Our God, Our Deliverer
History of the Messiah • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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“Picture this” sort of illustration. Open with setting the scene for the Israelites by the Red Sea.
Then the Lord said to Moses,
“Tell the people of Israel to turn back and encamp in front of Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, in front of Baal-zephon; you shall encamp facing it, by the sea.
For Pharaoh will say of the people of Israel, ‘They are wandering in the land; the wilderness has shut them in.’
And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord.” And they did so.
When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, the mind of Pharaoh and his servants was changed toward the people, and they said, “What is this we have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us?”
So he made ready his chariot and took his army with him,
and took six hundred chosen chariots and all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them.
And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued the people of Israel while the people of Israel were going out defiantly.
The Egyptians pursued them, all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots and his horsemen and his army, and overtook them encamped at the sea, by Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon.
Sermon Series Slide (How does this fit in?)
This point in the story shows Yahweh’s plan to rescue and redeem come about as He forges a nation - a people - for Himself.
Moreover we learn a valuable lesson: YHWH saves. YHWH redeems. YHWH delivers.
Big Idea: God is our deliverer
Today we are going to see how God delivers the people from slavery. As we do, we see that God alone is deliverer, Savior, and redeemer. He alone is powerful to do this. We will meet YHWH, the LORD, who saves.
Trust (Exercise)
Trust (Exercise)
Start with BRIEF recap of where we are at in the story:
Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years.
But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions.
Joseph (Jacob’s son) goes down to Egypt, and eventually the family joins him.
430 years pass (Ex 12:40)
Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.
And he said to his people, “Behold, the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us.
Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and, if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.”
God saw the people of Israel—and God knew.
This is when God initiates the next part of the rescue plan. In this part, He will redeem for Himself a people from Abraham’s family.
God raised up Moses, who was called by God to go back to Egypt and bring them up. (Ex 3 10).
Moses returns, and together with his brother Aaron confronts Pharaoh king of Egypt. Yet Pharaoh is stubborn, and defies God. God says “let My people go.” Pharaoh’s response shows the stubbornness of his heart:
But Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and moreover, I will not let Israel go.”
God then sends 10 plagues. Though we don’t have time to go through each one, we must realize: with each one God defeated another of the many Egyptians gods, showing His might and power, for His glory.
Finally, the last plague - the plague of the firstborn nets the loss of all firstborn males in Egypt. At this point, Pharaoh lets the people go. So they leave Egypt. Around 600,000 fighting men, plus women and children. That’s about 2 million people give or take! Yet they don’t leave as a scared workforce. Instead, God stirred the hearts of the Egyptians, making them favorable to the outgoing Israelites. They are given much gold and valuables from the Egyptians, so they leave as a plundering army:
But God led the people around by the way of the wilderness toward the Red Sea. And the people of Israel went up out of the land of Egypt equipped for battle.
This brings us to our point in the story: God had lead his people the long way intentionally, and now leads them back towards the Red Sea. Pharaoh and his officials realize something: “What are we doing? That’s a lot of free labour we just lost!” So Pharaoh gets the army together and heads out, catching up with Israel right by the Red Sea. This is about to become a big trust-exercise moment for Israel.
Question: Why would God do this?
For Pharaoh will say of the people of Israel, ‘They are wandering in the land; the wilderness has shut them in.’
And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord.” And they did so.
God intentionally set Israel up for a no-win situation. Because here, in these moments, the most powerful king on earth would have his final showdown with the King of the universe. In doing so, we get to see God’s character. He is redeemer, deliverer, Savior. This is our God. That’s not just what He does, it is who He is!
So, picture yourself in this moment. You and your family are newly freed slaves. You know how to make bricks, or build something (not engineer, just build) or other menial tasks. God and this Moses fella have led you out of Egypt, and now you’re standing before this great sea. Perhaps you’re making supper, still blown away by your freedom and hoping against hope it is really real!
Then you see it, in the distance. Dust. Lots of dust. Someone is coming, many someones. And then you realize: It’s Pharaoh, and his army, fast approaching.
Do you know what the most advanced tank in this world is? The M1A2 SEPv3 Abrams tank is considered the most advanced tank in service in the world today. It’s got the fire power, the armor, and the tech. So imagine if the US all of a sudden sent an overwhelming force of said tanks after you, a helpless people. This is Israel.
Pharaoh’s light, 2 horse-drawn chariots were the most advanced battle weapon of the day. And he wasn’t short on them. For this occasion he had mustered 600 of them. Now you’re stuck. The sea on one side, and angry Pharaoh on the other. What do you do?
You panic.
When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly. And the people of Israel cried out to the Lord.
They said to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt?
Is not this what we said to you in Egypt: ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”
Remember our Big idea:
Big Idea: God is our deliverer
This is a trust exercise: Will God deliver them?
This is much like our waiting for a Savior. For thousands of year earth waited for the Messiah to come. In God’s timing He did come! Now we wait - with full trust and confidence - for the coming of our Savior again, bringing eternity with Him.
Even now, our lives are not unlike this moment, in that we must trust God until we see the deliverance we pray for. We go through seasons that can be trying, painful, perhaps even too much for us to bear on our own. Before we see God bring deliverance, there is a trust that must be exercised as we wait upon God, His plan, purposes, and timing. So it is here.
The people though do not respond with trust. Instead they panic, exclaiming that it would better to be slaves then slaughtered in the dessert.
But notice Moses’ response:
And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again.
The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”
What faith this is! Though the people panic, Moses does not. He stands trusting that the God who could bring the people out of Egypt could deal with angry Pharaoh too. So He prophetically states: “Fear not, stand firm, see the salvation of the LORD.”
“The LORD fights for you, be silent!” Be silent here is more like “Keep quiet!” There’s a command here. Moses commands the people to keep quiet. Instead of panicking, they need to wait on the Lord.
Trust. This is what Israel is called upon to express. Though the people fail, their leader remains faithful. Between the rock and the hard place, so to speak, all they can do is wait for the salvation of the Lord, and trust Him.
But, what would happen?
Deliverance
Deliverance
This leads us to our second point: Deliverance. Remember our big idea:
Big Idea: God is our deliverer
Let’s go back to the story:
The Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward.
Lift up your staff, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground.
And I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they shall go in after them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, his chariots, and his horsemen.
And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.”
Why would God start with “Why do you cry to me?” Moses was the one doing the trusting! Yet he represents a nation of untrusting people, and so God speaks to Him on behalf on the nation.
Go forward? Where?! Sea on one end, angry Pharaoh on the other! But what God says next should blow us away!
Lift up your staff, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground.
Some have hypothesized that Israel did not actually stand at the bank of the Red Sea, but perhaps a large marsh somewhere near it. They do this because of problems with the words usually translated “Red Sea.” It should be “Reed Sea,” but reeds don’t grow in salty water. Guess what though? Anywhere else you get the words for Red Sea in the bible, it’s always translated Red Sea! And I think this shows us God’s mighty hand. I looked at the semantic range for Yam-Suph and it looks like it can be translated either red or reed, so maybe that would be a better way to put this instead of “it should be ‘reed sea’? It just helps clarify the translation difficulties. So it could be Reed Sea, or it could be Red Sea, because it looks like in other places the word is used for a reddish brown.
The Red sea is between 199 and 249 kms wide, being anywhere from 600 to 7700 feet deep, with an average depth of 1600 feet! This is not lake, but a sea in proper. It is is this sea that God says “I’m going to split it, and you’re going to walk through it on dry ground.” Wow!!
Deliverance. In His timing God will deliver. But it is not always how we think or expect. Yet we must be careful not to panic and say “oh no, we’re doomed!” True faith doesn’t get to see the end of the story while it’s being written. True faith trusts the author of the story even when it doesn’t know what’s next.
What of angry Pharaoh and his army? They would follow Israel in, but unlike God’s people Egypt would not return, for in this moment God would glorify Himself and show Himself to be the deliverer and redeemer.
Then God does something amazing:
Then the angel of God who was going before the host of Israel moved and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them,
coming between the host of Egypt and the host of Israel. And there was the cloud and the darkness. And it lit up the night without one coming near the other all night.
Up to this point, God had been leading His people in this pillar of cloud by day, and fire by night. But now the cloud moves behind the people, separating Egypt from Israel. The Angel of the Lord is an expression of a manifestation of God. God’s presence dwelt with His people in the cloud.
Ever seen a parent who sees their kid being bullied or pushed around by another kid? Or perhaps intimidated by another parent? What happens? Often mom or dad comes up behind the kid, lending their support. But there are also times when the parent places their child behind them. It’s a basic gesture of “don’t touch my kid.” I think here we’re seeing a “don’t touch my kid” moment with God.
He separates His people from Pharaoh, protecting them. This gave Israel all the time they needed to break camp, pack up, and head into the sea. God kept His people safe, and kept Egypt totally separated from them. Then, using His human servant Moses, we read:
Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.
And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.
What a amazing sight this must have been! Think about the dimensions we just listed. Even at a minimum depth of 600 feet, how tall would those “water walls” have been? The term for wall here does not mean a small wall. We are talking about a massive wall, huge in proportions! Truly this is an act only accomplishable by the Almighty God!
God is acting on behalf of His people. Making a way, and protecting them in the process. He is the deliverer!
But then we read:
The Egyptians pursued and went in after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen.
Center yourself back into the story for a minute. You’ve been walking between walls of water most of the night, escaping yet again the Egyptians. Yet as you come up the other bank it is clear that Egypt too is taking your escape route. What will happen!? This host of the best military force on earth is still in hot pursuit! What do you do? It seems at some point, God allowed the Egyptians to pursue the Israelites. Whether this was a removing on the cloud, or simply the cloud following the people and allowed the Egyptians to come after, I do not know. But we do know that all of Pharaoh’s forces followed God’s people. Now what would happen?
And in the morning watch the Lord in the pillar of fire and of cloud looked down on the Egyptian forces and threw the Egyptian forces into a panic,
clogging their chariot wheels so that they drove heavily. And the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from before Israel, for the Lord fights for them against the Egyptians.”
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen.”
So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal course when the morning appeared. And as the Egyptians fled into it, the Lord threw the Egyptians into the midst of the sea.
The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen; of all the host of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea, not one of them remained.
But the people of Israel walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.
As the morning dawns Scripture says that God saw what the Egyptians were doing. Does this mean He did not know before hand? No, but around dawn God chose to implement the next phase of His plan. He threw into confusion the enemy’s forces.
This is not the last time we will see this. Look at the story of Joshua and the battle with the Amorites in Joshua 10. We read
And the Lord threw them into a panic before Israel, who struck them with a great blow at Gibeon and chased them by the way of the ascent of Beth-horon and struck them as far as Azekah and Makkedah.
In fact in the praise that is about to follow in Ex 15, we read:
Now are the chiefs of Edom dismayed; trembling seizes the leaders of Moab; all the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away.
Terror and dread fall upon them; because of the greatness of your arm, they are still as a stone, till your people, O Lord, pass by, till the people pass by whom you have purchased.
God is our deliverer, and He is more than able to route whatever opposing force there may be. The Egyptian army is no match for God. So He throws them into confusion, clogging their chariots so they are useless. Then it seems the Egyptians get the sense, “we’re up against a foe too mighty for us!” They try to flee, but God - again through His servant Moses - closes up the waters overtop of them, so that none are left.
Can you imagine watching those waters crash back in, the “water-walls” crumbling as it were, covering that mighty army. And then the sea calms, and it is just you and your people safe on the other side?
It reminds me of another moment in history. Flip to the other end of your Bibles with me for a moment:
And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison
and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea.
And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them,
and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
Here we see the final battle at the end of time. Satan and his forces arrayed against the people of God. Yet is there actually a battle here? No! Instead fire falls from heaven, consuming the opposing force. God protect and delivers His people. His power, His glory, are displayed in this final cosmic moment in which it is clear, evil shall never win. For our God has, does, and will conquer!
Big Idea: God is our deliverer.
First there is an exercise of trust. Yet God does not leave His people. He fights for them, in one final battle in which Pharaoh is shown just who is truly in charge. Humanity is always subject to the Living God.
This leads us to a final point:
Choice
Choice
Let’s finish the story:
Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore.
Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.
As the people stand on the seashore, they see proof of what God has done: the lifeless bodies of their captors wash up on the shore before them. God had done it. Just as He promised He would, He delivered Israel from captivity. Not only had He kept His promise to Israel, but to their fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. To them He had said “I will make you into a great nation.” God had begun and indeed was not finished forging a people of his own with this family of Abraham. Yet there was a choice on the part of Israel that needed to be made:
Israel saw the great power of God on display, used against Egypt. It says the people feared the LORD - in other words there was reverence and awe. They realized that this was the One True God that they should honor and follow. So they chose to believe in Him and his servant Moses. Their faith was not the result of seeing those bodies on the shore. Yet in those moments they had something tangible to hold onto “This is what God has done.” (Cornerstone, p. 391.)
In the words of a favorite author of mine:
The people are delivered from slavery and poverty, returned to a place of security, given an identity, future, a hope, and an inheritance. They are redeemed!” - Sandra Richter, p. 174.
Big Idea: God is our deliverer
God is our deliverer. But here’s the thing. Israel and us have a choice to make. Presented with the evidence, seeing with their very own eyes, Israel could have said “ok, but that doesn’t mean we’re going to follow this God! We’re going our own way.” What then? What would the story look like had they said this? Yet they made the choice to accept the evidence and trust the Living God. And God did not fail them, as we will see in coming weeks.
So too, about 2000 years ago, Jesus Christ came, at just the perfect time as Paul tells us in Romans 5:6. Up till then there had been quite the trust exercise as humanity waited for a Savior. But God did not fail - He sent His Son, who lived, and died on a cross, and rose again on the third day! Christ paid the price for our sin, so that we do not have to. He is the way to right relationship with God and eternal life.
So Jesus says in John 5 24
Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.
Will you hear the word of the Savior today? He is our deliverer and redeemer. Having bought us back from sin, death and hell, He offers new life. No longer are we slaves to sin. And while we wait for Jesus to return, we wait with expectant hope of eternity with Him. Because we know the end. Scripture tells us that God will put an end to Satan, and evil, as we have read.
Are you ready for this? Only those who know Jesus as Savior and Lord receive that eternal life we’re talking about. Have you accepted Him? Are you ready now?
If you’ve accepted the free gift of salvation, are you living “delivered?” Are you living growing in Godly character, seeking to love God as He has loved you? Or has nothing changed from your old way of life? If you have a real relationship with Jesus it will change you - for the better! What is your choice? Will you continue to work out this in your life?
Communion
Communion
For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread,
and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
