Jesus, the Son of God, is the physical manifestation of our triune Godhead. He is all God and all man. In Him and through Him the world is offered salvation.
Genesis 12:1-3
Now the Lord had said to Abram:
“Get out of your country,
From your family
And from your father’s house,
To a land that I will show you.
2 I will make you a great nation; I will bless you
And make your name great;
And you shall be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you,
And I will curse him who curses you;
And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
Acts 7:1-3 Then the high priest said, “Are these things so?” 2 And he said, “Brethren and fathers, listen: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran, 3 and said to him, ‘Get out of your country and from your relatives, and come to a land that I will show you.’
Genesis 17:1-8 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless. 2 And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly.” 3 Then Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying: 4 “As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations. 5 No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations. 6 I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. 7 And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you. 8 Also I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.”
Abram did not know God or of His existence until He appeared to him. The nation of Israel will always be under the direct protection of God.
Genesis 16:7-13 Now the Angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur. 8 And He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s maid, where have you come from, and where are you going?” She said, “I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai.” 9 The Angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit yourself under her hand.” 10 Then the Angel of the Lord said to her, “I will multiply your descendants exceedingly, so that they shall not be counted for multitude.” 11 And the Angel of the Lord said to her: “Behold, you are with child, And you shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, Because the Lord has heard your affliction. 12 He shall be a wild man; His hand shall be against every man, And every man’s hand against him. And he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.” 13 Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, You-Are-the-God-Who-Sees; for she said, “Have I also here seen Him who sees me?”
Who is the angel of the Lord? Jesus, the Redeemer, the only begotten Son of God is the God who sees us and gave His life for us.
Genesis 48:16 The Angel who has redeemed me from all evil, Bless the lads; Let my name be named upon them, And the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; And let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.”
Exodus 3:1-6 Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. 3 Then Moses said, “I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn.” 4 So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” 5 Then He said, “Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.” 6 Moreover He said, “I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God.
Exodus 3:14 And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ”
Acts 7:54-56 When they heard these things they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth. 55 But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, 56 and said, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!”
God the Son appeared to Abram. God the Son appeared to Moses. God the Son appeared to Stephen. God the Son appeared to Hagar. God the Son appeared to the Apostle Paul on the road to Damascus. God the Son appeared to over 500 people after His ascension. No human could look at God and live. BUT Jesus, the direct image of God, was God in the flesh. He alone is the physical manifestation of God. The I AM, who is God, was sent to offer salvation that in Him in His sacrifice on the Cross, the world could be saved.
Throughout human history the only begotten Son of God, the Word of God made flesh appeared to many. Now we by faith share that same belief and are saved in it! The Redeemer of the human race is God the Son. In Jesus and Him in us, and the Father in Him we are saved. God the Father sees His only begotten sinless Son in us and not our sins. By our faith in Him alone we are saved. God the Son is the One who has always had direct contact with the human race. Now, by faith, He is made known to us by the third person of the Godhead, Holy Spirit. Carla
I AM WHO I AM…The revelation of the personal name of God—Israel’s Creator (Exodus 3:15). In Hebrew, the phrase “I am” is ehyeh—a different spelling from yhwh (“Yahweh”). The relationship between ehyeh and yhwh (called the Tetragrammaton) is not entirely clear, but both involve the consonants y and h in the same order and yhwh is used throughout this passage, indicating that both are names for the God of Israel (verses 4, 7, 15, 16). It seems that the spelling of yhwh recalls the revelation here. Faithlife Study Bible
I AM WHO I AM: The One who spoke to Moses declared Himself to be the Eternal One—uncaused and independent. Only the Creator of all things can call Himself the I AM in the absolute sense; all other creatures are in debt to Him for their existence. But in addition, God the Creator declares His relationship with the people of Israel. The future tense of the Hebrew verb related to God’s name is used in verse 12: The I Am will be with His people. Thus God declares His covenantal relationship with Israel with His name. Many refer to the “I Am” as the covenantal name of God. The NKJV Study Bible.
Exodus 6:2–3 And God spoke to Moses and said to him: “I am the LORD. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name LORD I was not known to them.
John 8:58 Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.”
Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Revelation 1:8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”
Revelation 4:8 The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying:
“Holy, holy, holy,Lord God Almighty,
Who was and is and is to come
In everyone's life, at some time our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit. Albert Schweitzer
This week, let us embrace the gift of fire. To embrace the reminder that while I am here on earth, I am, in fact, a servant. I am a vessel for hope and redemption. And that invitation, I must take to heart. And this isn’t just true for me. It’s true for every single one of us. I hope you hear that invitation today.
Here is what I know:
When I give myself fully and completely to this day—put skin in the game—there is fire.
When I don’t put a moral price tag on my laughter or my tears, there is fire.
When I don’t quell my sadness or my jubilation, there is fire.
When I let compassion spill on those around me, without a need to convert anyone, there is fire.
When I create a world where justice and inclusion live, there is fire.
When I do not lose my moral compass, even when given the opportunity for easy revenge, there is fire.
When I leave the world and the people I love in a better place, there is fire.
I close my correspondence with “Keep spilling the light.”
Because here’s the deal: that light is the reflection of the fire of wellbeing that already burns inside every one of us. We are literally, invited to let it spill.
I needed Pentecost, because this week, the news, quite literally, sucked the air out of me. Seeing suffering and pain impacting my friends in the immigrant community hurts my heart.
“If worship isn't leading to the fire,” Anthony De Mello reminds us, “if adoration isn't leading to love, if the liturgy isn't leading to a clearer perception of reality, if God isn't leading to life, of what use is religion except to create more division, more fanaticism, more antagonism? It is not from lack of religion in the ordinary sense of the word that the world is suffering; it is from lack of love, lack of awareness.”
As humans, we will always succumb to greed. But, let us never forget, that we can pursue peace and renewal and redemption. Let us embrace the gift of that fire. Sabbath Moments
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