,

the God who is completely trustworthy,

even when every circumstance seems to indicate otherwise.

Renew our faith in you and our love for you.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Exodus chapter 5.

Exodus 5 · chapter mention

Afterward, Moses and Aaron went and said to Pharaoh,

Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel,

Let my people go,

that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness.

But Pharaoh said,

Who is the Lord,

that I should obey his voice and let Israel go?

I do not know the Lord.

And moreover, I will not let Israel go.

Then they said,

The God of the Hebrews has met with us.

Please let us go a three days journey into the wilderness,

that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God,

lest he fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword.

But the king of Egypt said to them,

Moses and Aaron,

Why do you take the people away from their work?

Get back to your burdens.

And Pharaoh said,

Behold, the people of the land are now many,

and you make them rest from their burdens.

The same day,

Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their foremen,

You shall no longer give the people straw to make bricks,

as in the past.

Let them go and gather straw for themselves.

But the number of bricks that they made in the past,

you shall impose on them.

You shall by no means reduce it,

for they are idle.

Therefore, they cried,

Let us go and offer sacrifice to our God.

Let heavier work be laid on the men,

that they may labor at it and pay no regard to lying words.

So the taskmasters and the foremen of the people

went out and said to the people,

Thus says Pharaoh,

I will not give you straw.

Go and get your straw yourselves,

wherever you can find it,

but your work will not be reduced in the least.

So the people were scattered throughout all the land of Egypt together,

stubble for straw.

The taskmasters were urgent,

saying,

Complete your work,

your daily task,

each day,

as when there was straw.

And the foremen of the people of Israel,

whom Pharaoh's taskmasters had said over them,

were beaten and were asked,

Why have you not done all your task of making bricks today and yesterday,

as in the past?

Then the foremen of the people of Israel came and cried to Pharaoh,

Why do you treat your servants like this?

No straw is given to your servants,

yet they say to us,

Make bricks,

and behold,

your servants are beaten,

but the fault is in your own people.

But he said,

You are idle.

You are idle.

That is why you say,

Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord.

Go now and work.

No straw will be given you,

but you must still deliver the same number of bricks.

The foremen of the people of Israel saw that they were in trouble when they said,

You shall by no means reduce your number of bricks,

your daily task each day.

They met Moses and Aaron,

who were waiting for them as they came out from Pharaoh.

And they said to them,

The Lord look on you and judge,

because you have made a stink in the sight of Pharaoh and his servants,

and have put a sword in their hand to kill us.

Then Moses turned to the Lord and said,

O Lord,

why have you done evil to this people?

Why did you ever send me?

For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name,

he has done evil to this people,

and you have not delivered your people at all.

But the Lord said to Moses,

Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh,

for with a strong hand he will send them out,

and with a strong hand he will drive them out of his land.

God spoke to Moses and said to him,

I am the Lord.

I appear to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as God Almighty.

But by my name, the Lord, I did not make myself known to them.

I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan,

the land in which they lived as sojourners.

Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the people of Israel,

whom the Egyptians hold as slaves,

and I have remembered my covenant.

Say therefore to the people of Israel,

I am the Lord,

and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians,

and I will deliver you from slavery to them,

and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm,

and with great acts of judgment.

I will take you to be my people,

and I will be your God,

and you shall know that I am the Lord your God,

who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.

I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham,

to Isaac, and to Jacob.

I will give it to you for a possession.

I am the Lord.

Moses spoke thus to the people of Israel,

but they did not listen to Moses

because of their broken spirit and harsh slavery.

This is God's holy and authoritative word.

Perhaps a few of us have lived what others would describe a charmed life.

You haven't really encountered much suffering in or setbacks in your life,

smooth sailing most of it.

You come from a solid family.

You've always been healthy.

You went to a prestigious school,

found a wonderful spouse,

and now you make a lot of money,

and you're well loved by everyone around you.

But most of us,

and probably even those of us who appear on the outside to have such a charmed life,

have experienced significant pain and brokenness in our lives.

Maybe you have an incurable disease that God has not healed you of.

Maybe you have had miscarriages.

Maybe you feel lonely,

but God hasn't answered your prayer for a spouse.

Maybe you have asked God to lift the cloud of depression or anxiety from your mind,

but you still remain under its dark shadow.

Perhaps you've faced a lot of rejections in your life,

many disappointments,

perhaps even abuse.

So we become,

because of these experiences,

increasingly pessimistic and cynical

as our pains linger unabated.

And the Israelites were familiar with that experience.

It says here in Exodus 6-9

that they did not listen to Moses

because of their broken spirit and harsh slavery.

They had been oppressed for so long,

disappointed so many times,

that their spirit is broken.

That's literally in Hebrew,

the shortness of spirit.

In the same way,

when we're exercising strenuously,

you experience shortness of breath.

Here, due to the unrelenting oppression of the Egyptians,

they're experiencing shortness of spirit.

They lack courage.

They lack life.

They lack vitality.

They lack hope.

They're anguished and crushed in spirit.

But in this passage,

the Lord reminds such people

that he is the Lord who keeps his promises

despite appearances to the contrary.

And we're going to see reasons

why we can continue to trust in him

and hope in him

even when you're in those places in your life.

First, we're going to see the failure of God's promises

in verses 1-23,

or the seeming failure.

And then we're going to see the fulfillment

of God's promises in chapter 6,

verses 1-9.

It's been two weeks away from Exodus,

so let me remind you what happened

last time when we were in chapter 4.

When God sent Moses to go into Egypt

and gather the elders of Israel

to tell them about God's plan to deliver them,

Moses protested to God in chapter 4, verse 1,

Behold, they will not believe me

or listen to my voice.

Despite the fact that God assured him

that they will listen to his voice.

But of course,

when Moses obeys,

they actually do listen to him.

And Moses is pleasantly surprised.

And so at this point,

he's kind of on cloud nine.

His meeting with the elders of Israel

went much better than he anticipated.

And now he feels,

he and Aaron feel like they're on a roll.

So with daring confidence,

they march into Pharaoh.

And this is what they say

in chapter 5, verse 1.

Thus says the Lord,

the God of Israel,

let my people go

that they may hold a feast to me

in the wilderness.

There are a couple problems

with this grand announcement.

Because first,

originally in chapter 3, verse 18,

God had instructed Moses

to go with the elders of Israel

to confront Pharaoh.

But here, according to verse 1,

he goes by himself with Aaron.

And then second,

what they say to Pharaoh

is not at all what God

had told them to say to Pharaoh

earlier in chapter 3, verse 18.

Because God had told them to say,

the Lord,

the God of the Hebrews,

has met with us.

And now,

please,

let us go on a three days journey

into the wilderness

that we may sacrifice

to the Lord our God.

much like the way you hold your cards

close to your hand

when you're playing a game

and you don't let others

figure out what you're planning

or doing.

Or like the way an army

lays an ambush

with the, you know,

enduring war

to trick an enemy

into making a blunder.

This was a strategic calculation

to begin with a more diplomatic

and palatable request

of a temporary leave of absence

before leaving Egypt permanently.

So it was a way to test Pharaoh

to show how stubbornly opposed

he was to worship of the Lord.

But perhaps,

in their overweening confidence,

Moses and Aaron skip all of that

and they go straight to the end game.

There's no please,

there's no let us go

on a three days journey,

simply the unqualified demand,

let my people go.

But they run into a brick wall

and Pharaoh responds in verse two,

who is the Lord

that I should obey his voice

and let Israel go?

I do not know the Lord

and I will not let Israel go.

The kings of Egypt back then

were considered to be gods

and they gladly indulged that fancy.

As I mentioned a few weeks ago,

Rachmir,

who served as prime minister

under Pharaoh Thutmose III

and Amenhotep II

in 5th century BC

described Pharaoh this way,

what is the king

of upper and lower Egypt?

He is a god

by whose dealings one lives,

the father and mother of all men,

alone by himself,

without an equal.

The famous Pharaoh,

Ramesses,

his name means born of Ra,

the Egyptian deity of the sun

and he claimed to be the,

formed in the image of Tatanen,

the father of the gods.

So considering these realities in Egypt,

Pharaoh's disdainful response

to Moses is not at all surprising.

He's basically saying,

who is Yahweh?

I've never heard of him.

I'm the god of these lands.

I'm the one in charge.

Why should I listen to him?

Pharaoh thinks he's a somebody

while the Lord is a nobody.

So there's no way

he's going to let the Israelites go.

And Pharaoh's response aptly captures

the heart of human rebellion against God.

We have all sinned

and rebelled against God

in the same way.

Even though we were created

to worship God

and to live for him,

we say,

who is the Lord?

And that I should obey his voice.

I do not know the Lord.

Rather than acknowledging

God's authority as our creator,

we declare ourselves

to be the authority

of our own lives.

We live like autocrats

who rule our own little victims.

As Romans 1.25 says,

we have worshipped and served

the creature rather than the creator.

We did not see fit

to acknowledge God as God.

But Pharaoh's denial,

I do not know the Lord,

anticipates the refrain

of chapter 6, verse 7,

which says,

you shall know

that I am the Lord your God.

Knowing God

is a major refrain

throughout the book of Exodus.

Again and again in the book,

the Lord says to the Israelites,

you shall know

that I am the Lord your God.

And again and again,

he says to the Egyptians,

the Egyptians shall know

that I am the Lord

when I stretch out my hand

against Egypt

and bring out

the people of Israel.

So already,

Moses here gives us

a clue to this reality

that they will come

to know the Lord.

Even though Pharaoh's asking

who is the Lord,

ironically,

in this passage,

God is named

by his personal name,

Yahweh,

over and over again.

Remember that whenever

the word Lord

appears in all caps,

it's a translation

of God's personal name

in Hebrew.

So in chapter 6,

verse 2,

the Lord reiterates

how he has revealed himself

to his people

as Yahweh,

but Pharaoh,

on the other hand,

is never named.

Not in this passage

and not anywhere else

in the book.

Pharaoh thinks

he is somebody

and that Yahweh

is nobody,

but the reality

is exactly the opposite.

The Lord is known

and he will be known,

but Pharaoh remains unknown

to the readers of Exodus.

The Lord will be remembered forever,

but Pharaoh will be forgotten.

And before long,

Pharaoh himself

will come to this conclusion.

He will soon learn

that he, the Lord,

and not himself,

is the authority in Egypt

and everywhere else.

And when he learns this,

Pharaoh's unqualified no

in this instance

will be changed

to an unconditional yes.

The same is true for us,

whether you know

the Lord or not.

Whether you acknowledge

him or not.

The day is coming

as prophesied

in Habakkuk 2, verse 14,

Habakkuk 2:14

when the earth

will be filled

with the knowledge

of the glory of the Lord

as the waters cover the sea.

The day is coming

when we will have no choice

but to acknowledge

the Lord as God.

Every knee will bow before him.

Every tongue will confess

his name and swear allegiance

to him.

The choice before us

is whether we will do it

as his willing subjects now

or as his subdued enemies later.

If you don't know the Lord,

this is an opportunity

for you to heed his word

because he's speaking now from it.

And after getting this hard no

from Pharaoh in verse 2,

we see Moses and Aaron

kind of walking back

their bold proposition

of verse 1

and qualifying their demand

in verse 3.

Then they said,

the God of the Hebrews

has met with us.

Please let us go

a three days journey

into the wilderness

that we may sacrifice

to the Lord our God

lest he fall upon us

with pestilence

or with the sword.

So now they're saying

something closer to

what God had originally

commanded them to say

in chapter 3.

So gone is the bold,

thus says the Lord.

And now they explain meekly

the God of the Hebrews

has met with us.

Oh, you don't know the Lord?

Well, he's the God of the Hebrews.

You know them.

You know us.

You're slaves.

Gone is the triumphant.

Let my people go.

Now they say,

please let us go

on a three days journey

into the wilderness.

That's not too much

to ask, is it?

But that's not all they say.

Moses and Aaron

also add their own touch.

They portray the Lord

as this vindictive deity

who would punish the Israelites

with pestilence

or with the sword

if they fail to go out

into the wilderness

to offer sacrifice.

Look at what they say.

Lest he fall upon us.

The whole time in this verse

us refers to the Israelites,

not to all of Egypt.

So he's saying,

have pity on us, Pharaoh.

It's not because

we really want to do this.

Our God is a little temperamental,

you see.

Prone to lose his temper.

He might kill us

if we don't go out

into the wilderness.

Please let us go.

But Pharaoh doesn't budge.

It says in verses four to five,

but the king of Egypt

said to them,

Moses and Aaron,

why do you take the people

away from their work?

Get back to your burdens.

And Pharaoh said,

behold,

the people of the land

are now many

and you make them rest

from their burdens.

The Jews are a sizable workforce

and Pharaoh doesn't want

any supply chain issues.

He wants enough bricks

for all the building projects

that he is working on.

And this response shows

just how oppressive

of a tyrant Pharaoh really was.

He treats Israelites like cattle.

Their only value to them,

to him is their labor.

He doesn't care

how heavy their burdens are.

He's upset that Moses

wants to make them rest

from their burdens.

This word rest

is the verbal form

of the Hebrew word for Sabbath.

Later in Exodus 20,

in the Ten Commandments,

God will specifically

command them to rest.

Remember the Sabbath day

to keep it holy.

Six days you shall labor

and do all your work,

but the seventh day

is a Sabbath

to the Lord your God.

On it you shall not

do any work.

And then in Deuteronomy chapter 5,

Deuteronomy 5 · chapter mention

where the Sabbath command

is repeated,

Moses specifically gives

this rationale

for the command to rest.

Quote,

You shall remember

that you were a slave

in the land of Egypt,

and the Lord your God

brought you out from there

with a mighty hand

and an outstretched arm.

Therefore,

the Lord your God

commanded you

to keep the Sabbath day.

Pharaoh is a cruel

and selfish master

who demands work

seven days a week.

But the Lord

is a gracious master

and he commands

his people to rest.

God says we should not

work all the time.

Why?

Because we're not

slaves anymore.

Who or what,

if I may ask you,

is the Pharaoh

that you are enslaved

to in your own life?

Are you living

for people's approval

or for the applause of man?

Do you want to accomplish

big things in life

so that you can finally

be recognized?

So you can prove yourself

to others?

Who is your Pharaoh?

Are you living to please

or satisfy other people?

If we serve

any other master

but the Lord God

who promises us

rest for our souls,

then we will be

run into the ground.

We will have to work

without rest.

In the Academy Award

winning film

Chariots of Fire,

there's a poetic contrast

between two gold medal

winning Olympic sprinters,

Harold Abrams

and Eric Little.

Harold Abrams

runs for himself

so he works

tirelessly

and even though

he is incredibly successful,

he feels empty

and can't shake off

this feeling

of existential crisis.

He says in the movie,

and now in one hour's time,

I will be out there again.

I will raise my eyes

and look down that corridor

four feet wide

with ten lonely seconds

to justify

my whole existence.

But will I?

Eric Little,

on the other hand,

runs for God.

And when he finds out

that the opening heat

for the hundred meter dash

is set for Sunday,

he decides that he will not run

on the Sabbath,

not even in the Olympics.

And so he skips the race

and goes to church.

I'm not necessarily endorsing that,

but that was his conviction.

I respect him for it.

Why?

Because he doesn't need

to prove himself.

He doesn't need the Olympic gold medal

to justify his existence

so he can rest.

He ends up winning the gold medal anyway

in a different event

that was not even his best event.

Only God can give rest for us

from our burdens.

You cannot justify your own existence.

You must find your identity

and fulfillment

in God,

in Christ.

You cannot save yourself.

You must believe in Jesus

alone for your justification

and salvation.

Our gracious Lord,

and Master,

he's offering us rest

from our burdens.

But are you living

like a servant

of the Lord

or like a servant

of Pharaoh?

The previous Pharaoh

in chapter 1

thought that he could control

the fast-growing

Israelite population

by keeping them

under his thumb,

under slavery.

And this new Pharaoh's mentality

is no different.

He thinks the best way

to keep the Israelites

and put them back to work

is to double down

and be even harsher with them.

So it says in verse 6-9,

the same day,

Pharaoh commanded

the taskmasters

of the people

and their foremen,

you shall no longer

give the people straw

to make bricks

as in the past,

let them go

and gather straw

for themselves.

But the number of bricks

that they made in the past,

you shall impose on them.

You shall by no means

reduce it,

for they are idle.

Therefore they cry,

let us go and offer

sacrifices to our God.

Let heavier work

be laid on the men

that they may labor at it

and pay no regard

to the lying words.

So straw,

during those days,

was added to clay

because straw

is this, you know,

fibrous,

linear fiber

that makes the brick

more, I guess,

stable

instead of crumbling apart.

And so that's why

they put straw in there.

And Pharaoh had a store

of straws,

but they are now

refusing to give the straws.

And the result

is predictable.

The Israelites

failed to meet the quota,

but then they get,

the foremen get beaten up

and it's the demand

of them to bring

the same amount

of bricks.

And notice how

they make this announcement,

the taskmasters.

They say,

thus says Pharaoh

in verse 10.

It's the exact contrast

from verse 1.

Thus says the Lord.

There's an ongoing

tension and conflict

here in this passage

between the Lord God

and Pharaoh

who is the anti-God.

And Pharaoh's decree

exposes his cruelty.

It says that the Israelites

in verse 12

have to scatter

throughout the land

together,

stubble for straw.

So stubble is

what's left over

after the harvest

for straw is already done.

The leftover part,

the small part that's over.

So that means

the Egyptians

already took all the straw.

They harvested it all,

put it in storage,

and now they're refusing

to give it to the Israelites.

Instead,

they're making,

sending them back out

to go get the leftovers.

No wonder they can't

find enough straw.

And not only that,

they're turning

the Israelites against them.

Notice that they

appointed Jewish

foremen

to oversee the labors.

They're from the people

of Israel.

They beat the foremen

demanding that they bring,

they produce the same

number of bricks

so that they themselves

are forced to crack

the whip on their own people

to save their own backs.

And the desperate

Jewish foremen

cry out to Pharaoh

in verses 15 to 16,

why do you treat

your servants like this?

No straw is given

to your servants,

yet they say to us,

make bricks,

and behold,

your servants

are beaten,

but the fault

is in your own people.

Notice how sadly

servile the Israelites

are in this verse.

Three times,

they reiterate

their loyalty to Pharaoh

by describing themselves

as your servants.

That's the noun form

of the Hebrew verb

that means

to serve

or to worship,

and that's the word

that God will use

repeatedly,

starting in Exodus 7,

16,

to say,

let my people go

that they may serve me.

Running through

the book of Exodus

is this overarching question,

whom will you serve?

Will the Israelites

serve Pharaoh

or will they serve

Yafu'e?

And at this point,

they are decidedly

choosing Pharaoh.

We're your servants,

Pharaoh.

But these verses

also make clear

that they're choosing

the wrong person

because it says

in verse 15

that they cried out

to Pharaoh.

And you saw

Pharaoh's harsh response.

But remember

what happened

earlier in the book

in chapter 2,

23 to 24,

when the people

of Israel

cried out

to the Lord,

he said

that their cry

for rescue

from slavery

came up to God

and God heard

their groaning

and God remembered

his covenant

with Abraham,

with Isaac,

and with Jacob.

God saw

the people of Israel

and God knew.

That's what happened

when they cried out

to the Lord.

They were heard,

they were remembered,

they were known

by God.

But when they cry

out to Pharaoh,

they get nothing

but harsh oppression.

Who are you

crying out to

for relief

in your own life?

In the pains

and struggles

of your own life,

who are you

crying out to?

Are you crying out

to the Lord

who is attentive

to even your faintest groans?

Who is listening

to you?

Who is responding

to you?

Who hears you

and sees you

better than anyone

else in the world?

Or are you

crying out to man?

And since Pharaoh

won't listen to them,

the distressed Israelites

confront Moses and Aaron

in verse 21.

The Lord look on you

and judge

because you have made

a stink in the sight

of Pharaoh

and his servants

and have put a sword

in their hands

to kill us.

And then Moses

turns around

and blames God,

attributes evil

to God

in the same way

he attributed evil

to Pharaoh.

So it seems like

the situation

is getting only worse.

It seems like

God's promises

have faltered

and Moses asked,

why did you send me here

in the first place?

But the Lord assures us

in chapter 6

that his promises

have not failed.

Earlier in chapter 3,

19 to 20,

God said that

the king of Egypt

will not let you go

unless compelled

by a mighty hand

so I will stretch out

my hand

and strike Egypt

with all the wonders

that I will do in it.

After that,

he will let you go.

He says the same thing

here in chapter 6,

verse 1.

He says,

now you shall see

what I will do

to Pharaoh

for with a strong hand

he will send them out

and with a strong hand

he will drive them

out of his hand.

It's a little ambiguous here

whose strong hand

they're talking to.

It could be referring

to the Lord's strong hand.

Because of the Lord's strong hand,

the Pharaoh will let

the Israelites go

and drive them out.

That's how a lot

of translations have it.

But the ESV

intentionally leaves it

ambiguous

and I think that's good

because it could also

be ironic.

Later in Exodus chapter 12,

Exodus 12 · chapter mention

33,

it says that the Egyptians

were urgent with the people

to send them out

of the land

in haste

for they said,

we shall all be dead.

And the word

translated urgent

there is the exact same word

that's translated here

as strong.

So they were strong.

The Egyptians were strong

with the people

to send them out

of the land

in haste

because they're so afraid

of further punishment

that might come to them.

So remember what I said

to you a few weeks ago

that one of the frequently

used titles for Pharaohs

back in those days

was the Lord

of the strong arm.

And so here,

that very title,

that very reputation

is being challenged.

The strong hand

of Pharaoh

is not going to be used

to keep the Israelites

enslaved,

but instead,

he will use his strong hand

to release them.

Instead of keeping them

in his iron grip,

in his strong hands,

Pharaoh will have no choice

but to send them away.

I think this is a great image.

Imagine like

an arm wrestling champion,

like Matthias' brother

is an arm wrestling champion,

and he imagined this,

you know,

enormous forearm

with bulging biceps,

and then he starts

arm wrestling someone else,

and his opponent

is so strong

that this champion

just is getting thrown around

like a rag doll.

That's what's happening

here to Pharaoh.

The Lord of the strong arm

used to liberate

the people of Israel.

That's what mighty king Pharaoh

is going to look like.

That's what the so-called

God king is going

to be reduced to.

He will be thoroughly

defeated and humiliated.

And what follows

in verses 2-8

is a remarkable set

of reminders

and promises by God.

In verses 2-5,

God reminds Moses

of the four things

that he has already done.

He says,

I appeared to Abraham,

to Isaac,

and to Jacob

as God Almighty,

but by my name,

the Lord,

I did not make myself

known to them.

Second,

I established

my covenant with them

to give them

the land of Canaan,

the land in which

they lived as sojourners.

Third,

I have heard

the groaning

of the people of Israel

whom the Egyptians

hold as slaves.

And fourth,

and I have remembered

my covenant.

So four things

God has already done.

And then in verses 6-8,

God instructs Moses

to tell the people of Israel

that he will

specifically fulfill

all of his promises.

And there's seven

powerful

I will statements.

I will bring you out

from under the burdens

of the Egyptians.

I will deliver you

from slavery to them.

I will redeem you

with an outstretched arm

and with great acts

of judgment.

I will take you

to be my people.

I will be your God.

I will bring you

into the land

that I swore to give

to Abraham,

Isaac,

and Jacob.

I will give it to you

for a possession.

And note well

that from the beginning

to the end,

the whole speech

is about what

the Lord will do

and not about

what Moses and Aaron

will do.

Only the Lord

can deliver Israel

from their slavery

and bring them

into the promised land.

Salvation belongs

to the Lord

from the beginning

to the end.

And this idea

is reinforced

by the repetition

of the phrase,

I am the Lord.

Look at that.

What God says

to Moses

begins with the assurance,

I am the Lord.

And what God says

to the people of Israel,

begins and ends

with the same phrase,

I am the Lord.

And then smack dab

at the center

of what God says

to Israel

is the only statement

of what the people

will do

and it's this,

you shall know

that I am

the Lord,

your God.

That's the heart

of what God

is trying to communicate

here.

And why is God

so emphatic about this?

God, we get it.

We know who you are.

Why does he say it

over and over again?

We find the reason

in verse 3,

I appeared to Abraham,

to Isaac,

and to Jacob

as God Almighty.

But by my name,

the Lord,

Yehovah,

or Yahweh,

I did not make myself

known to them.

This is an allusion

to Genesis 17, 1

and Genesis 35, 11

where God reveals himself

to Abraham and Jacob

respectively

as God Almighty

or El Shaddai.

And in both

of those contexts,

the name of God

is connected to

making the Israelites,

the patriarchs,

fruitful and multiply.

And that's a promise

that's already been fulfilled

as we've seen

in the first few chapters

of the book of Exodus.

But it's not that

the patriarchs

were completely unaware

of the name Yahweh.

God did reveal himself

as that to them

at two specific points

in Genesis 15, 7

and Genesis 28, 13.

Again, to Abraham

and Jacob respectively.

And interestingly,

in both of those instances

where God reveals himself

to them as Yahweh

prior to the Exodus,

that name is connected

to his promise

that they will enter

into the promised land.

And that promise

is not yet fulfilled.

And I think that's the reason

why there's this emphasis

on the name of God

because the times

of Abraham, Isaac,

and Jacob

were the era of promise.

But now is the time

of fulfillment.

Those patriarchs lived

as sojourners

in the promised land.

But you,

the Israelites,

will now live as owners

and possess it as your own.

And it's the name,

the Lord, Yahweh,

that guarantees

the fulfillment

of these promises.

It's like,

it's a declaration.

I am the Lord.

It's like God's signature

on the dotted line.

He's telling the Israelites,

you can go and cash

this check in the bank

because I am the Lord.

Why?

Do you remember

what the name means?

It means,

I am who I am.

It can also mean,

I will be who I will be.

It's timeless.

And that's completely

intentionally communicates

God's presence

in the past,

presence,

and the future.

He's the same yesterday,

today,

and forever.

He was and is

and will be.

So another way

to describe God

is that He is unchanging.

He is faithful.

He is always true

to Himself

and to His promises.

And that means

His promises,

His words,

never fall to the ground.

So the name of the Lord

suggests that He is not only

a promise maker,

but He's also a promise keeper.

And likewise,

the name Yahweh,

which means I am who I am,

is derived from the Hebrew verb

to be,

and that's connected

to God's promise to Moses

in chapter 3,

verse 12,

I will be with you.

That's the very meaning

of God's proper name.

God's name is God with us.

He is the God

who is with us.

That means He has

bound Himself up

irrevocably

with His people

by the covenant.

This is why

over and over again

throughout the scriptures,

God's people

appeal to God's deliverance

saying,

for the sake of your great name

do such and such.

Psalm 25, 11,

for your name's sake,

O Lord,

pardon my guilt.

Psalm 31, 3,

for your name's sake,

you lead me and guide me.

Psalm 143, 11,

for your name's sake,

O Lord,

preserve my life.

Why does the psalmist

think that

pardoning his guilt

and leading him

and preserving his life

is for the Lord's name's sake?

Because the name

of the Lord

is on him.

Because he belongs

to God's chosen people.

Ezekiel 20, 44

is particularly helpful here

where the Lord says,

you shall know

that I am the Lord

when I deal with you

for my name's sake,

not according to

your evil ways,

not according to

your corrupt deeds,

O house of Israel.

He acts

for the sake

of his holy name.

Let's say that

your father

agrees to sign,

to be a cosigner

on your mortgage loan.

If you default

on that loan,

your father

must assume

legal responsibility

to repay that loan.

Because his name

and his credit

is now

on the line.

In a similar way,

it falls

on the Lord's name

to bring Israel

into the promised land.

Because he has made

a covenant

with his people

and said,

these are the people

on whom my name

rests.

Perhaps some of you

are in a similar season

in life

like these Israelites

in Egypt.

You have a broken spirit,

maybe a prolonged sickness,

repeated failures

and disappointments,

persistent loneliness,

and you're doubting

God's goodness.

But despite all appearances

to the contrary,

remember that the Lord

is with you.

His name

is on you

and that means

His promises

to you

are guaranteed.

And so he says

in verse 6,

I will redeem you

with an outstretched arm

and with great acts

of judgment.

The word redeem,

what does it mean

to redeem?

What does it mean

to be a redeemer?

A redeemer

in Hebrew

is literally

the family protector.

A redeemer

was the nearest

relative

of a person

who becomes poor

and loses

all of his property

and has to sell himself

into slavery.

And if that happened

to your relative

and you're the redeemer,

it was the redeemer's

responsibility

to go and pay the debt,

redeem your relative

so that he can be free

and so that he can live

in the land

that God has given him.

So this is literally

what God is saying

He's doing for us.

His people,

we have sinned against Him.

We have a deficit.

We are under slavery

to sin.

We have lost

what was given to us

and yet God says

I will redeem.

I will pay.

I will sign

because my name

is on that people.

I'm so grateful

that that's the basis

for God's promises

to us.

Can you imagine

if it were up to us

how often we sin,

how often we fail God,

how often we fall short

of His glory?

If it were up to us,

you think God

can be faithful.

If it depended on us,

you think God

can deliver us

time and time again

but it does not

depend on us.

The assurance,

the basis

for our deliverance

is not you are worthy,

you are lovely,

or you are righteous.

righteous.

No, it is.

I am the Lord.

I am the Lord.

That's why

I will deliver you.

That's why

I will save you

and that's why

I will redeem you.

That's what God

has done for us

in Jesus.

So He's called

our Redeemer.

He paid the debt

that we could not pay.

And because of that,

because our Redeemer

died on the cross

for our sins,

because our Redeemer

signed the check,

we are now stamped

with the Spirit of God.

It's God's declaration

on us

paid in full.

my sin,

oh the bliss

of this glorious thought,

my sin,

not in part,

but the whole,

is nailed to the cross

and I bear it

no more.

Praise the Lord,

praise the Lord,

oh my soul.

Let's pray.

God,

we thank you.

God,

thank you that

even though we are fickle,

that you are faithful,

that you are unchanging,

and that your name

is the Lord,

Yahweh.

God,

because of that,

you deserve all glory,

all praise,

all honor,

all of our lives,

all that we have,

all that we are

belong to you.

You are our gracious master

and you give us rest

for our souls.

Thank you.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.