Exodus 14

Exodus 14

Most of us know what it feels like to reach a point where there are no good options left. The pressure is real. The door behind us feels dangerous, and the path in front of us looks impossible. We have done everything we know to do, and now all that remains is waiting, hoping that something changes.

Those moments are deeply unsettling because they strip us of control. They expose how much of our confidence rests not in God, but in our ability to manage outcomes. And when control disappears, fear rushes in.

Exodus 14 drops us right into one of those moments. God’s people are free from Egypt, but they are not yet safe. They are boxed in, outmatched, and powerless. And it is precisely there, with no escape route and no backup plan, that the Lord chooses to reveal the kind of God He truly is.

It reminds me of shows like American Ninja Warrior, where men and women race through brutal obstacle courses. They climb, swing, sprint, and exhaust themselves just to reach the final challenge. And the last obstacle is often the cruelest. Three doors stand in front of them. Only one will open. Before those doors is a wide gap, five feet or more, that they have to clear in a single jump.

They cannot test the doors. They cannot inch their way across. They cannot go back and rethink the course. Once they leave the platform, they are committed. If the door opens, they pass through. If it does not, they fall. Everything comes down to that moment.

That final obstacle exposes something important. All the strength, endurance, and skill that got them that far cannot guarantee success at the end. Eventually, they reach a point where effort alone is not enough. They must leap forward and trust that the way will open.

Israel is standing at that moment in Exodus 14. Behind them is Pharaoh and the might of Egypt. In front of them is the sea. There is no way to test the waters. There is no alternate route. There is no strategy meeting to be had. If God does not act, they will die.

But here is the difference. On that show, the contestant must guess the right door. At the Red Sea, Israel is not guessing. God Himself has already spoken. He has already promised what He will do. The sea is not an obstacle Israel must overcome. It is an obstacle God intends to open.

God brings His people to places like this on purpose. Not to confuse them, not to toy with them, but to strip away every illusion of control. He leads them to moments where salvation cannot be earned, engineered, or forced. It must be received.

Exodus 14 teaches us that God does not merely help His people escape. He makes a way where none exists. And He does so in a way that leaves no doubt that the power, the glory, and the salvation belong to Him alone. Big Idea: Salvation belongs to the Lord alone.

I. God Leads His Redeemed People Into an Impossible Situation

If you need a reminder of where we are in Exodus, Moses has been chosen by God to lead the people of Israel out of slavery in Egypt. Pharaoh has resisted that deliverance at every turn. He has hardened his own heart, and at the same time the Lord has been at work, even through Pharaoh’s stubbornness, to accomplish His purposes.

After a series of devastating plagues, the final judgment fell. God struck down the firstborn throughout the land of Egypt, sparing only those homes marked by the blood of the lamb. Through the Passover, the Lord made a clear distinction between Egypt and His redeemed people. That night, Pharaoh finally told Israel to leave.

Now we come to Exodus 14. The Israelites are on the move, heading out from Egypt toward the wilderness. Yet instead of taking a straightforward path, the Lord instructs them to turn back and camp again, this time by the Red Sea. From a human perspective, their route looks confusing and even foolish. It would have appeared that they were wandering aimlessly, boxed in by the sea, and vulnerable. And Pharaoh is watching.

But Israel’s location is not accidental. It is intentional. The Lord Himself explains why in verses 3 and 4. God positions His people in a place where escape seems impossible so that Pharaoh will pursue them. This is not because God has miscalculated, but because He is setting the stage for deliverance.

The Lord is doing all of this for a purpose. He says that He will gain glory for Himself through Pharaoh, and that the Egyptians will know that He is Yahweh. What looks like confusion to human eyes is actually divine strategy. God is arranging events so that His power, His faithfulness, and His name will be unmistakably displayed.

This is where the story meets us. God often leads His redeemed people into places that make no sense to us, not because He has lost control, but because He intends to reveal His glory.

Maybe this is where you find yourself this morning. In a place of crisis, or what feels like a loss of control, or even a place that feels like death. For the Christian, God’s guidance does not always feel safe. Being in the will of God may not feel safe or even look safe. Yet it is always purposeful.

One of the hardest truths for us to grasp in the day to day pressures of life is that the Lord is both deeply concerned for us and near to us, and at the same time fully committed to His own glory and honor. Those two realities are never in conflict. God often places His people in situations He intends to use to draw them closer to Himself, so that their affections and trust rest more fully on Him than they did before.

Sometimes obedience for the Christian leads into pressure, not away from it. That is exactly where Israel finds itself. They are trapped between the might of the Egyptian army and a sea they cannot cross. Behind them is devastation. In front of them is an impassable barrier. From a human perspective, there are no options left.

Put yourself there for a moment. You have seen the power of the Lord in the plagues. You left your home in a hurry, carrying little with you. You have wandered for a time, unsure of where you are being led. Now you are camped beside the sea, feeling the cold breeze coming off the water, while the dust of Pharaoh’s army rises in the distance as he closes in. Doom feels inevitable.

We like to imagine that we would stand firm in that moment, calling out across the camp, “Let them come. The Lord will fight for us.” But if we are honest, we often crumble under far less. When minor inconveniences arise, we panic. When real pressures come, the refrigerator breaks, the car fails, a job is lost, a hard diagnosis comes from the doctor, or the pain of living in a broken world presses in, fear quickly takes hold.

In those moments, we often look for the quickest escape, forgetting that the Lord is near, that He is sovereign, and that He has not lost control. Like Israel at the sea, fear tempts us to forget what God has already done and to doubt what He has promised to do next.

II. Fear Reveals How Quickly Redeemed People Forget Grace

Verses 5–12

No sooner had the Israelites left Egypt than Pharaoh regretted his decision and sought to bring them back. The question underneath his response is simple but profound. Who was Israel’s true master? Was it Egypt, as Pharaoh believed, or was it Yahweh, the One who redeemed them from slavery?

As Pharaoh pursues Israel, he does not yet understand who Yahweh truly is. Yahweh is not like the gods of Egypt. The Egyptian gods were tied to specific locations. They were limited in power and presence. They were not always near their people. In Pharaoh’s thinking, Yahweh may have had enough power to force Israel’s release, but that did not necessarily mean He would continue to intervene on their behalf.

So Pharaoh’s pursuit is not merely an act of desperation or foolishness. It is an act of theology. He assumes Yahweh is powerful but distant, capable of redemption but not ongoing protection. Pharaoh believes that if he acts decisively now, he can reclaim what he sees as his rightful possession.

Meanwhile, Moses and the Israelites are told in advance that Pharaoh will pursue them. The Lord makes clear that this pursuit itself is part of His plan. Yahweh will gain glory for Himself through what is about to happen. The coming assault is not a surprise. It is a stage set by God to reveal who He truly is.

Pharaoh’s army advances with overwhelming force. His chariots, the elite cavalry of the Egyptian military, lead the charge. These were not ceremonial vehicles but instruments of war, driven by trained and experienced soldiers. Hundreds upon hundreds of chariots move in pursuit of a people with no military training, no weapons, and no means of defense.

From every human angle, Israel appears helpless. Pharaoh believes he is moving toward an easy victory. What he does not yet realize is that he is not chasing runaway slaves. He is marching directly into a confrontation with the living God, who is present with His people and will once again act to make His name known.

As Pharaoh pursues, Israel panics. Their understanding of God is still deeply shaped by the theology of Egypt, and as a result, their response mirrors Pharaoh’s own assumptions. They know Yahweh has acted powerfully, but they are unsure whether He will continue to do so. The miraculous victories of the plagues quickly fade as hundreds, even thousands, of chariots and horsemen appear on the horizon.

The assurances given in the opening verses vanish. Fear takes their place. What once seemed like certain deliverance now feels fragile and distant. Yet even in their fear, the people cry out to the Lord. Their fear does not silence prayer, but it does distort trust.

Freedom suddenly feels worse than slavery. The unknown ahead feels more terrifying than the oppression behind. In that moment, complaining replaces confidence, and fear rewrites their understanding of what God has done. Instead of resting in redemption, they begin to question whether deliverance was worth it at all.

This is the tension of Exodus 14. A redeemed people standing between faith and fear, learning that salvation accomplished does not instantly erase a lifetime of slave thinking.

Fear is a dangerous thing. As we see here, fear distorts memory and makes bondage look safer than faith. The Israelites are thinking the same way we often think when hardship comes, when a miserable past suddenly begins to look like the good old days. Fear does that. Not just fear of death, but fear of persecution, fear of man, fear of loss, fear of uncertainty.

Even in Christ, fear can pull us back into old patterns of thinking. When coworkers seem to threaten our livelihood, fear can make us vindictive or bitter. When the Word of God confronts our comfort, fear can cause us to resist it or build walls against it. When life takes a hard turn, fear can lead us to respond just as Israel does here.

In fear, circumstances quickly turn into accusations against God and against His servants. That is exactly what happens with Moses. Fear causes the people to attack the very one God appointed to lead them. They forget the grace of the Lord and the redeeming power He has already displayed.

At the root of the problem is this. They did not yet truly know the God who redeemed them. Their minds were still shaped by Egyptian theology. Egypt had been taken out of their geography, but not yet out of their hearts. God brought them to this place by His own sovereign will, yet they reverted to a false understanding of who He is.

Our doctrine of God shapes our devotion to God. Scripture consistently makes this connection. Paul does it throughout his letters. Jesus does it in His teaching and in His life. If we know who God truly is, we are not surprised by circumstances. Jesus was not surprised when He was ridiculed. He was not surprised when men sought to stone Him. He was not surprised when He was arrested. He did not respond in fear in the garden. He went to the cross willingly and with resolve.

A moralistic reading of this passage would tell us simply to be more like Jesus. But Scripture and sound doctrine tell us we cannot do that on our own. Jesus must go in our place, and He must change us from the inside out. Through His work and by the power of the Holy Spirit, our hearts are transformed and our minds are renewed.

The reliance we need in the gospel is seen in this ongoing transformation. God uses His Word to strip away false views of Him and replace them with truth. We often want to reshape God into our image. Scripture works in the opposite direction. It reshapes us so that we see God as He truly is.

Yet even then, our fallen nature pulls us back toward old ways of thinking. That is why Exodus 14 is not just a story of deliverance. It is a story of discipleship. God is teaching His redeemed people who He is, so that fear will no longer rule where faith should reign. He is teaching that he saves his people by his power alone.

III. The Lord Saves His People by His Power Alone

Moses tells God’s people exactly what they need to hear in this moment. He says, “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.”

Moses understands something crucial here. He may not fully understand how God will keep His promise, but he believes that God will. He stands on what the Lord has already said. And so he looks at a terrified people and declares, “Yahweh will fight for you. All you have to do is be quiet.”

This response is deeply theological. Moses does not give strategy. He does not offer reassurance based on military odds. He directs their attention to the character of God. God is the One who dispels fear and comforts the fearful. He is the Deliverer who brings His people out of impossible circumstances. He invites His people to trust Him, not because the situation is safe, but because He is faithful. He removes danger in His time, and He is a warrior who stands against the forces of evil.

The timing and the application of these truths belong to God, not to man. Moses understands that God’s attributes do not change based on circumstances, even when the moment feels overwhelming.

In fact, Moses is saying something that sounds almost shocking. You should be glad that you see the Egyptian army approaching. Their presence means that God’s word is coming true. God said He would harden Pharaoh’s heart. God said Pharaoh would pursue. God said He would trap him. If the Egyptians were not coming, that would be cause for concern. But because they are here, God’s plan is unfolding exactly as He promised.

So Moses tells them to be silent and wait. Not because the danger is small, but because God is great. The approaching army is not a sign of God’s absence. It is evidence that God is about to act.

Some of us need this reminder when things become frightening. There are moments when faith looks like trusting God, quieting our anxious voices, and waiting on Him to act. Not because the danger is unreal, but because the Lord is faithful. Sometimes obedience is not frantic action or louder words, but settled trust. Standing still. Resting in who God is while we wait to see what He will do. The angel of God, who had been going before Israel in the pillar of cloud, moved and stood between the Israelites and the Egyptians. What had guided them now guarded them. Darkness fell on one side, light remained on the other, and the enemy could not draw near.

At the Lord’s command, Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the waters were divided. Israel walked through the midst of the sea on dry ground, with walls of water on their right and on their left. What had been an impossible barrier became a pathway of salvation.

The Egyptian forces pursued. Their chariots followed Israel into the sea, confident in their strength and speed. But the Lord fought against them. He threw the Egyptian army into confusion and clogged the wheels of their chariots, so that they drove heavily. As panic set in and they attempted to retreat, the Lord again spoke to Moses.

Moses was commanded to stretch out his hand once more. As the Egyptians fled into the sea, the waters returned to their place. The sea covered the chariots, the horsemen, and all the forces of Pharaoh. Not one of them survived.

The text then tells us the outcome. “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.”

Salvation for Israel included both deliverance and judgment. The same waters that opened to save God’s people closed in judgment on their enemies. The Lord did not merely rescue Israel. He decisively defeated the power that enslaved them.

And in seeing this, the people feared the Lord rightly. They believed Him. Redemption produced reverent fear and growing faith. This is the salvation of the Lord.

The Lord saves His people by His power alone. There is nothing Israel contributes to this deliverance. They do not fight. They do not outmaneuver the enemy. They do not even open the sea. They simply walk where God has already made a way. Salvation, from beginning to end, belongs to the Lord.

What is remarkable is that this pattern of salvation through water is not isolated to Exodus. The apostle Peter intentionally picks it up and interprets it for us through the lens of biblical theology. Peter understands that water, throughout Scripture, is never neutral. It is always an instrument of judgment and salvation at the same time.

Peter points back to the days of Noah, when water brought judgment upon the world while at the same time carrying Noah and his family safely through the flood. The same water that destroyed the wicked preserved the righteous. Peter then draws the line forward and says that this pattern finds its fulfillment in Christ.

In Exodus 14, the sea functions in the same way. The waters stand as judgment against Egypt and as deliverance for Israel. The Israelites pass through the waters untouched, not because they are strong, but because God has intervened on their behalf. Egypt follows into those same waters and is destroyed. Salvation and judgment occur through the same event.

Peter tells us that baptism corresponds to this. Not as a removal of dirt from the body, not as a mere outward act, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In other words, the water does not save by itself. God saves through what the water signifies.

Just as Israel did not save itself by walking through the sea, and just as Noah did not save himself by floating on the flood, so the Christian is not saved by the act of baptism itself. Salvation is accomplished by God alone. The water marks a passage from death to life, from judgment to deliverance, because God has acted.

Exodus 14 teaches us that redemption always involves God making a way where none exists. Peter teaches us that this same God still saves in the same way. He brings His people safely through judgment, not by their effort, but by His grace. The waters that once meant death become the means by which God displays His power to save. Exodus 14 teaches us that redemption always involves God making a way where none exists. Israel stands trapped between an enemy they cannot defeat and a sea they cannot cross. There is no strategy, no strength, and no alternative. If God does not act, they will die. Salvation, in that moment, depends entirely on the Lord.

Peter teaches us that this same God still saves in the same way. He brings His people safely through judgment, not by their effort, but by His grace. The waters that once meant death become the very means through which God displays His power to save. The Red Sea is not only a rescue story, it is a template for how God saves.”

This pattern finds its fullest expression in the gospel. Just like Israel, we stand helpless. Our enemy is not Pharaoh, but sin and death. The judgment we face is not an approaching army, but the righteous wrath of a holy God. There is no path forward that we can create for ourselves. No obedience, no morality, no religious effort can open a way through.

But God does what we cannot. At the cross, judgment falls, not on God’s people, but on God’s Son. Jesus steps into the waters of judgment in our place. He bears the full weight of God’s wrath so that those who belong to Him might pass safely through. The judgment that should have destroyed us falls on Him instead.

In the resurrection, the way through is made visible. Just as Israel walked out of the sea on the other side, alive and free, Christ walks out of the grave victorious over sin and death. And all who are united to Him by faith are carried through judgment with Him. We are not spared because we are strong, but because He is faithful. We are not delivered because we deserve it, but because grace has made a way.

The gospel does not tell us to find our own escape. It tells us to follow the One who has already gone before us. Jesus is the greater Moses, leading His people out of bondage. He is the true Deliverer who opens the way through death itself.

So trust Him. Stop fighting on your own. Repent of your sin and place your faith in the One who has already won the victory over sin and death. Salvation is not found in striving harder, but in resting in what Christ has done.

As we close one year and step into another, it is worth asking ourselves some honest questions. Are there places where fear is tempting you to run back to what God has already delivered you from? Are there moments where you feel like Israel at the sea, with no way forward and danger closing in behind you?

Perhaps today God is calling you to stand firm. To stop striving. To be still and trust Him to work.

Exodus 14 is not merely a story of ancient rescue. It is a declaration of how God saves. He alone makes a way. He alone bears the judgment. And He alone brings His people safely to the other side.