Exodus 14

There is no one like God

1. God is Passionate about His Glory

Exodus 14:1–4 LEB

1 And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the Israelites so that they turn and encamp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea; before Baal Zephon, which is opposite it, you will camp by the sea. 3 And Pharaoh will say of the Israelites, ‘They are wandering around in the land. The desert has closed in on them.’ 4 And I will harden the heart of Pharaoh, and he will chase after them, and I will be glorified through Pharaoh and through all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am Yahweh.” And they did so.

Throughout the Old Testament God used strange circumstances to bring Glory to Himself. Not because he was arrogant but because He deserves all glory. God told Israel to go to the Red Sea in order to escape from Egypt.

Lets think about this for a second. They escape then run towards a sea on foot where there is no bridge to cross to get to the other side.

Then the Egyptians come full force in chariots to recapture them. The Israelites are now stuck between the Red Sea and the top tier Egyptian army. They were STUCK!

There was nothing practically that could be done. But this was God’s plan in the first place so that the Israelites and the Egyptians will know that He alone is God.

We serve a God that allows for things to happen in our lives in order for him alone to receive the glory. Whenever the Israelites were stuck there was only one realistic option for them. Their option was death or slavery. Death by drowning or the army would capture them.

But God had other plans in order to draw the glory back to Him.

So many times we have our own plans for success in order for ourselves to receive the glory but that is not how God works.

God does miraculous things for him alone to receive the glory.

2. We are saved from being slaves

Exodus 14:10–12 ESV

10 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. 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 in bringing us out of Egypt? 12 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.”

The Israelites ultimately saw their option was death and began worrying and complaining to Moses.

This is a never-ending cycle that the Israelites face throughout the remainder of Exodus. They are in all honestly really dumb to see all the things of God portrayed right before their eyes and then complain saying there is no God.

They see God working but then quickly run away from his greatness for their own comfort.

God does not call us to be comfortable but to trust in Him.

3. God saves through grace

Exodus 14:13–18 ESV

13 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. 14 The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.” 15 The Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward. 16 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. 17 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. 18 And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.”

Moses’s statement to the Israelites is that God will save us we just have to wait on Him.

Salvation is not something we do!

We cannot be saved through our works.

We cannot strive to please Christ.

We cannot be good enough to be saved.

Salvation only comes through God working through us. There is not a single thing that we can do in order to be saved.

God saves us through his Son.

Moses told the Israelites to stand firm and wait on the LORD. Salvation alone belongs to the Lord.

He then goes into saying the only thing you have to do is be silent the Lord will fight for us.

This was done for them to know that God is in control of it all.

This is done for the Egyptians to know that God alone is the cause of the Red Sea splitting.

4. Jesus is our Mediator

Exodus 14:19–31 ESV

19 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, 20 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. 21 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. 22 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. 23 The Egyptians pursued and went in after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. 24 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, 25 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.” 26 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.” 27 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. 28 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. 29 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. 30 Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. 31 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.

God used Moses to be the mediator between Him and Israel for salvation. God told Moses what to do to save the Israelites.

Salvation comes through a mediator and our mediator is Christ. We have a much better mediator than Moses because our Mediator is the perfect son of God

What does a mediator even do?

A mediator is the person who goes between others and communicates. Jesus is our mediator to God because of his sacrifice for us.

When looking at this excerpt from Exodus we see the gospel of Christ in the Old Testament.

We see that Salvation alone belongs to God. Salvation alone happens through Christ. Salvation has nothing to do with what we do.