(DOC) Why, O Lord?

Why, O Lord? Exodus 5:22-7:7 Exod. 5:22-23—Then Moses turned to Yahweh and said, “O Lord, why have you done evil to this people? Why did you ever send me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has done evil to this people, and you have not delivered your people at all.” What a great question: “Why, O Lord?” Moses asks this question in the aftermath of his initial visit with Pharaoh that resulted in increased misery for the Israelite slaves in Egypt. Moses went to Pharaoh in obedience to God’s command, in confidence that God was about to deliver his people. Moses meets utter failure: Pharaoh refuses to listen to Moses, Pharaoh causes the work of the Israelite slaves to be more difficult, and the Israelites themselves curse Moses. “Why, O Lord?” is certainly the right question to be asking. And let me linger there for just a moment longer. When you face difficulties, trials, illnesses that won’t go away, co-workers who make your life miserable, death of those you love, as Pastor Barry showed us last week, the right response is to fall to our knees and turn to Jesus Christ. It is good and right to ask God, “Why?” As we’ll see in just a bit, this question gets asked a lot even in the Bible by God’s people. But, do we ask the question ready for how God might actually want to answer? Let’s notice a couple of things about the way Moses asks the question. Notice the way he addresses God: “O Lord.” Remember: when you see “LORD” spelled with all capitals in your English Bible, you are seeing an occasion when the divine name has been written, which we can read as “Yahweh.” But, when you see the word “Lord” with just the “L” capitalized, you are seeing a Hebrew title that means something like “Master.” Moses does not address God by name here; he addresses him formally; in a sense, he’s distanced himself from his God here. Notice also the apparent accusation in Moses’ voice. “Why have you done evil? Why did you ever send me? You have not delivered your people at all!” Moses is understandably frustrated. But, as Pastor Barry pointed out last week, he went to the right person with his complaint. See how honest Moses is about his feelings. And the amazing thing we need to see here is that God answers him! God answers him! I will go ahead and tell you the two-fold answer God gives to Moses. Moses asks, “Why, O Lord?” According to this passage, Yahweh’s answer is: “Because of who I am, and because of what I will do.” • “Because of who I am”: between 6:1 and 7:7, we read “I am Yahweh” 6 times. • “Because of what I will do”: between 6:1 and 7:7, we read 10 promises of how Yahweh will act Maybe you know what it’s like to be in Moses’ sandals: you think you’re doing what God wants you to do, and then something unexpected happens or you just find your circumstances simply overwhelming. I was born with a condition called gastroschisis, which means that my intestines were on the outside of my body. So, when I was born the doctors had to put them inside by a surgical procedure. Shortly thereafter, I developed an infection; so, the doctors had to back in and actually remove a part of my intestines. I endured four major surgeries as a newborn. This left some massive scarring all over my stomach, including the absence of a visible belly button. The prognosis was never very good, but, to make a long story short, I survived and grew relatively normally by God’s grace and in spite of the doctors’ negative assessments. But, I can remember throughout my childhood years being made fun of for the way my stomach looked. I also remember being sick to my stomach after pretty much every meal, all the way into my teenage years. Now, during those years, I did not know God; I did not meet Jesus until I was 13 years old. But, I do remember crying out many, many times, directed to no one in particular, “Why? Why me? Why am I deformed? Why am I like this?” Since becoming a Christian, I have come to terms with my scars, and God has answered my “Whys.” That’s nothing compared with what some folks in this room have experienced. In this group, I know there are probably dozens, maybe even hundreds of stories, that have this same theme, times in your life when you ask the question, “Why, O Lord?” Some of you have had to face the death of your parents recently. Some of you have had to face the death of your children. Some of you experience physical pain that I can’t even imagine, constantly. Some of you are all too acquainted with the unwelcome guest who always stays too long: cancer. Why, O Lord? It’s the right question to ask, and he’s the right one to ask. Are you ready for the answer? As Yahweh answered Moses, so he answers you: It is because of who God is, and it is because of what he’s promised to do in your life. At the end of our time, I want to leave you with some specific ways God has already answered this question for you. But, first, let’s see how this dialogue between Moses and Yahweh continues, and we’ll try not to lose the forest as we focus for a bit on the trees. Look with me at Exodus 6:1 and see Yahweh’s first response to Moses’ question: Now, you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh, for with a strong hand he will send them out, and with a strong hand he will drive them out of his land. The phrase “with a strong hand” is a Hebrew idiom that simply means “as the result of force.”1 Yahweh is going to apply serious pressure and force Pharaoh to release the Israelite slaves. This should remind us of what Yahweh already told Moses back in Exod. 3:19 and 4:21. Exod. 3:19—But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless compelled by a mighty hand. Exod. 4:21—But I will harden [Pharaoh’s] heart, so that he will not let the people go. He begins a longer statement to Moses in verses 2 and 3: God spoke to Moses and said to him, “I am Yahweh. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as El Shaddai, but by my name Yahweh I did not make myself known to them.” The statement “I am Yahweh” appears 195 times in the Old Testament, and this is the first of 6 times we see it in the passage we’re looking at this morning. Now, this statement seems hard to 1 Douglas K. Stuart, Exodus (NAC 2; Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 2006), pg. 169. reconcile with what we know about the book of Genesis, because here Yahweh says, “By my name Yahweh I did not make myself known to them,” that is to the patriarchs, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But, we know that God was addressed and referred to as Yahweh many times by the patriarchs as well as other characters in Genesis.2 Well, let’s look at the other half of the statement being made here and then we’ll come to terms with what Yahweh’s point is here. He says, “I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as El Shaddai.” El Shaddai occurs 5 times in Genesis and only twice more in the rest of the Old Testament.3 The title Shaddai occurs 41 times in the Old Testament as well, most frequently in the book of Job.4 We can read about the “appearance” to Abraham in Gen. 17:1 and the “appearance” to Jacob in Gen. 35:11, and we see Isaac addressing God by this title in Gen. 28:3. Although usually translated “Almighty” in English Bibles, scholars continue to discuss and debate the meaning of this word. Based primarily on the way it’s used in Genesis, my best guess is that it means something like “Nurturer/Provider/Multiplier.”5 In our upcoming theology course on Wednesday nights this summer, we will explore this in greater depth. What’s the point of this statement? It seems that Yahweh is here telling Moses that he had related to the patriarchs primarily in connection with the Abrahamic covenant, which included, among other things, God’s promise that he would multiply Abraham’s descendents into a great nation that would bless all the nations and the demand for Abraham and his descendents to practice circumcision, which was still a big deal to Yahweh, as we saw a couple of weeks ago when Yahweh sought to kill Moses over the issue of not circumcising at least one of his sons (Exod. 4:24-26). Thus, the primary title for God that encapsulated his promises in the Abrahamic Covenant was El Shaddai; now, Yahweh has revealed his name—Yahweh—in anticipation of the establishing of a new covenant, what we often refer to as the Mosaic Covenant. It’s not that the patriarchs didn’t know that God’s name was Yahweh; clearly, they did; rather, their relationship with him was supremely summed up in the promises he had made to them of fertility and fruitfulness, ideas apparently captured in the title El Shaddai. Now, however, when Yahweh rescues the descendents of Abraham from slavery in Egypt he will take the relationship even deeper, so that their relationship with him must be connected to his very name, which at least implies his ongoing presence with them and his power over them.6 2 See Gen. 12:8; 13:4; 14:22; 15:2, 8; 16:2, 5; 19:14; 21:33; 24:3, 7, 12, 27, 31, 35, 40, 42, 44, 48, 50, 51, 56; 26:22, 25, 28, 29; 27:7, 20, 27; 28:16, 21; 29:32, 33, 35; 30:24, 27, 30; 31:49; 32:10; 49:18. 3 Gen. 17:1; 28:3; 35:11; 43:14; 48:3; Exod. 6:3; Ezek. 10:5. 4 Gen. 49:25; Num. 24:4, 16; Ruth 1:20, 21; Job 5:17; 6:4, 14; 8:3, 5; 11:7; 13:3; 15:25; 21:15, 20; 22:3, 17, 23, 25, 26; 23:16; 24:1; 27:2, 10, 11, 13; 29:5; 31:2, 35; 32:8; 33:4; 34:10, 12; 35:13; 37:23; 40:2; Ps. 68:14; 91:1; Isa. 13:6; Ezek. 1:24; Joel 1:15. 5 Sarna notes with reference to translating Shaddai with the English “Almighty,” “There are no convincing traditions as to its meaning and little etymological justification for that particular rendering.” See Nahum M. Sarna, Exodus (JPS Torah Commentary; Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1991), pg. 31. Also, for a good explanation of how Shaddai may have fallen almost totally out of use in Israel during Moses’ lifetime, see Sarna, Exodus, pg. 269. For a conclusion in line with my own regarding the meaning of this title, see Robert L. Reymond, A New Systematic Theology of the Christian Faith (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1998), pgs. 155-156. 6 Sarna also points out that “the patriarchs did not experience the essential power associated with the name YHVH. The promises made to them belonged to the distant future. The present reiteration of those promises exclusively in the name of YHVH means that their fulfillment is imminent.” See Sarna, Exodus, pg. 31. As he continues, he reminds Moses that this new act of God is connected back to the covenant with the patriarchs, with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Follow with me as I read verses 4-5: I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they lived as sojourners. Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the people of Israel whom the Egyptians hold as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant. None of this is new information for Moses, but it does tie together what God told Moses when he met him in the burning bush with what we read in Exodus 2:23-25. Specifically, when Yahweh says here that he has “remembered” his covenant, he is probably particularly recalling and acting upon the promise to Abraham in Gen. 15:13-14: Then Yahweh said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions.” The time of fulfillment has come! In verses 6-8, which Mikell read for us earlier, Yahweh instructs Moses what he must go back and tell the Israelite slaves, and in these verses we see the first 7 of 10 promises God announces. But, he insists that Moses must remind the people first who it is that is speaking to them: “I am Yahweh” there in verse 6. And then the first promise he offers is, “I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.” The language of “bringing out” is phraseology that is used by God and of God repeatedly in the Old Testament. It becomes a special way God identifies himself; he is called the one who brought his people out of Egypt 29 times in the Old Testament.7 But, we must never forget that his actions in rescuing his people from Egypt are connected to his prior promises. He is both responding to their situation of suffering and acting in accordance with promises he’d already made. He’s reminding them that he’s acting in faithfulness to what he’s already promised he would do, so that they’ll trust him when he promises to act in the future for them. This is a very important point for you and me today. One of the great benefits of reading your Bible, especially the Old Testament, is that we get reminder after reminder after reminder that, when God promises something, he’s good for it! He always comes through. In verse 6 alone Moses is instructed to announce 3 promises to the Israelite slaves: “I will bring you out...I will deliver you....I will redeem you.” Then, in verse 7, he adds another very significant promise: I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God. 7 Exod. 6:7; 16:6; 20:2; 29:46; Lev. 11:45; 19:36; 22:33; 25:38; 26:13; Num. 15:41; Deut. 5:6; 6:12; 8:14; 13:5, 10; 20:1; Josh. 24:17; Jdg. 2:12; 1 Sam. 12:8; 1 Kgs. 9:9; 2 Kgs. 17:7, 36; 2 Chron. 7:22; Ps. 81:10; Jer. 2:6; 16:14; 23:7; Dan. 9:15; Amos 2:10. Twice in Jeremiah (16:14 and 23:7) Yahweh indicates that there is coming a future time when he will be referred to as the one “who brought up the people of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where he had driven them,” referring to the promised return from exile as a kind of second exodus. Interestingly, he is also referred to as the one “who brought [Abraham] out from Ur of the Chaldeans” twice (Gen. 15:7; Neh. 9:7), which might indicate that Abraham’s experience is to be viewed in some ways as an exodus. That is the language of a marriage ceremony. Yahweh is saying to the people, “I will make a marriage covenant with you. I will take you as my bride.” We still use this language today in marriage ceremonies, don’t we? “Do you, Andy, take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife?” ...and you shall know that I am Yahweh your God. At least 86 times in the Old Testament, God says he’s doing something so that someone “shall know that I am Yahweh” (70 times in Ezekiel alone! and 9 times in Exodus).8 In chapters 6-8, we will see that, as one writer has observed, “God delivers Israel from Egypt so that they will know that he is Yahweh (Ex. 6:7). He judges Egypt so that the Egyptians will know that he is Yahweh (7:4-5). [And] he protects Israel from the plagues that fall on Egypt so that Pharaoh will know that he is Yahweh (8:20-22).”9 Well, in verse 8, after promising that he will “bring them out,” he adds: I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you for a possession. Once again, he is acting in fulfillment and in faithfulness to the promises he had made earlier. He repeats, “I am Yahweh” at the end here, bracketing these promises Moses is being commanded to tell the people. In verses 9-12 we read that the people don’t listen “because of their broken spirit and harsh slavery,” which surely only frustrated Moses more, and then Yahweh tells Moses to go back to Pharaoh to tell him to release the people of Israel; how can Moses expect “Round 2” to go any better than “Round 1”?? In fact, not even the people will listen, so how can Yahweh expect Pharaoh to listen? Verse 13, then, is a summary statement indicating that Yahweh was officially assigning Moses and Aaron to the task of bringing the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt, but then Moses as the author takes a “commercial break,” as it were, to lay down his and Aaron’s family history.10 Now, for me, genealogies are always easier to navigate visually, so you can see on the back of your sermon notes my attempt to chart out the genealogy, as presented here in our passage. Genealogies are always important in the Bible; the question we always have to ask is: Why? Why here; why now?11 8 Exod. 6:7; 7:5, 17; 8:22; 10:2; 14:4, 18; 16:12; 29:46; Deut. 29:6; 1 Kgs. 20:13, 28; Isa. 49:23, 26; Ezek. 5:13; 6:7, 10, 13, 14; 7:4, 9, 27; 11:10, 12; 12:15, 16, 20; 13:9, 14, 21, 23; 14:8; 15:7; 16:62; 17:21, 24; 20:20, 38, 42, 44; 21:5; 22:16, 22; 23:49; 24:24, 27; 25:5, 7, 11, 17; 26:6; 28:22, 23, 24, 26; 29:6, 9, 16, 21; 30:8, 19, 25, 26; 32:15; 33:29; 34:27, 30; 35:4, 9, 12, 15; 36:11, 23, 36, 38; 37:6, 13, 14, 28; 38:23; 39:6, 7, 22, 28; Joel 2:27, 3:17. 9 James M. Hamilton, God’s Glory in Salvation Through Judgment: A Biblical Theology (Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway, 2010), pg. 91. 10 The genealogy begins as a genealogy of the 12 sons of Israel (Reuben, Simeon, Levi) but stops with Levi, since Moses and Aaron, descendents of Levi, are the focus of the narrative. 11 Philip Ryken reminds us of the “usefulness” of genealogies in the Bible, applying 2 Tim. 3:16-17 appropriately to them: “Historically they are important because the y help confirm the accuracy of the Biblical record. I once heard the story of a native tribe that was converted by a genealogy. A western missionary had worked with them for many It seems that, as Moses looks back on what has happened, he viewed the initial encounter with Pharaoh, recorded in chapter 5, and the increasing of the intensity of the Israelites’ slavery, as only preliminary matters. Moses had only dipped his toe in the waters of what God was doing up to this point. Chapter 7 will begin the narrative of the plagues; perhaps Moses viewed this as the real beginning of God’s mission to deliver his people and his full participation in it, so that the genealogy given is primarily to remind his readers of his and Aaron’s12 priestly pedigree being descended from Levi, which would be important to Moses’ readers who know from later in the story that God established in the Law that only descendents of Levi could serve as priests (e.g., Num. 3). But, we can also say a bit more.13 By this genealogy, Moses as narrator shows his readers that what is about to happen is in fulfillment of God’s specific promise to Abram in Gen. 15:16:14 [Your offspring] shall come back here in the fourth generation,” that is the fourth generation after being enslaved by the Egyptians. Verses 28-29 pick up the story where we left off before the genealogy: Yahweh had just sent Moses to Pharaoh; Moses had responded by questioning how Pharaoh would listen to him, reminding God of his uncircumcised lips (“See God, I told you I was the wrong man for the job! And, you still haven’t fixed my mouth!”) What 6:13 had summarized we now get to see unpacked in 7:1-5. We see an interesting part of God’s commission to these brothers in 7:1-2: And Yahweh said to Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet. You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall tell Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go out of his land.” Aaron is named as the spokesman who will actually speak to Pharaoh, but Moses is the one carrying divine authority and giving the words to Aaron, as Yahweh had already said in 4:16.15 Now, from Moses’ perspective, this ought to seem promising; Yahweh has just declared Moses to act as God over Pharaoh. But, then come verses 3-4: years and had often shared the good news about Jesus Christ, but with little result. Finally, he translated one of the Biblical genealogies that went all the way back to Adam. ‘Now we know that what you say is true,’ the natives said. ‘We recite the names of our ancestors, but we had forgotten the beginning. Now we know that your Bible is true.’ The natives repented of their sins and received Jesus Christ as the Son of David, the son of Adam, and the Son of God. The genealogy in Exodus 6 may not convert anyone, but it is historically significant because the ages given for Levi and his sons help confirm that Israel was in Egypt for more than 400 years.” See Philip Graham Ryken, Exodus: Saved for God’s Glory (Preaching the Word; Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway, 2005), pg. 182. 12 The genealogy is probably more focused on showing Aaron’s credibility to stand in as Moses’ prophet. See especially Peter Enns, Exodus (NIVAC; Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2000), pg. 178. 13 Indeed, Stuart, Exodus, pgs. 175-176, lists 7 specific purposes for this genealogy. 14 Victor P. Hamilton, Exodus: An Exegetical Commentary (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2011), pg. 110. 15 Ryken helpfully notes, “One way that Pharaoh would recognize Moses’ divine authority was that he had his own prophet....Pharaoh’s own custom was to have spokesmen issue all of his commands. This preserved a sense of distance between himself and his people and thus reminded them of his supposedly divine status. So when Moses spoke to him through Aaron, he would have recognized that Moses was claiming divine authority.” See Ryken, Exodus, pgs. 195-196. But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, Pharaoh will not listen to you. Moses had asked how Pharaoh will listen to Moses; here, Yahweh in a sense confirms Moses’ concerns: Pharaoh will in fact not listen to Moses, but it is because of God’s purposes. God will harden Pharaoh’s heart, even as God multiplies his signs and wonders. We’ll see the “hardening” of Pharaoh’s heart many times in the upcoming chapters of Exodus, but only here is this particular Hebrew verb used. It is related to the term used in 6:9, which the ESV translates “harsh,” referring to the Israelites’ “harsh slavery.” This word also appears back in Exod. 1:14, where the Egyptians are said to make the Israelite slaves’ “lives bitter with hard service.” It might be fair to say that this word is chosen right here to make it clear that God’s action of making Pharaoh’s heart hard is an appropriate judgment for Pharaoh’s making the Israelites’ slavery hard.16 Here, in verses 3-4, we have the final 3 promises given: Yahweh says, “I will harden Pharaoh’s heart; I will lay my hand on Egypt (have you ever had someone ‘lay their hand on you’?); and I will bring my people out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment.” In verse 5, Yahweh reveals his single purpose for hardening Pharaoh’s heart, multiplying his signs and wonders, and rescuing the people of Israel: The Egyptians shall know that I am Yahweh, when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the people of Israel from among them. To close out the section, verses 6-7 inform us that Moses and Aaron would be obedient in the task God assigned them and that Moses was 80 and Aaron was 83 when this is all taking place. Now, let’s revisit Moses’ original question: “Why O Lord?” • “Because of who I am”: 6x, “I am Yahweh” (6:2, 6, 7, 8, 28; 7:5) • “Because of what I will do”: 10 promises 1. I will bring you out (6:6) 2. I will deliver you (6:6) 3. I will redeem you (6:6) 4. I will take you to be my people (6:7) 5. I will be your God (6:7) 6. I will bring you into the land (6:8) 7. I will give the land to you for a possession (6:8) 8. I will harden Pharaoh’s heart (7:3) 9. I will lay my hand on Egypt (7:4) 10. I will bring my people out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment (7:4) When do you cry out “Why, O Lord?” What answers do you expect from the Lord? 16 Robert B. Chisholm Jr., “Divine Hardening in the Old Testament,” Bibliotheca Sacra 153:612 (Oct. 1996): pg. 418 n. 22. In the Scriptures, Moses asks God “Why” in this passage and again in Numbers 11, when the people were particularly hard to deal with. You remember Job? He asked “Why” in a variety of poetic ways.17 The psalmists cry out “Why, O Lord” around 10 times,18 but also raise the question in other ways as well. On page after page of the Psalms, the writers are brutally honest with God. Recall perhaps the most famous of these passages, Psalm 22:1: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” We know that one mostly because Jesus used those exact words while he was dying on the cross to pay for sins he didn’t commit.19 Jesus knows what it means to be in a situation where the only appropriate response is to cry out, “Why, O Lord?”20 While Moses was (probably) accusatory in his tone, Jesus is resigned to his Father’s will; Jesus actually understands what is going on,21 while so often you and I do not have a clue. Yet, he still cries out in agony, “Why, O Lord?” And, in fact, Jesus experiences this pain of separation from his Father, to the point where he cries out in agony, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” so that you and I will never experience that separation! And how does the Father answer the cry of his Son? If you read the rest of Psalm 22, you’ll see that the psalmist ends by praising God for rescuing him from death. But Jesus is not rescued from death; rather, God answers Jesus’ cry by raising him from the dead! And Jesus knew this was going to be the outcome, but he still cried out asking “Why?” so that we would all know that he experienced Godforsakenness on behalf of his people.22 Consider the following quote: “God’s timing only sometimes coincides with our expectations, and his idea of the hardships we need to go through only sometimes coincides with our idea of how much we can take.”23 In the midst of your suffering, in the midst of your confusion and pain, you can cry out, “Why, O Lord?” You can be as honest as Moses was, as direct as the Psalmists. Recall the first words of Exod. 5:22: “Then Moses turned to Yahweh.” Every painful circumstance in your life, every kind of suffering you and I face is an opportunity for us to either turn to our God or to turn away 17 Only twice does he blatantly come out and ask “Why?” (Job 7:20-21; 13:24) 18 See Psalms 10:1; 22:1; 42:9; 43:2; 44:23-24; 74:1, 11; 80:12; 88:14. Also see Lam. 5:20 and Isa. 63:17. 19 See Mark 15:34/Matt. 27:46. 20 “To be forsaken by God means that he has allowed this to happen and does nothing to help. So it is somewhat misleading to say—of the psalmist or of Jesus echoing his words—that he feels forsaken by God as though this were an understandable mistake. What Jesus experiences is the concrete fact that he has been left to suffer and die. God has, in this sense, abandoned him, not merely in psychological experience but in the form of the concrete situation that Jesus experiences.” –Bauckham, Jesus and the God of Israel, pg. 257. 21 “The doubled expression is found nowhere else, and serves, along with its prominent position as the first words of the psalm, to emphasize the psalmist’s personal relationship with God and his persistence in addressing God as ‘my God’ even when abandoned by God. He would not do so unless he continued, in the face of the evidence, to trust the God who has always protected him. The address to ‘my God’ ensures that the cry is not one of despair but of faith, even though the faith is under severe assault.” –Bauckham, Jesus and the God of Israel, pg. 258. 22 “In Jesus’ case, his cry of abandonment is answered by God beyond his death—in resurrection. But this does not make the abandonment unreal or merely how Jesus felt. God did leave him to die. His dying cry expresses the abandonment by God that death is. Therefore, unlike the psalmists themselves, whose deliverance saves them from death, God’s intervention to vindicate Jesus is a creative act of intervention in death that overturns death.” – Bauckham, Jesus and the God of Israel, pg. 260. 23 Stuart, Exodus, pg. 169. from him.24 If we turn toward him, what will we find? Let me offer you the answers given to Moses, filtered through the New Testament: o “Because of who I am”: 1. In connection with the Abrahamic Covenant, God characterized himself as El Shaddai; in connection with the Mosaic Covenant, he characterized himself as Yahweh; and in connection with the New Covenant, he has made himself known to us by the one Trinitarian name of “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit” (Matt. 28:19).25 He is our Father: “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are....Beloved, we are God’s children now” (1 John 3:1-2). 2. The eternal Son of God who became flesh for us, taking the name “Jesus” which means “Yahweh saves,” is “the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power” (Heb. 1:3). If he’s upholding the universe, do you think he is out of control when it comes to the circumstances of your life? 3. The eternal divine Spirit has been sent to live in every Christian from the moment we begin to trust Jesus, and he is, among other things, “the guarantee of our inheritance” (Eph. 1:14), the one who testifies of our adoption by the Father (Rom. 8:15-17), and the one who produces the fruit of obedience in our lives (Gal. 5:22-23) o “Because of what he will do”: 1. Phil. 4:19—And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. 2. 1 Cor. 1:7-8—[Jesus] will sustain you to the end. 3. 2 Thess. 3:3—But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one. 4. Phil. 1:6—He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. 5. Heb. 9:28—Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him. 6. Matt. 16:27—For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. 7. Matt. 11:28—Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 8. Matt. 28:20—I am with you always, to the end of the age. 9. Heb. 13:5—I will never leave you nor forsake you. 10. Rom. 8:32—He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 24 For some great reflections on this reality, read the current ongoing blog series, entitled “Seeing God’s Hand in Our Daily Hardships,” here: http://biblicalcounselingcoalition.org/blogs/ 25 See Richard Bauckham, Jesus and the God of Israel: God Crucified and Other Studies on the New Testament’s Christology of Divine Identity (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008), pgs. 56-7. Bauckham characterizes the progression of revelation slightly differently (starting with God’s revealing himself as “God of the fathers”) and doesn’t connect the stages of revelation with the covenants, but his discussion here is highly illuminating.