EXODUS 15:11-13 - Thanksgiving on the Banks of Deliverance

Introduction

Over the past couple of weeks we have been watching what can only be called seismic shifts in the political and social landscape of our nation. The sweeping victory of President Trump that has taken virtually all political power on Capitol Hill away from the Democrat Party has already begun to affect the mood of not only this nation, but has led to signs of change all over the world—from Hamas and Hezbollah signaling their willingness to lay down arms to both Russia and Ukraine making overtures towards a resolution to the large migrant caravan heading towards the US border that spontaneously disbanded upon news of the election. There is every indication that the incoming administration will be populated by a not insignificant number of evangelical Christians, many of whom have actually managed to develop a spine (despite their history as evangelicals.) The legacy media is in shambles, the Democrat party is not only devouring itself with recriminations and blame but actually hastening its own demise by doubling down on all of their wokeist ideology—all of the political and social forces that seemed so firmly entrenched against God and His people are in utter disarray, completely panicked and routed.

It is an answer to prayer so complete, so stunning, so undeniable that a lot of believers don’t really know what to do with it. We are so accustomed to waiting on God in prayer that when He actually does move in such a mighty way in answer to our prayers that we’re kind of thrown off our stride—we have reassured ourselves so often that our hope is not in politics but in the LORD, we don’t know how to process it when God shows every indication of using politicians to accomplish His purposes! But it really ought not surprise us so much— Prov 21:1

Proverbs 21:1 (LSB)

The king’s heart is like channels of water in the hand of Yahweh; He turns it wherever He pleases.

Of course all of the clarifications that we are accustomed to making are still true: Donald Trump is no one’s savior, and his administration is not going to descend out of the heavens on January 20th like the New Jerusalem. But at the same time (as one commentator put it), “God doesn’t turn bullets out of the way for no reason!” If God has chosen to answer His people’s prayers for deliverance by using a former real estate tycoon, reality TV star and casino owner, then He is free to do so, and He has to answer to no one:

Daniel 4:35 (LSB)

“...He does according to His will in the host of heaven And among the inhabitants of earth; And no one can strike against His hand Or say to Him, ‘What have You done?’

Consider also that when God delivers His people from their adversaries, He rarely does it the way we are expecting. In the passage we read earlier from Exodus 14, it was clear that the people did not expect their way of escape to go right through the Red Sea—they expected to die that night as they saw Pharaoh’s armies bearing down on them (Ex. 14:11). But whether they expected it or not, they still found themselves next morning on the far bank of the sea, surrounded by the debris of the defeated Egyptian army. We see their response to God’s deliverance in Exodus 15 (where our text is found this morning), and what I want to argue from the Scriptures today is that our response to the unexpected and unorthodox deliverance we have experienced is to

Sing with GRATITUDE to the GREATNESS of God who DELIVERED us

This week is Thanksgiving, and so what better time for us to feed on God’s Word as it instructs us on how to praise God in the wake of His marvelous deliverance—we are standing on the banks of the sea this morning, surrounded by drowned Egyptians and smashed chariots. So as Israel sang their gratitude for God’s deliverance, let us learn to sing the same way.

I want to suggest to you that this song of deliverance is sung in three-part harmony—there are three notes of this song that blend together into godly gratitude for God’s mighty work on our behalf. The first note in the song—let’s call it the bass note, the foundation for the entire harmony—is the note that says

I. There are no GODS that can COMPARE with Him (Exodus 15:11)

Exodus 15:11 (LSB)

“Who is like You among the gods, O Yahweh? Who is like You, majestic in holiness, Fearsome in praises, working wonders?

Keep in mind that these people singing their gratitude for the greatness of the God Who delivered them had just seen the gods of Egypt crumble to the ground! Every one of the ten plagues that had struck Egypt was a deliberate blow against the gods of the Nile, the gods of the crops, the gods of the cattle, the god of the Sun (personified by Pharaoh himself). And so the children of Israel could confidently say, “Is there anybody out there that can compete with YHWH? No, there is not!”

Look at the three things that set YHWH apart from the crumbling, failing gods and goddesses of Egypt—they are the same things that set Him apart from the crumbling, failing gods of money sex and power in our own day. First, there are no other gods like YHWH because

His HOLINESS is MAJESTIC to behold (cp. Isa. 6:3-5)

Think here of the awe-inspiring scene described for us in Isaiah 6, where the prophet saw the throne room of God:

Isaiah 6:3–5 (LSB)

And one called out to another and said, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is Yahweh of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory.” And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called out, while the house of God was filling with smoke. Then I said, “Woe is me, for I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, Yahweh of hosts.”

In his teaching series on Isaiah 6, R. C. Sproul says of these verses:

Do you see what happens here in the sixth chapter of Isaiah? One who is called of God and set apart, whose words are the very words of God placed in his mouth—the first oracle he pronounces is an oracle of doom upon himself: “Woe is me!” As soon as Isaiah sees the unveiled holiness of God, for the first time in Isaiah’s life, he understands who God is. And the very second that Isaiah understood who God was, for the first time in his life, he understood who Isaiah was. And what came out of his mouth was something akin to a primordial scream, where he curses himself: “Woe is me! for I am undone.” (https://www.ligonier.org/learn/series/holiness-of-god/the-trauma-of-holiness, retrieved 11/14/2024)

Christian, when your gratitude is informed by the majestic holiness of God—when you truly grasp Who He is, then your gratitude for what He has done for you will have no room for pride, no room for you to think you deserved any of it! You will understand how utterly gracious His deliverance is because you will grasp how utterly undeserving of it you are!

And what kind of praise do you offer Him Whose holiness is so complete, so majestic and awe-inspiring? Isaiah felt his very personhood beginning to come apart when he saw YHWH in His holiness (“I am undone...”). When God’s people behold the majesty of His holiness, then

He is PRAISED with TREMBLING hearts

There are no gods that can compare with YHWH—He is majestic in holiness, and “fearsome in praises...” (v. 11). The immediate context of this clause helps us see one of the blind spots we have as 21st Century evangelical Christians. What comes to mind when you hear someone say they are listening to “praise and worship” music? Or that a church has a “praise team” that sings? We think of music primarily—pop music inspired songs that are light hearted, emotional and unrelentingly happy and inspiring.

But this verse describes fearsome praise—or “fearful in praises” as the King James puts it. You see, the children of Israel couldn’t escape the reality that they were praising YHWH for His deliverance in the middle of a pile of dead bodies. YHWH deserves praise, but He is a fearsome God. The Israelites could see the handiwork of the God Who had delivered them, and it caused them to sing their gratitude, but they did it with trembling. When you grasp the greatness of God’s power, Christian, you cannot come into His presence to praise Him with flippancy or carelessness. You cannot offer praises to such a God as if He were the guest of honor at a Jr. High pep rally—He is a God to be reverenced. As John Calvin put it in his commentary on this verse, “He cannot be duly praised, without ravishing us with astonishment.” Calvin, J., & Bingham, C. W. (2010). Commentaries on the Four Last Books of Moses Arranged in the Form of a Harmony (Vol. 1, p. 259). Logos Bible Software.

We stand in the aftermath of a great deliverance, worked on our behalf by the mighty right hand of a God that cannot be compared with any other so called “god” or “lord”. That is the “bass” note of the three-part harmony in this song of deliverance that we are called to sing. In verse 12 of our text we find the second note (let’s move up the scale and call it the “tenor” note) of this song:

II. There are no REBELS that can ESCAPE from Him (Exodus 15:12)

Exodus 15:12 (LSB)

“You stretched out Your right hand, The earth swallowed them.

The entire history of the Hebrew slaves to this point was defined by the heavy hand of Pharaoh on them; Moses’ father-in-law Jethro said it that way in Exodus 18:10:

Exodus 18:10 (LSB)

So Jethro said, “Blessed be Yahweh who delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of Pharaoh, and who delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians.

They had spent four hundred years groaning under the heavy hand of Pharoah, but when YHWH stretched out His mighty right hand against Egypt, they could not withstand it. He promised them in Exodus 7:4

Exodus 7:4 (LSB)

“... I will set My hand upon Egypt and bring out My hosts, My people the sons of Israel, from the land of Egypt by great judgments.

And in fact, as God sets His plagues upon them we see that

They cannot WITHSTAND the smallest TOUCH of His hand (cp. Ex. 8:19)

When the dust of the earth turned into gnats that tormented Pharaoh and his people, listen to what his magicians told him:

Exodus 8:19 (LSB)

And the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” But Pharaoh’s heart was hardened with strength, and he did not listen to them, as Yahweh had spoken.

Not only could they not withstand YHWH’s hand, they could not even stand against one finger of His hand! Pharaoh stretched out his hand against God’s people, but was undone when God merely touched Egypt!

This is the gratitude that colors your song to the greatness of the God who has delivered you, Christian—that God must merely lift His finger, and His enemies collapse in the dust. He simply points at wicked, rebellious adversaries of His people, and they are devastated. They cannot withstand the smallest touch of His hand, and

They cannot REDEFINE His awesome HOLINESS (cp. Num. 16)

When God stretched out His hand against the enemy, Verse 12 says, they “sank into the earth”—now, Pharaoh’s chariots were sunk into the sea:

Exodus 15:10 (LSB)

“You blew with Your wind, the sea covered them; They sank like lead in the mighty waters.

but this verse specifically says “the earth swallowed them”. This is the way Old Testament writers describe those who go down into death, Sheol, the grave. So I would suggest that this verse has in view not just the pursuing armies who were drowned; this is a statement about every rebellious enemy that sets themselves against YHWH.

Turn a bit further in the Old Testament with me to Numbers 16 (it’s on page 124 of the pew Bible). This is the account of the rebellious Levites, Korah, Dathan and Abiram, who tried to conduct a coup against Moses and Aaron. Note Verse 3:

Numbers 16:3 (LSB)

Then they assembled together against Moses and Aaron, and said to them, “You have gone far enough, for all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and Yahweh is in their midst; so why do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of Yahweh?”

And their attacks on Moses continue down in verse 13:

Numbers 16:13 (LSB)

“Is it not enough that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey to put us to death in the wilderness, but you would also lord it over us?

They rebelled against God’s ordering of their role as Levite and His ordaining of Moses and Aaron as prophet and priest. They wanted to claim that everyone was holy in the same way before YHWH because they did not want to be defined by God’s decrees. YHWH had established the defining bounds of holiness before His face, and they kicked against it.

And so look what happened—in Verse 32 we see that

Numbers 16:32–33 (LSB)

and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, and their households, and all the men who belonged to Korah with their possessions. So they and all that belonged to them went down to Sheol alive; and the earth closed over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly.

Christian, has not your God stretched out His mighty right hand to deliver you from adversaries who hate His holiness? Who kick and rebel against His commands? Who despise and slander those He has graciously chosen to be His own? Look at the social media feeds all over cyberspace and you will see the weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth that is coming from those haters of God and His people who now realize that their pride has been cast down. He stretched out His hand, and they have been humiliated.

If you have seen those videos and memes of people having meltdowns in their cars over the election, consider for a moment that what they are doing is actually a religious ritual. They are mourning the loss of their gods. They put their faith in the false idols of wokeness and transgender ideology, they sacrificed the blood of their babies on the altar of abortion, trusting in those things to save them. But then YHWH stretched out His mighty right hand and cast all of those idols to the ground. And now they mourn like worshippers who have realized that their “gods” cannot save them—they scream, they cry, they shave their heads like Old Testament widows, they take vows of chastity, they pledge to live as exiles in other countries—all of these things are the behavior of worshippers whose gods have abandoned them. There are no rebels that can escape from Him when He stretches out His hand to deliver His people.

But Christian, add this beautiful melody note to your song to the God Who has delivered you—

III. There are no CHILDREN that can be SEPARATED from Him (Exodus 15:13)

Exodus 15:13 (LSB)

“In Your lovingkindness You have guided the people whom You have redeemed; In Your strength You have led them to Your holy habitation.

They may mourn and weep because their gods have abandoned them, but the children of YHWH can sing that

His LOVE cannot FAIL them (cp. Ps. 23:6)

The “lovingkindness” of God—that steadfast, faithful covenant love that He has pledged to His people—that is what has kept and guided you throughout all of the darkness and turmoil of the past several months (and even years). And make no mistake—there is more darkness and turmoil and upheaval to come, for sure. But the same lovingkindness that kept and guided you through the past several years will continue to guide you in the days to come!

Psalm 23:6 (LSB)

Surely goodness and lovingkindness will pursue me all the days of my life, And I will dwell in the house of Yahweh forever.

You have had a real and present demonstration of God’s undeserved, abundant love for you Christian—let that fuel your gratitude toward Him as you sing on the banks of your deliverance this morning.

The Israelites could sing on the banks of the Red Sea that morning because they had been delivered out of Egypt under the blood of the Passover lamb that covered their doorway; they were bought out of slavery in Egypt by the blood. And so they sing in this verse knowing that

His REDEMPTION cannot LOSE them (cp. Rom. 8:38-39)

The Israelites were purchased from slavery and shielded from the wrath of God by the blood of the Passover lamb; in the same way, Christian, the precious blood of Jesus Christ, the Passover Lamb, has purchased you, and will not lose you:

Romans 8:38–39 (LSB)

For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Sing your song of deliverance knowing that God’s children cannot be separated from Him—His love cannot fail them, His redemption cannot lose them and

His PRESENCE will never LEAVE them (John 14:1-3)

As they stood there on the banks of the Red Sea, the Israelites sang to YHWH who delivered them,

Exodus 15:13 (LSB)

“...In Your strength You have led them to Your holy habitation.”

The sense of the Hebrew word translated “habitation” (or “abode” in the ESV) is close to our word for “habitat”—it’s the idea of living somewhere where you belong; the suitable and proper place where a creature or person is most perfectly at rest and secure. Part of the original Hebrew word is related to the word for pasture—the idea is of a place where a shepherd would dwell.

The children of Israel sang of their deliverance with deep gratitude for the home YHWH was leading them to. They knew they were being led to their home with Him. How much more, Christian, can you sing with profound joy and deep gratitude for the deliverance God has worked for you? Not just that the adversaries that have been threatening you have been cast down; not just that the false idols that have held sway in our society for so long have been toppled in the lives of so many; but more than all of that—you have been promised a dwelling in the abode of the Good Shepherd Himself!

John 14:1–3 (LSB)

“Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.

No matter what hardships your pathway takes you through, you are being guided by the steadfast lovingkindness of your Redeemer, Jesus Christ, Who has promised to bring you into His dwelling forever by His mighty right arm—what greater reason can you have to sing your gratitude for your deliverance?

Christian, you are being called by God’s Word here in these verses to sing with gratitude to the greatness of the God Who has delivered you. Before the election we noted how important it was to make up our minds to be thankful for whatever the outcome; and so today we acknowledge that gratitude is far easier to express than we might have been expecting. But be sure that your gratitude is not fueled by gloating or vindictiveness. Be sure that your gratitude for the deliverance you have received is sung in that three-part harmony of God’s incomparable character, the unstoppable power of His mighty hand, and His unbreakable lovingkindness toward His redeemed children.

Mind you, this kind of gratitude is not only glorifying to God, but it is profoundly necessary at this hour in our nation. The world around us runs on the envy and bitterness and hatred and ingratitude—

Romans 1:21 (LSB)

For even though they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened.

You see that ingratitude and thanklessness everywhere in our society: Different ethnicities being told to hate one another for economic and social “injustices”, people rendered barren and fruitless by their homosexual or transsexual sins whose jealousy and envy of God-honoring marriages and families cause them to revile and mock. The world runs on ingratitude, Christian, and so your call is to fight back with God-honoring thanksgiving. Thanksgiving around the table this Thursday, for sure, but thanksgiving and God-honoring gratitude for all the deliverances He has accomplished for you in Christ!

Because when you truly grasp all the heights and depths of the deliverances God has worked for you in Christ—the New Birth of salvation that allows you to stand in the presence of His holy majesty, the joyful trembling before Him in praise of His might, the promise of your eternal dwelling with Him for all eternity—you have everything you need to not only celebrate Thanksgiving this week, but everything you need to live your entire existence in continual gratitude to Him. Be known as a grateful person; be known as one who is constantly rejoicing in the magnificent grace and mercy and faithfulness of God.

There is no room in that life for complaining or jealousy or backbiting or grudges or selfish ambition. There is no foothold in that heart for Satan’s temptations to chase after the false gods of money, power, influence, success, popularity or compromise. What has God shown you about the state of your heart this morning? You are grateful for the deliverance He has worked in the realm of politics—but is that gratitude rooted in your delight over your political adversaries being humiliated, or is it rooted in the character and work of the God that has saved you? Are you glad because you get to “own the libs” for the next four years, or are you glad because God has vindicated His holy Name?

Exodus 15:2–3 (LSB)

“Yah is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation; This is my God, and I will praise Him; My father’s God, and I will extol Him. “Yahweh is a warrior; Yahweh is His name.

What does God’s Word reveal about your heart this morning? Do you see in light of His Word that you are in reality clinging to those false idols that He has toppled? Are you beginning to realize that your hope has been more in politics than in Him? Are you coming to the understanding that if His powerful right hand were to be extended against you that you would have no hope of withstanding Him? That the day is coming when the grave will open up and swallow you and you will be eternally lost?

See here in these verses that there is no hope for you apart from the deliverance He offers. There is no refuge from His right hand; there is no way to come into His holy habitation unless you have been guided there, and there is no way to be guided there unless you have been brought there under the blood of the Lamb. Let go of those idols that you are trusting in; stop arguing and fighting to redefine what “holiness” means—He is the Holy One, and only He can make you holy when you come—and welcome!—to Jesus Christ!

BENEDICTION: Hebrews 13:20–21 (LSB)

Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, our Lord Jesus, equip you in every good thing to do His will, by doing in us what is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION:

What does Exodus 15:11 teach us about the nature of God compared to the gods of other nations? How does this verse ground our gratitude in His power to deliver His people?

What does Proverbs 1:21 teach us about God’s power over politicians? How does the story of Israel’s deliverance from Egypt demonstrate the authority of God over human governments?

How does this passage demonstrate the superiority of Yahweh over the so-called “gods” of our present day?

Read Romans 1:21 again. How is gratitude a God-honoring contrast to the hatred and thanklessness in our nation today? What can you do this week to express thankfulness and praise for God’s faithful deliverance? Have you received the deliverance from sin that comes through repentance and faith in Christ?