1. Exodus 3:15–16 (ESV)
  2. Application

Hope based on God’s promises

Exodus 3:15–16 (ESV)

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.

Moses’ message for the sons of Jacob (whose name was changed to Israel) was a message of hope that was based on the covenant promises that God had made. Not only was the great I am holy, eternal, and powerful, but he was bound to believers and their children by his promise to deliver them from the power of sin and the evil one. The Almighty God had entered into a relationship with believers and their children, and that is why he had been carefully observing them (see Exodus 2:23–25).

This gospel is not just a gospel for the nation of Israel so many years ago, but it also comes to every person who crosses over from death to life by publicly professing their faith, together with all their children who are baptized into the name of the Triune God. Today we worship the Saviour and Deliverer Jesus Christ, to whom Moses was pointing, and by God’s grace we can see God’s love even more clearly. He has bound himself to his chosen church by the promises that he himself made. He is our anchor in heaven, and he surrounds us with his loving, gracious hands and holds us close to his chest as his very own children. No matter what we are facing, we do not need to be afraid, for he is with us. He has bound himself to us in love, and he acts on our behalf.