Tag Archives: Coming of Christ

The Name of Yahweh – Sermon on Exodus 34:1-10 and Philippians 2:5-11 for Midweek Advent 2

Exodus 34:1-10 & Philippians 2:5-11

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Last week, we considered how God appeared to Moses at the burning bush with a veiled power and enticing grace. Tonight, we are going to consider a little more on who Yahweh is based on His name. Yahweh means “I Am who I Am” or “I Will Be who I Will Be.” The Hebrew language makes it difficult to know if we should translate this as a present or future tense in English. Either way is legitimate.

Now, way back at the end of Genesis 4, after Seth becomes a father, we are told, “At that time, people began to call on the name of Yahweh” (Gen. 4:26). And throughout the rest of Genesis, people will use ‘Yahweh’ as God’s name. Last week, we heard from Ex. 3:13-15 that Yahweh is the name God gives to Moses so he can verify that is the ‘real deal’ and has come to lead God’s people out of slavery in Egypt. God’s people know Him by that name, but throughout the book of Exodus, Yahweh reveals what kind of God He is in several instances where He talks about His name. Tonight’s reading from Ex. 34:1-10 is the climax. But it is good to also consider those earlier passages so we can see who Yahweh is. And that’s what we’ll do tonight.

Back in Ex. 3:13-15 when God gives that name to Moses, you could almost see it as a slap in the face, as though God is saying, “Listen, Moses, you can’t pin Me down. I’ll be whatever I want to be.” And there is a sense of that. God is free and has the prerogative to be whatever He wants to be. But there is also a sense there that God is about to make Himself known as Yahweh. It’s almost like God is saying, “Moses, I’m about to show you what Yahweh means. I’ll make clear to you, to My people, and to the world who I am.” To Moses in Ex. 3, Yahweh shows that He is the God who remembers His promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and He is coming to rescue His people from Egypt.

The next time God speaks His name in this prominent way is in Ex. 6:2-8 which is after Moses has arrived in Egypt and everything has ‘gone south.’ Moses gets to Egypt and tells the elders of Israel that Yahweh is going to lead them out of Egypt (Ex. 4:29-31), and the people believed and worshipped. So far, so good. But then, Moses and Aaron go to Pharaoh and tell him, “Yahweh says, ‘Let My people go,’” but Pharaoh responds, “Who is Yahweh that I should obey His voice? I don’t know Yahweh, and I will not let the people go” (Ex. 5:2). Those were dangerous words for Pharaoh to speak. Instead of letting the people go, Pharaoh makes the Israelites’ slavery more burdensome (Ex. 5:6-19). Now, they have to gather their own straw to make bricks and keep producing the same number of bricks each day. After hearing this, the Israelite leaders leave Pharaoh’s chambers and turn to Moses saying, “Yahweh is going to judge you because you have made us a stench in Pharaoh’s nostrils” (Ex. 5:21).

But God reassures Moses (to paraphrase Ex. 6:2-8), “I am Yahweh who appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but I didn’t show them what Yahweh means. But now, I’m going to enter history and show My people what Yahweh means. I’m going to bring them out of their slavery with a mighty hand and outstretched arm. I’m going to bring them into the land of Canaan. I’m Yahweh.” Notice, though, God isn’t really saying anything new – not yet. Yahweh just keeps repeating His promises, “I am coming to deliver all of My promises to you.”

The next statement that reveals Yahweh’s identity comes after God delivers His people out of Egypt in Ex. 20:2-6 where Yahweh gives the Ten Commandments. Yahweh tells His people at Sinai, “I am Yahweh, your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. Have no other gods before Me.” In other words, God says, “Trust Me to be your God, and see how it goes for you.” He goes on to say, “I, Yahweh, your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.”

Now, up to this point in Exodus, who have been the enemies of Yahweh? Pharaoh and his taskmasters. They have had their iniquities visited upon them. And Yahweh has shown His steadfast love to His people. But the people’s grumbling has been growing along the journey, and their wickedness is about to be on full display.

But before we get to the epitome of that wickedness, Yahweh further defines who He is. Yahweh gives His people instructions to build the Tabernacle. He tells them all the things that they have to do to make this tent. Then, In Ex. 29:45-46, Yahweh says about the Tabernacle, “I will dwell among the people of Israel and will be their God. And they shall know that I am Yahweh their God who brought them out of the land of Egypt that I might dwell among them. I am Yahweh their God.” Here, Yahweh says that He is a God who wants to dwell among His people.

So, to quickly recap who Yahweh has shown Himself to be through Exodus: Yahweh is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He has been faithful to His people and delivered them from slavery. Yahweh is the God who fought for His people with a mighty hand and outstretched arm. Yahweh is their God who visits the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation, but He shows steadfast love and mercy to thousands of those who love Him and keep His commandments. And Yahweh is the God who desires to dwell among His people.

But then, we get to the episode of the golden calf (Ex. 32) where God’s own people show themselves to be His enemies who don’t love Him and keep His commandments. They reject Him and His kingship and replace Him with a god their own hands have made. They ascribe to this golden calf the very things Yahweh has done for them. Now, the enemy of God’s people isn’t external. It isn’t Pharaoh or taskmasters. It isn’t hunger, thirst, or other nations. Yahweh has already shown Himself to be powerful enough to overcome those external threats. What will this mighty, powerful Yahweh do now that the enemy of His people is His people? 

First, Yahweh tells Moses, “Get away from this people so I can destroy them.” But Moses prays to Yahweh to have mercy on the people (Ex. 32:11-14), and God does. And that brings us to our text (Ex. 34:1-10). God passes before Moses and defines Yahweh, “Yahweh a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.” Yahweh is the God of power and forgiveness, mercy, grace, and faithfulness.

Throughout the Genesis, there are plenty of places where Yahweh is patient with His people and clearly forgives them. But this is the first time in Scripture where God is said to forgive sin. And notice who it is that declares that Yahweh forgives sin – it’s Yahweh Himself. Forgiveness defines Yahweh. He says so in the face of the sin of His very Own people.

And, yes, Yahweh is also the God who, “will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.” Yahweh is just. He will not tolerate those who repeatedly and continually rebel against Him. But even before that, Yahweh declares what defines Him – mercy, grace, love, faithfulness, and forgiveness.

And notice how Moses responds. He bows his head, worships, and prays, “If now I have found favor in Your sight, O Lord, please let the Lord go in the midst of us, for it is a stiff-necked people, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for Your inheritance” (Ex. 34:9).

Dear saints, Yahweh has answered that prayer. He has come to pardon your iniquity and sin. Jesus, Yahweh in the flesh, has come to claim you as His inheritance. John 1:16-18 says that from Christ’s fullness you receive grace on top of grace. Jesus – the Savior of the world who has come, died, and risen again for you – He has made God known. At His name every knee will bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Yahweh (Php. 2:10-11)

‘Jesus’ means ‘Yahweh saves.’ He is a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving your iniquity and transgression and sin. This is who your God is. Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

The Angel of Yahweh – Sermon on Exodus 3:1-15; Hebrews 1:1-14; and Psalm 34 for Midweek Advent 1

Exodus 3:1-15; Hebrews 1:1-14; Psalm 34

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Both of those Scripture readings you heard tonight (Ex. 3:1-15; Heb. 1:1-14) are so rich and so dense that we could have months of sermons on either and still not exhaust them. The same is true for tonight’s Psalm (Ps. 34) too. But, since it’s the season of Advent, we’re going to consider all three of them under one umbrella, so to speak, and that is the theme of how God comes to us in veiled power and enticing grace. We’ll begin with that reading from Ex. 3 with a little context, go to Heb. 1, and circle all the way back to Ps. 34.

To quickly summarize Ex. 1-2, you’ll remember, Moses was an Israelite slave who was born in Egypt but ended up being raised in Pharaoh’s palace. When he was forty years old (Act. 7:23f), he left the palace and saw a fellow Israelite being beaten by an Egyptian. Thinking no one was watching, Moses killed that Egyptian (Ex. 2:11-12) to save his kindred. But his homicide had a witness, and when Pharaoh found out about it, he planned to kill Moses (Ex. 2:15).

So, Moses fled Egypt, married a Midianite woman, and became a shepherd. Exodus 2 then closes like a cliffhanger. The Pharaoh who wanted to kill Moses died, and the people of Israel were left groaning in Egypt because of their slavery and cried to God for help. Then, and listen carefully to how Scripture narrows the gap between the Israelites and God: “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” (Ex. 2:23-25). It’s like those words want you to imagine God sitting up somewhere in heaven and hearing those cries for help. The pleas for mercy got God’s head swiveling around to find exactly where those cries are coming from. Then, He sees and knows something needs to be done.

Now, of course, God saw the suffering of His people. He sees all things and knows all things. He is omnipresent and omnipotent. But I think the text is written this way to encourage us to pray in our times of trouble to get God’s attention so He will act. And He does. God hears, He sees, and He acts.

When Moses was eighty years old, God comes down and has this conversation with Moses at the burning bush (Act. 7:30). Initially, the text identifies the Being in the bush as “the angel of the Lord.” When you see ‘Lord’ (or ‘Lord God’) with all capital letters, the translation is indicating that God’s personal, divine name, “Yahweh,” is there in the Hebrew. And ‘Yahweh’ is that “I am who I am” name that God gives to Moses which we will consider more fully next week.

Now, about this ‘angel of Yahweh’ that appears to Moses: The word translated as ‘angel’ means ‘messenger.’ There are places in Scripture where the ‘angel/messenger of Yahweh’ is a created being. The prophet Haggai is called the “angel/messenger of Yahweh” (Hag. 1:13). In Malachi 2:3, a priest is titled the “angel/messenger of Yahweh.” But here, this particular ‘angel/messenger of Yahweh’ isn’t a human or one of the myriads of angels that God created. Notice that this angel of Yahweh speaks as God Himself saying, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses appropriately responds to this angel of Yahweh, who is God Himself, by hiding his face (Ex. 3:6).

Consistently, the church has taught and held that this ‘angel of Yahweh’ who appears to Moses in the burning bush is Jesus. I won’t go into all the proof texts tonight; you can ask me for more later. For now, I’ll just give two passages to corroborate. The first one: Jn. 1:18 says, “No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, He,” referring to Jesus, “He has made Him known.” And second, Jesus is the Word of God that created all things (Jn. 1:1-3) who was made flesh (Jn. 1:14), appeared, and spoke to God’s people throughout the Old Testament.

So, to summarize our reading from Ex. 3, God hears the prayers of His people from heaven as they groan under slavery on earth. He sees how they are oppressed. And He comes to them. He comes to act, but He is going to act through Moses. And notice that when the Son of God comes in power and grace, He appears to Moses in a way that entices Moses and draws him in, closer to God. The burning bush that isn’t consumed makes Moses extremely curious, so Moses gets closer to see this odd thing. God draws near to Moses in an approachable way as the ‘angel of Yahweh’ in the burning bush. Then, Jesus, the Son of God and angel of Yahweh, makes it clear that He is God who has come to deliver His people by working through Moses, sending him back to Egypt, and doing all sorts of signs through him, which brings us to Heb. 1.

Jesus, appearing to Moses as the ‘angel of Yahweh’ in the burning bush is one of the “many ways God spoke” to His people of old (Heb. 1:1). In a similar way, Jesus spoke to Joshua as the commander of Yahweh’s armies who had come to lead God’s people into the Promised Land (Jos. 5:13-15). Jesus appears to Isaiah as the holy, holy, holy Lord of hosts in Is. 6 (see Jn. 12:41). In each of those places and many more, God veils Himself just enough so the person He reveals Himself to isn’t completely destroyed. God needs to do this because no one can see the face of God and live (Ex. 33:20).

The rest of Heb. 1 tells us how Jesus is no mere angel. He is God’s only-begotten Son (Heb. 1:5). All the other angels worship Him (Heb. 1:6). He has a throne that will stand forever (Heb. 1:8-9), and all His enemies will be subjected under His feet (Heb. 1:13).

Dear saints, this is the same Jesus who has come to you. He has heard your cries for help, He has come to save you by dying and rising for you, and He is coming again so you will live forever with Him.

The epitome of God’s coming in a way that is unintimidating and accessible is the incarnation and birth of Jesus. For you, the eternal, almighty, all-powerful Son of God has come to earth. He heard your cries, saw your suffering, and delivered you. “Veiled in flesh, the God-head see. Hail th’ Incarnate Deity.” He is “pleased as man with man to dwell, Jesus our Immanuel.” 

And this is true for you every day of your life, believer. As our Psalm (Ps. 34) said, Jesus “the angel of Yahweh encamps around [you] who fear Him, and delivers [you]” (Ps. 34:7) In Him, you find your refuge and have no lack. He delivers you from all your troubles because He redeems your life. And you find your refuge in Him. Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.