How good is your memory?!
- Can you remember faces but not always names?
- Do you ever enter a room or get to the top of the stairs and forget why you went there?
- Do you sometimes start a sentence but then forget what you were going to say??
Sure signs of getting old, I’m afraid!
But does God forget names and faces? Its an important question, because if we are to have any hope of life beyond the grave, we need to know that God will remember us and give us new life. You might say that our resurrection relies on God remembering us! Can individual Christians be confident that God will remember little old me, out of the millions who’ve ever lived?
God remembers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob
In our Exodus passage today Moses’ attention was grabbed by a strange-looking bush on Mount Horeb that was aflame, yet not burning up. As Moses draws near to investigate this mysterious bush he has a remarkable ‘brush with the divine’. An encounter in which God would reveal his name to Moses and commission him on a life-changing mission.
But most importantly for us, this burning bush experience is a demonstration that God remembers. God doesn’t forget.
- He hasn’t forgotten the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
- He didn’t forget the oppressed Israelites in Egypt,
- And he won’t forget his people, like you & me, today.
So let’s look at this famous incident in Exodus 3 a little more closely…
As he stares at the burning bush, God begins by telling Moses is to take off his sandals because he’s “standing on holy ground” (v.5). He’s in the presence of the Almighty – this is not an experience to be taken lightly!
God then gives Moses the great privilege of knowing his name. The mere fact that he has a name reminds us that God is personal. He is a ‘he’ not an ‘it’. He’s a person, not just a power.
In verse 14 the Lord calls himself “I AM WHO I AM” (or simply “I AM”). A name that could be translated as “Always”. A name that reflects God’s eternal existence and everlasting goodness.
But crucially, the Lord also introduces himself to Moses as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Astonishingly, almighty God defines himself in relation to the three patriarchs. The Lord has not forgotten these three men, whom we’ve spent so much time getting to know over the past couple of months:
- Three men whom God had pledged himself to in an everlasting covenant.
- Three men to whom he had made great promises of people, blessing and a land.
- Three men who were fallible and fallen, like all of us, but who were saved by their faith in God.
In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus refers back to this incident, and draws out its significance. Speaking to a group of sceptical Sadducees, Jesus points out that if the ever-living God defines himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, then those three men will live forever too.
The patriarchs lives on earth may be over, says Jesus, but the God of life has granted them immortality beyond the grave. They have passed away from this world, but have arrived in glory in the world to come. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are gone but emphatically not forgotten by God!
God remembered the Israelites in Egypt
If you were here last week, you will know from Exodus chapter 1 that God had already fulfilled one of his promises to the Patriarchs. Abraham’s family had multiplied massively and become a great nation. A nation so numerous, in fact, that they were perceived as a political threat by Pharoah, and therefore subjected to slavery. The people of God were under enormous pressure and persecution in the midst of a foreign land.
But the Lord had not forgotten them, just as he had not forgotten Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. As he speaks from within the burning bush, God reassures Moses that he has seen the Israelites “misery” and “suffering” in Egypt and has heard their cries for deliverance. Moved with compassion, God intends to rescue them from slavery, and take them to the land he promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob – a land ‘flowing with milk and honey’.
And the Lord wants Moses to be the man to lead the Israelites into liberty. Moses is about to embark on a midlife career-change – from being a shepherd of sheep to be a powerful prophet & leader of his people. As God says to him in v.10 “Go, I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.” Moses’ mission is to confront Pharaoh, demand freedom for his people, & lead them to the Promised Land.
God had not forgotten, you see, this promises to his people – His promises to the patriarchs that their descendants would inherit a land of their own – a land in which they could enjoy peace and prosperity, a land where they could learn to serve and worship him. A land from which they could be a moral and spiritual ‘light’ to their surrounding nations.
As the books of Exodus, Numbers and Deuteronomy unfold, we see God’s faithfulness to his promises, as he does indeed lead his people out of slavery and to the cusp of Canaan, the Promised Land.
God will remember us and resurrect us!
So as I finish, the great news that we can take from all this is that God will not forget us:
- God didn’t forget about Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and he won’t forget about us.
- God didn’t forget about the Israelites in Egypt, and he won’t forget about you and me.
God sees us as we live, and hears us as we pray. And best of all, he will resurrect those he remembers. He will recall to life every deceased Christian he recalls to mind. This is the main lesson taught by Jesus in our Gospel reading today. In a stinging rebuke to the Sadducees, who denied any life beyond the grave, Jesus stresses that his Father has the power to raise the dead. God has the ability, says Jesus, to keep his promise of eternal life to all his faithful people.
So Christians can have a sure and certain hope, because the Lord never forgets his people or his promises. He won’t forget his promise of eternal life, and he won’t forget about us!