Crossing the Red Sea

INTRO

In the Passover, we see an incredible picture of the unblemished lamb that pointed to Christ, the Ultimate Passover. Because “Christ our Passover had been sacrificed” (1 Corinthians 5:7), we too have been delivered. As we continue our study, the Israelites had been set free, and now the Lord was leading them out of Egypt. He didn’t lead them along the road but led them toward the Red Sea through the wilderness (Exodus 13:17-18).

TEACHING

Exodus 14:1–4: Can you imagine the logistical challenge of leading 2 million people through the wilderness? Psalm 103:7a says God “revealed His ways to Moses.” After leading Israel on the wilderness route instead of along the road, God told them to camp facing the sea. Wiersbe pointed out, “The Jewish people were told what God wanted to do, but God revealed to Moses why He was doing it.”¹The Israelites will soon be trapped between the Red Sea and the approaching Egyptian army. God arranged a trap so He would get the glory in the wilderness and the Egyptians would know that He was Yahweh (v. 4). How many times have you heard, “This is a Red Sea moment!”? In those times, we find ourselves in situations where we need God to show up and reveal His glory through the situation.

Exodus 14:5–10: Once the Israelites left Egypt, Pharaoh and his officials soon realized they had released their free labor force! So Pharaoh gathered his troops and chariots and pursued the Israelites, who were celebrating and praising God as they left Egypt. Josephus said there were probably 50,000 horsemen, 200,000 footmen, and all of them were probably armed. While archeologists have searched for this area, they have not found the exact location. When Israel realized Pharaoh was chasing them, they were terrified and cried out to God for help.

Exodus 14:11–12: How quickly the Israelites forgot the plagues and everything God had done to bring them out of Egypt! Instead of continuing to trust in God, they turned on Moses and asked if he had led them out of Egypt to die in the wilderness. They claimed it would be better to serve Egypt than die by the sea. Scripture recorded the Israelites’ continual complaints against Moses. In Exodus 5, they complained when Pharaoh punished them after Moses and Aaron first requested their release. In Exodus 16, they complained about the lack of food, and in Exodus 17, they complained about the lack of water for themselves and their flocks. Josephus wrote that it got so bad that the Israelites wanted to stone Moses. It doesn’t matter who you are, Moses or Jesus, if you’re a deliverer, they’ll come after you. Sometimes the church sounds like we’ve forgotten that we’ve been delivered and have passed from death to life by the blood of the Lamb. Let’s walk by faith and stop complaining and grumbling! When we function in a position of faith, we win. But when we function in a position of fear and grumbling and whining, we lose.

Exodus 14:13–14: With the strongest backbone ever, Moses stood up to the people and told them, “Don’t be afraid. Stand firm and see the Lord’s salvation . . . The Lord will fight for you; you must be quiet.” As Wiersbe said, fear can either energize or paralyze.²In this context, the word “salvation” (yeshû’â) means “space” or “room”. Nelson’s commentary says, “The people were under great pressure, squeezed between the waters before them and the armies of Pharaoh behind them. Salvation would relieve the pressure in a most dramatic way.”³All Israel had to do was stand still and watch God work on their behalf. Scripture recorded other times when God worked miraculously in Israel (1 Samuel 17:47; 2 Chronicles 20:15–17; Zechariah 14:3). Like the Israelites, sometimes we have to stand firm in our faith to see God work. I think the church in America has tried to create our own salvation. We’ve tried to fight our own battles and then incorporate the Lord at the end. How about we just stand and wait for the Lord to do the fighting?

Exodus 14:15–18: God told Moses to stop crying out to Him and to break camp and keep moving! Instead of remaining paralyzed by fear, they needed to move forward expecting God to show up and miracles to happen. Then God told Moses what to do and what the results would be. “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” (v. 16).God planned to take Israel through the sea! Then, through the destruction of Pharaoh’s army, God would be glorified, and the Egyptians would know He was Yahweh. To get to the land flowing with milk and honey, we’ve got to pass through the sea, which means we’ve got to walk by faith.

Exodus 14:19–20: Remember, the Destroyer in the Passover could have been Jesus. Now we see Jesus in this role again. The Angel of God, who had been in the pillar of cloud leading Israel, moved to stand between Israel and Pharaoh’s army. Compare this to Isaiah 63:8–9: “He said, ‘They are indeed My people, children who will not be disloyal,’ and He became their Savior.In all their suffering, He suffered, and the Angel of His Presence saved them. He redeemed them because of His love and compassion; He lifted them up and carried them all the days of the past.” Exodus 13:21; 14:19; 23:20–23; 32:34; and 33:2 all describe the Angel of the Lord who went before Israel to deliver them, protect them, guide them, and drive out their enemies. Deuteronomy 8:2 says God did this the entire 40 years Israel wandered in the wilderness. The Presence of God, the Angel of God, was in the pillar of cloud and fire. And the Angel of the Lord is Jesus.

Exodus 14:21–25: Moses stretched his hand over the sea and God parted the waters; so the Israelites crossed over on dry ground “with the waters like a wall to them on their right and their left” (v. 22). Can you imagine watching the sea form into walls and then walking through them on dry ground? When the Egyptians followed them, God created great confusion in their army, and they tried to get away from Israel “because Yahweh is fighting for them” (v. 25). The Egyptians recognized God was at work. That’s when you know it’s God. You don’t have to tell people; they just know it.

Exodus 14:26–28: God told Moses: “Stretch out your hand over the sea so the waters may come back on the Egyptians, on their chariots and horsemen.” So, Moses stretched out his hand and God caused the waters to completely cover and destroy Pharaoh and his army. Hamilton compared this event to the story in Mark 5:1–20, where Jesus transfers “demons from a possessed man into 2,000 pigs, who promptly rush down a steep bank into a lake and drown.”⁴In both cases, God’s power was revealed.

Exodus 14:29–31: Israel walked through the sea on dry land and then saw God’s great power displayed against the Egyptians. The people then feared God and believed in Him andHis servant Moses. This Red Sea moment radically transformed the culture of the Israelites. Why? Because they depended on the Lord in faith, and God used Moses to deliver them out of bondage. God would once again bring forth a Deliverer out of Egypt. Matthew 2:13 says an angel of the Lord told Joseph to take Mary and Jesus to Egypt to avoid Herod’s killing spree of male babies in Israel. Matthew 2:15 says, “He stayed there until Herod’s death, so that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled: Out of Egypt I called my Son.”

I believe God used Moses and his faith to deliver the Israelites, which then led to the lineage of Christ. I think the mentality here was “Out of Egypt I called my Son.” Hosea 11:1 says, “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son”, which foreshadowed Jesus’ sojourn in Israel to escape Herod’s massacre and return to Israel after Herod died.

CLOSING

I love watching the Lord tie in all of Scripture. Moses’ faith led to the ultimate Deliverer, Jesus Christ, who was called out of Egypt to set all of us free. I promise all of us will have “Red Sea moments” at some point. When you do, just stand still, and watch the Lord fight for you. Exodus 15 recorded the Israelites singing praises to God about how He saved them in Exodus 14.