Red Sea Crossing

last time we talked we discussed a new beginning for the Hebrews

They had been in Egypt for hundreds of years as slaves

but God miraculously freed them, and gave them a new beginning, taking them from a terrible situation to a potentially great situation

God had great mercy and love upon His people, and had already by this point done so many great things for this group of Hebrews

God had judged Egypt quite harshly, showing how God took up for the people He loved, and importantly, who also loved and followed Him

The Bible tells us that if we turn to God, He will turn to us

and we see this truth played out many times in the Old testament

when we went through the Book of Joshua, we saw this so many times

it shows up many times in the book of Judges as well, showing through 7 different stories that when the Hebrews followed God, He was with them and helped them

In the narrative up to this point, the Hebrews had just been freed from Egypt, and had been on their way out toward the desert

They had committed to going out into the desert, following the smoke and the fire that God led them by throughout the day and night

showing that whether it was day or night, God was faithful to His people and was committed to keeping His promises to them

as they went out into the desert from the greener area that they were in in Egypt, they were eventually led to the coast of the Red Sea

and what may have in that moment seemed like God led them to a dead end, where they couold be surrounded by the Egyptians

and what may have seemed like a tough situation where doubt may creep in

God meant this situation to show His great power, His great love for Hiss people, His judgement upon the Egyptians, and to show that He truly is there to save His people

Exodus 14:7–9 KJV 1900

And he took six hundred chosen chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt, and captains over every one of them. And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued after the children of Israel: and the children of Israel went out with an high hand. But the Egyptians pursued after them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, and his horsemen, and his army, and overtook them encamping by the sea, beside Pi-hahiroth, before Baal-zephon.

When we see that the Egyptians were taking six hundred chariots, it’s important to note that in these days, chariots were high technology

and they were quite dominant in war in these days

so that they were chasing the Hebrews down, with chariots, to the edge of the Red sea, was truly going to be a tough situation

Exodus 14:10–11 KJV 1900

And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians marched after them; and they were sore afraid: and the children of Israel cried out unto the Lord. And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt?

we see an interesting moment here, we see that the Hebrew people here cried out to God in one moment, and doubted the very next

If we think, “how can this be?” “What does this mean?”, let’s think of some other stories from the Bible

notably, we can think of Peter walking on the water with Jesus - Peter saw Jesus walking on the water, He believed it, He believed in Jesus, and He wanted to walk on the water himself

He asked Christ if He could walk with Him, and Jesus said yes, Peter started walking out there, and it worked, at first

but then the Bible says the following:

Matthew 14:30–33 KJV 1900

But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased. Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of God.

We see similarities between these two stories

we initially faith, whether it was Peter going out to walk on water or the Hebrews following God out of Egypt and into the wilderness

Then, we have a moment where Peter gets scared and a moment where the Hebrews get scared

and after these moments of trial or fear, we see the people doubt

but yet even after both of these stories, we will see God still end up being there for the Hebrews and Jesus still being there for Peter, with both ending up being saved from their moment

as believers we’re all had moments where we’ve doubted, whether it’s over fear or whatever the issue might be

and of course, doubting is not believing with our whole heart, mind, soul, and strength, if anything, in that moment

what do we end up seeing in both stories? THAT THE DOUBT WAS UNFOUNDED

we think about who God is, what He’s done for us, and all of these kinds of things, and we can think logically that there is no reason that we have to doubt

We know that the world had to have come from somewhere, we know how the Bible has been incredibly preserved, moreso than any other book known

we know that God has done so much to change the lives of so many people, we know that God has done many works in this world

So why do we? it’s a flaw within our hearts, it’s a flaw within our nature as people

While we’ll never be perfect, we should always be trying to improve these things, leaning our faith on God more and more and more everyday

we should pay attention to these moments of doubt in our lives, and do our best to leave these moments in God’s hands

we often can think, “how am I going to get through this situation?” “what is going to happen in this situation?”

but one thing we know is that God promises us that one way or another, He is with His followers even to the end of the earth

we know that God promises that we can be with Him at the end of all things

we know that God has told us that He is the God of all comfort

We know that God knows better than we do

If we just put all of our trust in Him, and I mean every single bit of it, all of our hope in Him, all of our love in Him, we know He will be there for us

and there is nobody better to trust in like this than God

wouldn’t we rather do His own will than our own? Wouldn’t we rather put our life into trusting in, believing in, and doing His job on this world than our own?

because ultimately, He has a plan for us all, He has a destiny for us all, and the more we put our life into living according to His will, the more we play into this

Exodus 14:12 KJV 1900

Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness.

Here we can see a moment where a person trying to follow God and do what’s right can often face great opposition

we know that if we’re trying to do good in this world, then we’re doing then we’re not only doing good, but we’re going against evil at the same time

if we’re going to stand up against evil, then from time to time, we can expect some opposition to come our way

Moses dealt greatly with thingss of this nature, Jesus did too, many, many people have experienced this

but again, we are part of God’s plan, and us standing against evil is part of God’s plan for us

so while we may stand up against evil, and while we may experience hardship from that, we must remember what is said at the end of Genesis by Joseph

He ssaid, “what men meant for evil, God meant for good”

God may well take a ssituation you’ve been through and turn it into a learning experience which grows you, brings you closer to God, or enables you to do things you’d have never been able to do otherwise

things like this are why putting our faith in God during hard times is sso important, if we just decide to go our own way or think our own way, we may miss out on these experiences or learning things from those moments.

This moment, for instance, would start preparing Moses for much of the difficulty he would later deal with once he was in Sinai

Exodus 14:13–14 KJV 1900

And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever. The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.

Moses, as a leader and being one person, takes a stand for God and tells the people to put their faith, trust, belief into Him

and as Moses puts faith in God, and exhorts the people to by saying “The Lord shall fight for you”, we see the beginnings of a great miracle start taking place

Exodus 14:15–22 KJV 1900

And the Lord said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward: But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea. And I, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them: and I will get me honour upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gotten me honour upon Pharaoh, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen. And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them: And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these: so that the one came not near the other all the night. And 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 dry land, and the waters were divided. And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left.

***************TALK******************

Goes against everything that we know of reality - showing that God is the master of our reality, and that trusting in God is trusting in the one who can bend reality to His will

so we can know that in trusting Him, we can never know what may happen

Exodus 14:23–28 KJV 1900

And the Egyptians pursued, and went in after them to the midst of the sea, even all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. And it came to pass, that in the morning watch the Lord looked unto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians, And took off their chariot wheels, that they drave them heavily: so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel; for the Lord fighteth for them against the Egyptians. And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen. And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it; and the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained not so much as one of them.

We see this moment where these Egyptians were led to their ultimate judgement

Bad decision, bad thinking, bad leadership led them to this point

they even knew that God was fighting for the Hebrews, but instead of following Him and stopping fighting, they continued to fight against Him

this is a fight that is unwinnable, and unfortunately, a fight far too many people take on

all the while, the Hebrews were standing on the other side of the red sea on dry land

So while the Egyptians were under the sea, the Hebrews crossed dryly to the other side

This would be the last we significantly hear of the Egyptians in this narrative, so God continues to be there for His people

even though they are not perfect, and they doubted, we still see that ultimately, God still was there for them, showing His great mercy on them

while none of us are perfect, and we will always fail at certain points, it’s important to continue heading in the right direction overall

and even though the Hebrews failed here, they continued to follow God and His servant Moses through the desert, and ultimately wound up victorious over their situation

Exodus 14:29–31 KJV 1900

But the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea; and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left. Thus the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore. And Israel saw that great work which the Lord did upon the Egyptians: and the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord, and his servant Moses.

Something important to note here is the response we see from the Hebrews, they saw a work of God, and it reinforced their faith

this being the opposite in what we saw in the Egyptians, they knew God was working in that situations, but continued fighting

but the Hebrews followed God, they didn’t let their doubt get the better of them

and God would continue to lead them to victory

just like He is more than willing to do in our lives

Will we accept the pearl of great price? or will we just let it go?