Crossing the Red Sea

Exodus 14:10–14 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? 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. 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.

v10 - we see that the people did cry out to the Lord, so they were placing their faith in Him, though sometimes it seems otherwise

v11 - They might have faith in God, but not necessarily Moses

so while they are ungrateful to Moses and are questioning him, we know that they haven’t completely forsaken their faith in God

v12 - often, we tend to give up easily, or just want to take the path of least resistance

however, in doing this, sometimes we give up on the things that we should be doing

easyness or laziness very much pleases the flesh, but is often against the things that we should be doing for God

for instance, there was the promise of Abraham, there is what they’d seen in the 10 plagues, they knew God’s promise and had seen His power

v13-14 - however, Moses calms the people down by telling them something great, the truth of God

God lives up to what He is as a God, a savior, one who offers redemption, mercy, love, and salvation

one thing we notice is Moses says to stand still and fear not, which is something we often hear from God in these kinds of situations in the Bible.

He always says to fear not and trust Him

Commentaries on the Four Last Books of Moses Arranged in the Form of a Harmony (Exodus, Chapter 14)

he implies that, as long as fear has possession of our minds, they are blinded, and confounded so as not to receive the help of God

so Moses says “stand back and watch what God will do for you”

He also says that they will see the Egyptians no more

this goes back to the separation that God makes between His people and the world, how He takes care of those who follow Him

this is the same for them and will be us, one day we’ll be separated forever from the world

so our sides must be chosen, and they must be chosen genuinely and passionately

so just as the Hebrews will continue to the promised land, the Egyptians will die

Exodus 14:15–18 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.

v15 - “Indicates urgency: It is time to act, not to perform a lengthy prayer. This is not a denial or rebuke of faith; Moses’ words show he believes God will fight for Israel”

v16 - lets not forget that the rod in Moses hand symbolizes the power and authority of God

v17-18 - God shows His glory by the great victory had over Egypt and their Gods

Exodus 14:19–20 KJV 1900

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.

again showing the separation between God’s people and the people of the world

firstly, we see the protection of God for His people

Jesus said the gates of hell will not prevail against the church, we know God is our fortress, our rock, and our salvation

and we see it play out in real time here, in a situation which could have very easily been the Egyptians simply cornering the Hebrews

but God intervenes in that situation, and can intervene in our lives

additionally, we see that light was provided in the darkness. Interesting imagery, knowing that Jesus is the light of the world

He’s our light in a world full of darkness

Exodus 14:21–22 KJV 1900

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.

we see that Moses put his hand out over the sea, as a representative of God and His power, and the east wind came and drove back the sea

one interesting thing we see is that it says “ALL THAT NIGHT”, indicating that it might have taken all night for the sea to be parted to the point where the land was dry

One thing we see here is that God took something that was naturally wet, and turned it dry

this might sound simple and obvious at first, but God took one thing, one state of affairs, and completely inverted it’s nature sheerly by His great power

so what can this mean in our lives? - God can take any situation we are in, and completely invert it

how many times have we seen Jesus in the gospels completely turn a question on it’s head and provide a great answer?

God can take an addict, and make them someone who is clean, a liar to someone truthful, a malicious gossiper to someone who builds up

God took a people enslaved by the worlds most powerful empire and made them free and with their own land

and not only did He do it once, He did it at LEAST twice, when Cyrus let the Hebrews go from their Babylonian/Persian captivity

God took someone like Paul, “Chief of all sinners”, a pharisee who hated Christians and turned him around

Exodus 14:23–25 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.

Look how powerful the flesh is, the fallen and sinful nature

the egyptians have seen all the plagues, and even now they see the pillar of cloud between them and the hebrews all night long

yet it was still decided, due to hardness of heart, to pursue the Hebrews into the sea floor

think of what a dangerous decision this was, not only were they going into the dry sea floor

but they were also fighting God at this point

and this is what people do when they sin, God sees all, is all powerful, and is all around us

yet when we sin we do it in His view, in His presence, and against the system that God has set up

think of the level of boldness we get to when our hearts become hard and we stray from God. BOLD, IN GOD’S FACE SINNING WITHOUT EVEN THINKING ABOUT IT

this truly shows the real difference between God’s people and those of the world, those who care and those who don’t, those who think about the things of God and those who don’t

****SLIDE - CHARIOTS****

v24 - we see that God here is starting to confound the Egyptians, again showing God’s divine power and intervention in this situation

so this is starting in the Morning, God is setting up a new day for the Hebrews, not only in escaping the Egyptians but a “new day” as far as being on their way to their own promised land

just as Jesus rose on the 3rd day, starting not only a new day but also a whole new era for humanity

and if we choose to follow God and receive His salvation, it’s a new day for us as well.

we escape the world, and begin our journey to our promised land that God has promised for us and Jesus said He is preparing for us.

v25 - we see that finally, the Egyptians come to terms with the fact that they are fighting God and can make no progress

we see other instances in the OT where God confounds enemy armies, or blinds them, or whatever the case may be

we can learn from this that God may well be fighting with and for us when we are out doing His work without us even realizing it

so we never have to feel like we’re fighting by ourselves, we know that God is always working out there in the world, and we just have to do OUR part while God does HIS work

Exodus 14:26–28 KJV 1900

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.

So this is closing out the act, and we see again that it is by GOD’S POWER (Moses’ hand/rod)

God gives the Egyptians their judgement, they had been fighting against God and His people, and now they are facing the consequences thereof

and it isn’t as if they didn’t have chances to stop what they were doing, they did

they’d seen God’s power, they knew it was present, yet they still fought

and look where it gets them, to the bottom of the sea

we cannot fight blatantly against God and what He wants without Him knowing, and without us having to answer for it one day

and we see also that “there remained not so much as one of them” - God’s work was complete and total, nobody was missed

and that is how it will be when we all face judgement, nobody left out, nothing left out

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.

but we see a difference again made between God’s people and the world, while the Egyptians drowned, the Hebrews walked upon dry land

again showing God’s turning of the tables, able to turn the darkness into light, and to turn nothing into something

the state of nature itself was changed just for them, God intervened in the natural order of things to make this happen

and God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and can make powerful things happen today as well

why would we ever doubt?

why should we ever fear with Him on our side?

He provided for them in the most dire of situations, saving their lives and leading them to their own land to start anew

and He does that for us spiritually

but also physically as well, since we will be with Him after we die, since His influence will make a great difference in our lives

v30 - we see in this verse the Hebrews retain life, and the Egyptians stand there dead

just like the Egyptians priests ended up not even being able to stand before Moses during the plagues, we see something similar here

v31 - and we see that the people made the wise choice to fear and follow God after all they had seen

and now we know about it and how it happened

Look where the Hebrews started - cornered at the shore of the Red sea, only protected by pillar of cloud (God)

but by the end of it, they stood on the other side of the shore alive, while the Egyptians are all dead

they were taken from a dire situation to a victorious situation

just like what happened back in Egypt with the plagues, they went from an enslaved people to a people whose God was destroying the nation and backing them

All this because they followed in God and His plan for them, they can trust Him, and He will deliver them

We have no reason to fear in this world, we can have courage and strength, and face this world head on

knowing that the gates of hell will not prevail against the church

and that God will be here to fight for His will

we just have to make the choice to be living IN His will.