This semester in our women’s Bible study at my church we are studying the book of Exodus, and I have had the privilege of teaching a few of these lessons. What I want to share today comes from Exodus 6, after Moses has encountered God in the burning bush, been commissioned, and sent back to Egypt to meet Aaron and speak to Pharaoh. After Pharaoh rejects God and places harsher labor on the people of Israel, God has this to say:

“God spoke to Moses and said to him, “I am Yahweh. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my name Yahweh I did not make myself known to them. 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. Say therefore to the people of Israel, ‘I am Yahweh, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am Yahweh your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. 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. I am Yahweh.’” Moses spoke thus to the people of Israel, but they did not listen to Moses, because of their broken spirit and harsh slavery.” (Exodus 6:2-9)

In this speech, God tells Moses three things: He reminds Moses of who He is, He tells him He remembers His covenant, and He repeatedly promises to personally deliver them. So, let’s break those down.

First, He reminds Moses of who He is. Three times He says, “I am Yahweh,” or “I am the LORD.” Why would He do that? For these people the name Yahweh meant something. It pointed to who God was, is, and always would be. His name contained the idea of His faithfulness. This was a reminder that the God who was speaking, the God who was promising to deliver them, was the God who made and kept His covenants with His people. This was not one of the fickle “gods” of the Egyptians. This was Yahweh, the one true God, the one who Hebrews 6:13 tells us “when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself.” God Himself is the guarantee that all His words will come to pass.”

Second, He remembers His covenant. He says in verse 3, “I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my name [Yahweh] the LORD I did not make myself known to them.” God made a promise to Abraham back in Genesis 12 that contained three things: great nation, great name, and great blessings. And that promise was passed down through Isaac and Jacob to Jacob’s twelve sons who are now the multitude (you could say, great nation) who are enslaved in Egypt. The people of Israel are about to know Yahweh in a new way because He is going to bring His word to pass.

In verse 4 God said, “I also established my covenant with them [Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob] to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they lived as sojourners.” This was the other part of that promise God made back in Genesis 12. When Abraham finally made it into the land God appeared and said, “To your offspring I will give this land” (v. 7). But when Abraham died he only owned the cave of Machpelah where he and Sarah were buried, and then Isaac and Rebecca were buried, and then Jacob and Leah were buried. So, they didn’t fully experience the fulfillment of this promise either. But it’s coming!

Then in verse 5 He says, “Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the people of Israel whom the Egyptians hold as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant.” God is saying, I remember all these promises I made to your forefathers, and now it is time for me to act. I will be faithful to my word, and I will not let one piece of the covenant go unfulfilled.

Third, He repeatedly promises to deliver them. Reread that passage again and notice how many times God says, “I will.” There are seven of them!

1. I will bring you out. They would no longer have to carry the yoke that Pharaoh and the Egyptian taskmasters had put on them. Instead, they would carry God’s yoke. And Matthew 11:30 tells us His yoke is easy and His burden is light.

2. I will deliver you. Same thing. God is going to rescue them from their bondage and enslavement. The word for deliver can also mean to snatch away, and I think that pretty well sums up how God is going to accomplish this in the coming chapters. He is going to snatch His people away from the Egyptians.

3. I will redeem you. God is going to buy them back, and it will not be an easy thing. It will be with an outstretched arm and great acts of judgement. It will take ten plagues and a slain lamb for each Israelite family.
4 and 5. I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God. This is the key right here. This is why God is delivering them. It is not for them to have the freedom to go do whatever they want. It is so that they can live in right relationship with Him. Right now, the Israelite people don’t even have the freedom to worship. That’s what Moses was asking for at the beginning of chapter 5, for the people to be able to hold a feast to God in the wilderness and make sacrifices to God, and Pharaoh said absolutely not. And this is the first time we see this phrase that will be repeated over and over again in the story of Exodus, “you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.” This is called the recognition formula. The people of Israel are going to recognize, or know, God in a new way because of how He is going to powerfully deliver them from the tyranny of Egypt. They are going to know Him in a way that Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and their other ancestors did not. He will set them apart specifically as His people and go with them as their God. Which brings us to the last two statements…
6 and 7. I will bring you into the land and I will give it to you for a possession. Now they will not just dwell in the land as Abraham did, but they will own it, and they will live in it as God’s chosen people.

And He will do all of this simply because He is Yahweh. That’s how he ends these seven promises and His reply to Moses. I am Yahweh, the LORD. I will do this for my name’s sake.

So, He says, I’m reminding you who I am. I’m remembering my covenant. And I’m repeatedly telling you Israel what I’m about to do. But how do the people respond? Verse 9 says when Moses tells the people of Israel what God has said “they did not listen to Moses, because of their broken spirit and harsh slavery.” They lack faith. But their weak faith does not change what God is going to do. He will deliver them despite their unbelief simply because He promised to do so, and He is a God of His word.

This story is of a specific deliverance for a specific group of people from a specific oppressive situation. But God is still in the business of delivering people. The same God who delivered the Israelites from their bondage in Egypt wants to deliver you from your bondage to sin. Read God’s words from Exodus 6:2-8 again, but this time I’m going to replace the Egyptians with sin, and the people of Israel with my people:

“I am the LORD. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my name the LORD I did not make myself known to them. 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 my people whom sin holds as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant. Say therefore to my people, ‘I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of sin, and I will deliver you from slavery to it, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the LORD your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of sin. 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. I am the LORD.’”

God hears your groaning. He has remembered you. He wants to bring you out from under your burdens and give you his lighter burden. You are no longer enslaved to sin. Through the shed blood of Jesus, He redeems us. We are His people, and He is our God. Do we live as if all of this were true?

This is what Jesus accomplished in His victory over death! And it will be fully realized in the end when Jesus returns. Jen Wilkin likes to say we have been saved from the penalty of sin in our justification (when we come to faith), we are being saved from sin’s power in our sanctification (the Holy Spirit’s work in us to grow us in holiness), and one day we will be saved from sin’s presence in our glorification (when we are in the presence of the Lord forever). So as Christians we trust in the deliverance that was already won for us even as we wait for the full deliverance that will come in the future.

There was a deliverance promised for Israel, but there is an even greater deliverance for us. Believe God for it. He will do it.