Washing Slavery into the Sea

Exodus 14:10–31 ESV

When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly. And the people of Israel cried out to the Lord. 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 in bringing us out of Egypt? Is not this what we said to you in Egypt: ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” And Moses said to the 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.” The Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward. Lift up your staff, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground. And I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they shall go in after them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, his chariots, and his horsemen. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.” Then the angel of God who was going before the host of Israel moved and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them, coming between the host of Egypt and the host of Israel. And there was the cloud and the darkness. And it lit up the night without one coming near the other all night. Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. The Egyptians pursued and went in after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. And in the morning watch the Lord in the pillar of fire and of cloud looked down on the Egyptian forces and threw the Egyptian forces into a panic, clogging their chariot wheels so that they drove heavily. And the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from before Israel, for the Lord fights for them against the Egyptians.” Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen.” So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal course when the morning appeared. And as the Egyptians fled into it, the Lord threw the Egyptians into the midst of the sea. The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen; of all the host of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea, not one of them remained. But the people of Israel walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. 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.

Exodus 15:9–18 ESV

The enemy said, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil, my desire shall have its fill of them. I will draw my sword; my hand shall destroy them.’ You blew with your wind; the sea covered them; they sank like lead in the mighty waters. “Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders? You stretched out your right hand; the earth swallowed them. “You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed; you have guided them by your strength to your holy abode. The peoples have heard; they tremble; pangs have seized the inhabitants of Philistia. Now are the chiefs of Edom dismayed; trembling seizes the leaders of Moab; all the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away. Terror and dread fall upon them; because of the greatness of your arm, they are still as a stone, till your people, O Lord, pass by, till the people pass by whom you have purchased. You will bring them in and plant them on your own mountain, the place, O Lord, which you have made for your abode, the sanctuary, O Lord, which your hands have established. The Lord will reign forever and ever.”

Scripture: Exodus 14: 10-31; 15:9-18

Belgic Confession Articles 33-34

Sermon: Washing Slavery into the Sea

           We are turning to the account of the Israelites crossing the Red Sea as they came out after 430 years of slavery in Egypt. We don’t have an exact timeline as to when every single event happened after leaving Egypt, but drawing from other passages, we are at some point in the first month, perhaps within just a couple weeks after the Passover and plundering of the Egyptians. God had intentionally brought his people to a location where they appeared to be stuck and able to go no farther. Meanwhile, the Egyptians realized they had lost their work force. So, Pharaoh went to chase them down with “six hundred of the best chariots, along with all the other chariots of Egypt, with officers over all of them.” He was not leaving anything to chance; it sounds like he brought his best forces and he caught up to the Israelites.   

           Brothers and sisters in Christ, part of Belgic Confession Article 34 on the sacrament of baptism says this, “Therefore Christ has commanded that all those who belong to him be baptized with pure water ‘in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.’ In this way God signifies to us that just as water washes away the dirt of the body when it is poured on us and also is seen on the bodies of those who are baptized when it is sprinkled on them, so too the blood of Christ does the same thing internally, in the soul, by the Holy Spirit. 

It washes and cleanses it from its sins and transforms us from being the children of wrath into the children of God.  This does not happen by the physical water but by the sprinkling of the precious blood of the Son of God, who is our Red Sea, through which we must pass to escape the tyranny of Pharaoh, who is the devil, to enter the spiritual land of Canaan.” 

It wasn’t until just a few years ago that I knew of any connection between the exodus account with the parting of the Red Sea and our sacrament of baptism. Throughout seminary I learned that a couple of our baptismal forms in the RCA and CRC include in a prayer how God’s judgment on sin was shown in the drowning of Pharaoh and his army, and to the Israelites, God showed great mercy. What is the water signifying in baptism? The shed blood of Christ atones or satisfies for our sins. Furthermore, the sacrament is to symbolically renew our hearts, fill us with all comfort, give true assurance, and clothe us with the new self. 

There are certainly connections that can be made between the historical event in Exodus and what we practice in the church today, following Christ. Moving forward, I want to draw our attention to a few key verses that show us why the crossing of the Red Sea took place as it did. Exodus 14 verses 17-18, “And I will gain glory through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and horsemen. The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I gain glory through Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen.” Then we go to Exodus 15 verse 11, in Moses’ song of celebration, he says, “Who among the gods is like you, O Lord? Who is like you—majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?” In those verses we find God receiving glory, but for very different reasons.

First of all, God received glory in destruction. We have to understand the crossing of the Red Sea was still connected to all that had happened as God used Moses and Aaron to free his people from Egypt. The Israelites were being oppressed, and Pharaoh, the king, had no intention of making things easier on them or allowing them to leave. Yet that was God’s plan, to free them, to bring them to the land of Canaan, the land that he had promised to their ancestors long before, and this was the time for that. And yet Pharaoh consistently said, “No, they may not go.”   

So, what did God do? Throughout the plagues, he didn’t just humble Pharaoh and the Egyptians. No, he crippled them, he brought them low, he brought them to their knees, begging for it to end. They couldn’t drink their water from the Nile, their cities were filled with frogs, gnats, and flies. Exodus 8 says the land was ruined, and then their livestock died. Then people got boils on their bodies. Then hail beat down, locusts continued to ruin their fields and filled their homes. Darkness settled over the land for 3 days, and finally, their firstborns were killed. 

If we consider these curses that God rendered against Egypt, they are destructive and brutal. This is the scary side of God and his wrath. The God who killed all but Noah and his family in the flood, the God who used fire and the ground opening up to swallow disobedient rebels, the God who struck down Ananias and Sapphira. We have a God who is slow to anger, and who is very patient, yet he controls his holy judgment. We must see that the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt, from slaves to free people, is not just a declaration of independence like the U.S. from Great Britain; but this is God against the powers of the world he created that have risen up against him. 

After the tenth plague, Pharaoh had let the Israelites go; he was done suffering. But now he’s had a change of heart. He was in charge of these people. How dare anything try to take them away from being under him. So, he went after them. But God’s message to Moses is continue on—I will handle the army. So, we progress in the story, and we come to that point of God driving all the water from one area up into a wall, and holding the other side back. He forms a canyon of dry ground in part of this extension of the Red Sea. And the people went through. 

That had to be a scary moment, taking those first steps, really in faith; believing the water wasn’t going to come crashing down on you—we don’t know if they felt a mist or a little spray from waves. But the Israelites went right through. Then suddenly the Egyptians were following. It had to be crazy, but if the Israelites could do it, so could they. But then everything literally falls apart—God threw them into confusion, the chariot wheels are coming off, and then God commands Moses to stretch out his arm once more and he will bring these walls of water down. As the Red Sea went back to normal, it destructively took with it every person in the army.

God received glory in destruction. He had shown the Egyptians who was God. Their power over his people was limited. News of this would eventually get back to the Egyptians back home, and it would have brought terror. But so too, the Israelites had witnessed what their God was able to do. Even in the celebrations that follow, you have to wonder if there was a bit of the fear and trembling we later witness at Mt. Sinai in chapter 20. 

But in viewing the destruction of one people, God also received glory in salvation, in saving another. This is what the Israelites got to experience. Their salvation from slavery began during the plagues in Egypt. It wasn’t just the Passover, spreading the blood on the door frames of their homes and having the angel of death pass over their firstborns, but after the third plague, the plague of gnats, God set apart where the Israelites or the Hebrews were living so that they were not affected by most, if not all, of the rest of the plagues. They got to see firsthand how God was sparing them. 

Yet they complained as they came to this point where it seemed like they had gotten to a dead end. But as we said before, God had another plan—to use the Red Sea to show his power for his glory. As he allowed them to pass through, in between the walls of water, safely, they knew they had been saved. Chapter 14 verse 31 says, “The people feared the Lord and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant.” Chapter 15 verse 13 states, “In your unfailing love you will lead the people you have redeemed. In your strength you will guide them to your holy dwelling.” 

We know that the Israelites were weak in faith and trusting God as they continued. They grumbled against him, they complained about food and water, they lived in fear. But at this moment, once those waters came crashing down, and they turned and saw their enemies defeated, they knew what this meant. They were redeemed, set free from the chains of bondage and slavery that had held them in Egypt. God, in his unfailing love, had washed slavery into the sea. That was proof that God was going to fulfill his covenant and bring them, his people, to the Promised Land. He alone could do this.

Baptism is a sign and seal, in faith, that God has saved a person. It’s not that because a person has had water sprinkled on their forehead or since they have been dunked or immersed that they are saved. But if the person is a believer, then just as water washes away dirt, just as the Red Sea swept away the enemies of God and of his people, so too our sins can be washed in the sea of the blood of Jesus. We can be purified and completely cleansed. It is for that reason, as Article 34 puts forth, “baptism is profitable not only when the water is on us and when we receive it but throughout our entire lives.” If you are believing in God, then he has saved you yesterday, today, and tomorrow. It’s not whether you remember your baptism, that’s not what matters at all—it’s that Jesus died on the cross for you, long before we came into our lives, long before we knew him. The sacrament reminds us that he has defeated all our sins, he has paid for them with his precious blood, and he has chosen us to come safely and with joy into new life.

God does still receive glory in exercising his just wrath. For those who don’t believe, who don’t seek salvation in the mercy of God, the punishment of hell is a real thing. To make that decision in one’s life to seek other gods, to reject a God who gives himself to us without us earning any part of our salvation, to deny Jesus—hell is a just punishment. But for those who do walk with the Lord, who seek his forgiveness and transformation, there’s great hope. Just as the Israelites were living in the graces of God’s covenant to their forefathers, so too we can live with the promise of Romans 8:31, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” 

That is the promise of God for all who have been baptized, and who have believed in him. God knows those who have true faith; no matter how weak we are, no matter how prone we are to go astray and sin, he knows us. With the actions of the sacraments, he pledges himself to us to sustain our faith. He saves us, presenting us with an even greater gift than the Promised Land of the Old Testament, but rather we have hope for the eternal kingdom, heaven, paradise with Jesus as Lord forever. Similar to what we read last week in Matthew 16, “the gates of Hades (or hell) will not overcome it.” If we have put our hope in Jesus, there is no enemy invasion that ought to be feared, nothing can take away the gift of God that we have in the sacrifice of Jesus. Amen.