Sermon Guide: Exodus 3:13-15 "Yahweh Saves"

Key Passage

Exodus 3:13–15 ESV

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?” God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ” 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.

Sermon Overview

The message contrasts the despair of praying to an unknown god with the hope of knowing Yahweh by name. When Moses asks, “What is his name?” God reveals himself as “I Am Who I Am” — existence itself, absolute personality, freedom, and eternality. Yet this revelation alone could remain distant and even terrifying. The good news is that Yahweh also names himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob — a covenant God who binds himself to his people in love and faithfulness. He is not simply God in the abstract but God-for-us, inviting all who believe to share in the promises made to Abraham.

This covenant commitment finds its deepest fulfillment in the incarnation: Yahweh takes on flesh in Jesus, “Yahweh saves.” In Christ, the eternal “I Am” becomes vulnerable — even killable — for our sake. The New Testament bears witness that Jesus is Yahweh, doing the works and receiving the honors due only to God. Thus, the call is clear: confess Jesus as Lord, believe in his resurrection, and find deliverance. Unlike a vague prayer “to every god,” prayer to Jesus rests on the sure name of the God who is, who was, and who is to come — the God who saves.

Sermon Structure

Introduction

1. “A Prayer to Every God”

   
   

2. “What is his name?” — a question of character

#1 Exodus 15:14, The Nature of God

• Absolute Existence

• Absolute Personality

• Absolute Freedom

• Absolute Eternality

#2 Exodus 15:15, The Character of God

• Yahweh = Ehyeh in the 3rd person (“He Is”)

• Yahweh, God of…

• The incarnation as God’s commitment to humanity

• Jesus is Yahweh

Questions for Discussion & Reflection

1. Read and reflect together on John 8:48–59.

   
   

2. Search your Bibles for God’s promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. What specific promises were made to them? What does this revelation of God’s name have to do with those promises?

Notes on the Name of God

In Exodus 3:14, “I Am Who I Am” is the Hebrew phrase “Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh.” God then shortens it for Moses to “Ehyeh” (“Tell them ‘I Am’ has sent you”). Then in Exodus 3:15 God gives him one further and more specific name to refer to him by: “Say to them, ‘Yahweh’ …has sent me.” It’s helpful to know that Ehyeh is the 1st person form of the “to be” verb in Hebrew. Yahweh is the 3rd person form of the same verb.

When you see “Lord” in your Old Testament, it is usually the Hebrew word adonai, which means Lord, Master, or Sir. By way of contrast, when you see “LORD” (in small caps) what lies beneath is the Hebrew word Yahweh (יהוה). It became tradition for the Jewish people to not speak the name of God (that tradition is not from the Bible), so they would read יהוה but speak “adonai,” Lord.

When the Hebrew Scriptures were translated to Greek (centuries before Christ) in the translation known as the Septuagint, יהוה was translated into the Greek word kurios (lord). Therefore there are many instances in the New Testament where the authors are citing, alluding to, or quoting the Old Testament’s references to יהוה but use the word “Lord” (kurios). For instance, Joel 2:32 says, “And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of יהוה shall be saved.” Romans 10 quotes this passage and renders it “…everyone who calls on the name of ho kurios (the Lord) shall be saved.” In this passage, Paul is speaking directly of Jesus.