As we spend time waiting, once again remembering Jesus’ arrival on Earth to be with us, we also remember an earlier time where God was with his people, or rather, one of his people, for a moment, a sacred moment that sustained Moses for challenging tasks ahead. In Exodus 3: 1-6 and 11-15 we read,
“Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.” When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!”
And Moses said, “Here I am.” “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God…[and then after God explains that He has heard the cries of the Israelites in slavery and is commissioning Moses to go free them, Moses asks] “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.” Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?” God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’” God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘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, the name you shall call me from generation to generation.
In Isaiah 7, the prophet tells of a future time when the Great I AM would come again to be with his people:
“Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign: Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.”
And in Matthew 1, we read how an angel of the Lord spoke to Joseph and gave him courage to stay committed to Mary, saying that the son she carried, Jesus, was the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy. He would truly be “God with us.” Think about how similar the word Immanuel is to the words “I AM”; God with us is the great I AM.
I’ve been thinking about how God is always with us. Some of you know that Dave and I host a community group that uses the liturgies from a series of books called Every Moment Holy. The premise is that God is in every moment of life, not just the obviously religious ones. When we notice that and invite His perspective and create a moment of worship, we can make any moment holy.
And so I have been thinking about the holy moments that we are having with our Afghan family. Each time when we enter their home, we take off our shoes, just like God told Moses to take off his shoes. And I think about how this simple act reminds me that my time there with them is a holy moment where God is present. Maybe you have the routine of taking off your shoes as you enter your own home. Think about this simple act. Pause and remember that because Jesus came to Earth and was Immanuel— the GREAT I AM is actually present.
The same God who revealed himself through a burning bush and would be born a baby in Bethlehem who would live with his people, is today with His people through His omnipresent Holy Spirit. He truly is the Great I AM and we are part of the generations through the ages who proclaim that to be so.
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Editor’s Note: Whether he walked with Adam and Eve in the Garden, spoke to Moses through the burning bush, led the Israelites through the wilderness, or let his presence dwell in the Tabernacle, our God has always shown his desire to have a relationship with his people. These instances found in the Old Testament, amazing as they are, are only shadows of what would come when Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Each meeting brought us a step closer on the journey to Bethlehem, to the arrival of our Savior.
Each week in our Advent reflections, we’ll take a look at one of the ways God drew near to his people leading up to Jesus’s birth.