It is of vital importance that the one who is called know the name of the One who is calling him. Exodus 3 reveals the name of God, the calling One, in a full way, more fully perhaps than any other portion of the Word. When God called Moses, Moses said, “Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say unto me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them?” (v. 13). Here we see Moses’ concern with the divine name. He wanted to know the name of the One calling him.
The One who called Moses was firstly the Angel of Jehovah (v. 2). In his translation, Darby capitalizes the word “Angel” to indicate that this Angel was someone unique. Actually, it was Christ, the Son of God, who is God’s Angel, the unique sent One. According to the Bible, an angel is a messenger, that is, one who is sent. In the book of Revelation the leading ones in the churches are called angels, messengers, sent ones. The Angel of the Lord, therefore, in 3:2 is God’s sent One.
When we put verses 2 and 4 together, we see that this sent One, the Angel of Jehovah, is actually Jehovah Himself. Verse 4 says, “And when Jehovah saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the thorn-bush” (Heb.). This proves that the Angel of Jehovah is Jehovah Himself and that Jehovah is God. The New Testament reveals that the Lord Jesus, the Son of God, came as the Father’s sent One. As God’s sent One, He was God Himself.
For the purpose of calling and sending Moses, God, the sending One, appeared to him as the sent One. Only the One who has been sent can send out the sent ones. For example, the apostles, the sent ones in the New Testament, were sent out by the Lord Jesus, God’s sent One. In John 20:21 the Lord Jesus said to the disciples, “As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” Therefore, we, the Lord’s disciples, are sent out by God’s sent One, who is Christ as the Angel of Jehovah.
According to Exodus 3, the calling One is the sent One. This is a crucial point in God’s calling. The one who knows how to use his employees and how to properly supervise them is the one who has done their particular job already. In the same principle, because Christ is God’s sent One, only He knows how to send forth others.
Regarding creation, Genesis 1 says that in the beginning it was God who created the heavens and the earth. But in Genesis 2, when God came to contact man and to develop a relationship with him, the name “Jehovah” is used. Here in Exodus 3 God came in to call Moses, not directly in the name of God nor firstly in the name of Jehovah, but in the name of the Angel of Jehovah. In this chapter it is not a matter of creation nor of developing a relationship with man; it is a matter of calling Moses. To be such a calling One there is the need for someone with the qualifications of a sent one, qualifications met uniquely by Christ as the Angel of Jehovah. Because it is the sent One who calls the sent one, the Angel of Jehovah, the Son of God, came to send Moses.
Why is the title “the Angel of Jehovah” not used in the first two chapters of Exodus? It is not until chapter three that Moses was prepared and ready. Therefore, God came to him as the Angel of Jehovah to call him and to send him. For the sending of Moses, there was the need of One with the experience of having been sent. According to Zechariah 2, the sending One is the sent One, and the sent One is the sending One. We see the same principle at work in chapter three of Exodus. The Angel of Jehovah is Jehovah Himself. The sent One of God, the Son of God, is actually God Himself. The very One who was in the beginning with God and who is God Himself was sent by God.
The title “the Angel of Jehovah” mainly refers to Christ, the Son of God, sent to save God’s people from their situation of suffering (see Judg. 6:12, 22; 13:3-5, 16-22). Here in Exodus 3 the Lord came to call Moses for the delivery of the children of Israel from bondage. Hence, He came as the Angel of Jehovah.
The second title revealed in this chapter is Jehovah, which means “He who was, who is, and who will be.” This title is composed basically of the verb “to be.” Apart from the Lord, all else is nothing. He is the only One who is, the only One who has reality of being. The verb “to be” should not be applied absolutely to anyone or anything except to Him. He is the only self-existent being. In the universe all things are nothing. Only Jehovah is “He who was, who is, and who will be.” In the past, He was; in the present, He is; and in the future, He will be.
Hebrews 11:6 says that “he who comes forward to God must believe that He is.” According to this verse, God is, and we must believe that He is. God is, but we are not.
If we would be called by God, we must know that the calling One is firstly the sent One of God and secondly, Jehovah, the One who was, who is, and who will be. We must know that the God who calls us is and that we are not. We all need to know God in such a way.