Original URL Wednesday, June 22, 2022
Transcript
so i wanted to share a study tonight uh linking um the hebrew word that we have on the screen here uh with god's name and his purpose and that word is yeah um and it means i am or i will be um and it was read three times in the passage uh that we actually um four times sorry in the passage that we uh just read in in exodus chapter three um so it's an important word um that is you know when when you see a reward repeated a number of times i think that's uh uh an important kind of clue that hey we got to pay attention to this word to um get the message of the story um so we'll get into that um let's see gotta move and get a little technical difficulty hold on let's see if this works no i'm gonna try [Music] picture well i know i know i can do that um so when um first of all let me start with with uh the a basic important thought that sometimes is lost sometimes we we kind of forget this as we um as we read our english bibles and as we talk in our everyday language um we can we can describe a person with a title with a job description we can describe a person with a name um so from for example for myself um my job title is uh chemistry physics teacher uh and today was my uh last day uh before summer break so i'm uh kind of reached a point of you know very very very busy and now i'm about to enjoy the um one of the benefits of being a teacher is that i get i get some time to rejuvenate and and uh power up for the the coming year um with a little bit of rest and chance to well a chance to do a lot of work that that got put on the on the back burner around the house uh among other things but um anyway that's that's me now we often think of of of god as a name um when when we when we talk about god but we need to remember that's it's a title uh for a divine being a divine being is a god we um worship the true god and the hebrew word for that is elohim but god has a name his name is yahweh so remember that yahweh is is his name so we are we're going to interact with um a personal god who has revealed to us his name and he's shared that with us now we we need to remember you know who it is that we're we're dealing with we're dealing with the the creator of the universe um so when we come to his name um i think it's important to show uh respect and honor that's due um and if if you you think about the people uh god's people they definitely have a great respect for the name yahweh they um will not typically speak the name um and will replace it with with adonai which which means uh lord and and that's that tradition is is carried over into um the new testament for example where the the greek word curios is used in uh passages quoting the old testament where yahweh would be there curios lord is used instead jewish people today read uh the bible when they come across that name um in fact the vowel pointings are even set up to kind of remind them uh to say adonai rather than than yahweh um to give you another appreciation of just how much respect uh and honor is given to the name um there's a short story written by an israeli noble laureate in literature named shmuel yosef agnon um who describes a scribe named raphael and the diligent care with which he undertook his work and and the scribe would customarily rise early at night while the sun was still still not risen uh he would take two ritual baths before he began his work of of copying uh the text of the bible according from the story he sat secluded and isolated and no one was with him except his name may be blessed and he studied a portion of the talmud in order to tie together the oral teachings with the written ones and concentrated and all the sacred meanings hinted at in scripture was careful never to write the holy name without first having purified his body for this reason he often wrote an entire sheet of parchment but left blank the spaces for the holy name and later he wrote the name in the blank spaces only after having immersed himself again in the purifying ritual bath he may be thus likened to a craftsman making a crown for a king does he not first make the crown and that said and then set into it the diamonds and other precious jewels so here agnon captures the the immense respect and honor that the jewish scribes would give the name uh it was common practice for the scribes to wipe the pen um and wash their entire bodies before writing the most holy name of god each time they wrote it um note also below and on the screen now i've got god's name written twice um the one on the left um well they're written in two different scripts the one on the left is using a block script that that comes from the aramaic alphabet and it came into use around 300 bc the scribes who copied the dead sea scrolls they used that script a script like that [Music] but every time they came to god's name they ended up using a much older middle hebrew script that's shown on the right so here's like here's a copy of the dead sea scrolls and actually above the arrow um god's name is there uh where the arrow's pointing to is another instance and the line below that there's another instance um and there's a line kind of cut off on the bottom um and and you might be able to pick out i mean i guess i read in hebrew i i wouldn't recognize those letters when i when i first saw this i'm like what's going on here and and and then read read into it a little bit and saw that that's that they were using a very very old script that with letters that that are not familiar uh to somebody reading modern hebrew or even reading the masoretic text from the middle ages um so they they recognize they wanted to give out of reverence um and even thought that they may have been taking a conservative approach because they thought it might have been a sin to actually write god's name using these modern letters um and so they used this uh older script so that's that's one way that people showed uh reverence to god's name um so with reverence honor and respect i want us to go to in our minds to the burning bush to the holy ground where we learn of the name hebrew jewish people will often speak of rather than saying the name will do actually simply say hashem which means the name so let us go to learn of the name from the story of moses when moses was here in exodus 2 at the burning bush god you know he asked god you know what should i what should i uh tell the people your you know your your name is when when you send me um and and god explains his name and and gives us some insight into the meaning of his name uh in verses 13 through 15 of of exodus 3 that butch read for us um it says uh moses said to god um if i come to the people of israel and say to them the god of your fathers has sent me to you and they asked me what is his name what shall i say to them and god said to moses i am who i am or in the hebrew ey and he said say to this people of israel i am or el has sent me to you god also said to moses say this to the people of israel the lord yahweh the god of your fathers the god of abraham the god of isaac and the god of jacob has sent me to you this is my name forever and thus i am to be remembered throughout all generations so god introduces this name uh in verse 14. and we have different translations and i can take care of that we have things like i am that i am or i am who i am or those are the most popular uh translations um and you might have a side note in your margin that might say i will be who i will be so why is there this um kind of unclearness about the uh about the the tense is it i am or is it i will be um part of part of understanding why there's that ambiguity is is we need to understand that in english we have we have tenses we have past present and future so we could say you know i was i for the past i am for the present or i will be in the future but in hebrew in biblical hebrew there are simply two what they're what are called aspects rather than tenses um the perfect which we would kind of translate the maps somewhat into our past like i was and imperfect which could be translated i am or i will be depending on the context um and and it takes some judgment on the translator's part to try to figure out which one would be the best translation and we call this imperfect it's um think about you know when we actually you know and would come across the word perfect in in the king james bible for example we often know that that that typically means complete um so imperfect would be incompleted actions or not completed actions uh perfect would be ones that are completed so past is something that's been completed but something that's currently happening or something that will happen in the future both fit into that imperfect category they have not yet been completed so yeah is in that imperfect uh aspect and as a result we don't really know clearly um whether it's you know i am or i will be um we have to use context to try to try to decide well going back to the passage again uh i want you to notice that you know in verse 14 and the beginning of 15 you know god said to moses i am who i am and he said say this to the people of israel i am a sent me to you then it says god said to moses say to the people of israel the lord the god of your fathers the god of abraham the god of isaac and the god of jacob has sent me to you notice that there's repetition there [Music] why is it why is the same essentially the same message repeated twice and really with two different names um in the top section he says say this to the people of israel i am i sent me to you um and then the bottom section he says say this to the people israel the lord the god of the fathers has sent me to you why that switch um so the part of the the reason is so homing in on on that that uh block of of conjugations of of um english well and actually switching it a little bit to the show the hebrew um the taking just a section of the of the verb table that for for the word which is to be so think of karate if it helps to help you remember it um haya is is is to be and it can be conjugated in different ways if we want to say um i in the future then we say basically put an aleph letter in front of hayah and change the vowel pointing and it becomes i am or i will be in in imperfect tense in but if we're talking that so that's if it's if it's me okay but if it's if we're going to talk about somebody else in the third person like he then you would put instead of an olive in the front you put a ud in the front so a yeah becomes yeah um so a different letter in the front and again different vowels will change it to uh he is or he will be and so going back to well okay so hey um i have here the um it's kind of a mapping the english letters to the hebrews to help so this is actually going backwards aleph uh backwards in english but actually english came thousands of years later so i would say this is actually the right way and english is backwards but anyway um so aleph uh corresponds with the a sound um the k is the is the h the uh is the y and the the ending uh hey is is like the h here and then the vowel comes in as well so eh is that i will be word so as i said if we're talking about third person when we're talking about he then we we change that that letter in the front so here you can see what i was talking about earlier on the last slide that we just changed that letter in the front and it becomes which is he will be okay so just that's that's one of the ways that you can recognize like who the subject in uh in a hebrew sentence uh is um sometimes that there's no separate word for the for the subject of a sentence it's just embedded in the verb other times you will have the subject um and the subject will match that letter in front and sometimes there's a letter at the end but that helps you see who the subject is now tie that in with yahweh god's name now you can see the similarity here we got basically the same letters except for that third letter instead of being a yud as a fob the same shape just a little bit lengthened um and that's jave [Music] which also means he will be and we'll get into why that changing that letter doesn't actually um change it the meaning that it still is still actually means he will be so but kind of coming back to our passage so you can see that i am um is god speaking he's kind of saying to moses like okay moses is asking who who are you what's your name and god's saying and then shortened version just a yeah that sent me to you so he's saying i will be is is his name but then when moses is going to the people it would be kind of confusing for moses to use that first person form i am because god is someone else and moses is not god so instead i think god is is converting it to third person for others speaking about him to that he will be formed so that that is i think the reason why you had that repetition that parallel structure there uh in those two um sections as i laid out uh for there at the top of the slide so this uh is perhaps we've heard this before um but it's just good good review even if not and if it's not review i hope it's making sense let me know if it's confusing if anything is unclear so back to that like why is it um jave instead of um let me just see if i can explain that as well so here is that he will be this is a very common word uh in hebrew um he will be that comes from this word um which is kind of like the dictionary form um actually it's also the past form like he was would be written this way um but this is the word the way you would look it up in a strong's dictionary for example you wouldn't find this kind of like you wouldn't typically look up the word ran um in your in your english dictionary look up the word run so there's different forms of a word and there's this is like the dictionary form so anyway yeah he will be now yahweh um or yahweh comes from this dictionary form and it's it's a an older word it's not used in the bible very much at all it's only a handful of times but it also means to be and it's used in in this passage here that we quoted here in genesis 27 29 be lord over your brothers so here this is this is the word for be um so normally in 99 percent of the time when you when you would say you see um something related to b or was or were um or will be or anything like that it's going to be based on that on the the word with the the you'd hear the little shorter letter but there is this rare word that um that's again older um that that is in this form here but they're synonymous they mean the same they mean similar things i mean so that's where what god's name is not kind of the most common version but but there's that play in this conversation with moses and moses would have understood that okay so he's his name is carries that same meaning so god is the one who will be um the one who is and will be in fact i mean we could we can think about you know how it says in in revelation the one who who was and is and is to be i mean god is eternal he is beyond time um and he is the one who will be into eternity unlike um people who are mortal unless we are given uh the gift of immortality from from god who who possesses it so there's lots we could talk about um you know in terms of the different perspectives on on what the saying of of god saying you know i am that i am or i will be who i will be different interpretations that have been made over the years um but i want to share with you something that that popped out at me when we um looked at this passage a couple months ago in a wednesday night class and when i was following along in my hebrew bible something jumped out at me that i hadn't noticed before and it was in a couple verses before the the core verses we were looking at in verses 14 and 15 back in 11 and 12. um which reads but moses said to god who am i that i should go to pharaoh and bring the children of israel out to egypt and he said but i will be with you and this shall be the sign for you that i have sent you when you've brought the people out of egypt you shall serve god on this mountain now the thing that jumped out at me was this that here um in verse 12 god is using that same word yeah just two verses before he uses it as his name and it's part of a a message part of a some important words of comfort to moses i will be with you he's con he's he's giving uh moses confidence that that he is going to be with him in this task that he has for him and that he's going to come back to this very place this place called the mountain of god um which is another interesting study just you know tracing the mountain of god or the mountain of the lord um and and and seeing that but but anyway what struck me is that here god is is you know just two verses before he uses this as his name he's using this word as part of his comfort to moses i will be with you now you might be thinking brian you're making a lot out of a common word it can't be that significant i mean think about am is a pretty common word right if you search in in um using a bible program the word am you're going to see 704 times am shows up in the old testament so it's all over the bible right so this shouldn't really be that big of a deal to see that it's that it's here but consider um the following hayah or its different forms um is a lot more rare than you would think um in this same chapter um and when the verse we just looked at when moses said to god who am i that i should go to unto pharaoh in that passage um actually in another another another place just a few chapters later um it says wherefore sand are the children of israel i am the lord and i will bring you out from um from egypt basically now i'm actually doing something unusual for me i'm in a presentation i'm quoting here from the king james version i don't usually do that because i think it's it's harder to understand and when you're dealing with 400 year old english there's a lot of chances to misunderstand things um that's a whole other subject but um but here there's there's something unique to the king james version that shows up in in these two passages and many many other passages anybody know what's kind of unique to the king james here as opposed to other versions the italics they highlight what's not in the original text yeah thanks jake so um yeah so that italics notice the word am our kind of one of our key words here in this study is in italics so when moses is speaking to god um you know he could have you know he could have said um ani like who am i using the a yeah word um but in hebrew it's not usually said that way it's usually it's actually just who i if you were to try to translate it literally who i um that doesn't make good english the am is kind of understood uh in hebrew when it's absent it's not really necessary in hebrew but uh a good english translation puts it in there because we're trying to bring it from one language bring the meaning over to another language and it needs to be understandable so the nice thing about the king james and i i wish that the modern versions um would have copied the the pattern of the king james of doing this and putting it in italics because it helps you see sometimes when words are there that are kind of filling in the meaning to help make it smoother english um so and and when god said i am the lord he says literally yahweh or i yahweh um the am is not there but it's understood um but it's perfectly correct for the king james to put the word am there and and for every other version to put the word m in there as well because that's that's how we speak in english so when you consider that if if you kind of thumb through and look at places where am shows up um most of the cases are in italics and i can show you you know page after page but um you just take my word for it or take it as a homework assignment do a quick bible search and a bible program in the king james and look for the word am and notice how much or how often it's in italics most of the time by far and away it's in italics um the bottom one here um sarah speaking um the word hayah is actually a form of is there but actually the way the wording is in hebrew it's it's kind of like saying worn out is to me in hebrew so the the subject of that verb is uh is different than um than sarah speaking the one who's speaking so it's not uh yeah it's not conjugated that way um so even though we bring it into english as i am it's not so point is it's it's kind of it's not as the word am in hebrew is not as often uh not as common as you'd think so if we search for all the different forms of to be in english in the bible i did a search there's about 18 000 times where in our english translation the old testament we're going to see is was where am are will be but if you look for the hebrew word in all of its forms you see that there's only 3 500 or so time so basically only one and six times that you see an english to be word verb um version of to be there's actually a hebrew to be behind it um and then when you uh search for this particular form the number drops down to just about just over 50 times so it's actually in this particular form in the imperfect form um in the incompleted action form it's only 50 times that's only about you know just a little over one time on average per book of the old testament but you know here in exodus 3 in just a couple verses we have it four times so a fairly uncommon form of a word um is is concentrated in this passage in exodus 3. so i think it really is supposed to be linked i think when god reveals his name i think that that we're supposed to take the message and when we hear his name yahweh i think that that we should be remembering that those words of comfort that god gave to moses that i will be with you that is in the context of of god revealing himself i will be who i will be and you know who he will be is somebody who delivers his people he heard their cry he knew he understood the pain and the suffering they were going through and he was going to be with moses so that moses could deliver his people from the bondage that they were in now so maybe you know okay it's right there in the context but is there any more evidence that that you have uh brian for this idea well that that night during the bible class i did a quick search of this you know specific form eh yeah and i saw something remarkable if we look at the torah and in the books of moses it's there eight times um so we just four of them are right there and in in exodus three but if we look at the other passages um god speaks to oh first of all only god speaks and uses that word in all the first five books actually the first six and a half books of the bible it's only god speaking and in the majority of the passages and out of those 50 passages 30 plus of them are god speaking so the majority of the time we see this word in in in modern hebrew you know you could be using it all the time but in the biblical writings they they kind of gave priority um to using it reserving it more often for god than for other for other um other speakers you know other people did use it job uses it david uses it um other speakers use this word so it's not you um only used by god but but priority is definitely there and in the books of moses it's only god um and and notice what he says he says to isaac sojourn in this land and i will be with you and will bless you for to you and your offspring oh give all these lands and i will establish the oath that i swore to abraham your father he says it to jacob then the lord said to jacob return to the land of your fathers and to your kindred and i will be with you so the context of these two uh you know isaac's in going into exile in gerar um and jacob is now going to kind of face uh his father-in-law and and bring his wives away from his father-in-law who's been trying to keep him there for as long as possible and he's going to go return to the promised land and so he's got a little bit of a um you know a challenge up ahead of him ahead of him and god is giving him this these words of comfort i will be with you and then we came to to moses god says this to moses in the passage we read but i will be with you um and he says it to moses again in uh chapter well chapter four now go therefore go there for a go and i will be with your mouth and will teach you what you shall speak um so specifically not just with moses but actually with moses mouth god promises to be so that moses was worried about you know what's he going to be saying how you know he's going to stumble over his words when he's talking to pharaoh but now god's saying i will be with your mouth and he says it again and uh three verses later you shall speak to him and put the words in his uh and put the words in his mouth and i will be with your mouth i'm sorry and this is in aaron's mouth and i will be with your mouth moses mouth and with his mouth aaron's mouth and we'll teach you both what to do so god is saying you know you're unsure i get it moses we're going to bring aaron you can bring aaron along as well he can speak for you but i'm going to be with both of your mouths so you guys can can speak my words to pharaoh i'm going to be with you so we continue on um at the end of the the torah in deuteronomy we see uh god speaking to joshua who's about to pick up the baton and and lead god's people the lord commissioned joshua the son of noon and said be strong and courageous for you shall bring the people of israel into the land that i swore to give them i will be with you and he says it to joshua a number of times again in the book of joshua no man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life just as i was with moses so i will be with you i will not leave you or forsake you in a joshua 3 verse 7 the lord said to joshua today i will begin to exalt you in the sight of all israel that they may know that as i was with moses so i will be with you this is a yeah again and again and again and it's the same theme and judges going on out of the uh first six you know beginning judges the beginning of judges also uses in this way and the lord said to him but i will be with you and you shall strike the midianites as one man so god's promising to be with with gideon as well so that repeating theme just keeps coming again and again and again to all these israelite fathers and leaders god is promising to be with them as they face difficult trials as joshua goes into exile as jacob flees his father-in-law to go back to the land as moses faces the powerful pharaoh as joshua and gideon go into battle god is promising to be with them so elia is reserved in in these beginning books of the bible to be only used by god and it's it's again all over and over and over again used to reassure his people that he's with them and he introduces his name so when you think about that it's surrounded on both sides this you know his revealing of his name to moses by these messages of god being with them i think that as moses you know reflected on the name as he was writing on that word as he was writing down the books of the bible i think i think that would have popped out that as he was inspired to write that god's giving this message again and again and again and it's there for us to to see um as well um so think about the lessons now it's there the lessons are there in the imagery as well the burning bush there think about the lesson the burning bush it was it was consumed it was in fire but not consumed god is telling moses that yeah you're going to go through a fiery trial right now this is going to be a challenge but you're not gonna be consumed i'm with you try you're gonna come through this trial unburned does anybody know where the last time before the burning bush fire is mentioned in the bible not the cherubim or between the two of them it's with abraham and isaac yeah yes so when abraham was called to take isaac his beloved son to mount moriah it mentions this little detail that that moses or that what the the wood was placed on isaac's back but the fire was in the father's hand abraham was carrying the fire so you imagine like a little fire pan um that kept some embers going because you know diamond the diamond match company wasn't set up for business in in the holy land at this time so you had to kind of make do and and keep fire going in other ways um so he had a little fire pan with some embers to be able to start a fire that fire was in the hand of the father and if you think about the symbolism of abraham and isaac the father and the son walking together towards the sacrifice and we know that of course it points forward to jesus the fire of jesus trial was in god's hands and and and similarly all of our trials are in the father's hands he's in control uh as we go through trials and you could that that message is carried forward as well um so it's there in the burning bush it's there and and hinted at in the in the in the fire pan that that abraham's carrying but think forward to another fiery trial the fiery furnace the three friends of daniel they went into that fire but god was with them and not a hair of them was singed there was no smell of smoke on them so god is with us in the fiery trials of our life god is working for good as paul says in romans for those who love god all things work together for good and for those who are called according to his purpose you know you think of you know the less as as uh brother rich when went through the story of joseph and his trials and his suffering in sunday school um a couple weeks ago you know i was thinking about how that resonated with this theme that you know that in the suffering and the trials that that that joseph was going through um and you know the years of waiting um the hebrew is actually agonizing to me when i when i read that that time when he's in prison he he has this hope he like has these two people that know him they're going to pharaoh uh well one of them's not going to be around very long to be much help for him but but the other you know he's saying remember me remember me and then the next thing in this in the storyline says for two years of days he waited i mean here he remember the exact phrasing but but for waiting but basically he he waited um and there was a long time before that dream came to pharaoh so moses or so so joseph was still in prison for two years of days day after day after day waiting um hoping maybe losing hope um not sure is is you know god i thought this was this was the way that you're going to kind of get me out of here and yet it didn't seem he seems like he's forgotten me um god was working in all of those trials um and in the end in hindsight joseph said to his brothers you know you meant it for evil but god meant it for good uh to save life so god is working in our trials and and here in the exodus god knew the suffering of his people he heard their cries he is sending a deliverer to bring them back so in in closing i want to bring out um one other place where this lesson continues in a slightly different way um we've kind of gone over the eh yeah i will be uh part of of um god's message that keeps coming back again and again and again um and by the way you know it's also another maybe another interesting study that we could do sometime that the majority of the ending times that uh yeah is used in the hebrew bible it's in the prophets and almost exclusively through the prophets it's used of god i think there's one time maybe that it's not um and again and again there the message is i will be your god um and it's just repeated again and again and again so it is kind of again reserved for a powerful message um but here in the beginning it's i will be with you now that's five words in english i will be with you but in hebrew very concise language you can do that with two words now the second word um is the with you part um is the beginning of the word that means with and then you can tack on different endings uh depending on who you're with um so i will be with you so is um with you you can put other things on the end of that you can put me with me you can put imo with him you could put ima with her so there's different just by by putting a different letter on the end you can you can kind of change who is uh with in the in the message there there's one that i think you've heard of before imanu so imanu el so imanu so is god or sorry imanu is is with us with us so we put that anu ending on and we get with us and that's the message that god is revealing through his son as well so imanu l like elohim means god so god is with us that's the lesson of his son and that's why jesus was was given that name emmanuel the biggest lesson of all about god being with us was what he taught us through his son jesus saves us um through through is with us and walking with us and supporting us through our trials think of think of jesus looking down on stephen as he's being stoned he was at the right hand of god and he normally is sitting at the right hand of god he stood to watch watch steven as as he held firm to his faith and was enduring great suffering and pain um as the crowd stoned him he's with us in our trials jesus is there and he is representative representing god and god is with us as well so they're they have the same purpose and and uh and mission really in working with god's people so jesus is with us and jesus like moses was god's instrument to deliver us from bondage moses delivered god's people from the bondage of egypt and jesus delivers god's people from the bondage of sin and death and what greater way could there be for god to show us that he is with us than to send his only beloved son and and to use him as an instrument to demonstrate his love for us that he would undergo the suffering that he did to try to draw us in and to bring about the covering for our sins and the and are reconnecting us to to god whom we were estranged from um god is showing us in jesus that he is with us so eh yeah imanu um god will be with us um just like god was with moses god was with the patriarchs god was with joshua um god is with us and i think that's the a really powerful lesson that i was really encouraged to find andI am / I will be
Original URL Wednesday, January 3, 2024
Transcript
I want to do a little bit of a recap because uh I gave this class I think back in the a class back in August uh and Rich recognizes the value of a leap after one week so I think after you know a few months taking a little bit of a a recap would be um helpful so be but then we'll we'll expand uh from from Beyond uh what we did that that time so just a couple things we'll be focusing in on on on the name of God which he initially or initially calls Asher and um which is translated I am that I am or I will be what I will be um but keep in mind that you know this is uh this is really God's name so we we think of God sometimes as a name but remember that's more of a title or a job description that God has that comes from the Hebrew word Elohim and and it's the which is the you know the title for a for a Divine being but his name is is Yahweh which was a name and is a name worthy of honor and respect and that name uh was was revealed in a special way to Moses at at the burning bush and God explained and introduced his name uh to Moses because or in a way that I mean we see that Divine name showing up early in in Genesis uh two and and in the words of of people like you know Abraham and Isaac and Jacob but yeah but here in in Exodus 3 we have this explanation that God gives that is really really powerful uh and it's it we could read it as I will be who I will be um or I am who I am and it's in in some ways it's kind of an enigma it's like God is almost saying like I'm undefinable I can't really be described simply um so I'm going to give you this uh almost um confusing enigmatic name that that only hints at at at the reality of of his being and his greatness uh and his and his ability to bring things uh into being this is the god who created the universe um now the thing to understand as well is that to to to recap that that that there's a connection between God's telling Moses uh aser I will be who I will be and the name that he gives a little bit later in in verse 15 when he said say to the people of Israel the Lord in our English versions the god of your fathers the god of Abraham Isaac and Jacob has sent me to you that word Lord is the more common Divine name that we that we read all throughout the Bible over and over again and we when you see it in all caps like that remember that's the the reminder that that's really not even a translation uh for the for the name Yahweh it's it's really just a substitution because the uh it's partly to to out of reverence and respect for God's name many thought that they it should not be said the Jews Jews vow pointed uh this name with vow pointings for Adonai which means Lord and so most English translators kind of followed suit and and translate it or or represent the name uh as the Lord but the Lord uh but Yahweh which uh at least an attempt to to to to pronounce the name and the true the true pronunciation I would submit is is probably pretty hard to to be confident about there's there's many opinions and on on that but the I think more important than pronunciation is is the fact that the meaning of that name actually is is connected to uh the I will be concept because this is simply the third person description of God's name because it wouldn't make sense for Moses to say uh I will be is sent me uh or to regularly talk about God that way because it would sound almost like Moses is calling himself God instead the third person he will be is really what Yahweh is communicating um so that was the reason why it kind of switches from tell them a has sent me to you and then later he says say this to the people of Israel the Lord or Yahweh the god of your fathers has sent me to you so it's the it's just a kind of a conversion of the name uh to be in the third person to to communicate that idea uh better so um we talked about yeah so here is's a little chart to kind of visualize that like a is I am and I will be while ye is the Hebrew word for he is and he will be but just a slight change in that a an older synonym for for hayya uh which would be conjugated y to be he will be is um hey VAV and that's where um yud he VAV Yahweh comes from so it's synonymous with uh he will be and we mentioned that there's that this uh well so related to that the the the phrase eh um as I will be uh and well yeah so here I'll spell it out and show you y is he will be and then uh Yahweh is really uh another alternate way of saying he will be so that's those are Basics uh about some some things that we can gather from God's name knowing a little bit of Hebrew uh and reading uh others explanations of the name but the interesting thing that that hit me about nine months ago or or so was reading this passage uh during a Wednesday night bible class following along in Hebrew that in verse 12 there was a revelation when that that kind of Pops off the page when you read it in Hebrew uh when God said to Moses in respon well in verse 11 Mo Moses says to God who am I that I should go to pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt and he said but I will be with you and this shall be the sign for you that I have sent you you when you brought the people out of Egypt You Shall Serve God on this mountain so that statement I will be with you uses that same word ehed just two verses earlier that where God Reveals His name so I think we we're taught uh as young people and reminded again and again that context is really really important to understand scripture and I think there's importance here in the context to try to understand God's name because God is saying to Moses just two verses earlier but he says IM I will be with you and if to me that that made me think about well this is is this really part of what God's message is when he gave Moses's name and said aser was he hinting back to what he had said just just uh moments earlier that I will be with you when you go to Pharaoh um I started thinking about it I think well maybe I'm just making a lot out of a out of out of a very common word maybe it can't be that significant um but part of what we we don't realize at first probably is that the the the phrase I am uh in Hebrew is often a different way it comes across comes comes to our English in from a different way than than the word a because pretty much any verb that's put in a in an imperfect tense will kind of get the helping verb will be or or am along with the verb and it's really built into the verb verb so we don't use the typical the Hebrew word uh to be which is in your upper left corner there Haya um so there's that but nevertheless hayya is still a very common word if you look up in Strong's um you know concordance you'll see that it's you know used over 30 3500 times um in its different forms but when you do a search for the particular conjugation which you can't do with the strongest concordance but with with a computer search in the Hebrew you see that actually the I will be form is much much more Uncommon only 55 times in the entire Bible only about once per book in the Hebrew Bible um and here in Exodus 3 we have it four times in just a couple vers three verses or three four verses so that to me said well I think think they really are supposed to be linked and looking further digging into it a little bit further and looking at some of those other 55 references actually most of those 55 references are used by God so it's almost as if in in the in the Hebrew text of the Bible that that that word is kind of treated with reverence and majority of the time is used by God now I that's maybe overstating it a little bit because it's you know other people use it like David and and and others but the fact that well all of the Torah in the first five books of Moses and all of Joshua the only time you see a is referring to God so there seems to be almost uh in Moses writings and and and a little bit beyond a res reserving of that word for for our heavenly father but even more remarkable is the way that that word is used in the in the Torah and in Isa uh in um Joshua and and even into judges every time other than the introduction of the name aser and to say a has sent you every other time it mirrors what was said in Exodus 3 12 I will be with you so God's always saying it using the word and again and again and again he's giving the message I will be with you for example to Isaac he said sood in the land and I will be with you and I will bless you uh to you and your Offspring I will give these lands and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham your father he says it to Jacob then the Lord said to Jacob return to the land of the fathers and to your Kindred and and I will be with you he says it again um he said it to we said in to Moses two verses before he declares the name I will be with you when Moses had his reservations um and a chapter later God says it to Moses again but he says a slightly different way instead of just I will be with you it's I will be with your mouth when Moses said I'm slow speech and heavy of tongue um you know please son somebody else and God said I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak so God promised him he would be with him and he again said it you shall speak to him and put the words uh in his mouth into Aaron's mouth and I will be with your mouth and with his mouth and I will teach both of you what to do so God is promising again and again and again I will be with you and here he's saying the same message you know in terms of I will be with you and guiding and helping you and what what you're gonna say uh he says it to Joshua um that I will be with you well Moses uh let's see no sorry the Lord commissioned Joshua the son of no and said be strong and courageous for you shall bring the people of Israel into the land that I swore to give to them I will be with you so he said it to Moses or to Joshua he said it to Gideon uh the and and it's in the prophets as well again and again and again we hear this promise I will be with you so there's Joshua um God said repeats it again in Joshua chapter 1 and and he says it in Joshua 3 is in Joshua 6 so again and again and again we have God giving the message I will be with you and he uses this word and it's the same word he used as his name and and Yahweh is a form of this word so in our community you know there's a lot of uh talk about the memorial name and and the meaning that uh it's putting together uh that with uh Elohim and saying it it means uh I will be Mighty ones and it's about God manifestation and and so on which goes back to to Dr Thomas but I when I saw this I started to think you know I really think that you know there there could be an application there I I really should study that a little bit more to draw a firm conclusion one way the other but but I have a well yeah um p and yeah so anyway when coming across all of these these verses it to me said you know this I think is the primary meaning of God's name based on the context and based on the fact that again and again and again the message is being repeated I will be with you and and think about where this was happening God was speaking to Moses at the burning bush which was not consumed and and that's actually there's a whole another study that I've begun that links there's there's a bunch of linkages between this passage in Exodus 3 which where Moses came with the flock to the Mountain of God well the last time fire was mentioned was when uh Abraham was journeying to the mountain of Yahweh mountain of of God's name and that's in in Genesis uh 22 and fire is mentioned that's the last time fire is mentioned until here in Exodus 3 so if you're reading through the Torah and here you come across fire the the last time you would have encountered that word fire is in the the Journey of Abraham and Isaac for Isaac to be sacrificed and and the message there was that the fire was in Abraham's hand it was in the father's hand and if you think about the the symbolism and the type of of Abraham and Isaac walking together towards Isaac's sacrifice it mirrors and foreshadows God being with Jesus as Jesus ascends to uh Calvary for his for his sacrifice and I Think Jesus would have seen the message there the reminder there that God is with with me in this most difficult of Trials and I can have trust just like Abraham was there walking beside that the message again and again is is mentioned in Genesis 22 the two of them went up together God would have Jesus I think God saw to it that Jesus had that Comfort seeing that he God was going to be with Jesus and Jesus wasn't walking alone all forsook him and fled yes but God was there by his side uh and and the fire was in the father's hand so the trial God was in control it's like what Paul says uh that God is working for good uh for all for for those who love God all things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose God was working good even though incredible suffering was going to happen the fire was there the but it would not consume Jesus uh and and the lesson you carries through forward to as well to you know haniah Azariah and mishel the three friends of Daniel who go into the fiery furnace and what's there again is the reminder God was with him there was a fourth one in the fire one who looked like a son of the Gods uh but in in coming from the mouth uh of one of the Babylonians but but that but that phrase could be translated just is easily one like the Son of God so they were fellowshipping the Son of God in their sufferings in the firey furnace and they were not harmed eternally the trials we go through we are not harmed all things work for good because God is with us so I mentioned that I had some apprehension um about you know when I first saw it I this because I know I'm treading on Holy Ground uh the meaning of God's name you know thinking and considering it and i' never heard anybody teach that that connection or that possible meaning before so I I wondered was I just reading into things well I mentioned that you know the whole of Torah uses a as saying God is with uh God is with you again and again and again and and Beyond so I felt a little more safe after after seeing that uh but since then since I since I gave the class on the subject uh I stumbled upon uh a video by one of my favorite podcasters a rabbi by the name of David Foreman uh he's the one who I mentioned before who gave the ideas that I shared uh one or two classes ago about the three signs that Moses gave to Pharaoh also from this Burning Bush narrative and and when I and and if you think about it that that that image of God giving Moses those signs from from that last class remember that God was choosing not just magic tricks but particular signs that were to show the children of Israel that God was with them he saw the suffering that they were going through he knows the suffering and he was willing to call out the lies that were being told uh about them and show the truth as he in in the the images of those signs so anyway as I saying I stumbled across uh Rabbi foran talking about God's name and the being revealed at the burning bush and it was in the context of reflection reflecting on the October 7th attacks in Israel so Foreman is from uh New York but he was in Israel at the time of the of the attacks and it was clear that the trauma of that event has has made an impact on him and many of the P or maybe all the podcasts and videos since then have been really a response and reflection about what was happening or I should say many probably not all so what I wanted to do is take a minute and share um that a a a a clip a portion I guess there's two videos but I'll just show you the first one if we take like 15 minutes to do that um I have to do a little bit of screen share swapping here tested this out and it seemed to work so we'll see if I can continue making it work yet one more time um so boom and you'll have to let me know if give me a shout if the sound doesn't work but I think should be able to make it work screen share boom share and then these maskers that's not really the point that I want you to focus on oops all right so just after that quick start there uh can can anybody confirm for me that you guys can see and hear yeah we can we can we can see it if you could Turnin it up maybe a little bit but we can hear it as well all right hey folks I'm back with emu um we wanted you to take a look at another video here too to kind of get some context or some sort of spiritual hand grip of how to deal with Times Like These that were in in the aftermath of the Hamas terrorist Massacre of October 7th of simpas uh this past year um and this is a para video that we put together in parot um which talks about um the Declaration that God makes of the burning bush in the story of the burning bush um one of the things that happens is that mosha asks God's name and God gives us very puzzling reply the reply is oops forgive me is a which isn't easy to translate often it's translated as I am that which I am sometimes I will be that which I will be on the face of it God's just saying look I'm undefinable um I'm only definable in terms of myself the definition of a definition is that if I try to define something you can't use the word you're trying to Define uh in your explanation of the word so when God says I am that which I am he's basically saying there's nothing in your experience that you can reach to when trying to figure out who I am I'm utterly unique and that's the simple way of understanding I am that I am but what you'll see this video is a um a beautiful piece uh from Rashi quoting the the sages on a midrashic understanding of I am that which I am almost as if the Sages took that idea in shot which is that God is utterly unique and uh so let me do a little translation uh when he mentions takes that verse in pasat um typically when Jews interpret scripture they they do it on two levels they'll do a pasat which means like the simple level the simple interpretation but then something called a d or midash trying to inquire deeper into the text to try try to see what kind of uh deeper meanings might be there so um and the um also mentioned U so so he's mentioning Rashi so the fact that this is something that goes back quite a ways uh and and and Rashi is quoting earlier uh Scholars and so this is something that not something that I'm vered as govern by any means and others have meditated on it have come up with uh even more powerful messages and that's partly why I wanted to share this with you uh because it's an even deeper meaning can be can be conveyed when you when you think of both that simple meaning of the Enigma of God's name I will be who I will be you know what is that it's undefinable in a sense who God is uh a name can't even capture just how immense and Powerful all powerful God is is but also uh we'll see that if you combine that with the with the I will be with you message it's like even more powerful so I'll mention one other thing that so Rashi will and maybe the earlier sages to do a little bit of imagining a conversation between Moses and God uh and maybe I don't know I'm a little bit uncomfortable with like kind of putting too much weight into into into that but the message is clearly there I think even even without that aspect of it but but give it a listen gave their own spin on the nature of that uniqueness how it is that God is different from humans this video talks about the question sort of philosophical question of whether God has emotions he doesn't have emotions how God relates to other other people other creatur es in this earth in terms of the question of emotions it's an interesting philosophical question that for the purposes of now of sort of spiritually grappling with what's going on in the aftermath of this of these kidnappings and these these massacres that's not really the point that I want you to focus on but watch this video um and in particular this point about how Rashi understands that how kazal understand it how it plays off of the uniqueness of God and um God being undefinable in Human terms that I think has something to speak to us about this time and uh emu you know let's come back and and let people take a look at this and talk about at least what it means to us and we can hear the comments that would if I may I'll add one more thing before we go which is like to me what's what's surprising about why are we watching a burning bush video um what would that have anything to do with um the current conflict that and the current tragedy that we're facing I think it's just important to recognize that burning bush is the grand Intervention when our people were suffering in Egypt there there was a brand National crisis that was um you know an oppressor doing violence to our people um and there was a moment where God himself chooses to see and hear the the terrible anguish and suffering um and that moment where things uh are about to change for the people of Israel is that Burnie Bush moment that's that's all I really want to say and saying before I I let you go and experience this video is is to remember that there was another time uh of uh God talking to us uh after uh in responding to Great Cal catastrophe so just a quick comment on that like so I talked about how the context help helps us understand uh you know God's name but uh emu is mentioning the context the actual situational context of of when God is talking to Moses here as well this situation is God is is seen the suffering and was about to intervene so that's very very important when we think about the message as well yep I I'll take that too so let's let folks watch this and and we'll come back and and kind of process it see the end of the video I want to consider a philosophical puzzle with you does God have emotions one of the things that great thinkers like my Mones have always said about God is that God is Not comprehensible we can say nothing about the essence of God we can describe how God acts with us he says but we can't talk about who he is in his Essence because his Essence is utterly Beyond us which means also that any traits that we talk about any human traits you can't really expect those to app to God human traits human feelings are human feelings they're not God feelings so we might well conclude you know God doesn't have emotions but here's the problem are you comfortable worshiping a being that cannot experience love love is an emotion compassion is an emotion are we really comfortable with just saying that God acts compassionately acts as if he loves us that the feeling of love and compassion is utterly alien to God what if you felt that your mother acted lovingly towards you but didn't feel any love in her heart it wouldn't feel so good is that the way you're supposed to feel about God so this is the puzzle that I want to talk with you about today and I want to talk with you about it through the lens of a fascinating mic statement in this week's par mosha asks God what his name is he says I will be that which I will be and then God adds something else tell them that I will be sent you to them before we even get to the midic analysis of these words let's spend a few moments just talking about the the simple meaning of what's going on here what would you say the simplest most basic understanding of this conversation between God and Moses is what did God mean when he said or I will be that which I will be you know the simple understanding pretty much is God says look leave me alone I'm not going to tell you my name I am what I am I'm going to be what I'm going to be I'm the one who just is and to explain that just think a little bit about what it is that we mean when we ask for the name of something we're trying to come to grips with it to Define it somehow and if someone defines themselves in terms of themselves they're actually sort of breaking the very first rule of definitions which is you never Define something in terms of itself you can't say what's the color purple oh The Color Purple is sort of purplish proper way to define something like The Color Purple is well you take a little bit of red you take a little bit of blue mix it together and you get a purple if you actually choose to define something in terms of itself what you're really saying is that you can't just throw together two or three other Concepts and make this New Concept the thing itself is utterly unique which is what God's saying about himself there is nothing in your world that can explain me I'm not from your work the maker of the world you want to know who I am I'll be what I'll be the only thing you really know about me is that I exist tell them I will be sent you you can almost hear the exclamation mark at the end of I will be I shall be my existence as inscrutable as it may be is the basis of it all everything comes from my being so something like that is what probably the plain meaning of the text is but the rabbis had a midrashic interpretation they pick up on the fact that God first says I will be that which I will be and then after that says tell them I will be they focus on that discrepancy and they suggest there was a kind of dialogue going on here between God and mosha first God said in answer to moshe's question I will be that which I will be but then the rabbi suggests Moshe objected to that and in response to that objection God relented and just said okay tell them I will be sent you to them what was this debate between God and mosha about well the rabis impute a whole new understanding to what I will be that which I will be means and my name you want to know my name the one who is with them right now during their times of trouble that's the one who will always be with them in all their times of trouble for thousands and thousands of years that's I will be that which I will be now to that MOA objected he said Master of the Universe what do you want me to tell them about future troubles D they have enough on their minds right now with this trouble that they're in in Egypt to that God said y you're saying good M you're absolutely right just tell them tell them the one who will be with them right now that's my name can leave out the rest now what the rabit are saying is a little bit puzzl there's this dialogue between God and mosha God says something and then supposedly Moses objects where do the rabbis get this idea from at all how do they know to interpret the words I will be that which I will be in such a particular kind of way the one who will be with them now in their time of trouble will always be with them a very interesting interpretation but just seems to come out of the air where are they getting this it turns out that there was a clue that suggested this particular interpretation the clue is the word I am or I will be this is not the first time it's used by God with in this conversation of the bur all the sages were doing was asking us to look at how God used it earlier in order to understand how God is using it now so it turns out that earlier in the conversation by MIM mosha had said to God me who am I that I should go to Pharaoh I totally cannot do this what was God respond because I will be with you god understood that mosha felt in battled how is he going to go stand before pharaoh and get the Jews out of Egypt he can't do that alone God says you won't be alone he I'm GNA be with you the whole time so all the SS are saying is that the next time God is using these words he means the same thing mosha you felt yourself to be in a time of trouble listen to how I reassured you I told you it's going to be okay I will be with you you're never alone in your times of trouble I'm with you now you want to know what to tell the embattled people of Israel tell them the same thing I wasn't just there for one individual you motion I'll be there for them I'm with them in their times of trouble now and always and now think about how this interpretation relates back to the simple meaning of the text I've often talked about the relationship between medish and the simple text is kind of like the relationship between Harmony and Melody the simple meaning of the text is like Melody the medish is kind of like Harmony you listen to Harmony on its own it doesn't seem to make that much sense but you listen to it in connection to the melody it's playing off the melody and all sorts of intriguing ways here what was the melody what was the simple meaning of the text God was saying to Moshe I'm the master of the universe and you're a human being you want to know who I am you can't know who I am I'm utterly inscrutable but what's the harmony the harmony is a mirror image of this what I can give you is the most familiar thing in the world need the most human thing in the world need I can give you empathy I can be there with you in your times of trouble the unknowable being can give you the most human most familiar thing of all can give you love but you know what the Ser just say there's another strain in the Harmon that's actually something about God's love that is so deep that it's actually unknown the plain meaning of yeah sure I am unknowable the trash is I am unknowable too there's something about my love that's unn think about the conversation between God and God spoke of a love so vast that the people couldn't comprehend it I will always be with them now and forever in every one of these troubles mosha represents the human you betray all human beings they can't absorb all of that in their mind God says I know what I just told you was the absolute truth you tell them what they can hear and I will be with them right now you know when we talk about this question does God have emotion what answer are the same is really given let me give you a bit of an analogy I want to share with you an interesting pattern that seems to hold when we talk about love between parent and child take an amoeba an amiba divides now there's two amibas what's the emotional connection between amoeba a and amoeba B not very much right an ant has a child what's the emotional connection between mother ant and child ant I imagine maybe it's a little bit more an amoeba a to Amoeba b a bird makes a nest brings home food for it chicks so You' say mother bird to Little Bird probably a little bit more connected than mother end to Little Ant let's continue let's talk about humpback whales I once brought home a documentary for my children nice g- of documentary my kids are watching and there's this scene there are two killer whales stalking a mother humpback whale in her baby calf the mother is willing to give up her life for her calf it's putting herself between the camp and the killer whales the hunt goes on for hours to find finally the killer whales break through the calf is killed the mother proceeds ahead slowly warly my kids were like I gas get us out of here this is worst of the worst horror movie the sadness of the mother was palpable and now imagine a human mother for baby for child to anything for a baby another level on to complexity and richness of love so there's a pattern here right the more complex the being the more complex Rich the feeling of love and now take it one step further a higher life form even than us that would be God does God have no emotion we just no emotion we can understand of course God has emotion utterly inscrutable emotion God possesses a richness and complexity of love which is completely Beyond us the same way that you can't expect an ant to understand the love of a bird you can't expect a human to understand the love of God you can use the words love but it doesn't do justice to the richness the tension of an experience that's completely out of relue God's love is the inscrutable I will be that which I will be human beings can only hear a piece of that love so God says tell them I will be so I you know the last thing you mentioned is this notion that here's this great oppressor there's pharoh and there's God and one way that so I found that to be so powerful um to think about that on that on those two levels and uh when uh you do that you recognize just how great God's compassion his love his empathy for us is um that it it really was kind of mind-blowing I mean I've been thinking about this passage for for quite some time and and and then I came across that presentation and and and it really made me think of uh the that that really was helping me understand that a deeper level the words of Paul when he said blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ the the father of mercies or compassions uh I think is a better translation and and God of All Comfort who comforts us in our Affliction so that we may we may be able to comfort those who are in any Affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God for as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings so through Christ we share abundantly in Comfort too if we are afflicted it is for your comfort and salvation if we are and if we are comforted it is for your comfort which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer Our Hope for you is unshaken and for we know that as you share in our sufferings you will also share in our comfort and uh you know the you know taking this understanding it allows us to rely on God uh the there and it's funny that you know in this time period as well as I've been reflecting on this um on this passage and in this message uh my son Jacob gave me this this wristband that I've been wearing for I don't know four or five months now and one of the things on it that it says I will never forsake you um God and and that's uh a reference to this passage uh in Hebrews 13:5 keep your life free from the love of money and be content with what you have for he said I will never leave you nor forsake you so we can confidently say the Lord is my helper I will not fear what can man do to me so here the you know the the writer to the Hebrews is is is taking he's quoting an Old Testament passage that we can look at in a minute but he's applying it to a new context a context of being able to trust God whatever we're going through we don't have to put confidence we can't there's no there's no point to putting confidence in money money will riches will will fail us even if you know we we get great Mass great amounts of wealth it's not going to bring satisfaction or Comfort um even yeah and and and and often it will just let you down so instead we can be content with what we have knowing that God is in control and will take care of us uh taking the lessons of Jesus from The Sermon on the Mount and trusting in our heavenly father knowing that he will not leave us or forsake us and and he's quoting here the words of of Moses to Joshua when he said the Lord will give them over um the Lord will give them over to you the people of the land and you shall do to them according to the whole Commandment that I have commanded you be strong and courageous do not be do not fear or be in dread of them for the Lord your God it's it is the Lord your God who goes with you Yahweh your God who goes with you notice Moses I think Moses is thinking back to that time when God revealed his name to him because you have those two elements there together again he will not leave you nor forsake AK you so it's in that in that context and it continues then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel be strong and courageous for you shall go with his people into the land that the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them and you shall put them in possession of it it is the Lord it is Yahweh who goes before you he will be with you he will not leave you nor for or forsake you so do not fear or be dismayed he will be with you that here Moses is saying he will be with you he's using that same like third person phrase that gets it's modified ever so slightly to to become uh God's name and he's he's he's making that statement he will be with you so and I see places like this pop up um over and over again um and what's that that image of the Lord going before you brings back that beautiful image of in Exodus 13 as the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way and at night a pillar of fire to give them light that they might travel by day and by night so that that uh image of God's presence God being with his people it it it's so powerful and uh you know that the first e that comes after the Torah uh was God now so Moses made those that statement to God well God reiterates it in Joshua 1 after Moses died um God said Moses in verse two Moses my servant is dead now therefore arise go over this Jordan you and all this people into the land that I am giving them to the people of Israel and he lists the places in verse skipping to verse 5 no man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life just as I was with Moses so imach I will be with you I will not leave you nor forsake you be strong and courageous uh for you shall cause this people to inherit the land I swore to the fathers to give them um and jumping down to verse N9 have I not have I not commanded you be strong and courageous do not be frightened and do not be dismayed for Yahweh your God is with you wherever you go it's it's just reiterated again and again um and so that's what allows us to you know to have that confidence that God's not going to leave us uh that promise is carried forth into the into the New Testament and applied to the body of Christ and and that phrase you know what can man do to me that that that confidence the confidence of knowing God is with you is the confidence that that David had in that passage that where he said to to Saul let no man's heart fail because of him because of Goliath your servant will go and fight with this Philistine and Saul said to David you're not able to to go against this Philistine and fight with him for you're but a youth and he's been a man of war from his youth but David said to Saul your servant used to keep sheep for his father and when there came a lion or a bear and took a lamb from the flock I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth and if he rose against me I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him your servant has struck down both lions and bears and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them for now up to that point you might think oh is David just being confident here in himself no because he said for he Goliath has defied the armies of the Living God and David said the Lord who delivered me Yahweh think of the meaning of that name the one who is with us he delivered me from the Paw of The Lion and the Paw of the bear he will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine and Saul said to David go and Yahweh be with you so it's it's there again and again and again again um in uh in these passages and it's just I think it's it's exciting um there's a you know another another uh kind of powerful thing I'll just uh take real quick to say that those three forms of of of um the word that have to do with God was and God's being and and God will be uh those three words in Hebrew notice that if you overlay them on top of one another you get you get God's name Yahweh and and I think that's what's the the point of um in Revelation four the four living creatures with the six wings full of eyes all around and within and day and night they never cease to say holy holy holy is the Lord is Yahweh God Almighty who who was and is and is to come you know God's presence with his people has promised to be there is something in the past we can look back on and have confidence in and it's something that we have currently in our present need and it's something we can rely on for the future God is with us and like father like son the second thing on my bracelet that Jacob gave gave me um comes from Matthew 28 when when Jesus brought the disciples to to the mountain and um skipping to verse 19 go therefore and Make Disciples of all Nations baptizing them name in the F in the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you and behold I Am With You Always to the end of the age Jesus is with us too um and we made the point before that that is actually the meaning um well and the meaning the power and the meaning of of jesus' name as well is again emphasizing this message that Immanuel that IM IM with you becomes with us in the name Emmanuel IM Anu is we or us L God God Is With Us Jesus life and his salvation that he wrought for his people through God sending him that is is a is a a gift from God that teaches us that God is with us even to the point of rescuing us like Moses rescued the people from Egypt God God rescues us from sin and death through Jesus God is with us so thank you uh for what at times I'm sure maybe a little bit of technical uh presentation when I get into some of the Hebrew things there and and definitely I know Rabbi Foreman's reading in Hebrew didn't help too many of us but um the message hopefully came through that that God is with us in our sufferings in our trials he is with his people and his compassion and his empathy for us is is just unknowableThe Burning Bush and the 10 Commandments
Original URL Wednesday, January 10, 2024