I. Saved From, Saved For, Saved To 00:00
We’ve gotten to the last section in the first part of Exodus. For the past five weeks we’ve been talking about this enslaved people, Israel, who had grown from a group of families into, it says, something like a hundred thousand men, not counting women and children, over four hundred years of slavery in Egypt. Now, we are not just talking about this historical people. We’re really talking about every man and woman who is taken out of the burden, the bondage, of sin and death, out of that slavery into freedom. And nowhere is that more apparent than in the crossing of the Red Sea, which is our topic today.
What’s interesting is that Israel is in slavery and bondage in Egypt, and God saves them before they’ve done anything to earn it. That’s what we see in the Passover lamb. It’s just like us: God demonstrated his love for us in that while we were dead in our trespasses and sins, Christ died for us. So Israel at this point is what we might call, in modern terminology, saved. They’ve been saved. Now they need one extra step, and that is to be born again. What we see in the Red Sea is the mirror of baptism, where we are born again into newness of life. And after that, we’re going to see, they have to learn how to actually walk in it.
It’s very relatable to our own journey, because God is not just saving us and that’s the end of the story. He’s saving us from something: the burden of sin and death. He’s saving us for something: the purpose he’s given us in the world. And he’s saving us to somewhere: his promised land, the kingdom of God. The salvation story is best described in the people of Israel: four hundred years of slavery, forty years in the desert, and then they see the promised land.
We often like to talk about salvation like, “Oh, I found Jesus.” Nobody knew he was lost, but apparently you found Jesus at this moment, and now your life is going to be completely different. “I found Jesus, and now my life is different.” And yes, absolutely, a change happens in salvation. But what we learn when we look at the book of Exodus is that God deals with us not in a moment but over our lifetimes. Thank the Lord, because I know I haven’t arrived yet. I am reminded daily that I still need the salvation of God to be active in my life.
So as we get into this story of the Red Sea, I want you to start thinking about who these Israelites are, because up to this point they’ve been almost nonexistent in the narrative. They’ve had a couple of things to say. They believed Moses, they didn’t believe Moses, they complained. But in the story of the Red Sea crossing we start to see who these Israelite people are and what God is going to have to change in them.
As they’re leaving Egypt, they’re riding high and mighty. They plundered the Egyptians of their gold. They’re walking out with their herds. They are wealthy people. God just saved them from the biggest, baddest nation in the world, these slaves, without their spilling any of their own blood. They were saved by the power of God’s mighty hand.
II. The Pillar of Cloud and Fire 03:45
And then what does God do? God shows up in a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire to lead them. We’ll start in Exodus 13, verse 21:
21 And Yahweh 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. Exod 13.21–22
So we start with this miraculous guidance. A literal pillar of fire is coming out of the sky, a pillar of cloud, and Yahweh is in it. In theological terms it’s called a theophany, a physical manifestation of God’s presence. And so Israel, as you might suspect, is in a good mood. They’re leaving Egypt, they’ve been slaves, they are now wealthy, and their God is showing up and leading them toward the promised land.
Now, the early church fathers point out why it’s a pillar of fire and a pillar of cloud. It represents the fire of God, his righteous judgment and power, together with the consolation of the cloud, the grace of God. God is leading them forward by his judgment, his righteousness, and his grace, because they don’t deserve any of this. But he is leading them out of Egypt, and he’s going to make them into a people.
III. Led into a Trap 04:51
God is leading them. What could go wrong? As you all know, something immediately goes wrong. In fact, I almost put up that meme from Star Wars: “It’s a trap!” God leads them, and it says he had a couple of different options for where to lead them. So let’s get into Exodus chapter 14, verse 1. There’s a place name in here I’m not going to pronounce.
1 Then Yahweh said to Moses, 2 “Tell the people of Israel to turn back and encamp in front of Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol 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 I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, and the Egyptians shall know that I am Yahweh.” And they did so. Exod 14.1–4
So what did God just say? He said, “Camp here, because you’ll be trapped, and Pharaoh will look at them and say, ‘Those dumb people are trapped. Let’s go get them.’” He literally led them to that place. God led them straight into the trap.
How often do we complain about our circumstances because we don’t see a way out, and God in his mighty power and love is thinking, “I just worked so hard to get you here. My goal was to get you to the trap. My goal was to get you between the rock and the hard place. My goal was to bring you to a place where the only salvation was by my hand.”
And we’re given another hint: he did not lead them by the way of the Philistines, which was the fast way, because he thought that if they saw the Philistines and the war that could be coming, they would flee back to Egypt. So while you’re complaining, when you get to that place where you literally see the army coming after you and the uncrossable sea in front of you, maybe God led you there because he led you away from the Philistines, away from what would have brought terror into your heart and turned you back in the day of battle. Maybe God is actually leading you there by his grace. That’s what it looks like in this story.
IV. Better to Serve the Egyptians? 07:02
And of course we see Pharaoh. He’s like, “Wow, we just got completely pummeled. We got defeated by this God I’d never heard of. My slave force, my expendable workforce, is gone.” And I bet the hierarchy of Egypt is whispering, “Maybe Pharaoh’s not all that powerful, this guy who claims he’s a god.” So in that moment he panics and says, “Well, they’re trapped. This is my opportunity to win back all that I have lost.” And he goes to get the Israelites.
And this is Israel’s response when they see Pharaoh. I just imagine him riding over the hill with his chariots, gleaming gold, armed. And this is a slave people who have never been an army, who’ve had four hundred years of subservience, and Pharaoh in all his glory and power is coming over the hill. This is how Israel responds:
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 Yahweh. 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.” Exod 14.10–12
Well, this is not the type of people you want. If you’re God and you’re picking your people, you don’t want people who are cowards, who are stubborn. Not only that, they just saw God deliver them by his most powerful right hand: ten plagues against Egypt that completely obliterated the power of the Egyptians. He rescued them by his mighty hand. The pillar of cloud and fire is still there. And yet they turn to God and say, “You should have just left us in Egypt. Why did you bring us here to die? We could have served the Egyptians. That’s better than dying in the wilderness.”
Well, they are precisely wrong. They’ve got the formula backwards. It is better to die in the wilderness following your God than to serve the Egyptians and live prosperously all your days. That is the great irony of this last line: “It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” False. And in fact, what are they doing on this day? They’re going into baptism through the Red Sea, which we are told is our death and resurrection. They think they know what they’re talking about. They think they know what’s best for them. But God knows so much better.
So they get to this Red Sea, and God knows that he’s actually calling them to die in the wilderness so that they can become the people of God, symbolically, as they pass through the Red Sea. And it’s no coincidence that it’s called the Red Sea, because even the waters of baptism are red with the blood of Christ. The symbolism is not accidental: as they walk through the blood of Christ, they are raised to newness in Christ. This is a type of what is to come, a foreshadowing of God’s redemptive plan for all of eternity.
They’re worried that God got the directions wrong, when God was thinking, “Four thousand years from now my Son will come and die, and he will be the true Red Sea that introduces the waters of baptism.” God’s ways are not our ways. What challenge in your life is God looking at and thinking, twenty, thirty, a hundred years down the road, “I will use this for the redemption of you and your family”? There is nothing that God cannot redeem.
V. Stand Firm and Be Silent 10:18
And Moses had learned a thing or two about panicking in the face of trouble. Remember earlier: the first time Pharaoh says, “You can’t bring the Israelites out of Egypt,” Moses runs to God and says, “God, why did you even send me? You haven’t delivered your people at all” (Exod 5.22–23). I love the tone of whininess in Moses’ voice there. It encourages me that even whiners can be used by God, and he can transform them. Because what does Moses say now?
And honestly, if you get nothing else out of this, I think this is a word for Saint Michael’s today. Exodus chapter 14, beginning at verse 13:
13 And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of Yahweh, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. 14 Yahweh will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.” Exod 14.13–14
That is a word for Saint Michael’s today. Yes, the Egyptians are out to get you. Thus it has been, and thus it shall ever be. But Yahweh is fighting for you.
If anybody in this room needs to hear this word, you know it’s me. Be silent, Jesse, and wait on the Lord. I am so dead set on fixing my own problems, and yet sometimes God just wants you to shut up and let him work on your behalf. What sea are you facing, the uncrossable place, while you’re being pursued by the Egyptians, which we’re told represent our sins, our slavery to sin? You’re being pursued by all the ways you could try to get out of it without God. And yet God wants you to go right through the problem, by the way he will make for you. Be silent, and know that he is God (Ps 46.10).
VI. Why the Staff? 12:36
So Moses encourages them, and then Yahweh says to Moses, “Why do you cry to me?” He reacts to Moses basically the same way I react to my two-year-old sometimes: “You have everything you need.” I think God knows our weakness better than we know it ourselves, and he’s giving Moses a kernel of the truth here, because while Moses responded correctly to the Israelites, apparently he’s pretty stressed when he goes to God.
15 Yahweh 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.” Exod 14.15–16
“Tell the people of Israel to go forward.” And Moses looks at the Red Sea like, “Okay, God, I need more than that.” “Lift up your staff, stretch out your hand, and divide the sea.” Be silent. Stop crying. Go forward. Lift up the staff. Divide the sea. God will make a way.
Why does God make Moses use a staff? That’s the question I had. God could literally just blow and the sea would go to the side. He could do his own thing. He created the whole world without any of our help; he can handle this. Why does he need Moses to lift the staff over the sea? I think there are two reasons.
Number one, God chooses to work through us, for us. He wants us to be his partners in the work he does. It’s the same reason I try to let Rowan help bake the pumpkin bread Haley was making yesterday. It wasn’t for the sake of the pumpkin bread. Let me tell you, it would have been easier without Rowan helping. It was for his sake, because there was a relationship, a partnership. Even more than that, God wants us to inherit his kingdom. He wants us to be rulers, co-heirs with Christ. How is he going to do that if he just solves all our problems without our intervention, without our help? Instead, he wants us to go to him and rely on his power, and he will work through us. So that’s the first reason he wants Moses to lift the staff over the sea to split the waters.
But there’s another thing I read, and they say it really beautifully. This church father [Caesarius of Arles] said:
“Moses performed no sign without the mysterious wood, for he received from the Lord a rod to work wonders and prodigies in Egypt. Moreover, as a sign that he had heard things divinely, it was said to him, ‘Lift up your staff.’ God, of course, did not need the assistance of a staff. But it was raised so that we might know how great was the mystery of that future wood which was prefigured by the shadow of this staff.”
What’s the point of Moses leading them with a God-given staff? It’s the same reason our bishop carries a crosier. It’s a symbol of the authority of God, bought by the cross. He is lifting the cross over their situation, and God is making a way by the power of Christ.
It’s fascinating, because this is thousands of years before. So once again, may I make it plain: God thinks differently than we do. He’s already thinking about the way. We’re told that Christ was crucified before the foundation of the world (Rev 13.8). And we are given the same staff as Moses. We can hold up the cross over our life, over our situation, and plead the blood of Christ in any situation. In fact, Moses and all those people would be jealous of us, because we get to walk in the salvation of God brought by his Son, with the Holy Spirit within us. God doesn’t have to show up in a pillar of cloud and fire in our life, because he already is a pillar of cloud and fire within us.
So we should walk forward and not look at the seas surrounding us and the enemy behind us and ask God, “What the heck are you doing?” Instead we should say, “God, what would you have me do?” Because he told Moses to do something: lift up the staff over the waters. All the while, I’m sure the people of Israel were saying, “Moses, you idiot, you’ve slain us. You’ve led us into a trap.” And yet Moses stood before them and lifted it up.
VII. The Angel of God Behind Them 17:17
And in that moment the Egyptians (just imagine the scene) are charging down. Moses is lifting his staff over the water, and at least at the beginning, nothing much happens. A wind starts to blow, but it takes all night for this pathway to open. It says the wind blows all night. So what does God do? He confronts their enemies in the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire. Exodus 14, verse 19:
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. Exod 14.19–20
Not only is God making a way forward; God’s got your back. He is defending you. It reminds me of the story of the prophet (it was either Elijah or Elisha; I always get them mixed up) who has his servant with him, and they’re surrounded by armies. His servant says, “What are we going to do?” And he prays, “Open the eyes of my servant.” God opens his eyes, and there are flaming chariots of fire all around them (2 Kings 6.17). Greater is he who is for us than he who is against us.
So in this moment of crisis God is preparing the way and defending them. And there’s a little change here: it goes from a pillar of fire and a pillar of cloud to the angel of God and a pillar of cloud. What’s going on there? Just to show you I’m not reading all this crazy stuff into it: this is a clear example of Jesus showing up in the situation. People have done all the word studies and traced all the symbolism in the Old Testament, and I had a little fun doing some research on it. Let me tell you, not only is the rod of Moses prefiguring the cross, but Jesus was there that day. If God is there, you realize, Jesus is there. But here we get an actual call-out: the angel of God. Jesus stands behind them and defends them. There is nothing more symbolic of our baptism, where Jesus conquers the enemy, the burdens, the slavery that is pursuing us, and makes the path forward for us. That’s what’s going on here.
VIII. The Waters Divided 19:19
And so God separates; it says he divides the waters. That reminds us of the plagues, when God was abolishing division, bringing these curses on Egypt, and the natural order was disrupted to be against the Egyptians. Here we get the same wording we get in the creation story, when God divided the waters to make the way to create man and woman (Gen 1.6–10). He divided the waters, he created land, he created the space, this fertile place for man and woman and the beasts of the field and the birds of the air to live. He made the way for creation. What is he doing as he divides the waters of the Red Sea? He’s making the way to re-create these Israelites, for them to be born again. It’s all the same symbolism. Everything is pointing us to baptism, to our own rebirth, our own re-creation.
So the waters are separated, and it says that the sea becomes a wall on their right and on their left as they walk on the dry land. Water, all through the Old Testament, is where the evil comes from. They lived on the coast, but they were not a seafaring people, and so this little tribe looked out on the Mediterranean Sea, and that was the unknown: the great vastness, the deeps. So they would come up with stories of sea monsters and all this symbolism. Over and over again, you see that the water is a dangerous, dangerous place. But when God enters into it, it becomes the wall on your right and on your left.
So what am I saying here? Even in the middle of the situation you are lamenting, with your enemies behind you and a situation in front of you that you cannot pass through, God will use those very circumstances to create the pathway forward for you. I’ve seen it happen again and again and again: that very issue, that very person.
Let’s say, when I worked at the Cheesecake Factory, I came into some conflict with people. I was a manager, so I had to resolve that conflict, and sometimes I’d be banging my head against the wall: “I know I have to work with this person, and it’s just bringing me down, and I don’t know what to do.” And yet in that moment something would shift, because I would look not to my own ability to figure it out but ask God, “What can I do?” And as God worked through them, that very person would become the advocate who helped me accomplish the task that had been set before me. I could think of other examples, but the point is: are you so sure your problem is a problem? Are you so sure your problem isn’t the place where God will meet you, right in the middle? Go forward. He’s preparing the way.
IX. Where Are You Stubbornly Going? 22:37
And Egypt comes after them. They see the walls of the sea, and they are so driven by their hatred of these people, so driven by their desire for power, to get back this labor force, that they follow them into the sea. If I were them, I would not be following them in this situation. Obviously there’s some other power operating here that I don’t understand. But Pharaoh is manic, and so he goes in and follows them into the sea. First God messes with their wheels so they can’t go very fast; he mucks up the wheels. Then, as soon as the Israelites are over, God has Moses stretch out his hand and close the sea on the Egyptians, and not one remains.
Augustine says this about this moment:
“This people of God, freed from a great and broad Egypt, is led, as through the Red Sea, that in baptism it may make an end of its enemies. For by the sacrament as it were of the Red Sea, that is by baptism consecrated with the blood of Christ, the pursuing Egyptians, the sins, are washed away.”
It’s clear. In fact, there’s a section in the ancient baptismal rites called the exorcism, and in it there’s a prayer that says, basically, by this water you shall exorcise any demons or spirits that are clinging to this person being baptized. We may not say the words, but that’s what happens in baptism. There is nothing that can cling to you when the waters of baptism, consecrated, as Augustine says, by the blood of Christ, wash you whiter than snow (Ps 51.7). And from that day forward, any enemy that comes against you to snare you (as we learned a few weeks back, the trap is broken) has no power.
Now of course, as we will see, you can choose to submit yourself again to bondage. In fact Paul asks why you would submit yourself again to bondage. Why would you do it? You are free. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Rom 8.1).
And Pharaoh and the Egyptian chariots that were washed away would have been spared if they had just let it go. Now, God in his wisdom knew their hearts, and he knew they were coming. But my heart breaks at this: they had already lost all their firstborn sons, and yet they still went after the people of God.
Where are we, in our hearts, stubbornly pursuing something God has told us not to pursue? Maybe nowhere. Maybe you’re not struggling with this. But I know I occasionally run into these situations. A really silly example: a few months back I was trying to buy something on Amazon. I don’t remember what it was (I could probably figure it out), but it was something superfluous. It would have made my life easier, better, but I didn’t need it. There was money in my account. I went to buy it, and it said there was a problem with the card. In that moment I had a thought: “I know the money’s there. There’s a problem with the card? I’ve never had this issue before. Maybe God just doesn’t want me to buy this superfluous thing.” But I stubbornly said, “No, I’m going to figure this out,” because I went into fix-it mentality. “Okay, maybe there’s a problem with the address.” And I just ignored the thought and bought the thing.
Now all I can remember is that God told me no and I said yes. I don’t enjoy that thing. I don’t even know what that thing is, honestly. I can’t remember. But I do remember my own stubbornness and, dare I say the S-word, stupidity. Sorry, it’s the S-word at my house. I remember my failure in that story.
So are we the Israelites who get to walk free? We are. But let’s remember we can easily become Pharaoh if we choose. By the power of the blood, God will complete the work he is doing in you. The judgment on the Egyptians, on those who are perpetrating the sin and slavery of the world, has been spared you by the cross. That doesn’t mean we’re better than them. It doesn’t mean we’re incapable of those atrocities. We need to ask ourselves (and I know I just gave a silly example): where are we pushing where God doesn’t want us to go?
One last little piece: God chastens those whom he loves. You may not get the judgment of God, because by the power of the blood of Christ we are set free; there’s no condemnation. But God will chasten you, and trust me, it’s not worth it.
X. Thus Yahweh Saved Israel 27:01
And so we get to the end of this story. Israel has just gone through one of the most remarkable stories in the history of the world. God has set them free from tyranny, slavery, and death. He has instituted the Passover supper that foreshadows the blood of Christ over all of us. He has redeemed them, bought them with a price, made them his own. He is leading them through the Red Sea. And we get this beautiful verse at the end of the story, in Exodus 14, beginning at verse 30:
30 Thus Yahweh 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 Yahweh used against the Egyptians, so the people feared Yahweh, and they believed in Yahweh and in his servant Moses. Exod 14.30–31
And they all lived happily ever after. Oh, wait, no, that’s not there. You know what happens. God willing, we could just accept that, and remember all the seas God has brought us through. But in the moment you have a choice, every time. Do I press into trust? Do I remember the faithfulness of God, who has introduced himself as Yahweh in this story? Do I remember the power of Yahweh over my life? Or do I choose fear? Do I choose complaining? That’s the question as we move forward. And the journey that should have taken them weeks to reach the promised land, because they kept getting that question wrong, takes them forty years.
Now, it’s taken us quite a long time to become who we are in Christ, and it will take us that much longer, until the day we are welcomed into his kingdom after we die. So let’s not be too harsh on the Israelites. This was God’s plan all along. God didn’t have a three-week plan to get to the promised land. He had a forty-year plan to make himself a people, and that’s what the wilderness becomes all about. He has saved them, and now he will make them his people. Amen.