O Adonai, Come!

TEXT: Exodus 3:1-15
3 Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 And the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. 3 And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” 4 When the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” 5 Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” 6 And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.7 Then the LORD said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, 8 and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 9 And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. 10 Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.” 11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” 12 He said, “But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.” 13 Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” 14 God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ” 15 God also said to Moses, “Say this 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.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.

In the Name of Adonai. Amen.

One-hundred-twenty-year-old Moses was tending sheep on Horeb, aka Mt. Sinai. Moses was a PK… a Priest’s Kid. The mountain that he stood on was God’s mountain. God came to the mountain to save His people. Mt. Sinai was also the Mountain from which God would give His holy 10 Commandments. Some 1500 years later, God would come to Mt. Calvary, another mountain of God. There, God would save His people once and for all.

God called to him from a burning bush, “Moses. Moses.” The name, “Moses,” means “drawn out of water” because Pharaoh’s daughter had found him in an ark among the reeds in the Nile River. In Holy Baptism, you also are all “Moses” since you have been drawn out of baptismal water into the ark of the Holy Christian Church.

The bush was on fire but it wasn’t turning to ashes. God did not come to destroy creation. He came to redeem it. God was in the bush but the bush was not destroyed… so it is that God became man and took on human flesh. But His Godliness did not destroy His flesh. Evil men killed Him on the cross. And when they buried Him, His body didn’t see decay. The psalmist has written “You will not let your Holy One see corruption.” (Ps. 16) And St. Paul once said, “But He whom God raised up did not see corruption.” (Acts 13) This same Body you eat in the sacrament and yet it is not destroyed. It’s God’s Body… It’s holy and indestructible.

God could’ve come to Moses some other way. He didn’t have to hide Himself in a bush. But that wasn’t God’s way. God Who is the Light of the World took on the form of fire in a bush. God had a plan for His people that was bigger than marching them out of Egypt into the Promised Land. That plan looked forward to when the Great I AM would take on human flesh in the womb of Mary. God would set up His throne there, inside Mary. In Mary’s Holy Child the fullness of the Godhead dwelt. Wonder of all wonders…. That God would hide himself inside a sinful woman and allow Himself all the frailty of a little baby. All for you and for your salvation.

Want to know Who God is? Then, learn His name. God’s name, “Yahweh” means “I AM.” In the Old Testament, “Yahweh” or “Adonai” were the proper names of God. “Adonai” means “foundation” or “pillar of a household.” God’s Name tells us Who He is. The Lord Jesus is the stone rejected by men Who has become the cornerstone. (Matt 21) You are His Church and members of the Household of God. You are built upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone, in whom the structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. (Eph 2)

The Son of God told Moses that His name is “Yahweh – I AM.” It’s a name that implies that God is who He is ALL by Himself. God is “I AM” no one created Him. He isn’t an idea or some impersonal force, He is the God of His people with a real name who truly existed apart from His creation and is now one of us in His incarnation. Whenever Yahweh - I AM took on some physical form, like fire in a bush, or a pillar of fire by night and a pillar of cloud by day, there the second person of the Trinity was busy working out salvation for His people. God comes to His people in real, tangible, touchable ways. Little children sat in His lap and He put His hands on them and blessed Him. God is no different today. Since His body has been glorified, He is omnipresent (always present) for His people in real and touchable ways. God does not want to deal with us any other way. So He comes in Word and sacraments. So that you hear His voice when His Word is read and so that you receive His Body and Blood at the altar.

There in the burning bush was the second person of the Holy Trinity. We know Him as Immanuel and the Lord, Jesus Christ. For His people in the days of Moses, He took on the form of fire in a bush. Today, He lives and reigns in the form of a man. The Son of God is the One Moses called the “angel of the Lord.” Today, He is still Yahweh, the Great I AM. The name “Jesus” borrows from Yahweh…. “Jesus” means, “Yahweh saves.” In the name “Jesus,” God’s name is forever, and it is the way He wishes to be remembered throughout all generations.

O Yahweh, O Jesus, O Lord, come quickly! Come to us in Your Word …. turn us from our sin…. And bring us encouragement and Hope. Fill our sin-darkened lives with the light of Your eternal flame. You have redeemed us from our sins. But our sins desire to drive us further from you. O Lord, Come. Come with your forgiveness. Come with healing. Come and bring the new heavens and the new earth. Come as the Great I AM on clouds descending!

“O Come, O come, Thou Lord of might, Who to They tribes on Sinai’s height
In ancient times didst give the Law In cloud and majesty and awe.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O Israel!

In the Name of Adonai. Amen.