Hebrews Series

The plagues, the Passover and the Crossing of the Red Sea

Judgment on Egypt, Salvation for Israel

In just two verses in the letter to the Hebrews, the writer gives those Jewish Christians so much to consider concerning Moses and Israel:

Hebrews 11:28–29 NIV

By faith he kept the Passover and the application of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel. By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned.

Hab 1:5-6 ““Look at the nations and watch— and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told. I am raising up the Babylonians, that ruthless and impetuous people, who sweep across the whole earth to seize dwellings not their own.”

This astonishing revelation from God to the prophet Habakkuk tells us something about God that we and the world must always understand: that God is sovereign and that God will judge.

In Habakkuk’s time God was preparing to use the Babylonians as a means to judge Israel.

The prophet Nahum tells us about this God

Nahum 1:2-3 “The Lord is a jealous and avenging God; the Lord takes vengeance and is filled with wrath. The Lord takes vengeance on his foes and vents his wrath against his enemies. The Lord is slow to anger but great in power; the Lord will not leave the guilty unpunished. His way is in the whirlwind and the storm, and clouds are the dust of his feet.”

Time and again in scripture we find examples of God executing his judgment and he uses the nations as instruments of his judgment. Often the judgment was against his own people, the Israelites, and always with the purpose of bringing them back to himself, to lead them to repentance and forgiveness. The book of Judges is a record which shows God as one who loves his people and rescues them from the tribes and nations surrounding them. It also reminds us that God does not let sin go unpunished and uses those very same nations as his instruments as he deals with the sin and Idolatry of Israel. The Israelites are then God’s instruments, when he punishes those nations.

In this eleventh chapter of Hebrews the writer reminds us the event which probably most peopole in the world know about: the crossing of the Red Sea; the rescue of the Israelites and the destruction of the Egyptians. Salvation and Judgment. The prophet Micah refers to it when he wrote.

Micah 7:15-16 ““As in the days when you came out of Egypt, I will show them my wonders.” Nations will see and be ashamed, deprived of all their power. They will put their hands over their mouths and their ears will become deaf.”