Exodus 6:1-5 "Then the LORD said unto Moses, Now shalt thou see what I will do to Pharaoh: for with a strong hand shall he let them go, and with a strong hand shall he drive them out of his land. And God spake unto Moses, and said unto him, 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. And I have also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, wherein they were strangers. And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage; and I have remembered my covenant."
Up to this point, things have not appeared to be going as Moses expected. Pharaoh not only refused to let the Israelites go and worship (which is the outcome God told Moses to expect), but he increased their labors and made their bondage harder. Rather than being heroes to the people for delivering them out of bondage, Moses and Aaron now stood accused of being the reason things were worse than before. All this prompted Moses to question God, and here we see the beginning of God’s answer to Moses.
The situation was exactly what God knew it would be. He had brought things to this point for a reason. He told Moses “Now, you will see what I will do to Pharaoh.” God had brought the Egyptians, the children of Israel, and Moses and Aaron to the place where they could see His work and His power.
God was going to take His people into a deeper relationship with Him than they had ever know before. He was known to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as God Almighty. This word translated as “God (god)” had the same root definition, whether it was God Almighty or the gods of the Egyptians. To Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, He was the personification of power above all others: therefore, He was God Almighty.
God had already told Moses that He is I AM. The root meaning of I AM means “exist.” Moses was to tell the children of Israel that the REAL God had sent him. The root meaning of JEHOVAH is “self-existent or eternal.” So, to Moses and the children of Israel, He was the REAL, ALL POWERFUL, ETERNAL, SELF-SUFFICIENT GOD, and He was fully able to deliver them.
He declared a covenant that He established, so it did not rest on the whims of men. He had heard their groanings. He would pour out judgement on Pharaoh and the Egyptians. He would bring Israel into the land of promise.
Dear ones, to borrow a phrase from a hymn “He’s just the same today!” Regardless of your bondage He is still the real, all powerful, eternal, self-sufficient God, and He is our God! He has established a covenant through the blood of His Son that death and the grave cannot overcome. He has delivered us into His kingdom here in this world and will surely bring us into the presence of His full glory when this world is past!