Exodus 3:7-8 “The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.”

No one should be shocked if the holy God had told Moses, “I have indeed seen the wickedness of my people in Egypt, and they are getting what they deserve.” No, he sees and hears the misery, the cries for help. Though sinful humanity has made a mess of our world, the Lord hasn’t abandoned us to a world where we devour each other. He hasn’t even left us to suffer the consequences of our own rebellion and foolishness. He is moved by our plight, whether inflicted by others or self-imposed.

“So I have come down to rescue them.” In a moment he will tell Moses that he is sending him. But before that he tells Moses that the Lord himself has come and will rescue. Moses was just the spokesman. The Lord himself showed up here on Mount Sinai, and later in Egypt, with the plagues that forced Israel’s oppressors to set them free, with the dry path to freedom through the middle of the Red Sea, with the waters that drowned their enemies. Moses spoke. The people watched. But the Lord rescued because he is gracious, and he loves his people in a way they could never earn or deserve.

This has always been God’s M.O., hasn’t it. For us, too, “I have come down to rescue them.” For us he didn’t clothe himself in a burning bush, but a baby’s body. He didn’t inflict devastating plagues. He reversed the plague of human misery by healing the sick, raising the dead, and freeing those possessed by demons. He drowned sin and death in a red sea of his own blood shed on the cross, and those enemies of ours are dead and defeated. He leads us out of our tombs to a better promised land, not occupied by Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, but saints and angels gathered around God’s throne.

You and I are the spokesman. Tell the story faithfully. But the Lord rescues because he cares about our suffering, he is gracious, and he loves us in a way we could never earn or deserve.