I am Daniel Sung Jeon. But what does that mean to you? Well, it will depend on how much you already know me.
If I simply said that I am a male or a guy, how much would you get from that regarding who I am? Not much.
If I got a little more descriptive I could say that I am a husband, father, son and brother, it would help but not much more. Because there are plenty of fathers, sons and brothers in this world. It doesn’t really tell you know I am. It doesn’t set me apart.
It is only when I ground my identity in relationship to something, some place or someone, that it begins to make sense to you.
It is only when you find some type of connection with any aspect of my story, that you find the starting point.
It’s no different with God.
In Exodus 3, God is trying to get this reluctant hero to go and put into action the greatest rescue mission in history. He’s not making it easy. The dialogue just goes on and on. Finally, Moses asks God, the following question.
13 Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”
This is a valid question. He’s saying, “What if I show up to Egypt and the Israelites have no idea who you are? What am I suppose to do then?”
14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’”
This is where we normally stop when it comes to trying to comprehend God’s identity and name. We try to decipher what “I am who I am” really means. But so far, there’s nothing really relatable about God’s identity.
But think about all the other names of God. Jehovah, Yahweh, Elohim, El Shaddai, etc. they are all very abstract. None of them really ground God’s identity on something that we can relate with. It’s like saying that I am a man, a male or a guy. But with just this, the idea of knowing God, or measuring whether we know Him or not becomes impossible.
But thankfully, He goes on.
15 God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’
So, He gives a set of names that Moses and any Hebrew would recognize. God states that his identity is inseparable with these three individuals. It grounds the identity of God. Their familiarity with God would be proportionate to how well they knew the narratives of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
But God says something more.
“This is my name forever, the name you shall call me from generation to generation.”
I want to stop here for a second and ponder something that might make you uncomfortable. You may not like it but hear me out.
How well do you know the narratives of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob?
Since God said that He has permanently linked His identity with these three people, how well should we know their stories?
I say this with all due respect. We must be honest with God and our own hearts. If you and I do not know Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and their stories like we know our best friends, we do not know this God as He wants to be known.
According to Exodus 3:15, if we have not seen God through the book of Genesis, in His interaction with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, we do not know the God of the Bible as we should. Pure and simple.
This isn’t to say that we don’t know Him at all. But it is to say that we don’t know Him as we should. According to Jesus, Eternal life in its essence, is knowing God.
Before we get to Jesus in the Gospels, we must know the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The entirety of Scripture hangs upon this point.
The absolute necessary fundamentals of who this God is, has been frozen in time in the book of Genesis. Armed with this, we can understand the rest of the Bible.
So, I want to challenge you, before you try to understand anything else in the Bible, to start by getting to know Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And as we get to know them, we will come to know God, as He intended us to know HIm.
When God said that He is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, God is pleading with us to immerse ourselves in the book of Genesis. It is a promise to meet you there. God has left it to the lives of these three men and their descendants to show how Good He really is.
Think about it this. The only way for us to know how good or bad someone, is in relationship to other people.
You’re not going to get a full picture of who I really am unless you hear it from my close friends and family members who have known me for years. The full picture of who I am today is reflected in the way that I treated them and my experiences with them.
There’s only one way to really get to know someone in a well-rounded way, in a short amount of time. You sit down and get to know the people who know already them well.
The stories you hear about them from different stages of life, show progression and growth. The different perspectives that they have about me will reveal different aspects of my identity. The repeated situations and reactions show how, in many ways, I am still the same kid inside.
By seeing how God treated the three patriarchs and their descendants and what they say about God, we can get a sufficient understanding of who He is, as we go about our personal journey with Him. Simply put. If we don’t know Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, we don’t know God properly. For some, maybe not at all.
In order for us to know God, for who He is, we must understand the book of Genesis. That’s why it’s at the beginning of the Bible.
About a year ago, I attended a funeral of a well-known retired pastor. During the meal, I met Elder Kim for the first time. In the course of our conversation, he asked who my father was. When I told him, he began to weep. They had been friends since they were young.
When we meet someone new, we usually try to keep our composure. We usually try to make the best impressions possible. Tears are not necessarily the go to way to make a likable impression. But he wept in front of me, a complete stranger. Suddenly, because he knew my father, he looked at me with a strange sense of familiarity, strong enough to show his emotions. He didn’t know me at all. He knew my dad. But, based on his relationship with my father, he felt that he knew me already.
How is it with you and God?
When you hear the word “Genesis”, does it paint a beautiful picture of a God who is only faithful and who desires your best? If it doesn’t, then this is God’s call for you to start reading the Bible. Until the book of Genesis becomes synonymous with fireworks and stars in your relationship with God, we will continue in our intentional ignorance of God’s character. This isn’t a judgement call. This is an invitation to begin a real relationship with the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob.
In our relationships with those around us, even those closest to us like our family, we often forget that there is so much more to them than what we know about them. My father passed away when I was 14. I knew him for that short period of 14 years, as my father. But it was only after his passing that I begin to known him beyond my immediate memories with him.
A few years back, I went on a road trip with my uncle and he shared stories after stories about my father, as a brother. My aunt shared stories about him as a brother-in-law. As I travelled from place to place, I met people who knew him as their pastor, teacher and friend. And quite frankly, most of these people knew about my father a lot longer than I did. Yes, my father passed away years ago, but as I get to know more people that knew him from a different context, I am constantly getting closer and closer to him.
Yes, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob died thousands of years ago. But their stories are recorded for us in the book of Genesis, because, God in His infinite wisdom, saw that that was the best way for us to start our relationship with HIm.
So, start here. Seriously.
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