Leading Three Million to Liberty
By John Orr Corliss
MOSES was commissioned to lead three million people from Egyptian bondage to the land of freedom. The people whom he was to lead out had been reared in slavery under the very shadow of Egypt's numerous deities. Knowing this, Moses pleaded one particular excuse for not wishing to accept the commission. How was he to convince the people that the God by whose authority he was acting was different from the gods they already knew? So he said: "When I . . . say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is His name? what shall I say unto them?" God replied: "Say unto the children of Israel, I Am hath sent me unto you." In other words, tell them that the Self-existent sent you. Make them understand that this is the name by which He was known to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and that this is His name forevermore. Let them know that although He has been lost to their knowledge, He is alive forevermore, as the I Am to fulfill the promise made long ago to Abraham and his descendants. See Ex. 3: 10-15. But the house of Israel was not easily persuaded, and Moses returned to tell the Lord that the name he had given the people of Israel had not moved them to obey. He said, "Neither hast Thou delivered Thy people at all." Ex. 5: 23. God replied: "Now shalt thou see what I will do to Pharaoh. . . . I am the Lord: and I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by My name JEHOVAH was I not known to them." Ex. 6: 1-3. What is the real difference between these names? The first one, El Shaddai, means power. Abraham believed in God's power to provide a city, although his faith viewed it afar off. See Heb. 11: 8-10. The promise to Abraham was not to be fulfilled in his day. He saw in it the coming of Christ, and was therefore willing to wait for its fulfillment, or until the time when the gentiles would be partakers with him through the gospel. Gal. 3: 14-16. According to the best lexicographers, the other name, Jehovah, signifies performance. This is the rendering of it in Ps. 57: 2. So God really said to Moses, To you, My name shall be Performance in all things pertaining to this time; because I am self-existent, and therefore able to perform without hindrance; and the time for Israel's deliverance, promised to Abraham, has come. Hence when the Red Sea was to be crossed, the performance of God was seen in making a highway through it. It is this wondrous name that brings to men the performance of things in their behalf. This, indeed, was the strength of David's courage. Hear him: "He restoreth my soul; He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness." And why?—"For His name's sake." Ps. 23: 3. So again in the apostle's teaching: "Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." Rom. 10: 13. Thus it may be seen that this name of Jehovah is really the essential of the gospel, which is "the power of God unto salvation." Rom. 1: 16. The Self-existent One must be among men to perform for them. And He actually clothed Himself in the likeness of sinful flesh, in order to reveal Himself to those who need His "performance" in their behalf. Appearing to men as the Son of man, He bestowed upon the apostles a rich blessing, because of their having openly acknowledged Him as the Son of man to be also the Son of God. The Saviour Himself said, "When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am He." John 8: 28. This simply emphasizes Christ's statement that He was the same as the original I AM. The apostle confirms this thought in saying that while Christ was in the flesh, He was accounted as the seed of David; yet the power of God declared Him to be the Son of Jehovah, by the very act of raising Him from the dead. See Rom. 1: 3, 4. When Christ was risen and ascended to heaven, He flashed back to earth the word that though He had been dead, He is now alive forevermore, and has the keys of death and the grave. See Rev. 1: 18. Thus God in all His attributes is shown in the Lord Jesus, and Jesus has revealed God as the I AM, the Self-existent, the One with infinite power to perform all His will. Such a God, and such an intercessor as Jesus, encourage us, as children of His by redemption, to lay hold upon the promise of present help, and of a future eternal reward, if faithful. May we constantly realize that God is the ever present I AM.