Attributes

Someday in the near future I envision us gathering again to share with one another how we made use of our time in quarantine.  People all over the world will do the same.  Some stories will be of joy in uncertain times and some stories will be of the fear and anxiety of the unknown.  After 9/11, the collective mood in our country was a desire to feel secure again; now there seems a communal sense and desire for deliverance.  When Moses encountered the LORD at the burning bush in Exodus 3, God enlisted the reluctant herdsman to become the deliverer of His covenant people under the yoke of bondage in Egypt.  God saw the oppression of His people, heard their cry, and knew their sorrows (Ex 3:7).  He remembered His covenant He swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and promised to equip Moses for the daunting task He called him for.  God in His wisdom gave Moses instructions (gather the elders), the promise of miracles to prove his authority (staff and leprous hand examples), and a talented spokesman to supplement Moses’ slowness of speech (Aaron).  However, the most important means God gave to Moses at his encounter at Horeb was of far greater value than these.  He gave Moses His name. 

The attribute, in the form of a name presented to Moses (YHWH), translated as Yahweh (Ex 3:14).  It represents the phrase “I am who I am,” but can also be read in other variations such as “I will be who I will be.”  His name is Himself, the sum of all His perfect attributes, and always will be.  This self-revelation expresses not just God’s ontological being in His attributes as unchangeable, eternal, or independent; this name is personal as well.  God will be who He is with respect to His promises.  When Moses responds to God in doubt about the task, God’s response is simple, “I will certainly be with you (Ex 3:12).”  When Moses expresses his doubts about his speech, God promises, “I will be with your mouth… ” (Ex 4:12).  The name is revealed in the context of God keeping His covenant promises to the patriarchs, to Moses, and to the enslaved Hebrews whom He is going to mightily deliver.

Our God is who He is and will be who He is, for us, as our covenant deliverer!  In Christ, we serve the One who bears the name above all names.  His promise to return as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords cannot change by schemes of man, the devil, a pandemic, or anything else we fear.  As we await the day to share our stories together, let us all prepare to share that though we were afraid, though we doubted, though we awaited deliverance and freedom again, we remembered that God promised us His presence as Yahweh, our faithful covenant God, whose ultimate deliverance is certain and sure.