Sermon Tone Analysis

>God has brought His people out of Egypt with a mighty hand and they have traveled away from Egypt.

All seems to be going well—the people are free, they’re together, they left Egypt with gold and silver and fine clothing—all seems to be going well.

And then…and then the Lord has them turn back and set up camp by the sea.

This is a strange move from our perspective.

It doesn’t make a lot of sense.

If you’re escaping, you keep escaping.

You run, fast and far away; you don’t turn back and then sit down for a spell.

This is a strange move:

“Okay, God, what in the world are you doing?”

I’ve been there; I’ve asked some form of that question several times throughout my life; just this week, in fact.

“Alright, Lord, what are you doing?”

I like to think I know you well enough and understand the human condition to the extent that I can safely say that you’ve probably wondered, “Alright, Lord, what are you doing?”

A good amount of the time, we may not know or understand what the Lord is doing, but this we do know:

The Lord has a purpose in all He does (14:1-4)

We may not, and likely cannot, grasp all the Lord is doing.

His ways are not our ways after all.

But we shouldn’t believe that He doesn’t know what He’s doing or that He’s just doing things on a whim.

The Lord has a purpose in all He does.

Where the Israelites and their exodus from Egypt is concerned, the Lord knows which way is best.

Now, by far, the shortest and most direct route to the Promised Land is the Via Maris—the way of the sea (SLIDE).

If the people headed north and east out of Egypt and traveled along the shore of the Mediterranean Sea, along the coastal highway, they’d make it to their destination in about 2 weeks.

It was the most direct route, by far.

But they don’t take the Via Maris; they head south into the wilderness:

Contrary to what verse 18 says in the NIV, the Israelites were not ready for battle; they were in no condition to face the Egyptian forces stationed along the Via Maris or the Philistines who, as you know, are formidable enemies.

The Israelites went up out of Egypt, not armed, but merely in some sort of formation.

They were in no shape to fight; not ready to wage war.

Knowing all this, God took them a different route—not the shortest route or the most direct route.

The Lord led them south, away from the Promised Land, into the wilderness.

“This wasn’t the most obvious way.

It wasn’t the shortest way, not the most direct way.

But it was the best way because it was God’s way.

God knew what His people could handle, and He knew that they needed to take the long way home.”

- P.G.

Ryken

As the Israelites wandered about along that desert road, we read their recurring doubts about whether God’s way was really the best way.

But God knew what He was doing; He always does.

He has a purpose in everything He does.

Whatever God happens to be doing right now, do you believe it’s all for the best?

It may not seem like it, but it is, because the Bible tells us: “In all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.”

When we’re tempted to believe that God doesn’t know what he’s doing, we have to remind ourselves that His way is the best way; that the Lord has a purpose in all He does.

>When the Lord has His people turn back and encamp by the sea, directly opposite Baal-Zephon, it, no doubt, seemed crazy.

One person referred to this detour as “sheer lunacy.”

I prefer “whackadoodle.”

It doesn’t make an ounce of sense.

And then we see the Lord’s reasoning.

He tells Moses:

The reason the Lord is having His people do this, the reason He’s having them turn back and set-up camp is to gain glory for Himself.

The Lord knows that the news of the Israelites’ turning back will reach Pharaoh, Pharaoh will think, “Silly, Israelites, all confused; now’s our chance to go get them and bring them back”, and Pharaoh will pursue them.

It’s a set-up of sorts.

And it’s going to work (because the Lord’s plans always work).

It’s going to work and, as He told Moses, the Lord will gain glory for Himself through Moses and His army.

The Lord has a purpose in all He does.

In case you’ve forgotten, the reason the Lord does what He does is, ultimately, for His own glory.

“I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.”

The Lord purposed this for His glory.

I wonder (along with my good friend, John Calvin) if the people had freely and peacefully left Egypt, traveled to Canaan in couple easy weeks, with Pharaoh and the Egyptians sitting quietly at home not bothering anyone—if that’s what happened, would we be talking about it here today?

Would there be a movie about of group of people walking peacefully and without incident from one country to the next?

It wouldn’t be half as exciting as the story of the group of people escaping slavery by the mighty hand of God, being pursued by their captors, trapped by them, only to walk through the sea on dry ground safely to the other side.

Here, as we’ll see, the Israelites are shut-in on every side, overtaken by Pharaoh and his army, seeing nothing but death before them—and then, at the word of God, the sea will open up and let them through.

All of this is part of God’s purposed plan to gain glory for Himself.

In this world and in our lives, we may not understand what God is doing.

You can be quite certain the Israelites couldn’t logic-out what the Lord was up to.

But we know the Lord has a purpose, whatever He does.

When we don’t understand, all we can say is that we know the Lord is doing this for a purpose.

We might not be able to come up with a good reason, we may have no good category for what He’s doing, but we can say—with full confidence—“In this situation, I don’t understand much, but I know the Lord’s purpose in this is to gain glory for Himself.”

The Lord has a purpose in all He does, even when it seems like the enemy has the upper hand.

The enemy, at times, seems to have the upper hand (14:5-9)

The enemy, at times, seems to have the upper hand (14:5-9)

You can almost hear Pharaoh singing about his victory before the battle even takes place: “We are the champions, we are champions.”

This is a no-brainer.

The world’s most powerful army with the most advanced military technology (the chariot) against an unarmed assortment of men, women, and children.

“Hmmm, I wonder who’s got the upper hand, here?”

Pharaoh has the strategic advantage.

In the ANE, the chariot was an enormous advantage; nothing compared.

And Pharaoh had 600 excellent chariots in addition to all the other chariots, horsemen, and other troops.

He and his army pursue the Israelites and overtake them, as one would expect.

The Israelites were completely vulnerable.

They had turned back and were in Egypt’s backyard, surrounded by the desert, with their backs to the sea.

They’re trapped.

Anyone could see that.

Pharaoh realized his escaped workforce was stuck.

Fish in a barrel.

“Let’s go get them.”

When Pharaoh & Company show up at the Israelites’ ill-advised camp, they have the clear advantage.

Pharaoh has the upper hand; the Israelites clearly have no idea what they’re doing.

So it seems.

All this is part of God’s plan—letting the enemy think he has the advantage.

If this strategy seems familiar, it’s because God used it again when He sent His Son to the cross.

To Satan, it must have seemed like Jesus had no idea what He was doing.

He was God the Son, yet He allowed Himself to be handed over to sinful men who crucified Him.

That’s crazy; sheer lunacy…whackadoodle!

On the cross, Jesus was so vulnerable that Satan thought he had the strategic advantage.

And he pressed his advantage and played into it, hard.

This, of course, was his fatal mistake, because the whole thing was a ruse.

The cross was not a defeat for Jesus, but a victory.

By His purposeful death, Jesus made atonement (payment) for sin and gained eternal victory over sin, death, and Satan.

In fact, Paul says Jesus made a public spectacle of Satan and his army:

Here in the desert are God’s people, just hanging out.

And it’s brilliant—a strategically brilliant move on God’s part.

Pharaoh hears about the encamped Israelites and gives chase, just as the Lord intends.