Let God Define God
He’d been on the run for the last 40 years. A fugitive after killing a man in cold blood. But it had been 4 decades; his old life, it seemed, was gone. He was hundreds of miles away from his home. He started a new life, found a wife, found a job, and had some kids.
Sure, he was an Ex-Pat; a foreigner; an exile – but at least he was safe from his past.
Until on one of the most unexpected and extraordinary days, his past – his old life caught up with him.
You know the story - Exodus 3.
Moses is in Midian after killing an Egyptian. He’s watching his father-in-law’s sheep – one of the most monotonous jobs imaginable. When, out of the corner of his eye, he sees something strange – a bush burning in the desert. Well, that’s not strange. What’s strange is it’s burning, but not burning up.
And even more strange is that out of the fire, God speaks to him. Saying, I’ve seen the affliction of your people. I’m going to rescue them. And I’m going to use you to do it.
Moses responds, “But who am I to go to Pharoah?” and God says, It doesn’t matter who you are, I’ll be with you.
And so, Moses follows up with a better question. He asks, “Then who are you to go to Pharoah?”
I’ll start quoting scripture instead of summarizing.
Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” (Exo 3:13)
And before God gives His name, before He declares who He is, He declares what He is. That is, God’s not interested in telling Moses a name so that Moses can put it in his rolodex of Egyptian and Canaanite gods.
It was thought, in that time and culture, that with His name, Moses could figure out where He stood in the divine rankings. How he stacks up. Is this the right horse to bet on to go head-to-head with Pharoah?
But God’s not interested in being thought of as a God of the sea or the land or health or fertility. He’s not on par with Ra or Horus or Anubis – those gods of Egypt. He’s something in a category by Himself.[1]
Verse 14 describes God, it doesn’t give His name. He says, “I AM WHO I AM”, then he substitutes this description of His being for his name. “say, “I AM” has sent me to you.” It’s a description, not a name.
But finally, in verse 15, we get the proper name of God – built off of that verb, “I aA”, a name with pronunciation lost to history – a name so holy that Jews won’t speak it -because they take the 4th commandment seriously – How can you ever speak that name in a way worthy of it?
God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘The LORD [Yahweh, Jehovah, Adonai, however you pronounce it], 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. (Exodus 3:15)
This post is the beginning of my series of emails on Theology Proper – Who God Is.
But before I deal with who, we need to consider what.
And when I ask “What is God,” this statement in Exodus 3:14 is the most important statement in the Bible for me. Because God tells us what He is. He Is What (or Who) He Is. That’s God’s self-definition. After all, He’s the one who knows what He actually is. And He tells us with no uncertainty.
God is what God is.
And so I just want to say one thing today. Then a lot more next week. But for today, just meditate on this amazing truth:
God is so holy (or different, exalted, and independent) that the only way to define (or understand) Him is by the standard of Himself.
Or, put more simply - The only way to define God is by God.
And in some senses, that probably makes sense to you. And in others, it really doesn’t. But I’ll start explaining it in my next post. For now, just be amazed at that truth revealed to Moses – and us.
[1] John Piper, Providence (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway, 2020), 89–90.