Jesus in the Book of Exodus

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Christ in the Old Testament – Part 3

Jesus in the Book of Exodus

Reference:

Tony Keating

I am continuing my series Christ in the Old Testament.

So far in this series, there have been two sermons, Christ in the Garden of Eden & Christ and Noah’s Ark—Allow me to recap.

I talked about the adventure I went through when challenged years ago by my friend Kyle in Virginia. He believes that Christ is found in every verse in the Bible. Kyle opened my eyes to see Christ in many places where one might not suspect.

Since then, I have been paying attention, reading the Old Testament, and looking for Christ.

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Furthermore, Jesus Himself, on the Emmaus Road, after His resurrection explains to some disciples who did not even recognize Him—at least not until their eyes were opened that the Old Testament is all about Him.

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Let’s review Luke 24:27.

Luke 24:27 And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.

Do you see the comparison that Luke makes when he retells the events on the Emmaus road? They didn’t recognize Jesus on the Emmaus Road just like they didn’t recognize Jesus in the Old Testament. However, in both places, the Emmaus Road, and the Old Testament, Jesus had been there, unrecognized all along.

In the first sermon, I explained that Jesus was present with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

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In Genesis 3:8, we read:

8 And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.

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I explained that when you see God in human form—such as walking—that is Jesus!

Jesus is also seen in the curse on the talking snake.

Remember this picture?

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Looking at Genesis 3:15;

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15 “And I will put enmity

Between you and the woman,

And between your seed and her Seed;

He shall bruise your head,

And you shall bruise His heel.”

Adam and Eve distrusted God and were no longer eligible to live in paradise.

However, God prophesied that a Savior, the Seed of the Woman would fix that problem.

The Seed of the woman is the Lord Jesus Christ.

You see, Old Testament saints were saved the same way that New Testament Saints are saved.

They were saved by grace through faith in the coming Messiah.

The only difference is they were looking ahead and we are looking back to the cross.

We are saved by grace through faith in the Messiah who already came.

Finally, Jesus is depicted in the animal skins that God made for Adam and Eve.

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Read Genesis 3:21;

21 Also for Adam and his wife the Lord God made tunics of skin, and clothed them.

This is another element of salvation. There must be an atoning death.

By making tunics of skin, it is implied that an animal had to die—and that death represents the death of Jesus on the cross. Remember what God said would happen when they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil—that’s right, they would die—and they did die spiritually. Now all humanity needs a substitutionary death to pay for our sins.

Putting this all together, we have the Old Testament version of the Gospel.

Old Testament saints needed to trust in the coming Messiah, the Seed of the woman who would die in their place, being the perfect substitute for their sins. That Messiah would be victorious, ultimately defeating all His foes, including sin, death, and that crafty talking snake.

In the second sermon, it was explained that just as for Noah and his family, the Ark was the only way to get physical salvation from the flood.

Christ is the only way to obtain spiritual salvation. The Ark was a “type” or picture of Christ.

However, I missed something in my last sermon about “Christ in the Old Testament.”

Last time I brought up Genesis 7:16b, “And the LORD shut him in.”

I listed this verse as a maybe as far as finding Christ in the Old Testament.

However, someone here in Church later showed me a picture of them in front of the Ark door at the Ark Encounter in Kentucky and it clicked.

Immediately I realized that it was indeed Christ who shut Noah in the Ark.

Genesis 6:14 says that the Ark was covered in pitch. This pitch would serve as a waterproofing and blast-proofing. Tests on the popular T.V. show MythBusters show that polyurethane coatings serve as a blast-proofing agent on wood and concrete walls.

https://creation.com/noahs-ark-pitch

The God-sanctioned pitch on the Ark would have served a similar purpose. To have the pitch uniform throughout, someone would have had to seal Noah and his family in. This presupposes that God was in human form applying pitch to the outside of the Ark door.

…And whenever you see God in human form, that is the Lord Jesus Christ!

If you missed those first two sermons in this series, they are available on the Church website.

Today’s Sermon is Entitled, “Jesus in the Book of Exodus.”

But first, I want to look at an event in the life of Abraham.

In Genesis chapter 18, three men come to visit Abraham by the terebinth trees of Mamre.

As the narrative continues, it starts to become clear that one of the men is God himself and the two other men are angels.

Look at Genesis chapter 18, starting with verse 9.

9 Then they said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” So he said, “Here, in the tent.”

Watch these pronouns here. Observe that verse 9 began with “they.” That is the three “men.”

Let’s look at the next verse, verse 10.

10 And He said, “I will certainly return to you according to the time of life, and behold, Sarah your wife shall have a son.” (Sarah was listening in the tent door which was behind him.)

The pronoun in verse 10 is the word, “He,” capitalized. The New King James Version of the Bible correctly observes that this is God speaking as evidenced by the capital “H.”

Reading on…

11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age; and Sarah had passed the age of childbearing. 12 Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, “After I have grown old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?”

13 And the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I surely bear a child, since I am old?’ 14 Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.”

15 But Sarah denied it, saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid.

And He said, “No, but you did laugh!”

Notice here that it has become clear that the main guy of these three visitors to Abraham is the LORD himself! These three “men” ate a meal with Abraham and Sarah! This means that the Lord God Himself visited Abraham that day in human form! And whenever we see God in human form in the Old Testament, that is Jesus!

You see, Jesus visited Abraham in person!

Just to reinforce that one of the “men” was God, look at verse 22, “Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the Lord.”

Later in Genesis 19:1a we read, “Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening.”

Why were there only two angels? Because the Lord Jesus Christ was the third figure and He had stayed with Abraham.

There are other places as well where the Angel of the Lord is clearly God. Look at

Genesis 16:10 which is speaking of Hagar.

“Then the Angel of the Lord said to her, ‘I will multiply your descendants exceedingly, so that they shall not be counted for multitude.’”

The word Angel means messenger. However, ordinary angels don’t multiply someone’s descendants. Only God can do that. This is no ordinary messenger. This is God, Himself!

Likewise, we see something similar in the burning bush when Moses begins his ministry.

Let’s look at Exodus chapter 3.

1 Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. 3 Then Moses said, “I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn.”

4 So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!”

And he said, “Here I am.”

Now wait just a second, did you catch that? Verse 2 says that it was the Angel of the Lord in the burning bush but verse 4 says it was the Lord in the burning bush. So which is it?

There is a strong adherence in Church history which understands this passage to likewise refer to the Lord Jesus Christ. Famous Christians of history like Justin the Martyr, Irenaeus, John Calvin, the Puritan John Owen, and Jonathan Edwards all agree that it was Jesus in the burning bush!

However, the burning bush is not the only place we see Christ in the Book of Exodus.

Recently I had to write a 40-page paper on the Book of Exodus for one of my classes at Liberty University. At the same time as I was heavily researching the Book of Exodus, I was also studying John’s Gospel in my Every Man a Warrior Class. Reading these two books side by side, Exodus and John’s Gospel, I am convinced that John had the Book of Exodus on his mind when he was writing his gospel.

Turning to John 1:1–3,

“1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.”

Look there we found Jesus in the Old Testament again! Jesus, the Word, was there in creation!

As far as the significance in the Book of Exodus, look at John 1:14,

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”

Jesus is the Word. Jesus was there with the Father for eternity past. He was involved in Creation. He was there in the Garden of Eden. He saved Noah and his family from the flood. He was there with Abraham promising Him the birth of Isaac. He was there in the burning bush commissioning Moses. And then somewhere between 6 and 4 B.C., Jesus became flesh and was born in Bethlehem.

What is really interesting is that this Greek word John uses to declare that the Word “dwelt” among us is the Greek word σκηνόω which means “Tabernacled.”

Watch this now, in the Book of Exodus, after God redeems the Hebrew slaves from bondage in Egypt, He immediately commissions the building of the Tabernacle. The Tabernacle was a temporary solution to the problem that people are no longer able to live in the sacred space of Eden. Adam and Eve were in fellowship with God in the Garden of Eden. However, people are not allowed in Eden now because of sin. The Tabernacle was a way to meet humanity where we were. This was sacred space brought to earth where the Israelites literally camped alongside the Tabernacle. They had a bunch of little tents and God had one big tent, leading them in the wilderness as their Shepherd.

The Tabernacle was God’s throne room and the Ark of the covenant was His footstool.

In the New Testament, Jesus’ human body was the tent or building of God’s presence on Earth.

This is just a taste of what the New Heaven and New Earth will be like when we are permanently back in fellowship with God as Jesus walks with us in his glorified resurrection body.

But we are getting way ahead of ourselves.

After realizing that there was a connection between John’s Gospel and the Book of Exodus, I did some research on the connection.

Alastair Roberts and Andrew Wilson in their book, Echoes of Exodus: Tracing Themes of Redemption Through Scripture, point out many other places where the Apostle John echoes the Book of Exodus.

They write,

“Jesus is the provider of wine for God’s people so they can

celebrate with him, behold him, and eat and drink (John 2; cf. Exodus 24). He is

the preacher of the new birth, through the waters and by the Spirit, and the bronze

serpent lifted up in the wilderness, that whoever believes may have life (3). He is

the fountain of water in dry places (4; 7). He heals those who have been weak and

paralyzed, hopeless and lost—one man for thirty-eight years—and gives them rest

(5; cf. Deut. 2:14). He provides the bread of heaven and reveals his sovereignty

over the waters (6). He is the prophet like Moses and the source of true spiritual

food and drink (6; 7). He is the light that leads Israel, the truth that liberates them

from slavery, and the “I am” of the burning bush (8). He is the shepherd who leads

his people out and protects them (10). He turns Pharaoh’s plagues on their heads,

bringing fresh water to the thirsty, healing to those plagued with sickness, light in

the darkness, and life to the dead, ultimately through his self-sacrifice as the King’s

firstborn Son at Passover. He is the true tabernacle, in whom we see what God

truly looks like; the true mediator, who prays that his people would be united in

truth and holiness; the true Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” (Echoes of Exodus, 126).

I think we can add some of these to our list of places we found Christ in the Old Testament.

Let’s see, we have:

Jesus was involved in creation. He was there in the Garden of Eden. Jesus saved Noah and his family from the flood. Jesus was there with Abraham promising Him the birth of Isaac. Jesus is the “I am” of the burning bush. Jesus is the spotless Passover Lamb. Jesus is the Tabernacle—the Shepherd in the wilderness. Jesus is the fourth man in Nebuchadnezzar’s fiery furnace.

Oh, how more and more it looks like my friend Kyle was right! Jesus is all over the Old Testament!

Simply put, when you need a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ is there!

The preeminent salvific event in the Book of Exodus (and possibly all of the Old Testament) was the parting of the Red Sea.

God physically saving the Israelites by leading them through the Red Sea is a picture of God saving our souls through the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

God redeemed the Israelites from the bondage of slavery.

God redeems us from the bondage of sin.

But even more than that, the Bible says in

Exodus 12:12

“For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the Lord.”

In what way did God execute judgment upon the gods of Egypt?

Of course, we know that the Egyptian gods are really no gods at all.

However, the Egyptians thought they were gods and the one true God wanted to expose this lie.

Certainly, the Hebrew slaves also needed to be shown that the Egyptian gods were really no gods at all.

I have recently learned how a few of Egypt’s gods were exposed as frauds in the Book of Exodus. Many Egyptian books have now been translated into English and reading those books is eye-opening.

There is an ancient Egyptian book called the “Book of Gates.” The book describes the day and night cycle in terms of Egyptian mythology.

When the sun sets in the West, we know that really the Earth has rotated on its axis where we can’t see it.

However, the ancient Egyptians would think that the sun had been devoured by the netherworld.

Oh, did I mention that the Egyptians worshiped the sun god? In fact, the sun god was thought to be the head of all the gods.

In the Book of Gates, the sun god’s soul sails on a boat through the primordial waters of the netherworld for the 12 hours of night. Each hour has a different gate and various ordeals. The sun god has three friends on the boat to help him. At midnight, the sun god gets his corpse back and at dawn, the sun god “resurrects” only to go through the whole cycle each day.

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Here is a picture (explains the picture; Sia, Mehen, Heka)

There are a lot of snakes in the Book of Gates. There is a snake at every one of the 12 gates. Some of the snakes are the sun god’s enemies and some of the snakes are the sun god’s friends. One of the sun god’s three helpers is a snake god named Mehen. As seen in the picture, Mehen slithers and coils around the sun god and forms a protective shield against the bad snakes.

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The most feared of the “bad” snakes is the sun god’s archenemy, Apep the swallower—another snake.

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You know that cobra emblem on Pharaoh’s head? Well, that emblem is similar to the Egyptian god Mehen. That cobra is thought to be fire-breathing and fight off Pharaoh’s enemies.

Oh yeah, did I mention that the ancient Egyptians worship Pharaoh as a god? Indeed, he was said to be the sun god incarnate.

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Before returning to the text of Exodus, I need to introduce the sun god’s second helper named Heka. Heka is the Egyptian god of magic. The Egyptian magicians were thought to perform their dark arts by the power of Heka.

Exodus 7:8–13 states,

8 Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, 9 “When Pharaoh speaks to you, saying, ‘Show a miracle for yourselves,’ then you shall say to Aaron, ‘Take your rod and cast it before Pharaoh, and let it become a serpent.’ ” 10 So Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh, and they did so, just as the Lord commanded. And Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it became a serpent.

11 But Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers; so the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments. 12 For every man threw down his rod, and they became serpents. But Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods. 13 And Pharaoh’s heart grew hard, and he did not heed them, as the Lord had said.

Now, knowing what we know about Egyptian mythology, this text takes on a whole new meaning.

When Aaron’s staff turned into a snake it was seen as a threat to Pharaoh. The magicians used the power of Heka to create Mehen to protect Pharaoh. They fully expected it to work. However, when Aaron’s snake/staff ate up the magicians’ snake/staffs, it showed that the Hebrews’ God was more powerful than the Egyptian gods.

Furthermore, this event is part of a narrative in which the Hebrew God systematically confounds the sun god’s three helpers. The magicians later show that they too can turn water into blood and create frogs in the plagues. But how exactly does that help? Now there is even less drinking water and more frogs! This shows that Heka's power was dysfunctional. Later the magicians cannot duplicate the plagues. For example, they try to create gnats but are unable to. They recognized the Hebrew God’s supremacy.

Anyway, how did the magicians turn their staffs into snakes, turn water into blood, and create frogs? Some people have suggested illusions or sleight-of-hand tricks. I think there was some demonic activity going on.

So when God says, “against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment,” perhaps it is not just in the heads of the Egyptians. Perhaps god is judging the masquerading demons.

I should also mention the third helper who is named Sia. Sia is the Egyptian god of perception and emotion. Sia is associated with the heart and with the eye. So, when God hardens Pharaoh’s heart, once again the Hebrew God is shown to be more powerful than the Egyptian god.

Multiple times God hardens Pharaoh’s heart. God hardened Pharaoh’s heart for a purpose.

Exodus 14:4 states,

“Then I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, so that he will pursue them; and I will gain honor over Pharaoh and over all his army, that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord.” And they did so.”

Of course, occasionally Pharaoh hardened his own heart as well.

The Egyptian Book of Gates shares much in common with the Egyptian Book of the Dead. This makes good sense as the Book of Gates essentially sees the sun god die every sunset and resurrect every sunrise.

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In both books, there is a “weighing of the heart” ceremony.

In this picture, we see the Egyptian god Anubis with your heart on one side of the scale and a Maat or ostrich feather on the other side.

Prior to having your heart weighed, you would make 42 negative confessions.

Those negative confessions include things like “I’ve never killed anyone,” but also things like “I’ve never lied,” and “I’ve never yelled at anyone.”

So, just like how it is impossible to keep the Mosaic Law, the Egyptians had a sense that it was impossible to truthfully make all 42 negative confessions.

If you lied in the confessions, your heart was hardened, and it would fail the test.

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Here is another picture of the same event. In this picture, there is a crocodile-headed creature. This is the Egyptian god Ammit and takes the place of the swallower instead of a snake in this version of the story. If you fail the heart weighing test, you get swallowed.

Therefore, the “Book of the Dead” which would be buried with your mummy, had secret spells to cheat and make your heart lighter so that you would resurrect in your tomb or pyramid. Basically, you cheat your way into the afterlife.

Of course, the sun god had his friend Sia, the god of the heart and the eye to help him as a backup for the magic spells. But if the Hebrew God is now hardening Pharaoh’s heart—and remember that Pharaoh was worshiped as the sun god incarnate, then that means the Hebrew God Yahweh has overpowered Sia and the sun god just like he already overpowered Mehen and Heka.

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But the Hebrew God did more to confound Sia—do you remember I said that Sia was both the god of the heart and of the eye?

Look at Exodus 10:13–15

13 So Moses stretched out his rod over the land of Egypt, and the Lord brought an east wind on the land all that day and all that night. When it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts.

Notice the time here—it was morning when the sun god was supposed to rise/resurrect.

14 And the locusts went up over all the land of Egypt and rested on all the territory of Egypt. They were very severe; previously there had been no such locusts as they, nor shall there be such after them. 15 For they covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened; and they ate every herb of the land and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left. So there remained nothing green on the trees or on the plants of the field throughout all the land of Egypt.

Reading Exodus 10:15a in Young’s Literal Translation of the Bible reads,

“and it covereth the eye of all the land, and the land is darkened”

Notice the “eye” of the land. This is undoubtedly God continuing His judgment upon the Egyptian god, Sia. However, this is also judgment upon the sun god as the land is darkened due to the enormity of the swarm of locusts.

Pharaoh and the Egyptians must have now feared that Yahweh the God of the Hebrews was more powerful than even their most powerful gods.

The same holds true for the plague of darkness.

Look at Exodus 10:21–23.

21 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, darkness which may even be felt.” 22 So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and there was thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days. 23 They did not see one another; nor did anyone rise from his place for three days. But all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings.

Hmm, 3 days of darkness just like the 3 days between the death and resurrection of Christ—interesting.

Anyway, for Pharaoh and the Egyptians, all of their divine order was upended. If the sun didn’t rise, then that means the sun god got stuck somewhere in those 12 gates of the Underworld. His boat could not sail around because the Hebrew God confounded the sun god and his 3 helpers.

The fact that the Israelites still had light just made it all the more obvious.

Yet, there still remains the final and most devastating plague leading up to the parting of the Red Sea.

Exodus 12:29–30 reads,

29 And it came to pass at midnight that the Lord struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of livestock. 30 So Pharaoh rose in the night, he, all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead.

Do you remember that I said that midnight was the time in the Book of Gates when the sun god gets his corpse back? Midnight is also the time in the book when mummies resurrect.

Thus, the sun god in waiting, Pharaoh’s heir, ironically becomes a corpse at the same moment when the sun god is supposed to reunite with his corpse.

Furthermore, with this information, the death of Pharaoh and his army was foreshadowed in at least three places.

1) Yahweh won the serpent fighting contest showing that the gods of Egypt were destined to lose big later.

2) The locusts perishing in the Red Sea foreshadowed the Egyptian army perishing in the Red Sea.

3) The death of Pharaoh’s son, the sun god in waiting, foreshadowed the death of Pharaoh a.k.a. the sun god incarnate.

4) The hardening of Pharaoh’s heart means that he will not pass the weighing of the heart test and he will be consumed by the swallower.

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Finally, there is a picture in the Book of Gates of Apep the Swallower between two walls.

The English translation of the hieroglyphics says of the space where the swallower is, “water had once been present and will return in deadly fashion.” This is also called the “flaming sea,” or can anyone say Red Sea?

Anyone familiar with the Egyptian Book of Gates would have identified Pharaoh and his army as being in the realm of the swallower when they were in the middle of the parted waters in the Red Sea. And all the helper gods had already been defeated.

Now let’s look at Exodus chapter 15.

1 Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to the Lord, and spoke, saying:

“I will sing to the Lord,

For He has triumphed gloriously!

The horse and its rider

He has thrown into the sea!

2 The Lord is my strength and song,

And He has become my salvation;

He is my God, and I will praise Him;

My father’s God, and I will exalt Him.

3 The Lord is a man of war;

The Lord is His name.

4 Pharaoh’s chariots and his army He has cast into the sea;

His chosen captains also are drowned in the Red Sea.

5 The depths have covered them;

They sank to the bottom like a stone.

6 “Your right hand, O Lord, has become glorious in power;

Your right hand, O Lord, has dashed the enemy in pieces.

7 And in the greatness of Your excellence

You have overthrown those who rose against You;

You sent forth Your wrath;

It consumed them like stubble.

8 And with the blast of Your nostrils

The waters were gathered together;

The floods stood upright like a heap;

The depths congealed in the heart of the sea.

9 The enemy said, ‘I will pursue,

I will overtake,

I will divide the spoil;

My desire shall be satisfied on them.

I will draw my sword,

My hand shall destroy them.’

10 You blew with Your wind,

The sea covered them;

They sank like lead in the mighty waters.

11 “Who is like You, O Lord, among the gods?

Who is like You, glorious in holiness,

Fearful in praises, doing wonders?

12 You stretched out Your right hand;

The earthswallowed them.

Pause there for a second, Yahweh the God of the Hebrews causes the Earth, which takes the conceptual space of the sun god’s archenemy the swallower, to swallow up the sun god.

Returning to Exodus 15:13.

13 You in Your mercy have led forth

The people whom You have redeemed;

You have guided them in Your strength

To Your holy habitation.

Now let’s look at Exodus 14:19

19 “And the Angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud went from before them and stood behind them.”

Here we pick up the story of Moses’ patron whom he first met in the burning bush, the Angel of the Lord. Earlier in this sermon we identified the Angel of the Lord, who took human form when he met Abraham by the tents of Mamre, as the Lord Jesus Christ. I actually suspect that everywhere in the Old Testament where you read “The Angel of the Lord,” is the pre-incarnate Christ. Now this is a slightly different title, the Angel of God. Let’s just say since we are still in the Book of Exodus that the likelihood that this is Christ here in Exodus chapter 14 is very high.

Let’s read that verse again along with verse 20…

Exodus 14:19–20

19 And the Angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud went from before them and stood behind them. 20 So it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel. Thus it was a cloud and darkness to the one, and it gave light by night to the other, so that the one did not come near the other all that night.”

Wait was it the Angel of God who stood behind them or was it the pillar that stood behind the Israelites? Actually, there is an old Jewish tradition that says the Angel of God was the pillar. Certainly, both the Angel of God and the pillar are in the Shepherd position—leading the sheep but putting Himself between the sheep and the threat when need be.

Now let’s read the rest of Exodus 14

21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea into dry land, and the waters were divided. 22 So the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea on the dry ground, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. 23 And the Egyptians pursued and went after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen.

24 Now it came to pass, in the morning watch, [the very hour that the sun god is supposed to win] that the Lord looked down upon the army of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and cloud, and He troubled the army of the Egyptians.

Hold on now. If the pillar is a picture of Christ, and the Lord looked down from Heaven through the pillar…

Friends, this looks to me like this is salvation from the Father through the Son!

Picking back up with verse 25…

25 And He took off their chariot wheels, so that they drove them with difficulty; and the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from the face of Israel, for the Lord fights for them against the Egyptians.”

26 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the waters may come back upon the Egyptians, on their chariots, and on their horsemen.” 27 And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and when the morning appeared, the sea returned to its full depth, while the Egyptians were fleeing into it. So the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. 28 Then the waters returned and covered the chariots, the horsemen, and all the army of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them. Not so much as one of them remained. 29 But the children of Israel had walked on dry land in the midst of the sea, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.

30 So the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. 31 Thus Israel saw the great work which the Lord had done in Egypt; so the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord and His servant Moses.

One last point before I finish up.

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There is a picture in the Book of Gates where we find the so-called blessed dead who drowned.

Now isn’t that something!

The hieroglyphics say that the sun god can call these drowning victims and revive them. However, as we know, the sun god was already defeated.

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About this, Professor Sanghwan Lee from Dallas Theological Seminary states,

“With this information in mind, the death of Pharaoh, along with his army, by drowning would have sent the gruesome message that those who had drowned would not receive a renewal of life in the Netherworld.”

Exodus 15:1b,

I will sing to the Lord,

For He has triumphed gloriously!

The horse and its rider

He has thrown into the sea!