Out of Egypt - Through the Water

Slavery—bondage—servitude. Brutal taskmasters—heavy burdens—daily despair and hopelessness. This was the land of Egypt for the Israelites.

Four hundred years prior, the land of Egypt was a place of refuge, a place of rescue. It was a place that promised food in the midst of famine, a land that gave the Hebrews a home at a time when things were becoming desperate. But that had all changed. A pharaoh had ascended to the throne who did not know and who did not acknowledge the great deeds and works of Joseph.

— Now, the Hebrews — God’s people — had become a source of cheap labor.

— Now, they were enslaved to carry out the building projects of the pharaoh.

— Now, slavery, bondage, and servitude, brutal taskmasters and heavy burdens were their lot, and they groaned under this reality.

Even though the Israelites had journeyed willingly to the land of Egypt, and even though they had been blessed in this journey by plentiful grain and the beautiful land of Goshen as their dwelling place, what had once been a good and gracious land had become a place of enslavement. What had once been a place a refuge became a place of pain and sorrow. What had once been a place of life became a place of death—a land of exile where their baby boys were thrown into the Nile River to die. And the Hebrews were helpless to break free and escape Egypt.

The people were in need of a leader. They were in need of a savior. They needed a leader to arise from their midst, a leader who would gather them together. One who would remind them of who they were and who their God was—and who they were in relationship to this God. They needed one who would bring them out of this terrible land of slavery and death. They needed someone who could and who would stand up to Pharaoh. So God sent Moses.

II).

We could spend time talking about Moses and his abilities, or lack thereof. We could speak of his training, his education, and his reluctance. We could speak of his temper, of his wimpiness, of his lack of desire to carry out the task. We could even speak at great length about all of these things; but God knew what His people needed and so He equipped Moses for the task and then sent him to rescue His people. One stubborn pharaoh and ten plagues later, Moses and the Israelites finally leave town after four hundred years. Moses and the Israelites are headed back to the land that was promised by God to His people from the days of Abraham.

Two obstacles, however, remain between them and their rescue. Two obstacles stand in the way of their return from exile: a large army and a big body of water. Two obstacles and the Israelites are right in the middle of both of them. Pharaoh and his army are coming up fast from behind, and the Red Sea looms large ahead. They are stuck between the proverbial “rock and a hard place;” but God has a plan, a way, a means by which to save His people.

The Lord God tells Moses to raise his staff over the waters of the Red Sea; miraculously, the waters part, and the people pass through the waters on dry ground. As the people go through the waters, they are rescued from the land of slavery and death. The people cross over as they begin their return from exile. And then, to tie up all the loose ends and to deliver a message, the waters collapse on the advancing Egyptian army. Pharaoh and his army are destroyed in the waters. The evil is washed away.

In the words of Moses, God says to His 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.”

And so God’s people are saved by the waters.

There is life and death in those waters.

The same waters that destroy the evil pharaoh and his army save the people of God.

The Egyptians are drowned, and the Israelites walk away alive.

The waters that kill also preserve life.

This will not be the last time the Lord uses water to destroy the enemy and give life to His people.

This WILL NOT be the last time the Lord uses water to bring His people back from exile.

III).

A land of bondage, a land of slavery to sin and death—slaves of Satan, enemies of God.

The enemies—sin, death, and the devil—still seek to enslave God’s people. We know firsthand what this is like, as we see and experience sin and death, and are under pressure from the devil on a daily basis; from illnesses and disease to a pandemic, along with financial hardship to trouble in the home.

Indeed, the enemies of sin, death, and the devil are successful, for we groan under the terrible burden of everlasting death. And we the people need to escape, but alas, no matter how hard we try, no matter what others promise, we cannot escape. Like the Hebrews of old, we need a Savior.

We need a Savior, a Deliverer to rise from our midst. A Savior who will gather us up and bring us out of this exile. We need a Savior who will reunite and restore us to God. We need One who will stand up to Satan and his evil power. So God sent Jesus.

We could spend some time speaking about Jesus and His abilities. We could speak of His power, of His lineage, of His sacrifice, of His love and mercy, but suffice it to say that in Jesus, God became flesh to dwell among us and rescue us from our land of exile. Jesus went down into the waters of the Jordan to be baptized by John—not to be washed clean of sin, for He had none. No, Jesus went down into the waters of the Jordan to take all of the world’s sins upon Himself and to go into the wilderness to take them back to the father of sin, Satan.

The obstacle to our return from exile—the dividing wall of hostility that was raised between us and God by sin, death, and the devil—is removed. Christ went down into the waters and gathered all sin to Himself in order that waters might be cleansed and prepared for our own journey through the waters.

So, dear friends, as LIFE presses in on you, when you feel stuck between a rock and a hard place, know that God is active in your life. He may not remove the obstacle, but He will part those waters to provide you a way through. You see, God baptized you He united you with your Savior, providing a guarantee that just as Christ was raised from the dead, so you, too, are a new creation, set on the path to His Promised Land.

The Word and Sacraments is all you need to sustain you through this time. You can NEVER have too much. His Word is powerful and effective; it does what it says. Through it He provides the way forward. He promises are contained therein:

Trust in the LORD with all your heart; lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.

Come unto Me all who are weary and carrying heavy burdens.

I will never leave you, nor will I ever abandon you.

I am with you always, to the very end of the age.

And Jesus has provided countless more. See the promise and hope our Savior provides? All this is yours because Jesus went to the cross where He suffered, shed His blood and died for you. The message of this cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, because they think the message of the cross is not enough; nor do they think God’s Word is enough. But as St. Paul reminds us, “it is the power of God.”

So, down into the waters we go, and our old Adam is drowned as all sin is washed away. Up from the waters we arise, a new Adam, a new creation, a child of God. We come up from these sacramental waters into the promised land of everlasting life. Returned from exile, returned from a land of slavery, through the waters, into the arms of God.

In Jesus’ name. Amen.