When God spoke, and a person answered
God and Moses at the Bush
A fugitive shepherd turns aside to see a bush that burns without being consumed, and God calls him by name out of the fire. What follows is a long, honest back and forth of a call and five excuses.
“And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.”Exodus 3:4
The conversation
The conversation. God calls, "Moses, Moses," and he answers, "Here am I." Told to remove his shoes on holy ground, Moses hides his face. God says He has seen the affliction of His people and will deliver them, and "I will send thee unto Pharaoh." Then the excuses begin. First, "Who am I, that I should go?" God answers, "Certainly I will be with thee." Second, if they ask Your name, what shall I say? God says, "I AM THAT I AM... Thus shalt thou say... I AM hath sent me unto you." Third, "they will not believe me"; God gives him the rod that becomes a serpent, the hand that turns leprous, the water that becomes blood. Fourth, "I am not eloquent... I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue"; God answers, "Who hath made man's mouth?... I will be with thy mouth." Fifth, at last, no excuse but a plea: "send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send." Now "the anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses," yet even His anger gives help: Aaron will be your spokesman. Moses goes.
What God was doing
What God was doing. God was calling a broken man; Moses had failed in Egypt forty years earlier and fled, and God sought him in the wilderness of his obscurity. He was revealing His name, the great I AM, the self-existent, ever-present God who is what He is, dependent on nothing and no one. He was answering fear with promise; to every "who am I" and "what if," God's reply is essentially "I will be with thee," moving the ground of confidence off Moses and onto Himself. He was being patient, meeting excuse after excuse with signs and assurances. And He was being honest about anger; when Moses' reluctance hardens into refusal, God's anger kindles, yet even then He provides Aaron rather than abandoning the call. This reveals a God who is majestic and holy, whose very name is being itself, and who is also tender toward the fearful, patient with the reluctant, and determined to use the least likely for the greatest deliverance.
How it leads to Christ
How it leads to Christ. The name I AM comes to its fullness in Jesus, who startled His hearers by saying, "Before Abraham was, I am" (John 8:58), taking the divine name upon Himself. He spoke a chain of I AM sayings, the bread of life, the light of the world, the door, the good shepherd, the resurrection and the life, the way, the truth, and the life. The God who came down to deliver His people from Egypt came down finally in flesh to deliver them from sin, "the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us" (John 1:14). Moses was sent to a hard king with a rod; Christ was sent to a hard world with a cross, and He did not draw back. He who spoke from the bush has spoken at last in the Son (Heb 1:2), and the Son bears the burning name, I AM.
Questions people ask
What does the name "I AM THAT I AM" mean?
It declares that God simply is, self-existent and eternal, depending on nothing outside Himself. He is not defined by anything above Him; He is the ground of all being, ever-present and unchanging, the LORD who was and is and is to come.
Why did God become angry with Moses?
God patiently answered four objections, but when Moses' reluctance became a plea to send someone else, "the anger of the LORD was kindled." Even so, God's anger did not cancel the call; He provided Aaron to help, showing mercy within His displeasure.
How does the burning bush point to Jesus?
The name I AM revealed there is the name Jesus took for Himself in John's Gospel, especially "Before Abraham was, I am." The God who called Moses to deliver Israel is the same God who came in Christ to deliver His people from sin.