The great work that Moses and the people of Israel responded to in song is found in the passages we are focusing our attention on this morning on the end of Exodus 13 and into chapter 14.
S0, turn in your Bible with me to the middle of Exodus chapter 13.
We are now six weeks in to our study of this Old Testament book penned by Moses, which records God’s great, Fatherly love in action to rescue and redeem his children.
Last week we looked at the 10th and final plague the LORD brought upon the Egyptians, the killing of the firstborn. And we saw how God saved his people from his divine judgment through the death of a substitute.
Death came to every household in the land, either the death of the firstborn in judgment or the death of the lamb as the substitute for those who were protected under the blood of the lamb.
After the death of their firstborn, the Egyptians couldn’t act fast enough to send the Israelites out of their land.
When Israel entered Egypt, 430 years earlier, Exodus 1:5 tells us there were 70 people in their family clan.
When Israel finally left Egypt 430 years later, the middle of Exodus chapter 12 tells us there were over 600 thousand men, just grown men. So, by the time you count the women and children there would have been between somewhere between 2 and 4 million people involved in this mass Exodus from Egypt.
That is a huge amount of people to move and coordinate but as we’ll see here at the end of chapter 13, God himself was leading them on this journey!
Let’s look at the text.
Exodus 13:17-22 - 17 When Pharaoh let the people go, God did nnot lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near. For God said, “Lest the people ochange their minds when they see war and return to Egypt.” 18 But God pled the people around by the way of the wilderness toward the Red Sea. And the people of Israel went up out of the land of Egypt equipped for battle. 19 Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for Joseph1 had made the sons of Israel solemnly swear, saying, q“God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones with you from here.” 20 And rthey moved on from Succoth and encamped at Etham, on the edge of the wilderness. 21 And sthe LORD went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night. 22 The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people.
Pharaoh finally let the people of Israel go after striking Egypt with plague after plague after plague, just as God decreed would happened back in Exodus 3:20. Now the nation of Israel is on their way to the Promised Land, a land flowing with milk and honey.
But the Lord didn’t take them on the most direct path. Rather than taking the shorter route that would bring them into a military conflict with the Philistines, he sends them on the long path down toward the Red Sea.
The LORD knew that if they were immediately confronted with the reality of war, the nation would change their minds about leaving Egypt.
The LORD, in His perfect knowledge, knew that the people weren’t ready for the challenges they would face on the way to the Promised Land and given the opportunity to turn back, they would.
The end of verse 18 in the ESV says Israel was “equipped for battle.” This phrase may seem out of place given that the Lord was leading them away from war with the Philistines but the people knew a battle was coming. They knew that they would face many enemies along the way to the Promised Land but only the Lord knew how severe such battles would become.
The people were expecting battle but the Lord knew it would be too much for them. The Lord had other plans to show his power in salvation.
Rather than the direct route, God led them in another direction, a direction that would ultimately prove itself even more challenging than confronting the Philistines in war. But in this new path, there would be no option of retreat, no way for them to escape.
It was a divine setup! God was intentionally leading them into an impossible situation so that Israel would see that nothing is impossible for God and they would deepen their dependence upon him!
As the nation marched out of Egypt, they not only took with them the riches of Egypt, but verse 19 tells us that Moses took the 400 year-old bones of Joseph with him. Even as the nation was looking to the future, it was important that they be reminded of the past.
Back in Genesis 50:24-25 “And Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die, but God will visit you and bring you up out of this land to the land that he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” 25 Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here.”
Verse 19 of chapter 13 is reminding us that God is faithful to his people! God didn’t deliver Israel from slavery in Egypt because they deserved it but because he is faithful to his covenant promises. He had promised Abraham a land, descendants, blessing. Joseph had faith in that covenantal promise of God.
Verse 19 reminds us that God isn’t reacting or responding to situations in this world, he divinely orchestrates them for his purposes.
As I pointed out back in the beginning of our journey through the book of Exodus, it is a recalling of God’s faithfulness to his covenant promises. The book of Exodus is like the continual ringing of a bell that is struck again and again and again to call our attention to God’s faithfulness to his covenant promises.
And in order to fulfill his promises God’s power continues to work for his people. The nation of Israel wasn’t just wandering around aimlessly as they left Egypt, God himself was leading them!
Our first point is from the end of chapter 13.
I. God’s powerful presence guides His people (13:17-22)
During the day, a pillar of cloud led God’s people. At night, a pillar of fire which continually provided light for their journey.
Fire and Cloud, often representative of God’s presence. Just as God revealed himself in fiery holiness from the burning bush to Moses, now he led the entire nation from the cloud and fire.
What an incredibly compassionate act by God to allow his people to see his presence with them, to see that his presence never left his people. They knew that God was with them wherever they went.
Brother and sister in Christ, we have the same compassionate promise of God’s enduring presence today! Jesus said, at the end of Matthew’s Gospel “I am with you always, to the end of the age.” God continues to dwell among his people today. In fact, through the work of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit, he dwells in his people!
One of the reasons why the 23rd Psalm is so well-known and resonates with us so deeply is because it speaks of God’s powerful presence that continues to guide His people – “I will fear no evil for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” (Psalm 23:4)
God’s powerful presence guided his people out of Egypt. He guided them away from war with the philistines and toward an even more impossible situation. Look at chapter 14 with me now. I’m going to read from verse 1 down through 29.
Exodus 14:1-29 - Then the LORD said to Moses, 2 “Tell the people of Israel to tturn back and encamp in front of Pi-hahiroth, between uMigdol and the sea, in front of Baal-zephon; you shall encamp facing it, by the sea. 3 For Pharaoh will say of the people of Israel, ‘They are wandering in the land; the wilderness has shut them in.’ 4 And vI will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he will pursue them, and I will wget glory over Pharaoh and all his host, xand the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD.” And they did so. 5 When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, the ymind of Pharaoh and his servants was changed toward the people, and they said, “What is this we have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us?” 6 So he made ready his chariot and took his army with him, 7 and took zsix hundred chosen chariots and all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them. 8 And vthe LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued the people of Israel while athe people of Israel were going out defiantly. 9 The bEgyptians pursued them, all Pharaoh's horses and chariots and his horsemen and his army, and overtook them cencamped at the sea, by Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon. 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 dcried out to the LORD. 11 They esaid 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 fwe 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.” 13 And Moses said to the people, g“Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will work for you today. For hthe Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. 14 iThe LORD will fight for you, and you have only jto be silent.” 15 The LORD said to Moses, “Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward. 16 kLift up your staff, and kstretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground. 17 And lI will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they shall go in after them, and mI will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, his chariots, and his horsemen. 18 And the Egyptians nshall know that I am the LORD, mwhen I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.” 19 oThen 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 night1 without one coming near the other all night. 21 Then Moses kstretched out his hand over the sea, and the LORD drove the sea back by pa strong east wind all night and qmade the sea dry land, and the waters were rdivided. 22 And sthe people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being ta 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 clogging2 their chariot wheels so that they drove heavily. And the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from before Israel, for the uLORD fights for them against the Egyptians.” 26 Then the LORD said to Moses, v“Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen.” 27 wSo Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea xreturned to its normal course when the morning appeared. And as the Egyptians fled into it, the LORD ythrew3 the Egyptians into the midst of the sea. 28 The zwaters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen; of all the host of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea, anot one of them remained. 29 But the bpeople of Israel walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.
Just when we think we’ve heard the last of the Egyptians, the Lord sets a trap that Pharaoh cannot ignore. The Lord did what, by the world’s standards, would have been a futile and foolish movement. He led Israel in a round about path to a dead-end camped along the Red Sea.
The Lord even told Moses in verse three exactly how Pharaoh would respond and what he would say! The Lord knew what words were on Pharaoh’s tongue before he even spoke!
Pharaoh would hear of Israel wandering around. The Lord would again harden Pharaoh’s heart and Pharaoh would pursue Israel.
God lead his beloved children to this dead-end, deathtrap and then he enticed Pharaoh to pursue Israel with his army. This makes zero sense, there’s no rational explanation.
But the ultimate purpose is there in the middle of verse four, The Lord said, “I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord.”
Point #2
II. God positions people to promote His glory (14:1-29)
This is a key truth of Exodus. Back in chapter two, the people groaned because of their slavery. There was absolutely nothing they could do to deliver themselves, yet God had them right where he wanted them. He’s the one that led Israel to Egypt 400 years earlier and promised to Abraham that they would be slaves.
Here God led the nation to this dead-end path up against the shore of the Red Sea and he had them right where he wanted them so that they would know he was the Lord. So that they would learn what it means to trust in Him for salvation. So that even the Egyptians who stood against the Lord would know that he alone is God and ultimately so that the Lord would get glory over Pharaoh and all his hosts.
As the Israelites approached the Red Sea God did, indeed, hardened Pharaoh’s heart and Pharaoh realized letting their entire slave force go really wasn’t such a great thing. There was no one to cook the food and serve it. There was no one to build the palaces and clean them. So he gathered his chariot army and went after the Israelites.
The fast chariots quickly caught up with the Israelites who were camped on the edge of the Red Sea and when the people of Israel saw the Egyptians — to say it mildly, the people freaked out.
The end of verse 10 says they “feared greatly” and they “cried out to the LORD.”
They went on a bitter rant in verses 11-12 against Moses as they again allowed their circumstances to derail their focus on the goodness and faithfulness of God.
They people cried out! They were bitter! Resentment had set in. They wanted to be back under bondage. They feared because they were doubting God’s goodness, his covenant faithfulness!
God was about to bring about one of the greatest acts of deliverance in the entire Old Testament and his people were full of nothing but distrust and fear.
As we saw a couple weeks ago with the plagues, the clear truth of the Bible is that God’s plan is never contingent upon nor determined by the circumstances that happen in this world.
God’s plan is perfect and his perfect plan determines the circumstances in this world.
It was God who led the Israelites to this impossible position so that he could save them and receive all the glory that is due to his name alone!
Even in the most confusing situations in life, God is working.
What could the Israelites do? Could they pull themselves together and work harder to get out of this jam? No! Could they think positively about the situation and try to be a better person? No! There was nothing they could do to save themselves.
God positions his people to promote his glory and he does this in two ways.
First -
(1) by working salvation for His people
The people were paralyzed in fear. In verse 13, Moses simply states “FEAR NOT!”
The people wanted to know what they need to do, Moses succinctly says “STAND FIRM”
The people had seen all that God had done to get them to this current position but now MOoses says, “See the salvation of the Lord!”
God was about to do all the work required to save his people from this seemingly impossible situation.
This is perhaps the grandest picture of God’s salvation of sinners in all the Old Testament.
The bitter, resentful, complaining Israelites were backed into a corner; they could do nothing to save themselves.
The same is true of every single one of us apart from the divine intervention of God.
We were all born in a dead-end, literally dead in our trespasses and sin, but God! God intervened to work the salvation of His people by sending his Son Jesus who would set the captives free and lead us in a new Exodus.
Look at how significant this truth of Exodus is. In John 5, Jesus was speaking to a group of Jews who were seeking to kill him and he said, John 5:46-47 “For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. 47 But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”
If you do not believe that Exodus is important today; if you do not believe in the truth of Exodus; then you cannot believe in Jesus! Moses wrote Exodus to point us ultimately to Jesus!
On the mount of transfiguration when Jesus allowed Peter, James, and John to see a preview of His glory, there were two other men who joined them, Moses and Elijah.
Luke 9:30-31 says, “And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, 31 who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.”
That word, departure, is the same word used of the Exodus. Moses and Elijah spoke of Jesus’ exodus which Jesus was about to accomplish through His substitutionary death as the lamb of God and his resurrection unto life.
The means by which Jesus would accomplish this new Exodus was through His death, burial, and resurrection in Jerusalem!
Jesus would take sinners who are trapped against the sea and he would bring them safely to the new life on the other side.
And there is only one way we can participate in the divine Exodus today! How do we get from dead in our trespasses and sin safely to life on the other side?
Jesus gives us the answer in John 5:24 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.”
Another way to translate “passed” is “crossed over.” The one who does not come into judgment but crosses over from death to life, is the one who hears the truth of Jesus and believes in Him.
Believe in Jesus today and let him take you from death to life by trusting in the God who works salvation for his people to save you from your untenable slavery to sin.
It may sound too easy because it is! You can’t contribute one sliver of your salvation because God doesn’t share one sliver of his glory.
In his New Testament letter to the church at Ephesus right after the apostle Paul said we were all dead in our trespasses and sins, he said God made us (Christians) alive, solely by his grace, not by works, so that no one may boast!
God, through the death of his perfect sacrificial lamb, has made us alive with Christ. He’s raised us up with Christ and he has seated us with Christ!
And the reason why he did this: Ephesians 2:7 “so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”
God saves wretched, despicable sinners like me and like you who are completely undeserving so that we can be trophies of his grace. So that, in the coming ages of eternity, God can hold us up and say, “look at what I did with such a horrible mess.”
Back in chapter one of his letter to the Ephesians, Paul used a similar phrase three times in the same Greek sentence, when describing the saving work of Jesus to bring dead sinners to new life. He said it’s all “to the praise of his glorious grace” … “To the praise of his glory.” … “To the praise of his glory”
Back in Exodus 14:4, The Lord told Moses that he would get glory over Pharaoh!
God works the salvation of his people so that he gets the glory which is most prominently seen and evidenced in his immeasurable grace toward us sinners!
As the Egyptian army drew near to Israel’s camp, Exodus 14:19-20 tells us that the Lord put himself between Israel and the Egyptians. God himself in the pillar of cloud and fire was protecting them.
Moses lifted up his hands and God parted the Red Sea so that the Israelites passed over to the other side on dry ground.
God positions his people to promote His glory by working salvation for His people and second —
(2) By working judgment for those opposed to Him
This is the same truth we looked at in depth two weeks ago with the plagues but it continues to be a prominent theme throughout the book.
Look at verse 23.
Exodus 14:23-24 - 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,
The Lord, who was himself in the pillar of fire, looked down on the Egyptian forces and instantly – panic.
Now, when the Lord looked down on His people he brought salvation but here, when he looks down on those who stand opposed to him, he comes in judgment.
God is sovereign even over their chariot wheels getting stuck in the mud!
The 10 plagues that the Lord brought upon the Egyptians were a preview of the Lord’s ultimate judgment.
The killing of Pharaoh and the entire Egyptian army is merely a preview of what will someday befall all those who continue to live in rebellion against the all-powerful God!
In Revelation 20, the apostle John described a time yet to come when the Lord will look down on all of those who died in opposition to Him and he will judge them according to what they had done!
For those who continue to try and cross the sea on their own, the water will come crashing in. Praise be to God he is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. Here’s how Peter says it -
2 Peter 3:9-10 “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.”
You do not know when your time on this earth will draw to a close but when it does, that’s it, your eternal destiny is sealed.
God will be glorified and you will showcase his glory, either as a trophy of his grace or an object of his wrath.
When confronted with such an awesome truth of Exodus, how can we possibly respond appropriately? We must be careful to not reduce the amazing truth of God parting the Red Sea into a pithy moral lesson like: “Be still and let God fight for you” or “Stand firm and see the salvation God will bring you.”
While those are good things to remember they are not primarily the point of Exodus. Exodus is not a motivational story to remind us that God will win our battles when we are facing difficult circumstances in life! The trying circumstance you’re staring down may not turn out the way you hope it will.
The message of Exodus is that God has already won the battle and his grand Exodus already accomplished in Christ enables us to face our daily battles with confidence and hope! The truth of Exodus enables us to say “to live is Christ and to die is gain.” (Philippians 1:21)
So what is an appropriate response to the truth of Exodus?
Look at the end of Exodus 14
Exodus 14:30-31- 30 Thus the LORD csaved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. 31 dIsrael saw the great power that the LORD used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the LORD, and they ebelieved in the LORD and in his servant Moses.
Here we see the Israelites respond to God’s great power.
Point number 3 -
III. Respond to God’s “great power” (14:30-31)
When the waves calmed and the sea returned to normal. They looked and saw all the dead bodies of the Egyptians scattered across the shoreline and they had a three-fold response and each of these three are woven together.
First, respond to God’s “great power” by
(1) fearing the Lord
When the Israelites saw the Egyptian army approaching back up in verse 10 they “feared greatly.”
Are you kidding me? After all the Israelites just witnessed back in Egypt!
But this exactly what happens to us. Nearly ever time something doesn’t go the way we think it should go. We shouldn’t have received that test result!?!? We shouldn’t have to deal with that broken relationship!?!?
Fear distorts our memories!
We must fear God alone who is the same yesterday, today and forever.
Your circumstance has not changed God.
Back up in verse 13, the command “fear not” referring to the situation with the Egyptian army approaching.
Here in verse 31, fear God!
To Fear God means to trust him. It’s humbling yourself before him in reverence, in awe.
We fear God because of who he is, because of what he has done, and because of what he will do.
Ecclesiastes 12:14 “For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.”
Respond to God’s “great power” by fearing the Lord, secondly -
(2) by believing in the LORD
Believe in the Lord means trusting that he is who he says he is and that he will do what he says he will do.
That trust in the Lord was broken back up in verses 10-12 when they cried out against God by saying they’d rather just be back in Egypt.
At times, our trust in the Lord may be shaken, but return to the truth that when we trust in the Lord with all our heart and lean not on our own understanding, in all our ways acknowledge him, that he will make straight our paths.
The Lord alone is worthy of our trust!
Respond to God’s “great power” by fearing the Lord. Believing in the Lord
(3) by believing in the Lord’s Servant
The people of Israel followed Moses’ direction and crossed the Red Sea on dry ground safely through the Sea to the other side.
In that monumental event, we get a breathtaking glimpse of the ultimate sea that would be parted. The sea of sin that we were drowning in would be miraculously parted in the body of Christ himself, rescuing and redeeming us from the depths of sin.
John 14:1 Jesus said, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.”
Respond to God’s great power by believing in his servant Jesus!
Just as Moses and the people of Israel sang of the great triumph of the Lord who threw the horse and his rider into the sea, so too, those who believe in Jesus will one day sing of the great triumph of the Lord when God’s ultimate judgment comes upon the sinful rebellion of the world, which is described in Revelation 18 like a great millstone being thrown into the Sea.
After which the great multitude of heaven will cry out: Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, (Rev. 19:1)
Scripture quotations are from the ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
© Geist Community Church
Permissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce this material in any format, provided that you do not alter the content in any way and do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. Questions? Email: church@geist.org. Please include the following statement on any distributed copy: by Matt Walker. © Geist Community Church—McCordsville, Indiana. www.geist.org
No comments:
Post a Comment