Daily Word of Grace # 137 (September 23, 2020)
One of the best known passages of the Old Testament is God’s calling to Moses from the burning bush and commissioning him to lead the exodus of the Israelites from four centuries of bondage in Egypt (Exodus 3:1-12). When Moses asked God, “If I come to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” God responded, “I AM WHO I AM…Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘I AM has sent me to you’” (Exodus 3:13-14). And by the power of God Moses did just that. This foreshadowed God sending Someone Else to lead an exodus not just for the Israelites in Egypt after four centuries of bondage, but for the whole world from bondage to sin and death for all time. This Someone Else is Jesus Christ. John’s account of the gospel includes Jesus’ “I am” sayings like “I am the bread of life” (John 6:35), “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12), “I am the good shepherd” (John 10:11), “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25), and “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). Each of these “I am’s” is a translation of the Greek phrase ego eimi—literally translated “I AM WHO I AM.” Thus, the same One who called to Moses out of the burning bush later died for the sins of the world and was raised from the dead…and calls out to you today.
Love and Prayers,
Dave