Hebrews 11:29 "By Faith They Crossed over to Victory"
Introduction
What lesson could the early Hebrew Christians derive from this? The obvious lesson, surely, was that they, too, must “go forward,” scorning the difficulties before them and the dangers behind them. But, to go forward, they must be truly saved, for each step along this way is by faith. Unbelief may try to imitate the example of the believer, but brazen confidence in the flesh, efforts to do by natural energy what can only be done by spiritual power, can only end in disaster.
Exposition
I. That obeyed God against insurmountable forces
Israel’s faith was a faith that obeyed God against insurmountable forces. The forces confronting Israel were threefold:
⇒ the pursuing army of the Egyptians.
⇒ the Red Sea in front and the mountain ranges on both sides.
⇒ their own murmuring and unbelief.
The people were ever so frightened. They were hemmed in with no way to escape, and an enraged king and people were in hot pursuit. There was no chance that the Egyptian army would have taken any live prisoners because Egypt had lost all their firstborn sons to the death-angel. Israel was doomed and the people knew it. The odds were insurmountable unless God stepped in and delivered them.
II. That delivered them to victory
It can also have the following derived meanings, all of which require the individual to see physically outside of himself or herself: to see so that one can learn to know, whether it be another person (Deut. 33:9) or God (Deut. 1:31; 11:2)
Compare Exodus 14:29 and Nehemiah 9:11. Exodus reports the completion of Israel’s faith after the miracle (Ex 14:31), but Moses and his people had to act in some faith to enter the basin (cf. Ex 14:10–22). Jewish teachers debated the immediate cause of the exodus, some affirming Israel’s faith but many attributing the miracle to the faith or merit of their ancestors.