“Say therefore to the people of Israel, I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. And I will deliver you from slavery to them. And I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. I will take you to be my people and I will be your God. And you shall know that I am the Lord your God who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac and Jacob. I will give it to you for a possession, I am the Lord.”
– Exodus 6:6–8
This is one of my favorite passages in the book of Exodus, because in those three verses, Exodus 6:6–8, in those three verses, did you hear the repetition of the words, “I will”? Over and over and over again. I love the structure of these verses and what they say about God. In the very beginning, God’s first words are, “I am the Lord.”
And then those are his last words. So beginning of verse six, “I am the Lord,” God says, and last words in this passage, “I am the Lord” at the end of verse eight. And in between this declaration of who God is, I am the Lord, the great “I am,” Exodus chapter three. In between this declaration of God’s name, this revelation of who God is, sandwiched in between in a matter of three verses you have seven different times where God says, “I will.”
God’s Promise of Peace, Wisdom, and Strength
For those who are in Christ, God has promised peace, wisdom, and strength.
And I’ll just rattle them off again. I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. I will deliver you from slavery to them. Yes, I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. I will take you to be my people. I will be your God. Oh, I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. I will give it to you for a possession. I will, I will, I will.
And we know, it’s kind of a spoiler alert here, God does all of those things. God does everything He says He will do. And that’s the point. This is who God is. He is the God who makes and keeps all His promises. He makes promises to His people. God says, “I will do this. I will do this or I will be this. Or I will work in this way.” He makes promises like that. And then He keeps every single one of them.
Exodus 6:6–8 Thanks God for being Our Lord
This is part of what it means for Him to be the Lord, to be our Lord, which … So just think about that. For Him to be Lord, it means that He rules and reigns over us, that He leads and guides us. He’s our Lord. Isn’t it good to know that your Lord, the God of the universe, the great “I am,” He’s your Lord, and he keeps all of his good promises to you.
How horrible would it be to follow a Lord who either, one, doesn’t make any good promises, or, two, makes good promises, but never keeps them, or sometimes keeps them and you never know if He’s actually going to keep them. No. Your God is the Lord. The great “I am.” And He makes and keeps all of his promises.
God’s Name Exalted as Lord
So God, we praise You. We exalt Your name as the Lord. You are the Lord and we praise You for all of Your promises, for Your promise to save us, for Your promise to keep us, for Your promise to guard us. God, I just pray these promises over. I don’t know what people are walking through right now, but I just pray these promises over them.
Over my own life, over each of our lives, as we have trusted in You as the Lord. God, we praise You for Your promise to keep us, to guard us, to help us. Your promise to shepherd us. Your promise to work all things together for our good. God, Your promise to provide for us according to all of our needs, based on the glorious riches that are found in Christ Jesus. Your promise to give us mercy that’s new every morning, mercy that’s sufficient for every single day’s troubles.
God, I pray that promise over every single person who’s listening to You, who’s trusted in You. Your promise to give us peace, to give us strength in our weakness, to give us wisdom in our decision-making. Your promise to be with us. God, Your promise to never leave us alone. Your promise to make our paths straight when we trust in you with all our heart. Your promise to give us everything we need to do everything You’ve called us to do.
Exodus 6:6–8 Praises God for His Faithfulness
So, God, we praise you for all of these promises and we praise You for Your faithfulness to keep every single one of them. We praise You that there’s no question today that You will be faithful to all Your promises and no question that You will be faithful to all Your promises tomorrow and the next day and the next day, and that 10 trillion years from now, we will be praising You because You will have been faithful to every promise you have made.
So all glory be to Your name, the Lord. You are the Lord who makes and keeps all your promises, and in You we trust. We trust You, Lord. Lord, we love You, with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. We love You. Lord, we trust You. We follow You. We submit to You and we worship You, gladly worship You. In Jesus’ name we pray, in the name of the one who makes all of the promises of God yes for us. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
