Delivered with Interwoven Judgment

1 Then the Lord spoke to Moses: 2 “Tell the Israelites to turn back and camp in front of Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea; you must camp in front of Baal-zephon, facing it by the sea. 3 Pharaoh will say of the Israelites: They are wandering around the land in confusion; the wilderness has boxed them in. 4 I will harden Pharaoh’s heart so that he will pursue them. Then I will receive glory by means of Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.” So the Israelites did this. 5 When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds about the people and said: “What have we done? We have released Israel from serving us.” 6 So he got his chariot ready and took his troops with him; 7 he took six hundred of the best chariots and all the rest of the chariots of Egypt, with officers in each one. 8 The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued the Israelites, who were going out defiantly. 9 The Egyptians—all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots, his horsemen, and his army—chased after them and caught up with them as they camped by the sea beside Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon. 10 As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up and there were the Egyptians coming after them! The Israelites were terrified and cried out to the Lord for help. 11 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 by bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Isn’t this what we told you in Egypt: Leave us alone so that we may serve the Egyptians? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” 13 But Moses said to the people, “Don’t be afraid. Stand firm and see the Lord’s salvation that he will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians you see today, you will never see again. 14 The Lord will fight for you, and you must be quiet.” 15 The Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to break camp. 16 As for you, lift up your staff, stretch out your hand over the sea, and divide it so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground. 17 As for me, I am going to harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them, and I will receive glory by means of Pharaoh, all his army, and his chariots and horsemen. 18 The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I receive glory through Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.” 19 Then the angel of God, who was going in front of the Israelite forces, moved and went behind them. The pillar of cloud moved from in front of them and stood behind them. 20 It came between the Egyptian and Israelite forces. There was cloud and darkness, it lit up the night, and neither group came near the other all night long. 21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. The Lord drove the sea back with a powerful east wind all that night and turned the sea into dry land. So the waters were divided, 22 and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with the waters like a wall to them on their right and their left. 23 The Egyptians set out in pursuit—all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen—and went into the sea after them. 24 During the morning watch, the Lord looked down at the Egyptian forces from the pillar of fire and cloud, and threw the Egyptian forces into confusion. 25 He caused their chariot wheels to swerve and made them drive with difficulty. “Let’s get away from Israel,” the Egyptians said, “because the Lord is fighting for them against Egypt!” 26 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the water may come back on the Egyptians, on their chariots and horsemen.” 27 So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea returned to its normal depth. While the Egyptians were trying to escape from it, the Lord threw them into the sea. 28 The water came back and covered the chariots and horsemen, plus the entire army of Pharaoh that had gone after them into the sea. Not even one of them survived. 29 But the Israelites had walked through the sea on dry ground, with the waters like a wall to them on their right and their left. 30 That day the Lord saved Israel from the power of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. 31 When Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and believed in him and in his servant Moses.

We have a lot of ground to cover today, and I want to plainly state my aim in preaching. My goal is to show you from the Bible that

1) Exodus 14 teaches us that God’s glory in deliverance (salvation) is seen most clearly against the backdrop of just judgment. 2) The New Testament teaches us that baptism symbolizes passing through judgment you deserve by union with God’s deliverer and coming out alive and part of God’s new creation.

Let’s break these two apart. First...

1) Exodus 14 teaches us that God’s glory in deliverance (salvation) is seen most clearly against the backdrop of just judgment.

Before we go any further, let’s define the term glory. The way it is used in the Bible - glory is the manifestation of the essence of God in the full array of his attributes. If you want to know God in all his glory, you understand him rightly for who he is in all of his many attributes.

In the book of Exodus Moses asks God to manifest his glory to him. A quick look at that exchange would be instructive for our study today.

Exodus 33:18–19 ESV

18 Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” 19 And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.

Exodus 34:6–7 ESV

6 The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, 7 keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”

So when Moses asks God to show his glory, God says he will make all of his goodness pass before him and proclaim his name (the essence of who he is) to Moses.

The essence of who God is - is 1st seen in Ex. 33:19 as freedom to show grace to whomever he wants and to show mercy however he pleases and secondly in verses 6-7 of Exodus 34 - that he is by nature merciful and gracious, but also just in judging those guilty of sin.

In other words, God’s nature, his character... HIS GLORY is both seen in mercy and judgment.

Now that we understand what we mean by God’s glory, our goal is to rightly understand how his glory is displayed in the text before us - the chapter we just read to you.

Look at verses 1-4

Exodus 14:1–4 CSB

By all military strategies this was absolutely absurd for the Israelites to turn back on themselves and get boxed in between the army of Pharaoh and the sea. But God says in verse four that he intends to receive glory by means of Pharaoh and his army. One expert said this could better be translated “I will get glory for myself this way...” In essence God is saying I intend to receive glory for judging the Egyptians.

When, by all human considerations, the situation becomes truly impossible for the people of God, Moses then tells the Israelites:

Exodus 14:13–14 CSB

13 But Moses said to the people, “Don’t be afraid. Stand firm and see the Lord’s salvation that he will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians you see today, you will never see again. 14 The Lord will fight for you, and you must be quiet.”

So God intends to receive glory in judgment AND in salvation. And the summary statement at the end of the chapter is this:

Exodus 14:29–31 CSB

29 But the Israelites had walked through the sea on dry ground, with the waters like a wall to them on their right and their left. 30 That day the Lord saved Israel from the power of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. 31 When Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and believed in him and in his servant Moses.

So God’s glory was manifested in merciful salvation to his people, and just judgment on the Egyptians. And when Israel saw the power that Yahweh used against the Egyptians they feared the LORD and believed in Him. This is why I say God’s glory in deliverance is seen most clearly against the backdrop of just judgment.

It’s like painting a mountain. You could paint a mountain in two dimensions with no way of seeing how big the mountain is because the only thing in the painting is the mountain. You wouldn’t know how big the mountain is because you have nothing to compare it to. But when you have a background, you immediately get perspective on the grandeur of the size of the mountain in the foreground. You come to appreciate the mountainous heights only when you see it portrayed against a backdrop.

So it is with the glorious heights of God’s mercy. Brothers and sisters, we cannot possibly grasp the depth of the riches of the glory of God’s MERCY until we understand the awful and just judgment we all deserve for sin. Or to put it in terms of our text today, you can’t begin to understand how good it feels to be alive until all you see is dead bodies washing up on the shore around you. Why are you standing on dry ground and not floating in the red sea of God’s holy and just wrath?

MERCY. GRACE.

One of our church members did rescue work in the Navy. In recounting what he did, he was trying to take it easy on me and I think also trying to keep at bay the horrors of what he saw when he told me that unfortunately in his career he had to recover “dead stuff” from the carnage of wrecks.

I’m sure he went home and hugged his family tighter that day. The family was always there, but against the backdrop of the ugly carnage of death, you appreciate your life and all of God’s mercies all the more. You start to think - that could have been ME in that plane that went down, and you become all the more grateful to God for every day he gives you.

Luke 13:1–5 ESV

1 There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2 And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? 3 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. 4 Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? 5 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

Death is God’s universal punishment for sin. Just because calamity, natural disaster, or terror strikes, it doesn’t mean its because the people who die tragically were worse sinners than those who do not die in similar fashion. We’re ALL sinners, and the Bible teaches us that

Romans 6:23 ESV

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Israel came to understand that the glory of their deliverance all the more when they walked through the very same sea that the Egyptians did and yet God spared them by his grace. And they realized the power of God’s judgment on evil and feared God and worshiped him.

Deep down inside, we all want God to be just. We usually just point that judgment on other people and other sins, not our own. We want God to judge the man who threw battery acid on the face of another man simply because he looked Hispanic. We want God to pass judgment on the evil person who shot a seven year old trick or treater. We want God to show the GLORY of his judgment on genocidal dictators and race-motivated murderers. But the question is do you feel the weight of God’s justice when it comes to you and your sin?

Friends, until you recognize that you are worthy of God’s just judgment, you will never marvel at the glory of the cross of Jesus. You will never marvel at the grace and mercy you’ve received. Until your picture of God includes his just judgment of your sin, your painting will have no backdrop for you to appreciate the mountain of God’s grace that he has heaped upon you.

The cross is the greatest manifestation of God’s glory in Salvation over against the backdrop of his just judgment of sin. At Calvary, God vented the full wrath of his anger towards sin on his son Jesus so that if you would believe that HE took the punishment you JUSTLY deserve, you will receive his righteousness and his obedience and his life.

You or I would NEVER have been good enough to escape the judgment of God - but we can receive it freely as a gift from God by his grace.

Romans 11:33–36 ESV

33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! 34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?” 35 “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?” 36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

You can’t give God anything - you can only receive MERCY and worship him for his just judgments.

So Exodus 14 paints the picture in full relief - you can see the glory of God’s salvation against the backdrop of his glorious justice.

Now we must turn to the second endeavor in this message. That is to show you how...

2) The New Testament teaches us that baptism symbolizes passing through judgment you deserve by union with God’s Deliverer and coming out alive and part of God’s new creation.

Last week we talked about how God Delivered the Israelites with illustrated reminders. And a good portion of that text and that message focused on the depth of meaning behind the lamb, the passover and ultimately its relationship to the Lord’s Supper.

In a way, this message is an extension of last week’s - because the Red Sea crossing of Exodus 14 is another illustrated reminder of how God delivers - namely by passing safely through the very judgment you deserve by nature of your union with God’s deliverer.

Let’s unpack this.

Point number 2 has three basic parts:

We’re saying that New Testament teaching informs us that baptism first symbolizes passing through judgment you deserve. I hope that became plain in the first part of our message - that the Israelites ALSO deserved death and judgment but were only saved by God’s mercy. So the Waters picture the Waters of Judgment in death and the Israelites in essence passed safely through death.

Now to part two of the 2nd point. Baptism symbolizes passing through death BY UNION WITH GOD’S DELIVERER. SO let’s unpack that concept.

To do so I’m going to start with our present narrative and then reinforce it with the flood narrative from the Genesis as a support for this concept.

Nod to Timothy Brindle “The Unfolding”

1 Corinthians 10:1–2 ESV

1 For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea,

Philip Ryken writes this… Paul was making a connection between the exodus and baptism. For the Israelites, passing through the Red Sea was a type of baptism, and thus it was “a forecast of our final deliverance in Christ.” Once we were enslaved in the Egypt of sin, but now Christ has set us free. All of this is symbolized in the Red Sea event of baptism.

Notice the specific language - they were baptized into Moses. They were saved by their union with God’s deliverer, Moses. So our present text is used in the New Testament to say the Red Sea crossing was a type (a foreshadowing) of BAPTISM. What it prefigured, Baptism shows the reality.

But I want to bolster this baptism connection by pulling in another Old Testament narrative that the New Testament says is a TYPE for Baptism. And this connection is not arbitrary. Let me show you how Exodus 14 is closely linked to the Flood Account in Genesis.

First there is the fact that Moses identified himself with Noah back in Exodus 1 by saying he was delivered in the waters of the Nile in an ARK (remember that connection? the Tevah? / Basket / Ark

But in our specific chapter, we see two unique verbal connections between the red sea salvation/judgment and the flood’s salvation/judgment

Exodus 14:21 CSB

21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. The Lord drove the sea back with a powerful east wind all that night and turned the sea into dry land. So the waters were divided,

Genesis 8:1 ESV

1 But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided.

RuaCH spirit/wind

Tehom / Depths

Exodus 15:5 CSB

5 The floods covered them; they sank to the depths like a stone.

Exodus 15:8 CSB

8 The water heaped up at the blast from your nostrils; the currents stood firm like a dam. The watery depths congealed in the heart of the sea.

Genesis 7:11 ESV

11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened.

So Moses says poetically in Exodus 15 that the floods/the depths covered the Egyptians. A water judgment on those who were not united with him by faith in YAHWEH.

So how then does the New Testament understand Noah and the flood?

1 Pet. 3:20 and 21 tells us that eight people were brought SAFELY THROUGH WATER. BAPTISM CORRESPONDS TO THIS.

Who was brought safely through water? Those who were WITH Noah.

Genesis 6:18 ESV

18 But I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you.

Genesis 6:19 ESV

19 And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ark to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female.

Genesis 7:15 ESV

15 They went into the ark with Noah, two and two of all flesh in which there was the breath of life.

So God’s merciful salvation laid against the backdrop of judgment in the Red Sea or in the Flood was accomplished by being WITH Noah or IN Moses. You had to be united to the deliverer.

Are you beginning to see the picture? You are passing through the waters of death by nature of your UNION with God’s appointed deliverer.

So we’ve picked apart the first and second parts of our phrase. Let’s look lastly at how Baptism symbolizes coming safely through death in union with the Deliverer to LIFE and NEW CREATION. To do this, rewind with me past the flood in Genesis 6 and 7 and go to the Creation in Genesis 1.

When God created the world he hovered by his RuaCH Spirit over the deep waters (Tehom) to bring about the earth/land. We don’t have time to study the nuances, but suffice to say, the flood was a reversal of creation. God created the land then birds, and then animals and then mankind.

The flood was a reversal of that creation. Look at Genesis 6:7...

Genesis 6:7 ESV

7 So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.”

And then he even says he will destroy the land

Genesis 6:13 ESV

13 And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

He does so by covering it back up in the Tehom (deep waters).

But when the Spirit comes and hovers in the form of a dove bird over the TEHOM waters, the waters subside and YABISHAH (Hebrew word for Dry ground) is found. And in what can only be described as a new creation (because Peter calls the pre-flood world “the world that then was”) - God commands Noah, like he did Adam, to be fruitful and multiply.

What is my point in all this, except to say that once brought safely through the waters of death, Noah and his family were alive on what was essentially a new creation (YABISHAH) dry ground recreated so to speak by the same spirit that divided the deep in Genesis 1.

So now you’re able to come to our text, Exodus 14 and see how the Lord by his SPIRIT pushes back the deep and lets Israel walk on nothing less than DRY GROUND YABISHAH.

Exodus 14:21–22 CSB

21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. The Lord drove the sea back with a powerful east wind all that night and turned the sea into dry land. So the waters were divided, 22 and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with the waters like a wall to them on their right and their left.

This is an echo to Noah walking on the essentially new creation after the flood.

And the point of all that BIBLICAL THEOLOGY is this:

God has shown over and over that you are saved from certain death and delivered to new creation life by union with the Deliverer. And the New Testament helps us understand Baptism is what symbolizes all of this.

Romans 6:3–4 ESV

3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

Baptism symbolizes passing through the waters of judgment/death (prefigured in the flood and the red sea) by union with Jesus (prefigured in Noah and Moses) and being raised to new life (prefigured in the new creation dry ground in Noah’s Day and the dry ground on which the Israelites walked).

As for point number 2, I rest my case.

Now.... We have waded in deep today. PLEASE PARDON THE PUN. But I don’t want you to leave without answering this question: So what?

How does this help me live my Christian life tomorrow when I go to work, or when I go to school.

Well, I’m glad you asked! It couldn’t be any more important. Let me give you two very clear Biblical applications to what we’ve learned today, in reverse order to the points we’ve learned.

Point number two said Baptism means we are united to Jesus in death, burial and resurrection.

Practical application: IF YOU TRUSTED JESUS TO SAVE YOU, YOUR BAPTISM SHOULD HELP YOU GET THE PICTURE: YOU ARE NO LONGER A SLAVE TO SIN, YOU HAVE DIED TO SIN IN YOUR UNION WITH CHRIST SO STOP SINNING AND START LIVING THE RUACH SPIRIT FILLED NEW CREATION LIFE!

Write this passage down and study it, meditate on it, and memorize it:

Romans 6:1–14 ESV

1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. 13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

Paul says, if you’re having trouble wrestling with sin in your life, Meditate on your BAPTISM!

Ok, now back to point number one. It said that God’s glory in salvation is seen over against the backdrop of his judgment. And we looked at Romans 11:33-36

Romans 11:32–36 ESV

32 For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all. 33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! 34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?” 35 “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?” 36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

Do you see it, Mercy, judgment, glory, God’s MERCY, over against God’s JUDGMENT, displays God’s GLORY. And, NOW that YOU UNDERSTAND THE MOUNTAINOUS HEIGHTS OF GOD’S GLORY in MERCY

What is the Practical Application: THEREFORE...

Romans 12:1–2 ESV

1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Romans 12 through 15 is the way you live your Christian life:

Humble yourself

Serve your fellow believers

Love freely

Rejoice in hope

Be patient in Tribulation

Constantly Pray

Contribute generously

Bless your persecutors

Don’t be too full of yourself

Submit to the governing authorities

Pay your taxes

Be people of light and not darkness

Destroy your fleshly desires

Quit judging people who have different opinions on matters of Christian liberty than you

Let love guide every decision you make

Be filled with peace

and Abound in Hope

HOW IS THAT FOR PRACTICAL APPLICATION? Listen, brothers and sisters - UNTIL YOU UNDERSTAND GOD’S MERCY toward you over and against his judgment for sin you will not understand all that the CROSS means for how you live your life. YOU ARE A LIVING SACRIFICE!

That is what it means to understand your deliverance was with interwoven judgment - namely, when God saved you in Jesus, he judged your SIN, destroying its power. LIVE on that new creation dry ground and thank God for his MERCY that you were not swallowed up by the depths of his magnificent JUSTICE and go live your life for God’s GLORY.

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