Mensa Otabil - God Is With Us
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Exodus chapter 5, verse 3: So they said, «The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go three days' journey into the desert and sacrifice to the Lord our God, lest He fall upon us with pestilence or with a sword.» Moses and Aaron might have been a bit shaken by Pharaoh’s response, but if they were, they didn’t show it. They continued and persisted in this dialogue with Pharaoh, a person they were supposed to fear, yet now they were boldly in his presence and talking back to him. When they mentioned God’s name first, «The Lord,» that says the Lord God of the Israelites, Pharaoh said, «I haven’t heard of Him.»
So Moses said, «Okay, if you haven’t heard of Him, I’m going to use a term you probably can identify with: the God of the Hebrews-not the God of Israel, the God of the Hebrews-because Israel means a princely people. Hebrews: strangers, slaves.» He says, «If you really want to know, He’s the God of your slaves, the people you despise. He is their God, and He has met with us. He is with us.»
It’s a very important thought because, to the Egyptians, every god has a jurisdiction. Every god is a god of something; He’s a god of fire, He’s a god of thunder, He’s a god of grain, He’s a god of fertility, the god of the Nile, the god of a nation, or a god of war-God of something. A god has to have some attachment or responsibility. So He says, «If you want to know this God, this 'I Am, ' He is ours. He is committed to us; He is on our side-the Creator of the universe, the I Am that I Am, the one who has no definition-is now taking sides with us. He’s taking sides with your slaves, and get ready for what is about to happen. God is with us.»
The same God, my friend, who met Moses in the burning bush, the same God of the Israelites, is your God, is my God. He’s the same God who is with us, has taken sides with us, and has met us in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one Jesus revealed to us, and so if you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, the same God that Moses is talking about to Pharaoh is your God. He’s not just the God of the Hebrews; He’s our God-He’s the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
So, a couple of thoughts that I want you to note: This God is our God; that means He is our ruler. We belong to Him, and He owns us. I am God’s property; you are God’s property, and God protects His property. We belong to Him; He’s ours, and we are His. That’s the first relationship-He’s ours. He’s not just a God out there, the ruler, the maker, the almighty God, the supreme one, the supreme being. He has a relationship with us; He’s our God. And not only that, in Christ Jesus, this God is introduced to us as our Father, our source. He has shared His nature with us, so we are not just some things that He wants to redeem, but we are His children. He has put Himself in us; He lives in us by His Holy Spirit, and because He lives in us, we have His nature.
So now, when you go out into the world and you are facing your own Pharaoh, whatever that Pharaoh is, remember this God, who is the great I Am, the self-existent one. He has met you in Christ Jesus, and you have met Him in Christ Jesus; that He is your God, you have a relationship with Him, and that He is your Father. You have His nature, and that is the position we have as Christians in the New Testament. This God, whom Moses is now getting to know, lives in us, and He’s with us all the time. I want you to live your life with the confidence that God is with you.
Let us pray. Say with me: «Heavenly Father, You have revealed Yourself to me. I am who I am because of who You are. In Jesus' name, amen.» And amen! We are because He is the great I Am. Pastor Mensa Otabil. Shalom, peace, and life to you.