I Am the Lord!

And God spoke to Moses and said to him: "I am the Lord. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name Lord I was not known to them. I have also established My covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, in which they were strangers." (1)

Through Moses, God (I am the Lord) began to reveal Himself to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He also began to reveal Himself to the Egyptians. "And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch out My hand on Egypt and bring out the children of Israel from among them." (2)

"Now the Lord said to Moses, 'Go in to Pharaoh; for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his servants, that I may show these signs of Mine before him, and that you may tell in the hearing of your son and your son's son the mighty things I have done in Egypt, and My signs which I have done among them, that you may know that I am the Lord." (3) Again, the Lord instructs Moses to share the message of what the Lord is doing for His people and what the Lord will do to the enemies of His people, and he is to share that awesome message with his sons and his son's sons.

What are some of the awesome things the Lord did for His people Israel? Consider Exodus 14. Read the entire chapter. In essence the Egyptians thought they had Israel trapped between the mountains and the Red sea and they went in for the kill. Instead, the Lord provided a way of escape for Israel and trapped the Egyptians in Israel's escape route and destroyed them. "So the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. Thus Israel saw the great work which the Lord had done in Egypt; so the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord and His servant Moses." (4)

"Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to the Lord, and spoke, saying: 'I will sing to the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously! The horse and its rider He has thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation; He is my God, and I will praise Him; My father's God, and I will exalt Him. The Lord is a man of war; the Lord is His name. Pharaoh's chariots and his army He has cast into the sea; His chosen captains also are drowned in the Red Sea. The depths have covered them; they sank to the bottom like a stone…" (5) The song and praises to the Lord continue for most of the rest of the chapter.

Then the Lord "made a statute and an ordinance" with Israel and He said, 'If you diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the Lord who heals you.' " (6) WOW, what is that all about? (To be continued)

1. Exodus 6:2-4.
2. Exodus 7:5.
3. Exodus 10:1, 2.
4. Exodus 14:30, 31.
5. Exodus 15:1-5.
6. Exodus 15:26.