WHO GOD IS

Today I was given the opportunity to Skype into a Bible School in London, England, and share on the topic of who God is to me. Despite a few sound issues, and me talking a little too fast, the meeting went well and God blessed it all. I was asked when it was over to share my notes with the class so that the missed parts could be filled in - and I felt inclined to share them here as well. Who knows, maybe you too are curious of who God is.

In order to talk about who God is, I think it is required that we also take a look at our response to who God is. When I begin to think on this topic, my mind automatically turns to Exodus 3. It is within this chapter that we find Moses standing before the burning bush. Yet how did Moses get to this place?
We probably all know the story, the little child in the basket floating down the Nile and washing up in the place where Pharaoh’s daughter was taking her bath. Moses’ sister, who happens to be in this private area, offers to fetch a Hebrew woman to wean the child, and forty years pass. Soon enough, Moses somehow figures out that the Hebrews are his people, and seeing injustice done, steps in and kills an Egyptian man. The next day Moses stumbles upon injustice once more, this time between two Hebrews, and again steps in. But this time he is questioned by the Hebrews, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?...(Ex 2:14a)." Knowing he had been found out, and knowing now that Pharaoh wanted to kill him (Ex 2:15), Moses flees Egypt and comes into the region of Midian.
It is here in Midian that Moses’ life starts over, both physically and spiritually. In the process of forty years, Moses weds one of the daughters of Jethro, Tzipporah, and has a child, Gershom. And in this time, the Pharaoh who wanted Moses dead has himself passed on. Moses has become a shepherd and while out with the sheep, sees something that cannot leave his attention – a bush consumed with fire, yet not burning (Ex 3-4).
Moses approaches the bush, and from it hears his named being called, “Moses! Moses!” He answers with the response, “Here I am.” From within the bush the voice of God gives him direction, explaining the calling that he is to move forward in. That calling is the deliverance of God’s people. But it wasn’t enough for Moses to hear this voice. He wanted to know who this ‘god’ was. Why? Well to answer this we must understand the culture from which Moses came.
For forty years Moses had been raised in a culture where there was a god for everything. For issues relating to the sun, one beckoned to Ra. For issues relating to fertility, one called out to Heket. If one needed help with their crops, a prayer was offered to Hathor. And if the weather just wasn’t going your way, you could petition to Seth. So with this knowledge that there was not just one god, Moses questions, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to the them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?” (Ex 3:13). In all actuality, this was a valid question. And to this question God answers, “’I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you.’” In the Hebrew it reads, “God said further to Moshe, ‘Say this to the people of Isra’el: ‘Yud-Heh-Vav-Heh [ADONAI], the God of your fathers, the God of Avraham, the God of Yitz’chak and the God of Ya’akov, has sent me to you.’”
This name is so holy that it is not spoken as a name, but rather as letters in the Hebrew Bible. It is this name that we are commanded not to take in vain (Commandment 3). This name alone holds the power of God Himself. And this name, written as יהוֹה carries an unknown power that makes the devil wince and demons shrink back. As we look a little deeper at this, we can find that this name is known as the Tetragrammaton. In English, this name is written as YHWH, and is derived from the Hebrew triconsonantal root. It is mainly translated from the Hebrew in English texts as “I am what I am” or “I will be that which I am now”.
The point in all this etymology is not to bore you, but rather to help in the understanding of our text. In John 18, as Jesus was finishing His prayer in the garden, the Roman soldiers were on the move. Their mission was to find the Christ and arrest him. It is hard to say if they were unsure of what Jesus looked like, or if it was too dark and they couldn’t make his face out in the light of the torches, but either way they were asked by Jesus who they were looking for. The small army replied, “Jesus of Nazareth.” As Jesus replied, “I am he,” the soldiers fell down (Jn 18:6). Notice the power of His name, such power that the crowd falls down. And this same name, was the name that Moses was to take with him to Egypt.
Now if the I AM WHO I AM, or I WILL BE ALL THAT YOU NEED ME TO BE, is a right translation of the original word used, then would God not have had to prove that He was all that they needed Him to be? Taking a look just at what Moses and the Israelites needed Him to be, I come up with a few characteristics of God.
1) They needed God to be REDEMPTION. They needed to see that God would redeem them from their slavery. And God proved this characteristic. He was their redemption, for in Exodus 12:31, Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and told them, along with all the Israelites, to leave. The promise that God had given to Abraham concerning slavery and redemption (Gen 15:12-16) was coming true.
2) They needed God to be LOVE. A loving parent not only hears his child, but listens to his child. In listening to the cries of the Israelites (Ex 3:7), God proved His care and compassion; His love for them.
3) They needed God to be YOKE-BREAKING. There were occasions where Moses was granted an offer from Pharaoh to go ahead and leave (Ex 8:28, 10:8-11, 10:24), but in each of these occasions not every person or every animal belonging to the Israelites was allowed to go. This means that some remainder of the curse of slavery was still holding Israel in bondage. But God had spoken in Exodus 6:6-7 that He was a God who would not only bring them out of Egypt, but bring them out from under the yoke of slavery.
4) They needed God to be PROVISION. After leaving Egypt, the people passed over the dry ground of the Red Sea, to the oasis of Elim, and then into the Desert of Sin, before making it to the base of Mount Sinai. Food and water were hard to find in the desert, yet still God proved Himself as Jehovah Jirah, their Provider, in giving them manna, quail, and water.
5) They needed God to be DIRECTION. Proverbs 3:5-6 says to trust in the LORD with all our heart, lean not on our own understanding, acknowledge Him in all our ways, and He will make our paths straight. Basically, in trusting Him, He becomes our direction. As the Israelites trusted God to lead them with the fire and cloud, they were able to find their way into the Promise Land He was taking them. In guiding them from point A to point B, He proved to be their direction.
6) They needed God to be a WARRIOR. There were battles that still had to be fought after they were released from Egypt’s hand. And God proved that He would fight for them, for even as Aaron and Hur held up Moses’ hands, we read of a victory that came to Israel (Ex 17:8-16) over the Amalekites. Perhaps Miriam shows this character of God best when she sings, “The LORD is a warrior; the LORD is his name (Ex 15:3).”
7) They needed God to be POWER AND MIGHT. In the most miraculous of ways, God proved His power and might. For every Egyptian god, God proved His authority by destroying what it supposedly reigned over.
Over Hapi, the god of the Nile, God proved His power as the water was turned to blood.
Over Heket, the goddess of fertility, God proved His power by bringing a horde of frogs that Pharaoh’s men could not stop.
Over the god of the dust, Geb, God showed his power by producing an onslaught of lice when the ground was touched by the staff.
Over the god of insects, Khepri, God showed His power by sending swarms of them to infest the homes of the Egyptians.
Over the god of livestock, Hathor, God showed His power by bringing a plague of destruction over the horses, donkeys, camels, cattle, and flocks, bringing on them a devastating illness.
Over the goddess of health and medicine, Isis, God showed His power by bringing on the people the plague of boils.
Over the goddess of thunder and hail, Nut, God showed His power as hail struck the fields, the people, and the animals, taking the life of all living things left in its path.
Over the god of the wind and storms, Seth, God proved His power in sending a wind that blew in with it a horde of locusts to invade Egypt. They covered the ground, ate the plants, and attacked any green thing that showed signs of life and was not already destroyed.
Over the god of the sun, Ra, God showed His power by hiding the sun from Egypt, bringing a darkness so thick that it could be felt by the people.
And finally, God proved His power as the giver and taker of life, a power that only He holds. The warning had been given to Moses that at midnight the final plague would roam Egypt, and a great cry never before heard would invade the land. True to His word, God unleashed death to the firstborn throughout all Egypt right at midnight. People and animals alike were found dead. But why? As we have seen already, God had proven Himself greater than the gods of Egypt. Still one god, or image of god, remained. The Pharaoh himself was esteemed in their culture as a god. In killing even the son of Pharaoh, God proved His might and authority over the last of the false gods.
In each area that God promised to be the I AM, or the I WILL BE, He came through. Who is God? God is Redemption, Love, Yoke-Breaking, Power, Provision, Direction, and Warrior. And these characteristics are just the tip of the iceberg when defining who God is.
Lest we should end here, though, I feel it is to our benefit to also answer the question of what is our response to who God is. Looking back at the beginning of Moses’ encounter with the burning bush, we read that from the bush a voice calls out, “Moses! Moses!” Moses answers with “Here I am.” In reading this response I am reminded of my days in elementary school where the teacher would take roll call. When my name was called, I responded with, “here.” But in truth, this is a poor translation of the word.
In Hebrew, Moses’ response is the word HINENI. Hineni is translated literally as here I am, ready to listen, ready to respond, and ready to obey. This same word is used in Genesis 22:1 when Abraham is paused from sacrificing Isaac. It is also used in Isaiah 6:8, when Isaiah responds to the question of who will be sent. Moses heard the voice from the unconsumed bush and replied “Hineni!” Before Moses even knew who it was that called him, or what the task would be, he replied, “Here I am, ready to listen, ready to respond, and ready to obey.”
So let’s just be honest to these next two questions. First, do we truthfully see God as the I AM; as the God who is everything we could ever need? He has proven Himself to be this, both to Moses and to us. But secondly, when He calls to us, do we in turn respond with the answer, hineni? God wants us to see Him as our everything, but He also wants us to give Him everything, and in giving Him everything we surrender whatever control we want to hold on to. If the Israelites had held on to their ways, would they ever have made it out of Egypt and into the Promise Land? Probably not. If we continue to hold on to control, will we ever make it to our Promise Land? Probably not. Maybe it is best that we, when called by God, respond that we are here, ready to listen, ready to respond, and ready to obey, taking our places of control out of the equation so that God can truly be the I AM He longs to be in our life.

THE TORAH FOR TODAY...from portion MISHPATIM (Ex 21:1 - 24:18)

"Now these are the ordinances which you are to set before them."
Exodus 21:1

This eighteenth portion of the Torah translates as judgments, beginning in Exodus 21:1 where we read, “These are the rulings (mishpatim) you are to present to them.” Three of the four chapters to follow within this section speak concerning the legal codes of the law Moses was to share with Israel, while the final chapter of this section speaks concerning the people’s response.
To understand the Law, let us take a minute to define what it is and what it is not. First, the Torah includes a total of 613 commands, ranging from topics such as prayer, work, divorce, diet, intimacy, idolatry, and leprosy, to name but a few. Breaking these commands down further, we find that 248 of the laws relate to things we should do, while 365 relate to things we should not do. And of all the laws, 261 can no longer be done as the Second Temple no longer exists, and 26 apply to those only living in Israel. This alone should give us a hint of hope.
But what is the big deal about the Law, especially if it is nothing more than a list of don’ts. In order to answer this, however, we must be honest and realize that the Law is not a list of don’ts. In truth, the Law is a list of expressions of love. Allow me to explain it this way. Parents have the ability to tell their children where they can and cannot play. I know this firsthand both in being a parent, and in being a child. Growing up, my family lived on one of the busier streets in town. It was for this reason that my parents told us to play in the backyard. There was safety in the backyard. Potential for danger waited in the front yard, be it chasing a ball into the street, being kidnapped, or a host of other things. But in the backyard there was safety within the fences.
My parents did not forbid me to play in the front because they were mean, but because they loved me. They cared enough for me to place me within safe boundaries. I could have pitched a fit and cried about their law of not playing in the front, and I am sure at times I did, but playing within the fenced off areas is where all parties found safety. And this is very much how God works in relation to the Law. Because He loves us, He has given us the fence of His law. It is not His way of keeping us from life, but rather His way of keeping us from danger. His law is love.
The term TORAH literally means instruction. In many cases, instructions are not a bad thing. As I was putting together our new entertainment center recently, I followed the instruction manual. Now even though I consider myself to be a pretty wise guy, I have to admit, in using the instruction manual I still managed to mess up at one point. Can you imagine the mess I would have made without the instructions? And can you imagine the mess we would be in without God’s instruction manual, the Torah?
So many are consumed with the passage that we are not under law, but under grace (Rom 6:14). But let us look at that verse in context. “For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace” (NIV). The passage that we just reviewed states that sin shall not be our master. And the grace it refers to is God’s forgiveness of sin. But the verse following reads, “What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!” Just because God forgives sin does not mean that God allows sin. And if we read on we find in verse 17, “But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted.” What is this form of teaching to which you and I have been entrusted? It is none other than the Torah.

FEAR AND THE RED SEA...from portion BESHALACH (Exodus 13:17 – 17:16)

“Moshe answered the people, ‘Stop being so fearful! Remain steady, and you will see how ADONAI is going to save you. He will do it today – today you have seen the Egyptians, but you will never see them again! ADONAI will do battle for you. Just calm yourselves down!’”
Ex 14:13-14

Fear can cause us to say and do some pretty stupid things. Here, with Pharaoh facing the Israelites down at the Red Sea, the Hebrews acted in fear. In fear they blamed Moses. In fear they questioned why he brought them out, why they couldn’t have just remained slaves, and why they should die here as opposed to in Egypt. What they did not know is what we also fail to see when fear grips us. Freedom was knocking on their door, for it is God who fights for us just as He fought for them. God was their man of war, their ISYH MILCHAMAH (Ex 15:3), and He was about to prove Himself. So then, with the word of the LORD, Moses worked to calm the people’s fears by announcing that this would be the last day the Egyptians would ever be seen. “Moshe answered the people, ‘Stop being so fearful! Remain steady, and you will see how ADONAI is going to save you. He will do it today – today you have seen the Egyptians, but you will never see them again! ADONAI will do battle for you. Just calm yourselves down!’” (Ex 14:13-14). God was about to roll up His sleeves and do battle on their behalf.
Let me pose a thought here, though, perhaps maybe a challenge. The manner in which Pharaoh pursued the Israelites is a great example of how the enemy pursues us. For the Israelites, the difficulty in which they had in breaking free from Pharaoh’s slavery can be compared to the breaking free we experience from our own addictions. We make strides to break free, and perhaps see some release. Yet with each little moment of success the enemy is simply planning his chase to re-slave us. As the First Fruits of Zion's Torah Club puts it, “The devil does not willingly let go of his thralls, nor does he allow them to escape without pursuit.”
But on the flip side, the people of Israel also prove an important point that we must be weary not to mimic. Seeing Pharaoh coming, their first reaction was to complain to Moses and question why they couldn’t have just stayed slaves in Egypt. I heard this same concept shortly after I remarried and came face to face with blending a family. Life becomes set in its way as a single parent, and then the challenge of the blending comes. The typical response in these moments can be to wish you were single again, to wish you were back in Egypt again instead of trying to work through the challenges that are staring you in the face. Trust me, I know this firsthand. However, why should we consider going back to slavery when we know that true freedom, the Promise Land, is only a Red Sea away?
Within all the surrounding panic of Pharaoh closing in on the Hebrews, as well as the Hebrews blaming Moses for what looked like a bad day, God spoke to Moses. The words may not have been what Moses was expecting, but they were the words advised. “’Lift your staff, reach out with your hand over the sea, and divide it in two’” (Ex 14:16a). I am pretty sure they didn’t teach that miracle in Leading the Nation 101, yet still Moses obeyed. And why not, each of the other times God had told Moses or Aaron to stretch out their hand in Egypt God followed through. So once again Moses’ hand was outstretched and the waters parted.
With parted waters, the people of God walked across on dry ground. As the Torah reads, “Moshe reached his hand out over the sea, and ADONAI caused the sea to go back before a strong east wind all night. He made the sea become dry land, and its water was divided in two. Then the people of Isra’el went into the sea on the dry ground, with the water walled up for them on their right and on their left” (Ex 14:21-22).
The weather patterns that God had placed in front of those being delivered now, the fire and the cloud, moved from the front to the back to prevent Pharaoh and his army from pressing in further. It stationed itself to where the Egyptians were in the darkness and the Israelites were in the light. Then, with the light from the fire of God shining a path for them, they watched as a strong wind pulled back the waters, congealing them and dividing them in two walls of water. Dry ground covered the land for the nation to walk across.
The Torah speaks that Pharaoh and the Egyptians continued their pursuit, but were seen by God. To this, Moses was then commanded to reach out his hand again, now from the other side, and watch the sea return to its original form. It was God who caused the waters to split. It was God now who also allowed the chariots, horses, and cavalry to get stuck in the passage way. Wheels were broken off, stuck, and rendered useless. In even this, as with the plagues, Pharaoh’s heart remained hardened while his people saw clearly that the battle was one sided. God was fighting for His people, they had no reason to fear any longer. And neither do we.