Pastor Nate continues our study through the Bible in the book of Exodus.
[00:00:00] Even though Pharaoh had allowed the people of Israel to depart after the terrible events of the Passover were unleashed upon his own household and the households of every Egyptian. There is one last demonstration of God's power that needs to be performed for the people
[00:00:25] of Israel to fully be set free from Egypt and belong to God. Make no mistake, the people of Israel are exiting slavery from Egypt but are entering into service of God. They are not being set free to merely be liberated.
[00:00:46] They are being set free so that they might be long to God Himself to be God's people. One sense they are not going to freedom at all but they are going to a life under the Yoke of God.
[00:01:00] But of course, as Jesus said, His Yoke is easy and His burden is light. The Yoke of God is much better than the Yoke of Pharaoh. So there is one last demonstration of God's power that must be unleashed and of course
[00:01:16] it's the crossing of the waters of the Red Sea. Let's begin reading this passage in chapter 14 verse 1. Then the Lord said to Moses, tell the people of Israel to turn back and in camp in front of Pai-Hahiroth between Migdal and the sea.
[00:01:35] In front of Bale Zafone, you shall in camp facing it by the sea. For Pharaoh will say of the people of Israel, they are wandering in the land. The wilderness has shut them in and I will harden Pharaoh's heart and he will pursue
[00:01:52] them and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host and the Egyptians shall know that I and the Lord and they did so. Now here in this opening paragraph, the Lord tells Moses to tell the people of Israel
[00:02:09] to turn back and in camp in a specific location. This turning back is actually heading in the opposite direction for a moment of the land of Canaan. It would be a surprise to the Egyptians to hear that the Israelite people are now reversing
[00:02:29] course and in one sense coming closer to Egypt than the land of Canaan. Now they were headed towards a place called the sea and of course this will be the red sea or literally the sea of Pai-Hahiroth's reads that they are heading towards and
[00:02:50] though people have attempted to locate the exact lake or body of water that the people of Israel crossed here in Exodus 14, there are four or five possibilities that scholars still debate today.
[00:03:08] There is a region of lakes just outside of Egypt on the way to Canaan and so it's one of those bodies of water that the Israelites were driven towards. But Pharaoh would conclude as we saw there in verse 3 that the wilderness had shut the people of Israel.
[00:03:30] In other words, the change of direction would not go unnoticed by Pharaoh and his interpretation of their change of direction is that they are wandering in the land. I can trap them and get them back for myself.
[00:03:51] He thought that their defined power had dissipated somehow here just a few days after the events of the Passover. He was certainly unclear if God's covenant with the children of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.
[00:04:07] But what this helps us see is that through all of this, Pharaoh was still not completely broken before God. Even the loss of his firstborn son did not bring him to the place of submission to God's plans.
[00:04:22] Just as Satan does not give up his possessions easily, so Pharaoh does not give up the possession of the people of Israel easily. God told all of this to Moses in advance, so that as we saw in verse 4, when the Egyptians
[00:04:39] came out, God said, I will get glory over Pharaoh. There, trapped by the wilderness, trapped by the Red Sea, God would flex his muscle one last time over Pharaoh and his armies.
[00:04:56] Before we move on, I think it is good to meditate upon the concept of God allowing his people to find themselves in positions where he must come through and it leads ultimately to his glory. Relations where it is impossible unless God himself is present in that environment.
[00:05:23] I remember in my own life, in 2008, there being a flurry of events that all unfolded at the same time in my life. Leadership, development, family, where life was pressing in on me.
[00:05:41] We felt to me that I was pinned up against the Red Sea with the wilderness all about me, no place to turn, no place to run. With the armies of Pharaoh coming down upon me, so to speak.
[00:05:56] But it was in those moments that I think God got great glory because he proved his faithfulness in seeing me through and though I don't want to turn the Red Sea crossing into a tri- devotional message because really this is God buying his people out of their slavery.
[00:06:15] The comparison is the cross of Jesus Christ in one sense and nothing else. It is good to see the faithfulness of God in rescuing his people in times where he receives the glory.
[00:06:29] Now, in verse 5, when the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, the mind 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.
[00:06:46] So he made ready his chariot and took his army with him and took 600 chosen chariots and all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them. In the Lord, hard in the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he pursued the people
[00:07:01] of Israel while the people of Israel were going out defiantly. The Egyptians pursued them, all Pharaoh's horses and chariots and his horsemen and his army and overtook them and encamped at the sea by pie, a high-roth in front of Bill Zephone.
[00:07:17] Now, here we see in this little paragraph, first of all, in verse 5 that when they were told that the people had fled, that's what the king of Pharaoh was told. They then changed their mind and decided to pursue the people.
[00:07:34] Now, what does that mean that Pharaoh heard that the people of Israel had fled? Well, remember previously when Moses was telling Pharaoh, told Pharaoh to let God's people go initially, they referred to a three-day journey that they wanted to take outside of Egypt
[00:07:54] where they would then sacrifice to the Lord. Now, the process of course or as the plagues unfolded, the request grew larger and larger until finally at the Passover, Pharaoh demanded that the people depart and the Egyptians gave them possession so that they could depart permanently.
[00:08:16] But here in this moment, Pharaoh's interpretation now that his heart has settled and he's still expressing his own hardness of heart against God. His conclusion is that, hey, Moses broke the deal. They went three days out into the wilderness and now they've gone further, they're running
[00:08:36] away from us and so we need to go get them back. They wanted their slaves to return and they thought that their military could save them. So he sent 600 chariots and all of that to go and bring the people of Israel back into their slavery.
[00:08:52] Now, these 600 chariots are one of the many times in Scripture where a chariot is compared to the arm of the flesh. You know, often in Scripture it's God versus chariots. God versus human ingenuity. God versus human might. Psalm 20, verse 7, depicts this perfectly.
[00:09:15] Psalm, trust, and chariots and some in horses but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. Now the Hebrews at this time, their weaponry was not all that advanced. Chariots were the massive weapons of the day. Think something like tanks in our modern era.
[00:09:37] But the Hebrews, they did not have chariots until the time of Solomon's reign. So at this point, they're vastly outgunned so to speak. Though they might outnumber the Egyptian army, they are out weaponed by the Egyptian army.
[00:09:54] Now when Pharaoh drew near verse 10, 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.
[00:10:07] 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?
[00:10:18] 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.
[00:10:30] 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. The Lord will fight for you and you have only to be silent.
[00:10:49] Now it's interesting that the people of Israel, they really begin now or continue on in the theme of grumbling against Moses. In verse 10 it says that they cried out to the Lord when they saw the Egyptian armies coming down upon them.
[00:11:08] But then immediately because the Lord is invisible and Moses is visible, they unload on Moses. They've got a lot more to say to Moses than they do to God. And this will be the first of many complaints that the people of Israel will have towards
[00:11:28] Moses as they wander in the wilderness. Their response throughout the book is often the same during the rest, during a frightful experience where at the end of their road they don't know where food's going to come from, water's going to come from.
[00:11:42] And army is invading against them in times of derress and fright they cry out to the Lord and then immediately complain against God's man. And their accusation is rather harsh. They say to Moses we should have continued to serve the Egyptians. I didn't let us stay there.
[00:12:08] It would have been better to die in Egypt than to die out here in the wilderness. That's what they thought. The option was either serve the Egyptians or die in the wilderness.
[00:12:21] They say, are there no graves in Egypt that we couldn't have died there which was an ironic little comment that they were making because at that time they estimate that about three quarters of the land area in Egypt was available for grave sites because they specialize
[00:12:40] and made such a big deal about the burial process and that society. But here their thought was we either could have served the Egyptians or we could die out here in the wilderness. This I think is the curse of the two option mind.
[00:13:00] The mind that says there's this option which is terrible and a second option which is equally terrible but is unable to consider the God option. Fear in this moment overwhelmed their hearts and fear is a killer. It causes us to lose sight of God and to think irrationally.
[00:13:22] But these people had to learn 2 Corinthians 5-7 to walk by faith and not by sight. Fear and faith could not dwell together. And they were about to in this moment experience their greatest moment of deliverance.
[00:13:40] Now again as I said earlier I don't want to turn the crossing of the Red Sea into a trite devotional message. As if somehow every trouble that we ever experience in life we will never have to face because God is going to rescue us.
[00:13:56] Of course no that we will enter the kingdom of God by passing through persecutions and trials and difficulties here in this life. But the Red Sea was kind of the final act of deliverance whereby God bought his people
[00:14:14] for himself where he fully redeemed them to be his own. So in a sense as believers today we can allow our hearts to be calmed not by the Red Sea though it does serve as a lesson of great encouragement but we can be encouraged by
[00:14:32] going back to our great act of deliverance the cross of Jesus Christ. And when we see the cross we see the heart of God for us as his people and we know that even if tribulation or persecution comes into our lives our ultimate destiny is secure in
[00:14:52] him that his position toward us is one of love and grace. And whether we go through the trial or not that position remains unchanged. But here in this moment these people gave way to fear and faithlessness and panic. But Moses for his reprise tells them to simply wait.
[00:15:17] Stands still stand firm and see the salvation of the Lord. In fact he told them to be silent. There are often times where we have got to be quiet because the more we say the more panic
[00:15:32] comes into our hearts, the more we communicate, the more we have outbursts of faithlessness and fear. So Moses says you've got to be quiet, you've got to stop talking instead just need to wait for the Lord because he is going to bring his salvation upon a stand firm
[00:15:53] and see the salvation of the Lord. Be silent. Now Moses of course at this point could have responded in a different way. He could ever have herst all of the events and judgments and demonstrations of power that they'd already experienced.
[00:16:11] He could have pointed out to them the plagues, play after play of God's faithfulness. He could have talked to them about the Passover. You could have challenged them, given everything God had done before, how are you feeling this way?
[00:16:24] Do you not think that God will rescue us again? He's been for us. But instead of that, Moses simply told them to be quiet and to watch, to see God's salvation. So the reality today is that we also as God's children we must go forward.
[00:16:44] This is the message of the text, we must go forward but we cannot so often go forward in our own strength. We need the Lord to come through and He will because we are His people.
[00:17:00] So sometimes we just have to be quiet and watch what the Lord will do. I can't tell you how many times in my own life. I've since the Spirit of God whisper into my heart, Nate, be still and see the salvation of the Lord.
[00:17:21] I know your panic, I know your worry, I know your concern and I know you feel there's no way out but there is a way and I will provide it. But if you're going to see those waters parted, you've got to stand still.
[00:17:40] Worship me, be quiet and watch what I'm going to do. The Lord verse 15 said to Moses, why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward, lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over
[00:17:57] the sea and divide it that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground and I will harden the heart of the Egyptians so that they shall go in after them and I will
[00:18:09] get glory over Pharaoh and all this host is chariots in the source. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord when I've gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen.
[00:18:21] Then the angel of God who was going before the host of Israel went behind them and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them, coming between the host of Egypt and the host of Israel.
[00:18:36] And there was the cloud and the darkness and it lit up the night without one coming near all near the other all night. Now here we see a shift. God says I'm going to win this victory. I will get glory for myself over Pharaoh.
[00:18:52] But whole region that whole world would have heard of the power of the God of Israel because everyone knew of the power of Pharaoh. But it also says here that the angel of God who was going before the host of Israel moved and went behind them in verse 19.
[00:19:13] Now as I said in a previous study, I believe the angel of God, the angel of the Lord, is quite possibly a pre and carnit Jesus Christ. They be as there fighting for Israel, leading Israel in that kind of form, not that he's
[00:19:30] a created angel of God but that in his divinity he has come and is somehow leading them and fighting for them. And part of the reason that we might think this way is because there are other passages
[00:19:44] where the angel of the Lord experiences or receives worship and we know that angels do not receive worship from human beings, from God's people. And he behaves and acts as the Lord acts in Scripture. But here what we're seeing is that God is protecting them.
[00:20:04] He is going before them. Now he goes behind them. He is shifting from guide to guardian. God also created this physical or visible form of protection, this wall of fire so to speak between the people of Israel and the people of Egypt.
[00:20:25] Now this should have been a lesson to the people of Israel in future moments where they feared right here they're able to see the visible protection of God but when they couldn't see the visible protection they should have known that God's invisible protection was there over their lives.
[00:20:43] As you go throughout your life and as you're passing through various difficulties, trials or complex situations whether it's in school or workplace or in your home I hope that you quietly and privately before God ask him for wisdom, protection, guidance, leadership, the words to speak.
[00:21:05] The invisible God is with you if you're his child today. Verse 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.
[00:21:25] 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. The Egyptians pursued and went in after them into the midst of the sea all ferrows horses
[00:21:38] his chariots and a source man. And in the morning watch the Lord in the pillar of fire and of cloud looked down on the Egyptian forces and through the Egyptian forces into a panic. Clawing in their chariot wheels so that they drove heavily.
[00:21:53] And the Egyptians said, let us flee from before Israel for the Lord fights for them against the Egyptians. Here we see that the Lord turns the sea, the red sea into dry land for the people of Israel. Psalm 66 gives us some insight into how this occurred.
[00:22:15] It says, He turned the sea into dry land and then later they passed through the river on foot. We learned here in our passage in Exodus 14 that it was the wind that caused this.
[00:22:28] The god turned the sea into dry land with the wind, a supernatural wind that God brings upon the land. It must have been a very wide path that God carved out for them with his breath in the red sea.
[00:22:42] No matter how you slice it, this is a miraculous event that God is unfolding there before their eyes. And the irony or the humor in all of it is that the Egyptians themselves pursue the people
[00:22:54] of Israel into the red sea when the fire of God or the wall of fire dissipates. They chase them into the red sea. The very thing that delivered the Israelites would be the thing that doomed the Egyptians.
[00:23:11] And so at the morning watch, sometime between 3 a.m. and dawn when the Egyptians pursued, panic began coming upon the Egyptians. The god clogged the wheels of their chariots and the people of Egypt began saying, the Lord fights for Israel.
[00:23:31] According to Psalm 77 verse 16 and 19, God also in this moment when the Egyptians are in the Red Sea brought a rainstorm, lightning, thunder, and an earthquake. So obviously God is super naturally involving himself in one last final judgment of Pharaoh and the Egyptian armies.
[00:23:54] And again, as I've said in previous studies, this of course reminds us so often of the book of Revelation where we see these cataclysmic events that are involved in the judging of the world.
[00:24:06] And I believe as this happened quite literally to the Egyptians many years ago, this will happen literally to the world in a future era. But God rescues the people of Israel. Then the Lord verse 26 said to Moses, stretch out your hand over the sea that the water
[00:24:25] may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots and upon their horsemen. So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea and the sea returned to its normal course when the morning appeared.
[00:24:37] And as the Egyptians fled into it, the Lord threw the Egyptians into the midst of the sea. The waters returned and covered the chariots in the horsemen, and of all the hosts of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea, not one of them remained.
[00:24:53] 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. Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians. And Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore.
[00:25:08] 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 his servant Moses. Now this will always be the battle for the people of Israel.
[00:25:26] Here to close out this passage chapter 14, the people are presented as fearing the Lord and believing the Lord. And this will always be the battle for the people of Israel. There in the wilderness and even in the Promised Land. And I think is always the battle for us.
[00:25:42] Well we have fear or faith, well we have trust or complaint against God. But in this instance the Lord it says there in verse 30 saved Israel. He's the one that does the saving. It's not the armies of Israel but it's the God of Israel who defeats Egypt.
[00:26:04] Now Paul gave commentary to this event in 1 Corinthians 10, verse 1 and 2. He said I don't want you to be unaware brothers that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.
[00:26:25] They were identified with Moses as a result of this event. Notice the end of verse 31 they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses. Apparently there was a spiritual meaning in this event according to Paul.
[00:26:41] The crossing of the Red Sea is a type or a picture of the believers union with Christ in death to the old life and resurrection to the new life. Paul said in Romans chapter 6 we are dead to sin and now alive to God in Christ Jesus.
[00:27:04] Nounous of life is to be our experience because we've died with Jesus and we're buried with Jesus. It's as if our trust in what Christ has done has identified us with Jesus himself, this is the people of Israel through the Red Sea identified with Moses.
[00:27:26] So this is a powerful illustration here in some senses. The blood has delivered us today from the penalty of sin and the resurrection from the power of sin. Now in chapter 15 the people of Israel will sing a song in response to the glorious event
[00:27:49] that just occurred in passing through the Red Sea. It's one of three songs that is composed by Moses in the Bible and it's a victory him, you know, about the great thing that God just did in expressing his supremacy and power over Pharaoh and his armies.
[00:28:13] The focus of the song is clear, it's the Lord. In fact, each section of the song has a repeated phrase. Sing to the Lord is the repeated phrase of the first section. Your right hand, O Lord is the repeated phrase of the second section who is like you,
[00:28:36] O Lord is the repeated phrase of the third section and until your people pass by, O Lord is the repeated phrase of the fourth section. Part of the reason I mention this is because that's the organization of the song.
[00:28:53] But secondly, I mention this because the songs of the Bible are not dreary about the self, their focused upon God. And when we come together as God's people, the sing songs, we are not here to sing songs
[00:29:08] about ourselves and how we think and what we feel those sometimes those sentiments are expressed in Scripture. We're here to be energized and figurated by thinking about who God is and worshiping him for who he is before us.
[00:29:28] Now there is a question as to when this song was written. Of course, in our Bibles as we read it, the events of chapter 14 occurred, the people of Israel passed through the Red Sea and it almost appears or feels
[00:29:43] as if temporarily, Moses led the people of Israel in a song of rejoicing immediately that they then wrote down for a future use and meditation. And personally, I tend to think that's how it occurred that under inspiration of Spirit
[00:30:03] God struck his man Moses and gave him one of the three songs that he received. But of course, it's entirely possible that they had a moment of camping out waiting, Moses got together with musicians, they penned a song and then they introduced it to the
[00:30:19] people of Israel and it became a common chorus that they were to think about, meditate upon and also sing as well. And then years later when Moses wrote the book of Exodus,
[00:30:31] he inserted this song right here because it's all based on the events of the crossing of the Red Sea. But either way without further ado, let's actually begin reading the song. And again, the first section, the repeated phrase in the first and second
[00:30:48] verse is, I will sing to the Lord. First one, then Moses and the people of Israel, saying this song to the Lord. I will sing to the Lord. They sang for he has triumpt gloriously,
[00:31:03] the horse and his writer, he has thrown into the sea. The first thing I want you to see about this song is that though it was sung by the congregation, Moses and the people of Israel,
[00:31:16] the way they sing it is they say, I will sing to the Lord. They don't say we will sing to the Lord, but I will sing to the Lord. The congregation there is real. They've been united by this singular act.
[00:31:31] You see when God's people come together as the church comes together. In fact, the word church merely means gathering. The ecclesia, the grouping together of God's people. And when we come
[00:31:44] together and sing to the Lord, because of the our great red sea event, the cross of Jesus Christ, we are singing with a unity that is so special. We can even say with other people present,
[00:32:00] I will sing to the Lord. It's not necessarily a way for us to say, I don't know about all of you here at church with me today. I don't know whether you will sing to the Lord, but I will sing to the Lord.
[00:32:10] No, it's a way for us to say we are so united because of the blood of Jesus. And people of Israel would say we are so united because of the events of the Red Sea that it's as if as a congregation,
[00:32:24] we can say I will sing to the Lord. We've been brought together because of this singular, rescue event that God has performed in our lives. But as they sang this, they sang of God,
[00:32:38] triumphant, throwing the horse and the rider into the sea. That's of course what they had witnessed in the Egyptian army. They pursued them and God had covered them, buried them
[00:32:50] and put them in the grave of the Red Sea. Now the victory at the Red Sea over the Egyptians would always stand as a pinnacle victory for God in the generations to come. You can find many
[00:33:06] illusions throughout the Psalms. People of Israel always harken back to this incredible event the event of the Red Sea. It was a message for them that said God is stronger. God purchased
[00:33:20] us. God won the ultimate victory so that we could be his. And again, I think in this sense, believers today can sing this song. We can draw inspiration from the events of the Red Sea. But
[00:33:35] our Red Sea crossing, our Red Sea song is about the cross of Jesus Christ. This was a responsive and beautiful song of praise, rejoicing over what God had just done for them. I found that one
[00:33:50] of the greatest marks of Christian maturity is to be able to sing a song like this before the deliverance comes. To trust in God's nature and who God is so much so that our eyes are so firmly
[00:34:04] fixed upon the great rescuer Jesus Christ that we know in anticipation that our hope Jesus Christ he will come and win the great victory for us. Then he goes on in verse 2,
[00:34:19] the song continues. The Lord is my strength and my song. And He has become my salvation. This is my God and I will praise Him. My Father's God and I will exalt Him. The Lord is a man of the Lord
[00:34:33] is his name. I love that line there in verse 2, the Lord is my strength and my song. This line is repeated in Psalm 118 and in Isaiah chapter 12, Israel sang this song when they were delivered
[00:34:50] from Egypt right here in this passage but also when they were delivered from Babylon and led by Ezra the priest and we will sing it again when delivered from the world itself and
[00:35:09] Jesus our King comes because it's found in Revelation chapter 15, verse 3 and so we know this song will be sung in the future. But I love also the concept of thinking of the Lord as your song. What
[00:35:23] an incredible picture God as your song singing to God who is the one who puts a song a melody inside of your heart. That God could lift your heart and remind your stubborn mind of who
[00:35:37] he is by putting a song within you. But I also love the sentiment there, the statement, the Lord is a man of war. Now this is often difficult for a modern to get their minds around.
[00:35:53] The God would be a man of war and of course in the Old Testament era they violently fought for their sanctification. They violently fought to protect their nationality, their existence as a people. And partly we're thankful for that violent fight and struggle for existence because
[00:36:20] the people of Israel are the ones who brought forth Jesus Christ so their survival led to the giving to the earth of the Son of God. But on the other hand, moderns can consider that the cross
[00:36:35] itself is a war. God was warning against sin. God was warning against death. God was warning against the devil and evil principalities and powers. The Lord is, if you really think about his nature even as revealed in the cross, a man of war. The violent love of God
[00:37:01] should be the experience of the believer, understanding that the cross itself was a war for our salvation. And so let's replicate this in our own lives. If that's who God is, then we should be fighters, warriors, warning for sanctification, warning for evangelism,
[00:37:23] warning for prayer and growth in Christ, warning for protecting the people that God has entrusted into our care. The Bible says it would be angry without sin. That's a warrior mentality that
[00:37:38] says there are evil things out there that I am going to combat. And so I love this concept. The Lord is a man of war. They go on and saying Pharaoh's chariots and his host verse four,
[00:37:52] he cast into the sea and his chosen officers were sunk in the red sea. The floods covered them. They went down into the depths like a stone. Your right hand, O Lord, glorious and power,
[00:38:06] your right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemy. Now again in verse 6 you have the second repeated phrase, a new section of the song. Your right hand he talks about twice, the right hand of God.
[00:38:21] And in this portion of the song we're going to get more details about the enemies destruction. He says, number seven, in the greatness of your majesty you overthrow your adversaries, you send out your fury. It consumes them like stubble. At the blast of your nostrils,
[00:38:39] the waters piled up. The floods stood in a heap. The deeps can gealed in the heart of the sea. The enemy said, I will pursue. I will overtake. I will divide the spoil. My desire shall have
[00:38:50] its fill of them. I will draw my sword. My hands shall destroy them. You blew with your wind, the sea covered them. They sank like lead in the mighty waters. So again just a
[00:39:03] description of God's involvement in winning the victory for them. This led them to then sing in verse 11, who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic and holiness, awesome and glorious deeds doing wonders. You stretched out your right hand, the earth swallowed them.
[00:39:24] What a great question. Who is like you, O Lord? Now this question is asked, often in the Psalm Psalm 35, 71, 77, 89 and 113. Who is like the Lord? This is a great question for a believer to ask because our God is incomparable. Now these people as they sang this song could
[00:39:50] ask this question quite literally because in each plague they'd watched God judge one of the false gods in Egypt. And so here they're asking, who is like our God? He's defeated every proclaimed
[00:40:09] God in the land that we just came from including the supreme God Himself, Pharaoh and His offspring, who was supposed to be divine. But here they say, oh God is greater than all of those false
[00:40:26] gods. And it is good for us through questions like these to fixate our minds upon who God is. I would encourage you in your personal practice before God, as you're reading the word,
[00:40:41] ask the question, what does this text teach me about the Lord? What does this text teach me about God? Too often we go to the word, asking the question, what does this text say to me about my life?
[00:40:58] But the reality is that your life will be better directed when you know who God is. So go to the word which reveals God, not you but reveals God, go to the word to learn about
[00:41:13] who God is and that will inform your life in. I think in a better way than just looking for a verse or to that might say something about your particular situation that day. Of course God can
[00:41:27] speak that way at timely word, a perfect phrase but fixate your mind upon the power and the ability of God when you're in the word. They go on in the song in verse 13 and say, you have led and
[00:41:40] your steadfast love, the people whom you have redeemed. You have guided them by your strength to your holy abode. The peoples have heard, they tremble, pangs have seized the inhabitants of Felicia. Now are the chiefs of Edam, dismayed, trembling, ceases, the leaders of Moab, all
[00:41:57] the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away. Now to be honest this is part of the reason why some think that this song was written later and then put into the record by Moses when he wrote
[00:42:11] the book of Exodus because at this particular point in the timeline of Israel's life, they'd not yet interacted with the inhabitants of Felicia or Edam or Moab. It was only later that after God
[00:42:27] dealt with some of those nations, the fear of them came into the inhabitants of Canaan. But this could just be a prophetic glance. These are the foes that are coming and God is beginning
[00:42:40] to put the fear of himself into their hearts. They're beginning to melt away, so to speak. And certainly once we get into the book of Joshua together, we're going to discover through Ray Abhu operated as a spy for the people of Israel inside the city of Jericho
[00:42:59] that the citizen of Jericho she confessed had heard about the victories that God had won for the people of Israel over Egypt many years earlier and over Moab. And even God's protection from the Edamites as they pass through or around that territory. And so here they're singing
[00:43:22] of God's steadfast love for the people that He has redeemed in His power and defending them against the nations that that surrounded them. You'll also notice in verse 13 that they're singing about God bringing them to His holy abode. I think that that is a reference to the ultimate
[00:43:42] destination, not just of the land of Canaan or the Promised Land, but the actual city of Jerusalem and the place that the holy of Holies are the temple itself would eventually reside the holy
[00:43:55] abode of God. This is always His plan to create a nation that was centered upon Him. The song goes on though and says terror and dread shall fall upon them because of the greatness of your arm.
[00:44:09] They are still as stone till your people all Lord pass by till the people pass by whom you've purchased. You will bring them in and plant them on your own mountain, the place all Lord,
[00:44:19] which you have made for your abode, the sanctuary all Lord, which your hands have established. The Lord will reign forever and ever. Now in this section, the repeated phrases, until your people pass by, oh Lord, they say something similar to that two times in verse 16.
[00:44:39] And the idea here is that again, the terror and the dread will fall upon the enemies as I've already alluded to. Till your people verse 17, the people pass by whom you have purchased. So here they are. They're singing a song where they are filled now with faith.
[00:44:57] The God is going to go before them and prosper them. Now of course, if you know the story of the Israelites, you know that this faith was not always going to be present. They'd send spies in
[00:45:10] to spy out the land 12 of them too would come back with a report that it was a good land and the God would give them the victory over the inhabitants. And 10 would report we are grasshoppers
[00:45:20] in their sight. We cannot win the victory and the people of Israel will believe the report of the 10 rather than the faith of the two. So even though right now, in song they're singing as if
[00:45:33] they believe in the Lord, there will be a moment where their faith is tested and their unbelief will get the best of them. Probably serves as a word of warning for us about our relationship with
[00:45:44] God that we need to continually keep ourselves in that place of dependence upon him because when we have those moments of exuberance and passion, you know the night of worship or the epic
[00:45:57] conference that we went to or the Christian camp that we attended or the moving sermon. In those moments we might feel as if God is for us. I know he'll be victorious but we've got to cling to that promise
[00:46:14] even in the dark night of the soul which the people of Israel failed to do they lost their faith in God at certain points. Then they go on in the song and say for when the the song concludes
[00:46:27] with a little post-grip which says for when the horses of Pharaoh and his chariots and his horsemen went into the sea, the Lord brought back the waters of the sea upon them. But the
[00:46:37] people of Israel walked on dry ground in the midst of the sea. Then Miriam, the prophetess verse 20, the sister of Aaron took a tambourine in her hand and all the women went out after her with
[00:46:49] tambourines and dancing and Miriam sang to them, sing to the Lord for he has triumph gloriously the horse and his writer he has thrown into the sea which of course is borrowed from that first line
[00:47:05] of Moses' song that we already read here in this chapter. Now this is interesting that Miriam shows up on a couple of levels. First of all she's called not Moses' sister but the sister of
[00:47:20] Aaron it's probably a way to communicate that she doesn't quite rank with Moses but she's on Aaron's level. Now Moses at this point was 80, Aaron was 83 if we go back to Exodus 7 verse 7
[00:47:35] and so she is likely at this point in her 90s because she was a young girl when Moses was born. The other interesting thing here is that she's called the prophetess, Miriam the prophetess. This is the first
[00:47:50] prophetess mentioned in scripture. Now Micah mentions and Micah 6 verse 4 he talks about the people of Israel being delivered from their captivity and that God sent before them Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. This suggests that Miriam had a significant leadership role in Israel at that time and part of it
[00:48:15] was apparently this prophetic element that she operated in. Now prophecy in scripture can be the foretelling of some event in the future or the forethtelling of God's praises so broadcasting
[00:48:37] the word of God and so we're not exactly sure what it was that Miriam had and I don't know of what any of her prophecies might have been. They're not recorded for us in scripture, but like
[00:48:51] Eldad and me Dad and Numbers 11 apparently she also was able to prophesy the spirit of God was in her or upon her. And the context of her song or the bulk of her song was the horse and his
[00:49:03] writer he has thrown into the sea. Then Moses 1st 22 made Israel set out from the red sea and they went into the wilderness of sure they went three days in the wilderness and found no water. When
[00:49:17] they came to Mara they could not drink the water of Mara because it was bitter therefore it it was named Mara and the people grumbled against Moses saying what shall we drink and he
[00:49:28] cried out to the Lord and the Lord showed him a log and he threw it into the water and the water became sweet. Now here in this little movement they are three days into the wilderness and
[00:49:44] they find no water so this means it's their first trial after the Red Sea. So they're learning right away that they're not going to be immune from the trials and the difficulties of life. They're gone now from the lakes region of Egypt and they're in the desert territory.
[00:50:04] And without water for a period of time they begin to grumble their grumbling is brought on by their physical need. I'm sure all of you have experienced hangar from time to time.
[00:50:16] And as a journey they get to this place where they begin crying out against God and against Moses. What shall we drink? What shall we drink? They ask and they came to some water and they thought
[00:50:30] they could drink it but as they tried it was bitter so they want to know what should we do. Now Moses takes a log and he throws it into the water and the water is healed or it's made
[00:50:44] sweet. Now I love this little story because to me it speaks so often of our experiences in life today. You know you can almost imagine the people approaching this water supply thinking to themselves
[00:51:03] finally our thirst will be quenched but they were sadly disappointed. This seems to be the case in so many areas of life. The relationship or the career or even the ministry that we thought would be
[00:51:18] satisfying which actually was bitter in the end. And so they grumble against Moses. They're driven to despair through their thirst and they do what's previously unthinkable. They had so much joy after the Red Sea and now quickly they're just human again.
[00:51:40] They're grumbling and disputing with Moses. He cries out to God, making and forming a new pattern. They grumble to Moses, Moses prays to God. And Moses then is told by God to take this log and throw it into the water. I don't think there's any
[00:52:03] natural explanation for what's occurring here and the water becomes sweet. I think if I might spiritualize this for just a moment, the log might serve as a picture of the cross of Christ.
[00:52:19] So often the bitter sweet, the bitter moments in life can be made sweet by the cross of Jesus. It can redeem even the harshest things of life. I don't know if you've ever read the beautiful
[00:52:33] little new testament book of filetimes, it's a very short little book just one chapter. Very personal letter that Paul the Apostle wrote to a man named fileteman who had become
[00:52:45] ostracized with one of his staff because he had run away from him and stole from him and gone into Rome in hiding. The man's name was Onesimus and eventually he became a Christian as a result of
[00:53:00] Paul's ministry well imprisoned in Rome and when Paul learned that Onesimus had stolen from fileteman and had run away from him, he sends Onesimus back knowing that fileteman as a Roman citizen has
[00:53:15] the rights to actually execute this man for his crime. But the book of fileteman is if Paul is proposing, perhaps God did this, perhaps this bitter thing has now been made sweet because of a
[00:53:31] cross of Jesus Christ. These two men that were ostracized became brothers because of the blood of Jesus. Now it says in verse 25 as we go on, there the Lord made for them a statute and a rule
[00:53:46] and there he tested them saying, if you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God and do that which is right in his eyes and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes.
[00:53:58] I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord your healer. Then they came to Elim where there were 12 springs of water and 70 palm trees and they
[00:54:11] encamped there by the water. Now as we close today one of the things you need to see in this final paragraph is that God had done these things to test the people of Israel. He's proving the metal
[00:54:24] verifying the quality of the people of Israel. He's not trying to cause them to fail but he's training them and testing them. They would have much worse trials than this in the future and so
[00:54:39] he's trying to build their faith up in their character, in this moment. And notice he continually tells them here in this little passage if you, Willo Bay, me then I will do these things for you.
[00:54:55] I think this is a foretaste of the covenant that he was about to make with them on Mount Sinai through Moses. He would give them a simple principle. Obedience will bring blessing and disobedience
[00:55:09] will bring a curse or judgment. We might call them consequences of our actions but God is trying to train His people. Obedience to me will lead to blessing because obedience is actually the good life.
[00:55:25] So I'm trying to show you the life that you ought to live but I love there that the Lord says to them as we close, I am the Lord your healer in verse 26. Now at the end of the day it is God who is the great
[00:55:39] healer. He's given modern medicine to us and I for one am thankful for the great medical advancements that humanity has discovered and has practiced and has made available to many. But the reality is
[00:55:54] is that it is an imperfect system still and that we all will perish in die. But the Lord ultimately will heal His people. He will raise us up in that last day and give to us our new bodies. But even now
[00:56:08] today, we as his people can cry out to Him and ask Him to touch our bodies. We of course know that it's not guaranteed that we'll be healed of any infirmity here in this life. But we can go to the
[00:56:21] Lord and say, Lord, if it be your will, touch me. Now on this side of eternity and if not, I know that it is your will to give me perfect health on the other side in your eternal glory.
[00:56:37] And so the Lord says to the people of Israel, just as I healed those waters that were bitter, I am your healer. Turn to me when things aren't right and I will be there for you. I will
[00:56:49] aid you and strengthen you and heal you. God bless you, church.