Crossing the Red Sea (Exodus): The first real test of faith for the Israelites came when Pharaoh changed his mind and sent his army after them. Caught at the Red Sea with nowhere to escape, their options seemed to be slavery or death. They couldn’t imagine how God might save them — until God made a way. He fought their battle and led them to freedom. All they had to do was trust him. Recorded on Nov 3, 2024, on Exodus 13:17-14:31 by Pastor David Parks.
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This message is part of our Exodus series called Journey to Freedom. Exodus is a story of liberation — of God working to rescue and redeem a people for himself, freeing them from slavery and leading them to the land he promised to the family of Abraham and Sarah. Exodus is also a picture of the gospel and the Christian life. In Christ, we, too, are freed from captivity to sin and death and led through the wilderness of life by God’s Word and Presence as we make our way to the Promised Land of the world to come. Join us as we make this journey to find true and lasting freedom.
Sermon Transcript
We’re working through the book of Exodus in a sermon series called Journey to Freedom. And we’ve said that Exodus is a story of liberation, of God rescuing and redeeming a people for himself. About 3,300 years ago, the ancient Israelites were slaves in Egypt, the greatest, most powerful kingdom on earth. They cried out in their bitter suffering, and Yahweh, the Creator of the heavens and the earth and the God who appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, heard their cries and sent Moses to lead them to freedom. Despite repeated opportunities to let the Israelites go, Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, hard-heartedly refused. But after ten escalating plagues, where Yahweh brought divine judgment down on all the false gods and goddesses of Egypt, Pharaoh finally relented, and the Israelites were set free. Today, we’ll see the first real test of faith for the Israelites in their Exodus out of Egypt when Pharaoh changed his mind and sent his army after the Israelites. Would this be the end of this whole unlikely plan? Would Moses and Aaron (and probably many other Israelites) be killed? Would the remaining people die as slaves? Or would God do something? Would Yahweh fight on behalf of his people and deliver them as he promised? Could they even imagine God doing something like that? Could they trust him? Have you ever had that thought? Can I really trust God to rescue/deliver me? Well, if you have your Bible/app, please open it to Exodus 13:17. This is the famous story of the parting of the Red Sea. And we’ll unpack this text as we go.
Exodus 13:17–22 (NIV), “17 When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, “If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.” 18 So God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea. The Israelites went up out of Egypt ready for battle. 19 Moses took the bones of Joseph with him because Joseph had made the Israelites swear an oath. He had said, “God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up with you from this place.” 20 After leaving Sukkoth they camped at Etham on the edge of the desert. 21 By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. 22 Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people.” So, the Exodus had begun. And, surprisingly, God himself was there, leading his people out of Egypt in a pillar of cloud by day and fire by night. He didn’t just send Moses as his prophet to lead his people; he went too. No one can see God and live, but God’s holy Presence was with them. Commentator Douglas Stuart writes, “…the Israelites knew all day every day that God was present with them. Here was a supernatural, huge, and visible reminder that Yahweh was at the head of his people as they marched or encamped, whether by day or by night.” (Exodus, TNAC, p. 328) That would’ve been wild to see, right? Now, even though Moses wrote that the “Israelites went up out of Egypt ready for battle,” we have to remember that this wasn’t an army. These were former slaves who had never been trained/organize to fight anyone. They weren’t well-armed. They didn’t have chariots or horses or anything like that. They had women and children; they had flocks and herds. They were a slow-moving mass of people. They were easy targets. But God knew all this. And he knew that if he led them on the shortest road to Canaan, the land he promised Abraham, they would run directly into the Philistines, another powerful kingdom and one that wouldn’t welcome them with open arms. God knew they weren’t ready for that kind of warfare, even though the way was shorter. So what would God do? Where would he lead them if not to Canaan?
Exodus 14:1-14 (NIV), “1 Then the Lord said to Moses, 2 “Tell the Israelites to turn back and encamp near Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea. They are to encamp by the sea, directly opposite Baal Zephon. 3 Pharaoh will think, ‘The Israelites are wandering around the land in confusion, hemmed in by the desert.’ 4 And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them. But I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.” So the Israelites did this. 5 When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds about them and said, “What have we done? We have let the Israelites go and have lost their services!” 6 So he had his chariot made ready and took his army with him. 7 He took six hundred of the best chariots, along with all the other chariots of Egypt, with officers over all of them. 8 The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, so that he pursued the Israelites, who were marching out boldly. 9 The Egyptians—all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots, horsemen and troops—pursued the Israelites and overtook them as they camped by the sea near Pi Hahiroth, opposite Baal Zephon. 10 As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the Lord. 11 They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!” 13 Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. 14 The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” We can look at a map and see that God’s solution to avoid the Philistines to the northeast in Canaan appeared to be to turn around and head to the southeast. This would entice Pharaoh to attack them, thinking they were lost or confused, and deliver the Israelites right into his hands with their backs up against the Red Sea. What was God doing? Now, sometimes pain and suffering can drive people away from God, but sometimes it can drive people closer to God. Fear can have the same effect and the Israelites were terrified. I can’t imagine a more threatening/fear-producing situation than having the most elite fighting force on the planet, the hundreds or perhaps thousands of chariots of the Egyptian army with all their troops and officers racing after you. These were professional and experienced warriors. They were organized by seasoned officers. And they were well-armed. They had the best military technology of their day. At the same time, you’re trying to escape on foot (unarmed and barely organized) with everything you hold dear — your wife and kids, friends and neighbors, and all your earthly possessions. How many would die before the rest were slaves once again? It made the Israelites forget all the signs and wonders, all the plagues, and everything Yahweh had just done. They immediately lost faith. “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt?” This situation reminds me of Moses having to run to Midian. Could this possibly be God’s plan? What kind of plan was this?!? But I love how Moses answers these frightened people in v. 13. “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” Could that be true? Let’s see…
Exodus 14:15-31 (NIV), “15 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on. 16 Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground. 17 I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them. And I will gain glory through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen. 18 The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I gain glory through Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen.” 19 Then the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel’s army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them, 20 coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long. 21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the Lord drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, 22 and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. 23 The Egyptians pursued them, and all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots and horsemen followed them into the sea. 24 During the last watch of the night the Lord looked down from the pillar of fire and cloud at the Egyptian army and threw it into confusion. 25 He jammed the wheels of their chariots so that they had difficulty driving. And the Egyptians said, “Let’s get away from the Israelites! The Lord is fighting for them against Egypt.” 26 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters may flow back over the Egyptians and their chariots and horsemen.” 27 Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea went back to its place. The Egyptians were fleeing toward it, and the Lord swept them into the sea. 28 The water flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen—the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived. 29 But the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. 30 That day the Lord saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore. 31 And when the Israelites saw the mighty hand of the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant.” This is God’s word. I love how God responds. He’s not worried. He’s not intimidated by the Egyptian army. “Why are you crying out to me?” He says, “Tell the Israelites to move on.” God’s on the move. This is like the Passover story from last week. They were to eat the Passover meal with their cloaks tucked into their belts, sandals on their feet, staff in hand — ready to run. Judgment was coming, but salvation was coming, too. Again, God says, get ready to move! Then, as Moses held his staff up in obedience to God’s word, and as the Angel of the Lord moved from the front of Israel to behind them to stand between them and their enemy, God sent a mighty wind to part the sea and make a way to cross from slavery to freedom, from death to life. When the Egyptian army tried to pursue them through the sea, they recognized that Yahweh was fighting them on behalf of his people. But it was too late. They couldn’t escape. It was utter destruction for Egypt and total victory for Yahweh. The mightiest king of the most powerful kingdom of the world, with all his money, power, and fame, and with the best of the best of his military might, was no match for the One who created the heavens and the earth, who sustains all things by a word of his power, and who is limitless in power and wisdom and glory. It wasn’t even close. The Lord chose to make a people for himself; he made promises for their future, and then, in the fullness of time, he saved them by fighting for them and providing a way of salvation that no one saw coming. Does that sound familiar to anyone? It should. This is a pattern we see throughout the Bible — God saving people by his grace and according to his wisdom and power, and people having to respond by believing in him and trusting him to do what he promised he would do. In other words, the parting of the Red Sea is a big sign pointing forward to Jesus, where this pattern finds its ultimate fulfillment.
Now, how might we apply this text to our lives today? Well, there are so many helpful lessons from this story. Lessons about the danger of pride in worldly power, God’s miraculous power to intervene and save, and so much more. But one thing this passage illustrates is the limited imagination that sometimes plagues God’s people. Yahweh had just miraculously delivered the Israelites from the hand of Pharaoh. If God could do that, was there anything he couldn’t do? And if God was in the process of rescuing them and was leading them himself, wasn’t it likely that he had better plans for them than to let them die in the desert? Did they really think God was so incompetent? But in their minds/imagination, the only options were slavery or death. The Israelites had an imagination problem. Now, this is understandable. They’d been slaves for over 400 years. Slavery was all they knew. They couldn’t imagine how God might redeem them or that God had something better planned for their future. Instead of trusting the Lord and venturing out into the unknown with courage/optimism/faith, in a twisted way, Egypt felt safe. Slavery was the monster they knew. Can’t we just go back to Egypt? Now, maybe this resonates with some of you today? Have you ever resisted obedience to God because you knew it would result in changes that seemed scary? I remember having that thought at one point. Something like, “I’m pretty sure that God is real and his word is true, but if I really believed that, a lot would have to change in my life.” That’s a daunting thought. Maybe you had the thought that staying in the mess would be easier than facing your fears? That’s an imagination problem. It’s also a fear problem and a lack of faith problem (of course!), but I think they’re usually first imagination problems. Despite God’s track record of 100% faithfulness to us in the past, we just can’t imagine all the good God might do in calling us out into the unknown. But what can we do? Well, this is why the Bible is so important. It’s stories like this, and so many others in God’s word, that expand our imaginations about who God is, what he is capable of, and how sure we are when we trust in him — even when our circumstances are bleak — even when all hope seems lost. We’re strengthened by the truth as much as we’re sanctified by the truth. “Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist…” (Eph 6:14a). In addition to the Bible, we need people like Moses — whether it be a husband to his wife or a parent to her child or a friend to a friend or a pastor to their flock — we all need people who can speak the truth in love to us when our fears are big, and our imaginations are small. Moses said, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” Here, we see Moses growing into the courageous leader God knew he could be when he called him. And this was exactly what the Israelites needed — a bold leader who encouraged them to obey God and not give in to fear. After the Lord delivered them in this incredible way, Moses said, “…when the Israelites saw the mighty hand of the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant.” (v. 31). We aren’t much different than the ancient Israelites. We all need the truth of God’s word and other believers to speak the truth in love into our lives. But the best way to expand your imagination about who God is, what he is capable of, and how sure we are when we trust in him is to look to the cross of Christ. What seemed to be the bleakest of circumstances, and when all hope seemed lost, came true in the brutal death of Jesus Christ on the cross. Had the devil won? Had God’s plan for salvation failed? Not at all. But at the time, the disciples couldn’t imagine how God might redeem the death of Jesus or the good God had planned for their future. They, too, had an imagination problem. But just as God miraculously delivered Israel through the sea (a symbol of death), so God used the cross (another symbol of death) as another miraculous means of divine deliverance. The cross wasn’t a defeat; it was actually God’s plan to deal with the penalty of sin through the sacrifice of Jesus, the true Passover Lamb. Jesus died the death that we deserved. But the disciples didn’t realize how far off they had been until they found the stone had been rolled away, and the tomb was empty. No one expected Israel to defeat the Egyptian army. But no one expected a resurrection, either. In both cases (and so many others throughout salvation history), God did it all. He fought the battle and won the victory. The only thing God’s people have to do is put our faith in who God is, believe in what he is capable of, and rest in how sure we are when we trust in him. So today, if obedience to God’s word will bring major changes into your life and the fears start creeping in because you can’t imagine how God might use it for good, just remember that you can trust him. And as we’ve seen time and time again, the only place he will lead you will be for his glory and your good. Let us pray.
