"Then the LORD told [Moses], 'I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their cries of distress because of their harsh slave drivers. Yes, I am aware of their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians and lead them out of Egypt into their own fertile and spacious land. It is a land flowing with milk and honey—the land where the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites now live. Look! The cry of the people of Israel has reached me, and I have seen how harshly the Egyptians abuse them. Now go, for I am sending you to Pharaoh. You must lead my people Israel out of Egypt.'
But Moses protested, 'Who am I to appear before Pharaoh? Who am I to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt?'
God answered, 'I will be with you. And this is your sign that I am the one who has sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God at this very mountain.'
But Moses protested, 'If I go to the people of Israel and tell them, "The God of your ancestors has sent me to you," they will ask me, "What is his name?" Then what should I tell them?'
God replied to Moses, 'I AM WHO I AM. Say this to the people of Israel: I AM has sent me to you.'"
When God called Moses to participate in the great deliverance of his people, God had to "come down." He manifested his presence in the physical world in the form of a burning bush: fire that gives light but does not consume. He gave Moses a picture of "I AM WHO I AM" that Moses was to hold in his mind and heart. God said that he would do the delivering but that it would be through Moses. God does his work in this physical world largely through us. He "comes down" and lives in us, and we do his work as he leads.
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