God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘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.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.

Exodus 3:15 ESV

At the burning bush, God interrupted Moses’ life, took him from herding sheep, and set him on a path to rescue Israel from Egypt. And he gave Moses a message for Israel: God’s covenant promise. One ancient commentator said,

…the promise might seem to be obsolete when they had received no assistance, whilst overwhelmed in such an abyss of misery, and on this ground, the faith received from their fathers had undoubtedly grown cold. Wherefore, that they may learn to repose upon it, he calls himself the God of their fathers, and declares, that by this title he will be celebrated forever.

At the beginning and end of his encounter with Moses, God named himself “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Why? To assure Israel that the God who called them to trust him for rescue from Pharoah was the same God whom their fathers worshiped; that his covenant promises never fail; that his love is indeed everlasting.

But there is more to the name God had chosen. Far more. Think about this with me: God had chosen a name that included the names of three historic individuals. And he had chosen that name forever. The unchangeable God had bound himself in name forever to three men on whom he had placed his love. And into eternity God’s name will include those of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

The writer of Hebrews said, “But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.” (Heb. 11:16 ESV)

This is the kind of God we serve: he is not content only to rescue his people, to show them kindness when they are suffering. He will do more: he will bind himself to them forever. He is just the kind of God who would someday join himself eternally to our flesh and soul in Jesus Christ.