Sing of God's Deliverance-- Sing with Moses and Israel

Text: Song of Moses and Israel, Lutheran Service Book #925

During these midweek services we’ll be learning hymns from way in the back of the hymnal— a group of hymns that I doubt any of you have ever learned. They are songs from the Old Testament— we use the term ‘canticles’ for them. They’re Old Testament canticles— songs of praise for God’s deliverance. Tonight we begin in the passage you heard a few minutes ago from Exodus 15. This canticle is the song that Israel sang after they had passed through the Red Sea, leaving slavery and the Egyptian army behind.

Trapped by God?

To really consider the song of victory sung by Israel in Exodus 15, we need to back up a few hours (a few hours in their time). Just hours before this song, they were on the opposite bank of the Red Sea, trapped there by Pharaoh’s army. At that point they were complaining to Moses: “Were they running out of graves in Egypt that you brought us out here to die?” (Ex. 14:11). “Didn’t we tell you to leave us in peace back in Egypt? [Living there in slavery] would have been better than dying out here in the wilderness” (Ex. 14:12). They were in complete despair. They had gone from feeling saved by God, after being delivered from slavery through the blood of the passover lambs— from that feeling of deliverance— to feeling trapped. And, worse, trapped by God. After all, He had led them to that point. He had led them out of Egypt in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night (Exodus 13:21). Then He had led them to a spot where they were caught between Pharaoh’s army and an uncrossable sea. They had good reason to despair. That temptation to despair, that sense of being trapped, that sense of being trapped by God is where I’d like to start this evening.

Is that where you feel like you are each time Ash Wednesday rolls around— trapped by God? …constantly reminded of things you’d rather leave behind? …forced to face the difficult reality of death looming in front of you? It seems like Ash Wednesday may very well put you in a similar position to the despair that Israel felt as they stood at the banks of the Red Sea with Pharaoh’s army bearing down on them.

Do believers really need to be reminded of their sins? Do you? You know that unrepentant sinners need to hear the accusing voice of God’s Law. But what about believers? Can’t we just let you put the whole idea of sin behind you?

Do believers really need to be reminded of death— reminded that they are dust and to dust they shall return? Do you? Haven’t believers been set free from slavery to sin and death?

Is it really necessary to put believers back there in that place? Didn’t you hear enough about your guilt before you were saved from your sins? If this is really where God leads His people, then might it even be better to just go back to being slaves to sin? Are you any better off now than you were then?

You do— you have good reason to feel trapped by your sin, trapped by the reality of death looming somewhere in the future. Ash Wednesday does, in a sense, put you back in that place, figuratively speaking— trapped between sin and death. It puts you there so that you can also join in their song of victory.

“A Man of War”

Why did God lead them there, right into what seemed like a trap? So that He could save them. There, at the shore of the Red Sea, they learned that, as they set out for the Promised Land, God was still their strength, their deliverer (Ex. 15:2). They hadn’t been set free and then set on their way to fend for themselves and work out whatever promise that they could manage. He was leading them in His steadfast love (Ex. 15:13). He would bring them in and plant them in the Promised Land (Ex. 15:17).

That is, after all, why they are able to sing a song of unrestrained, unqualified victory. This isn’t just a single battle that has been won; it’s not just the first step in what will certainly be a long war; it’s over. Think about what that means. Think back to World War II, for example.

When Germany surrendered during World War II— on “V-E Day”— there were certainly celebrations. It was a wonderful sign that the end of the war was in sight. It was only a matter of time. But those celebrations had to have been somewhat muted, because there were more battles to fight. It was, still, a matter of time. But when Japan surrendered— on “V-J Day”— what a celebration that was. That was it. It was over.

For the Children of Israel exiting the Red Sea, there would be more enemies, there would be opposition. But no army could threaten them, the walls of Jericho could not withstand them. From that day on, “The Lord [was] their strength and [their] song, and He had become [their] salvation” (Ex. 15:2).

That’s why it is a blessed thing to be trapped by God, so to speak, on Ash Wednesday. There is no going back to being slaves to sin. There is no way of avoiding the death that looms ahead of you someday. But “the Lord is a man of war” (Ex. 15:3). There is none like Him, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders (Ex. 15:11). And the greatest wonder of all was what He did on the cross.

He allowed His Son to be overtaken by the enemies who pursued you. They encircled Him like a pack of dogs (Ps. 22:16). After they pierced His hands and feet, they stood and gloated over Him (Ps. 22:17). The only possessions He had at that point were the clothes on His back, but they divided that clothing among them as their spoil (Psalm 22:18). He poured out the last measure of His strength until He was finally laid in the dust of death (Psalm 22:15).

The moment He stepped out of the tomb 3 days later, sin and death no longer had any power over Him. “7 For one who has died has been set free from sin” (Romans 6:7). “9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him” (Romans 6:9).

His death sets you free. His resurrection is your victory. So He commanded that you be brought to the waters of baptism and, through the power of the Word combined with that water, you were united with Him in His death and His resurrection (Romans 6:4). Your sinful flesh was drowned in that saving flood. Jesus’ victory became yours.

If you’ll forgive the mixed metaphor, death has passed over you just like it passed over the Children of Israel in Egypt, because Christ, your Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed and His blood has covered your sin.

God brings you back to Ash Wednesday each year to remind you again that, from the day of your baptism onward, “The Lord is [your] strength and [your] song, and He has become [your] salvation” (Ex. 15:2). As long as you are in this world, the devil, the world, and your sinful flesh will do their worst. But they are no threat to you any longer. The gates of Hell can not hold you.

Why bother learning these Old Testament Canticles? Why spend all this time way in the back of the hymnal with hymns that none of you have ever sung before? Because those songs of God’s deliverance have become your songs, as well. The victory that you have to celebrate is even greater than the one Israel sang about as they left Pharaoh’s army behind at the bottom of the Red Sea. They sang that day in the joy that only comes when total hopelessness and desperation is transformed into total deliverance. You, now, are invited to join in their hymn.

Tonight we sing of God’s deliverance. We sing with Israel.