Read: Exodus 6:2-8
I am the LORD, 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. (v. 6)
There is always something more to know about God. For Abraham, God was first a god, then the God, then the God who made himself known to some people as Yahweh, the Lord. Over the years Abraham would get to know him by further names and in new ways.
But that first name, Yahweh, was the best. The Lord revealed to Moses that the name Yahweh means, “I am Who I Am.” This can also be translated, “I Will Be What I will Be” (Exod. 3:14). Well, who exactly was he, and what would he be?
Not till Abraham’s descendants were slaves in Egypt, in helpless, hopeless misery, did they grasp that for Yahweh to fulfill his promise to make them a great nation he would have to save them. Abraham was never in quite that situation. It was as if he had learned to call his God “rescuer” but always had at the back of his mind the puzzling question “rescuer from what?”
Old Testament people from the exodus onwards knew him as the rescuer from slavery. New Testament people know him as the rescuer from the slavery of sin and death. This name, Yahweh/Savior, says God, “is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations” (Exod. 3:15). —Michael Wilcock
As you pray, ask God to be your rescuer, and praise him for rescuing you.
About the Author
Rev. Michael Wilcock was formerly director of pastoral studies at Trinity College, Bristol, and vicar of St. Nicholas' Church, Durham. He is now based in Eastbourne, England, as a writer and speaker.
