God the Father of Jesus

The Book of Exodus records one of the most profound revelations in human history. The revelation is narrated in the story of God calling Mosses to be the leader of his people. Speaking from a burning bush which “though on fire, was not consumed, God called out: “Moses! Moses! God then told Moses to organize the Israelites and persuade Pharaoh to let him lead that enslaved people out of Egypt. Hearing the plan Moses was apprehensive. The dialogue goes: “But, ‘said Moses to God, ‘when I go to the Israelites and say to them, “The God of your fathers has sent me to you,” If they ask me, “what is this name?” “What I am to tell them?’ God replied, ‘I am who am. ‘Then he added, ‘This is what you shall tell the Israelites: I Am sent me to you,’ God spoke further Moses, ‘thus say to the Israelites :the Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the god of Isaac, the god of Jacob, has sent me to you …’ (Ex 3:13 -15).

In this dialogue (and in other like it – read Judges 13:18 and Genesis 32:30) God does not really give him self a “name.” He refuses to give himself a “handle” on God. God says, in effect, that he is not like any of the many gods people worship. He conceals himself – thereby revealing the infinite distance between himself and all that we human beings try to know and control.

But by telling Moses to say “I AM sent me to you,” God also reveals something very personal. This God who “is” beyond all realities that come and go, is not unconnected with us and our world. On the country, this god who “is” reveals that he is with you. He does not tell what He is in himself. But he does not reveal who he is to you. In this key moment recorded in exodus (and develop further in the Book of Isaiah, Chapters 40-45),
God revealed that is your God, the “God of your Fathers” –the fathomless mystery who is with you through all time, with you beyond all powers of death and evil.

The god who reveals himself in the Old Testament has two main characteristics, First, and most important, is the revelation that he is personally close to you, that he is your God. Second is the fact that this God who freely choose personal relationship with you s=is beyond all time and space. I AM is bound to nothing, but binds all things to himself, In his own words. “I am the first and I am the last; there is no God but to me” (Is 44:6).

Centuries after the revelation reflected in Exodus and Isaiah, the Mysterious God of the burning bush did reveal his name – in person Shattering all human assumptions and expectations, God’s Word “be came flesh and dwelt among us” (Jn 1:1). In a revelation that blinds the mind with its light; Jesus spoke to I AM and said: “thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee….I made known to them thy name, and I will make it known to them thy name and I will make it known, that the love with which thou has loved me may be in them, and in them” (Jn 17:21, 26).

I AM reveals his name in his Son. The burning bush draws you into its light. The God of Moses, revealed in Jesus, is love, is Father is in you.