Sermon 6

Exodus 3:13-15. 13 Moses said to God; behold, when I come to the children of Israel, and shall say to them; The God of your Fathers has sent me to you, and they shall say to me, What is his Name? what shall I say to them? 14 And God said to Moses, I AM THAT I AM. And he said, Thus shall you say to the children of Israel; I AM has sent me to you. 15 And God said moreover to Moses, Thus shall you say to the children of Israel; The LORD 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 for ever, and this is my memorial to all generations.

Now we come to this, What God is. God is JEHOVAH ELOHIM; an absolute Essence, in three Persons.

But we will first speak of the Deity, then of the Persons.

Now God is known to us two ways: 1 By his Essence; and 2 By his Attributes.

Now the great question is, what this Essence of God is. Beloved, you need more than the tongue of man to declare this to you; yet we will show it to you, as the Scripture reveals it.

Now, if we should define it, (though it is capable properly of no definition) we would say, God is an incomprehensible, first, and absolute Being. These words in this place, set out the Essence of God most clearly of any place in Scripture, that I know. This is the first expression, whereby God did ever show himself in his Essence. God has before made himself known by his All-sufficiency, (Exodus 6:3). I appeared to Abraham; to Isaac, and to Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH, was I not known to them. This name, JEHOVAH, was known to Abraham, as appears in various places; but the meaning is, it was not opened to them, they did not understand it: The Lord says, (Genesis 17:1), I am the Almighty God, walk before me, and be perfect. You shall find that Name used on every occasion, by Abraham, by Isaac, and by Jacob. El-shaddai; God all-sufficient; but not JEHOVAH. The first time that ever God made himself known by this name, was here to Moses, I am that I am. There are two things to be observed in this expression:

The incomprehensibleness of Almighty God, as it is usually said by us; when we are asked a thing, that we will not reveal any further, or that we would not have another to pry any further into, we say, It is, what it is; so God says to Moses, I am, what I am.

Such a kind of speech is also used to show the immutability of a thing; as Pilate said, What I have written, I have written; I will not change it: so men use to say; I have done what I have done, to show the constancy of a thing, that it shall not be altered: therefore, when God would show the constancy of his Nature, he adds further, I am, without any other word: as if he should say; Moses, if they inquire of you, what my name is, tell them only this; He is, has sent me to you; as the Septuagints translate it, [in non-Latin alphabet]; that is, if I should deliver the most expressing name, whereby I would be known to all ages, this is that which I will pitch upon; I am, or JEHOVAH; which comes from the same root. And if Moses should yet further inquire of his Name, he leads him into a further expression: The LORD 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 for ever, and this is my memorial to all generations. As if he should say; If yet they cannot understand what this Name is, it is the same that I was known by to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; what I was to them, the same will I be to you. I was known to them by my Word, and by my works, and by my miracles, and the same shall you find me, it is that God which has sent me to you. This is my Name; which words are to be referred, not only to the latter words, but to the former, I am, that I am. The words in the original are in the future tense; yet it is fitly translated, I am; for the future tense in Hebrew is often put for the present tense; and the words are put in the future tense, to show his immutability; which translation Christ's words do warrant; Before Abraham was, I am: therefore the Septuagints do well translate it [in non-Latin alphabet], signifying no more, but he which is; so that, that which we are to learn from hence is this; That I am, or Jehovah, I am, that I am, is the proper and essential name of God, (all divines agree in this, I know none [reconstructed: that] differ) because it expresses him in his Essence, without any limitation, or modification. Besides, you shall find, that this name is never attributed to any other. The Altar, indeed, was called Jehovah; but the meaning was; to Jehovah; his other names indeed are given to the creatures, but this is given only to him: from which I gather this point:

That to be, or to say this, He is, or I am, is proper to God alone.

It is common to no creature with him; you cannot say of any creature, It is; if it be the only property of God to be, then you must say of every creature, It is not; and only the Lord is; which is a strange speech, but yet it is true, or else it is not proper to God only.

Object. But you will say; What is the meaning of that? for creatures have a being, though not so excellent a being, as he has.

Answ. In comparison of him, they have no being at all, they cannot reach to his being: And therefore, what this being is, we will explain to you by these five things:

It is an immense being, such as has all the degrees, and kinds, and extents of being in it. The creatures have not so; they have so little of this being, that it is nothing: it is not so much as the drop of a bucket (Isaiah 40), that is, it is of so small a being, that it is no being. Therefore that place is to be marked, (Isaiah 40:17): All nations before him are as nothing, and they are counted to him less than nothing, or vanity. Which place shows, that this place of being does not agree to the creatures; for having said before, they were as the drop of a bucket, he adds, nay, they are less than nothing. But you will say, how can they be less than nothing? That is, if I should express it to you, as it is, they are less than that which you reckon as nothing; as you do a dust of the balance; so that in respect of the largeness of his being, they are nothing to him: there are diverse degrees, and extents of being, and he has them all in him; as, there is a being of Angels, another of men, and so of every creature; but they are defined, and you know that definitions do but limit the being of a thing. The Angels have a large and glorious being; men have a good and excellent being, but they are nothing in respect of the being of God.

It is a being of himself, he is a spring of being, whereas all the creatures are but cisterns of being; which they have but by participation from him (Romans 11). In him we live, move, and have our being: in him, and for him, and through him, are all things; he only is of himself.

It is not only from himself, but it is an everlasting being: I am the first and the last: that is, I am before any thing was, and I am the last; every thing has dependence on me.

It is a being without succession: the creatures have not this; there is something to them, which was not before; and something shall be, which is not for the present: this is true of every creature; of men and Angels; but with God there is no succession. And therefore it is that these words are used, I am has sent to you: which shows that there is no time past with him, there is no distinction of time with him, all things are alike to him; but with the creature there is flux of time, the creatures enjoy one thing one minute, which they do not another; but God enjoys all at once, and that is one part of his blessedness, which the creature is not partaker of. And again, his acts are all done at once; but the creatures do all theirs by succession.

It is such a being, as gives a being to all things else. And this is a great difference between him and the creatures: the Angels have an excellent being, yet they cannot give the least being to any thing. So that by these we may plainly see, that he only is, that is, he only is of an immense being, that is, he is like a mighty sea of being, that has neither banks nor bottom, he only is a spring of being, he only is everlasting, he only is without succession, of time present, past, or to come. Lastly, he only gives a being to every thing. Such a one he is, all this is implied, where he bids Moses go, and tell the people; I am that I am, is he that has sent me to you. But we will stand no longer hereon, only we will labor to reduce these speculations to use, as it is said of Socrates, he did Devocare philosophiam de coelis, bring philosophy down to be practiced in private houses.

If we should inquire the reason, why God did reveal his name to Moses, was it, that only he, and the Israelites should find out shrewd speculations in his name, as many of the Rabbis have done? And our divines follow them too far; no surely, the end of names is to make things known. But yet he sets bounds to our apprehensions, in saying, I am that I am; as if there were more in it, as if there were some greater immensity in his nature: therefore the use is this;

Use 1: That there is something of the essence of God, that may not be inquired into, but to be content with that which is revealed (Romans 1:18). For that which may be known of GOD, is manifest in them; for GOD has shown it to them: there is something that may be known, and something there is that may not be known: therefore, Beloved, look not for a full knowledge of him, but only for a small degree of it; as (Exodus 33), My face (says God to Moses) you cannot see; which place compared with that (Romans 1:20), the meaning is this; that it is very little of God, that we can know: even as when a great train, or glorious show, shall pass before us, and all is gone, we only see the latter end of it. So God passed by Moses, and he saw but a little of him: even as when you hear the latter end of a sentence, only that which the echo resounds; the main we cannot know. Therefore we should learn from here, not to be searching and prying into the counsels of God; as, why so many are damned, and so few saved; to ask, how the infallibility of God's will, and the liberty of man's will can stand together; to ask the reason, why he suffered the Gentiles to walk in the vanity of their own minds so long a time; why he suffers the Church to lie, as it does at this time: for we might say as Gideon did, If the LORD be with us, why are we thus and thus? Why the Church of the Grecians, those famous Churches; why the golden Candlesticks were removed from them? These, and all other such, we must be content to be ignorant of; he does not reveal himself fully in this life. You cannot see me, and live, says God to Moses: the meaning is this, the veil of mortality does hide us, it covers God from us: when that shall be laid aside, we shall know all these things; and therefore we must be content to stay the time; and till then, we are as narrow-mouthed vessels, we are not able to receive much knowledge, but a great deal will fall beside; and God will do nothing in vain; as Christ said to his Disciples, There are many things that I should reveal to you, but you are not able to bear them: and therefore it should content us rather; as a weak eye is not able to behold the Sun, as the schoolmen well say, we cannot see it [reconstructed: in rota]; we cannot see the circle wherein the Sun does run, but only the beams of it; no more can you see God in his essence; you may see him in his Word, in his effects: and therefore let us be content to be ignorant of these things. Who should ask, why does GOD deal thus with his Church? why are so many damned? Remember that in (Isaiah 45:9), Woe to him that strives with his Maker; let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth: Shall the clay say to him that makes it; What are you making? The meaning of it is this; we should be content to let God alone, not to inquire into all his actions, into the ground and reason of all his works; let the potsherds strive with the potsherds of the earth: if you had to do with man, one like yourself, then you might murmur with him, and ask him, why do you do so? but what have you to do with the Lord? Shall the clay say to him that makes it, why do you do so? This similitude of clay does not, by a thousand parts, express that distance that is between God and us; and therefore we should do thus, stand upon the shore, as it were, and behold his infinite essence: I am that I am; and go no further; as a man that stands upon the sea-shore, and sees the vastness of the sea, and dares go no further, if he goes into the deep, he is drowned: You may look into God's essence, and see and admire it; but to think that you could comprehend God, is, as if a man should think to hold the whole sea in the hollow of his hand; indeed, there is a greater disproportion between them: therefore you shall see, that the Apostle does thus express it (Romans 11), Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom, and knowledge of GOD; how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! Only remember this, and make thus much use of it:

When you hear this name, I am that I am; that it is the Lord's will to set limits to us. When the Lord came down from the Mount, he set limits to the people, and he gave this reason of it; I will not have them stand and gaze; so is it in this case, it is a dangerous thing to go too far; you know what did come to the Bethshemites, because they would be gazing: Remember that speech of God to Manoah; Why do you ask my name that is secret? There is something that is secret in God.

Object. But, you will say; I would but see reason of things.

Answ. But you must stay for this till mortality be put off; and in the mean while stand a far off, and look on God: And when you see the vast works of God, when you see him to span the winds in his fist, and measure the waters in the hollow of his hand, and to weigh the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance, etc. It is no great thing if you are ignorant of his counsels. It is made an argument why we should not search into his secrets (Proverbs 30:4), Who has ascended up to heaven, or descended? who has gathered the winds in his fist? who has bounded the waters in a garment? who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, or what is his Son's name, if you can tell? As if he should say; it is impossible that this mighty Workman, he that did all this, that you should know him, or know the ground of his counsels; you can see but his back parts, you can see no more and live, and you need see no more, that you may live.

That which is the very scope and drift of the Lord's revealing his name to Moses; Go and tell the people; I AM THAT I AM has sent me to you; that is, it should strengthen our faith, and encourage us, it should raise our minds, and stir up hope in us, in all wants, and in all distresses, that we fall into, upon any occasion: for this is the scope why the Lord reveals it here; he reveals it in a very seasonable time. A man would have thought it impossible, that they should be delivered from Pharaoh, he being so mighty, yet God bids Moses go, and tell them, that he that IS, has sent him to them. He that IS, he that can make things to be, when they have no rudiments of being, he has sent me.

Consider all the griefs and complaints that we have, they all arise from here; there is something we would have, which is not; as it was the complaint of Rachel, she wept for her children, because they were not: now, consider what the Lord says here, I am that I am: he is the Lord of being; he gives being to whatever pleases him. As take your expressions of your ordinary wants, you use to say; oh, if that such a thing were; if a house had such and such a thing, it would be a goodly house; so in an instrument, as a watch, if it had such and such a being, it were a perfect watch: so is it in the complaints that we make for our souls, or the souls of others; if you see a man that you would have reclaimed, you say if there were a stability of mind in him, a consideration of death, a right knowledge of things, a sense of sin, if there were grace in his heart to establish him, then he would be thus, and thus. Consider that he who is the Lord of being, is able to make up these wants: so if our complaints be for ourselves, they all come from some wants; but know that he who is the Almighty God, that makes all things to be, he can give you constancy, he can enable you to do all things, and strengthen the weak hands and feeble knees [reconstructed: Hebrews 12:12]. He that is full of being, as the sun is of light, and the sea of water, think with yourself that he alone is able to give being to every grace, and to make up every defect, and give that to you which you have not, and to all whom you have to do with, as your wife, children, friends, etc. He can make things that were bad, good and useful, and so make your friend good also, as he did Onesimus for Paul; think with yourself that the Lord of strength can do it, and he only can do it: here every creature is at a stand to make a being; therefore go to him, and give him the praise and glory of his Name.

And as it should move us to do this in our wants; so it should help you in all those great crosses that afflict you: For every cross is in that which is not; as Rachel wept for her children that were not. You shall see in Abraham, he believed in God, even in God, who quickens the dead, and calls those things which are not, as though they were (Romans 4:17). This was Abraham's case, he was to lose his son, for anything that he knew, yet he comforted himself in this, that Jehovah, the mighty God, that is the Lord of being, he that calls things that are not, as if they were, he could either give him his own son again, or one that was as good as he. Thus he did comfort himself; and so may we upon all occasions: God can make things to be that are not. Take Job, when his houses, his children, estate, all were gone, and all were not, yet Jehovah, he that makes things that are not, did he not make all things to return again? So David, when things were not, when his kingdom was not, when his good name was gone, as we see by Shimei's cursing, what a name he had, yet God did make all to come again. Naomi, when all was gone, her husband and her sons gone, and they were not, yet he that was the Lord of being gave her a son, and a daughter, that brought her in more comfort than her own sons would. And this is the use that I would have you to make of it.

When you have lost anything, when your sons or your goods are gone, he can make up all: He who could make up the absence of Christ to the Disciples, as he did by his Spirit, so that it was better with them than before, they had more comfort and knowledge, and could do greater miracles, that God can surely make good any other loss the most pinching. For you must remember that he is Jehovah; you shall find that name often used on this occasion; still it is added, I am Jehovah. But, to take the present Scripture, there you shall see, what ground there is for this use we now make of it (Exodus 6:6): Therefore, say to the children of Israel, I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, etc. The meaning of it is this: many objections might be made by Moses, (and this is the reason, why God reveals this Name to Moses.) Alas, says Moses, who am I: Shall I go to Pharaoh, and bid him let the children of Israel go? What am I to be sent on this errand? Says the Lord, Go, tell him; I am, or Jehovah, has sent you to him: and those answers are observable that Moses makes:

Object. I am of a slow mouth, and of slow speech.

Answer. Why? says the LORD, I made the mouth; go therefore, and I will be with your mouth, and teach you what you shall say.

Object. Again, I am of uncircumcised lips, and how shall Pharaoh listen to me?

Answer. Says the LORD, I have made you a god to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother shall be your Prophet.

Where observe this, by the way. A man would wonder why Moses, that went to such a one as Pharaoh, should complain, that he was a man of uncircumcised lips. One would think that Pharaoh being a carnal man, that uncircumcised words would please him better; but it is, as if he should say: Lord, when there is any circumcisedness in my lips, then there is no authority in my speech. The less circumcision there is in any man's lip, the less authority there is in his speech; as it is said of Christ, that he spoke with authority, for his lips were circumcised. But to take this objection away; says the Lord, I am Jehovah, I will be with you, I will circumcise your lips.

Object: Indeed, but will Pharaoh be moved with words?

Answer: I am Jehovah, says the Lord, I will make that to be, which is not: I will send plagues among them, and then he will let them go.

Object: But when they are gone, they are a weak and a naked people, how shall they do to live?

Answer: Says God, I will give them favor in the eyes of the Egyptians, and not send them empty, and I will provide food for them.

So Moses went. A strange kind of errand; as if one should go and tell the great Turk, that the God of the Christians has sent to let them go: but yet Moses goes; and all that comforted him, was [illegible] the revealing of this Name.

Now apply this to yourselves; when you are in any distress, know that he that made the heavens and the earth, can give a being to all these things (Isaiah 50:10): Who is among you that fears the Lord, that obeys the voice of his servants, that walks in darkness, and has no light? Let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God. He that walks in darkness, and has no light; let that be your case, that every thing is desperate, you see not a jot of light, nor spark of hope, yet trust in the name of Jehovah, he can make light, when there is none; a man that has no grace in his heart, let him trust in Jehovah, that says in his heart, I would I could be rid of such a lust, and that I could keep holy the Sabbath, but I have nothing in me, my heart is empty of all; (this is the complaint often even of those that have grace:) why, if there be no light, no grace, yet he can work it; and so Paul applies that in (Genesis 1): there was darkness and no light, to himself and them, in (2 Corinthians 4:5): He that commanded light to shine out of darkness, etc. I, says he, and we Gentiles were in darkness, and had no light; yet God commanded light to shine into our hearts, and into mine, the darkest of all the rest. So learn to apply the same to yourself; he that is in darkness, and has no light, yet let him trust in the name of Jehovah; beloved, that is faith. If you should expect no more of God, than a man can do, or a creature can do, it is not worthy the name of faith: as this is proper only to God, to give being to things that are not; so it is the property of faith, when things are not, to believe in the name of Jehovah: therefore, there would your faith be seen; and as for yourself, so for the churches also, you see now, [illegible] how low an ebb they are brought, and yet, they cannot be lower than the estate of the Israelites was in Egypt, and when they were in captivity; yet consider, that that Jehovah, who is the Lord of being, is able to raise the churches, and to give a new being to them (Isaiah 6:13): But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten; as a teil-tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them when they cast their leaves; so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof. That is, when you see the churches go to wreck, when you see them cut down like a mighty wood that is cut down, or that is spoiled of its glory in the autumn: so when you see the glory of the churches thus taken away, yet there is a holy seed, which shall be like a root or bulk of a tree. So should you see the churches overthrown, laid under feet, so that there is no hope of them, so far as we could see; yet be assured, that there is a holy seed, that shall rise, and spread itself again, even as a little root spreads itself into a great tree; and how shall they do it? Says the Lord, I am Jehovah, I can give a being, I can enlarge their being.

Object: But you will say, why then is it that they are brought so low?

Answer: Consider, that it is the Lord's usual course to sit as a man in sleep, but says he in (Isaiah 42:13-14): The Lord shall go forth as a mighty man, he shall stir up jealousy like a man of war; he shall cry, indeed roar; he shall prevail against his enemies: I have long time held my peace, I have refrained myself, now will I cry like a laboring woman, I will destroy and devour at once. He uses three expressions there, to show what he will do for his church in extremity; I will raise myself like a giant, etc. And when he comes, he will come suddenly, as pains on a woman with child come suddenly, so says the Lord; When you look not for me, then will I come, there shall go nothing before me, I will come on a sudden; and not only so, but he will cry as a giant, he will do it strongly, and he will do it effectually; so as he will bring it to pass as a man of war, and so he will do for his church; again, he that has raised it in former times, he will do it now; therefore let us not faint and give over hoping, for he that is Almighty, he is able to do all these things: He who could in Joel destroy the army of caterpillars, and leave a blessing behind him; can do the same as well to men, (though never so many) who are the enemies of his church.