"Yeah?"

Mt. Sinai today.

August 31, 2014

Let me tell you.

Summary. I am who I am promises what will be will be, if it turns out that way.

We were back in church this morning, a preacher I’d never heard before — shirtsleeves, tieless, gruff, intellectual. Exodus 3 brings that out in a preacher (however gruff), his intellectual side; he has to say something about God’s name cannot be named – so holy: “YHWH,” the sermon title.

          “The great I AM”: “I am who I am” or “I will be who I will be”; or “I am who I will be” or “I will be who I am.” All very interesting, but we get so excited about the possibilities, we ignore one of the oddest promises / non-promises in all of Scripture. I don’t know how many sermons I’ve heard on this passage (Exodus 3:1-15) but more than a handful; and none has ever commented on verse 12.

          The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is speaking to Moses out of the burning bush. He’s seen the pain and suffering of his people in Egypt and heard their crying out. He’s going to deliver them and bring them into a land flowing with milk and honey. Moses is to go to Pharaoh and make this happen.

          And Moses says, “Yeah?” And God says — here’s verse 12. God says, “But I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought forth the people out of Egypt, you shall worship me upon this mountain.”

Forget the rest of the passage, all the I AM stuff; doesn’t this strike you as odd? Here’s the sign, God says: “If you succeed in this, you’ll end up back here, because (you know) it’s on the way.” This is what will happen, if it happens. One is for fastball, if that’s what you’ve thrown. Moses says, “Yeah?”