I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as God Almighty, but by my name the LORD I did not make myself fully known to them. I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, where they resided as foreigners. Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, and I have remembered my covenant. – Exodus 6:3-5

Today’s Scripture Reading (July 11, 2015): Exodus 6

As the nominations grow for the run for the office of the President of the United States, we begin to enter into the season of promise. Everyone who is running is promising the voter something, and they all run along the lines of Donald Trump’s Tagline “Make America Great Again.” Absolutely no one is saying, “I am going to run for the office of President of the United States because I think it would be cool to live in the White House” – even though it must be cool to live in the White House. Everybody is promising something. In their own way they are making a covenant with the voter, if you elect me as President, then I promise that I will do what I say. Common themes revolve around putting people back to work, reviving a lagging economy, getting serious on education, fixing health care or maybe balancing the budget (I have to be honest, I wish I was hearing more candidates talk about balancing the budget. That would make me feel more financially secure on a personal level.) But at this moment they are just promises. When the election is over there will be people that will be quite happy to keep score on what promises are kept, and which ones are adjusted or even ignored.

This is the easy time of the election. No one actually has to do anything, just make the promise. They don’t have to create new jobs, just promise that there will be more jobs. They don’t have to find ways to reduce governmental spending, just promise that they will find a way to cut expenses. All the candidate has to do right now is make the promise. Oh, someone will bring up the track records of the candidates, examining everything that they have done since they were in play school, but in the end we will fall for the promise of the future – we always do. We want to know that we will have jobs and that our retirement will be secure without being a 75 year-old working at McDonalds. Make us a promise - and we have proven in the past that we will vote and we will follow (and we will complain when you fail to keep your promise.)

Some have argued that this statement of God to Moses as a hard statement to understand - but by my name the Lord I did not make myself fully known to them (Exodus 6:3). But part of the problem is that we try to understand the words without understanding the context. God had made himself known to Abraham and to Isaac and to Jacob. And each time he made himself known, me made a promise and executed a covenant. God was going to do great things through the descendants of Abraham, and Isaac (over Ishmael), and Jacob (over Esau). He was the God who made the covenant with the patriarchs. But to be honest, at this point God really hadn’t shown up for Israel. He had only made the promise. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob understood that Yahweh was a God of promise

But now God instructs Moses that things are about to change. Moses, and those that follow after him, will know God fully – not just as the one who made the covenant, but as the one who fulfilled the covenant. The covenant will not just be made, it will be established in their midst. And when that happens, they will know God fully.

As Christians, we believe that there is an extension on this promise. That in Jesus Christ, the covenant that was made and established has now also been brought to completion. It is now a covenant that is extends through Israel to the rest of the world in a way that Abraham and Moses could not have dreamed it would – and it is only in Jesus that Yahweh is fully known.  

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Exodus 7