The Red Sea (Exodus 13-14)
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
Good morning. My name is Spencer. I'm one of the pastors here. We're going to be in Exodus 13, 17, all the way to the end of chapter 14. I've had multiple people this morning ask me, are you going to work in the Gamecocks into your sermon? I will not pigeonhole it into the sermon.
I will say His mercy is more because I really thought that it was going to be really bad the rest of the season, but they gave us just enough hope to be crushed on Saturday. So, we're going to be closing up Exodus for the fall. We're kind of at the first, the conclusion of the first major part of Exodus. If you're going to film Exodus, you probably do it in two different movies. This is the end of the first movie right here. So, over the last month, we have watched as God has broken the Egyptians.
He has broken them. And we watched this. It's nine signs and wonders, nine plagues fell upon the Egyptians and the enslavers who oppressed the people of God for centuries. And then finally, the last couple of weeks, we spent two weeks in the Passover, looking at the story of Passover and the significance of Passover and how God finally brought Egypt to a total military defeat. And now, the Israelites are free. They're free.
They walk out of Egypt, not just with freedom, but they walk out with riches. God loots the enemy of the Egyptians. They walk out with gold and with jewels and they freely leave the land. So, we're at the end of this. And at the end of this part of Exodus, it kind of finishes like some movies do with the good guys and the bad guys. Every now and then, you'll see a movie where the good guys, they win.
Like, the bad guy loses. And all of a sudden, you think it's about to wrap up. But then, in a last-ditch effort, the bad guy changes his mind. And he says, I want him back. And then he comes, and then the good guy takes him and drowns him and kills him. Now, I haven't seen that movie, but that's what happens here.
Is that Pharaoh, his heart is hardened. He changes his mind. And he says, I want him back. And spoiler alert, it ends poorly for the Egyptians and for Pharaoh. So, we're going to witness this today. This is one of the most miraculous events of the Old Testament.
We're going to look at the Red Sea crossing. We're going to look at this. And I just want one overarching truth to sink into our souls as we finish out Exodus for the fall. And that is this. That our God is a God who completely destroys evil. And that is wonderful.
Our God is a God who completely and utterly decimates and destroys the power of evil. And that is wonderful news for the people of God. So, we're going to see that. And then we're just going to respond. So, let me pray for us. And then we'll jump in together.
Heavenly Father, I pray that you would open our hearts to receive your word this morning. That as we close up this part of Exodus, that we would just be able to worship. We're able to see how good you are. How powerful you are. How mighty you are. And we respond in faith and repentance and in worship and delight.
Because you are worthy. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Alright, we're going to pick up a verse 17. So, some people will go when they encounter Exodus. Why didn't the people of God just leave Egypt and go straight to Israel?
So, this is modern day Egypt and Israel. Why didn't they just go straight there? So, if you go to the next slide. They were in Goshen. Just over here to the left. There should be a little dot that shows up.
There we go. My beautiful graphics. They were in Goshen enslaved for centuries. And they're going to the promised land. Which is up there. Okay?
So, a straight line should just go on up there. But that's not where they go. They actually wander south. And they spend a lot of time here. And some folks will go, why didn't they just go from point A to point B? And it's right here in the text.
It says, if they came by way of the Philistines, they have to go up through the land of the Philistines to get to Israel. If they went there, they would have to encounter war. And it says, lest the people change their minds when they see war and return to Egypt. That part of what's happening here is that they're not ready to settle in the promised land. God has fought on behalf of His people. Over and over again, we saw that.
God was the one who was working. He's fought on behalf of His people. He has not fought through His people. He's not worked through His people yet. And God loves to work through His people. And the Israelites aren't ready for that yet.
They don't have the faith for that yet. So, they're not ready to settle the promised land. So, they go a little further south. Verse 18. But God led the people around by the way of the wilderness toward the Red Sea.
All right. So, let me orient ourselves a little bit again. Throw that map back out there. They, so the Gulf of Suez and the Gulf of Aqaba make up the Red Sea right below it. They are down in this area. We don't know where in this area they were.
Okay? We don't know, as we're going to see a crossing here in the moment of the Red Sea, we don't know where that is. There are a lot of Bible nerds that get really, really excited about this and will debate where the crossing was, debate where they want. We really just don't know. This is an ancient map with places that we don't know where they are anymore. We don't know.
But it's somewhere in this general area that they are being led to. So, but the people of God, verse 18, but the people of, but God led the people, verse 18, around by the way of the wilderness toward the Red Sea. And the people of Israel went up out of the land of Egypt equipped for battle. Verse 19. So that phrase right there is directly out of Genesis.
Out of Genesis 50. Joseph made the people of God promise. Centuries before this. He said, you're going to be here for a while, but when do you leave, you are taking my bones with you. I will be buried in the promised land. And this is being fulfilled.
The bones of Joseph being brought back to the promised land. Verse 20. And they moved on from Succoth and encamped at Etham on the edge of the wilderness. And the Lord went before them by day and a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way. And by night and a pillar of fire to give them light that they might travel by day and by night. The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people.
So they're wandering in a place they have never been to before. They've been slaves in Egypt for centuries. They've never been in this area before. And God is leading them. The picture we get is a cloud by day and a fire by night so they can travel both day and both night. And the cloud, we don't know what that looked like.
A good guess would be that it was probably more of a smoke cloud because God is revealing himself by fire here. So a cloud by day, a fire by night. God reveals himself multiple times in Exodus in fire. We have the calling at Mount Horeb is through the burning bush. We have being led by the cloud and the fire here. Later on we're going to see the fire at Mount Sinai.
We're going to see the fire at the tabernacle. But he's leading them with this cloud and the day and this fire by night. And I just appreciate the picture of this. The fact that the people here are wandering in a place that they're not used to. And that right there in and of itself is disorienting. Like I've been in a foreign country where you're wandering through a place and you don't know the lay of the land at all.
You don't know the language and you get lost. It's disorienting. It's scary. I've also had someone who knew the language, who knew all the street corners that I did not know, and took us and led us to where we needed to be. And we looked at that person as our guide, as our hope to get us out of being lost, out of being disoriented and scared into where we need to be. That's what's happening here.
God is their shepherd. He is leading them through places they have never been to before. The picture here of God's shepherding, His care for the people, and leading them by day and by night through uncertain places is beautiful. It's a wonderful picture of our God leading us. And some of you may go, I mean, it's great that the Israelites had that. It's great the Israelites had a clear cloud that would lead them by day and a fire that would lead them by night.
But I'm just wandering right now in the wilderness. I just feel like I'm in the desert, that life is very hard. I don't have a lot of direction right now. I wish that God would give me something like that, that clearly would show me where I need to go. And I just want to say very clearly to you this morning, He gives us something so much better. That if you're in Christ, if you believe in Him, if you're a follower of Jesus, you have the Holy Spirit that lives inside of you.
You don't have God leading you in a cloud by day and a fire by night. You have God within you. You don't just have the living God within you. You have the gift of His Word. The Word of God that leads us, that guides us, that reminds us of who He is. We don't just have the Word of God.
We have prayer. We have access to God where we can call out to Him in the midst of uncertainty, call out to Him in the midst of wandering. We have His Word and He has spoken. We have prayer. We have access to call out to Him. And then we also have the people of God.
We have the church whom God dwells in and the seasons of life that are difficult and the wandering that you may be in. You're not alone. You have other brothers and sisters who can point you to what is true, who can pray with you, who can open up the Word with you. We are not alone. We spent a whole sermon on that subject right there, talking about the cloud and the pillar of fire and how God leads us and guides us. But if we stopped at every place in Exodus that we wanted to preach a sermon, we'd be here for like two years.
And I've heard that that's frowned upon. We're in Matthew for like a year and a half, like Genesis for like a year and a half, and people are like, can we just finish? So we've got to keep moving. Then we're on to chapter 14, verse 1. Then the Lord said to Moses, Tell the people of Israel to turn back and encamp in front of Pahiroth, between Migdal and the sea, in front of Belsiphon.
You shall encamp facing it by the sea. Okay, let me pause there for a moment. So, again, we don't know where Pahiroth and Belsiphon, we don't know where any of that is. Okay? We know it's next to the Red Sea, one of these bodies of water. And then he tells them to encamp there and wait.
And we're going to see why he does that. Pick up in verse 3. For Pharaoh will say of the people of Israel, this is God talking to Moses, They are wandering in the land. The wilderness has shut them in. And I will harden Pharaoh's heart. And he will pursue them.
And I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his hosts. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord. And they did so. So, God tells them to encamp in this area by the sea for a reason. He's not done with Pharaoh. He's not done with Pharaoh and this evil regime that has ruled over the people of God for centuries.
He's not finished with them yet. And he's going to use the people of God as bait. And he's going to lure Pharaoh in to destruction. So, he says, you stay right there. So, then we get verse 5 over to Pharaoh. 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 that we have done? That we have let Israel go from serving us? 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. So, Pharaoh goes, No, I'm going to get them back. And you see a word that is repeated there multiple times. Chariots.
Chariots. Chariots. It's repeated actually seven times in this chapter. And that's supposed to stick out for two main reasons. First, having chariots makes you superior militarily. If you have chariots in this era of warfare, you have the unbelievable tactical advantage.
A couple of weeks ago, I had the flu, which, if you're thinking of holiday plans, I don't recommend it. It was terrible. But I had the flu and I was in bed. So, I'm going to watch something. So, I wanted something that was kind of encouraging. It picked me up.
So, I saw on Netflix, All is Quiet on the Western Front. And I hadn't read the book. I didn't know. I knew it was a war movie. I knew it was going to be super exciting. But I didn't know it was going to be two and a half hours of having just the horrors of war just pounded into your face.
I didn't know that. But it's World War I. And it's the horrors of World War I. And there's this scene where they're in trench warfare. And these guys are getting ready to hop the trench and storm the enemy. And then they do it.
And they storm into the fog, into the mist. And all of a sudden, they hear the machinery. And then what appears in the mist are armored tanks. And this is World War I. This is when tanks were introduced. And these guys had never seen tanks before.
And they have bayonets and a rifle. And there's a tank that is armored with machine guns and missile fire. How do you think that went? They were destroyed. That's what's happening here. Chariots, tanks, the people of God, a bunch of refugees, men, women, children.
This is supposed to convey, by human odds alone, they don't have a shot. They're about to get destroyed. But the second thing that's being emphasized here is that you have man's power and the mighty chariots versus the power of God. And that's what's being pitted against one another. It's the power of chariots versus the power of God. And this theme is going to be pulled throughout the rest of the Old Testament.
When you get to the book of Deuteronomy in chapter 20, when Moses is handing down the law, he says, when you go out to war against your enemies and see horses and chariots and an army larger than your own, you shall not be afraid of them. For the Lord your God is with you who brought you out of the land of Egypt. He's referencing what is about to happen. You may see chariots. You may see all kinds of mighty military men, but they're just men. And I am the living God.
Do not be afraid. I am with you. This is why one of my favorite Psalms, Psalm 20, verse 7, says some trust in chariots and some in horses but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. It is a picture of trusting in your own strength. Trusting in everything that you bring to the table. Don't do it.
Trust in the name and the power of God. God is mightier than any enemy that you might face. You trust in His name because He is good and He is powerful. So when you hear chariots over and over again, that's what's being shown here. The power and the prestige of Pharaoh and his mighty army pales in comparison to the power of God. So, verse 8, And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he pursued the people of Israel while the people of Israel were going out defiantly.
Just pause there for a moment. They left Egypt and it says they left defiantly. I picture that as they left confidently. Confidently defying the enemy that God just defeated with a little bit of a swagger, a little bit of a step. And as we're looking at it this week, Chet, he had a different picture. He pictures actually that they, this is an emphasis on they walked out not just with confidence but with all of the gold and the jewels on them.
Like he pictures this more like a hip-hop video. Like they, they roll out, decked out, iced out, like they, and almost even still, like they're in the wilderness and they didn't put those jewels away. They are still defiantly, confidently, rocking with those jewels, rocking with that gold. Like even now, like a precedent, it's even now, like they're descending upon you. And they're little kids just with all kinds of gold and stuff. Yep.
It's like, alright, listen, you can choose your own adventure here. It's not going to violate the word of God. How do you ever want to picture this? You just got to understand, they left confidently or still confidently with jewels. But, that's important as we're going to see in a moment. It says, the Egyptians pursued them, all Pharaoh's horses and chariots and his horsemen and his army and overtook them in camp at the sea by Pihihirith in front of Bel-Siphon.
So again, they are pitted, they're pinned between the Red Sea and the army that's getting ready to descend upon them. verse 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. They feared greatly and the people of Israel cried out to the Lord. They walked out of Egypt defiantly, confidently, with a swagger and the moment they see Pharaoh again, the moment they see his chariots and his army, they feared greatly. They have been conditioned to fear this enemy for centuries. They've been conditioned to fear the people that enslaved them for centuries that the very moment that they show up, they melt. and they melt so much so that it says in verse 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? Is not this where we said to you and is this, is this not 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. What an about face. I mean, they left confidently.
They left defiantly. And the moment they see Pharaoh, the moment they see the Egyptians. Why did you bring us out here to die, Moses? We could have just been slaves in Egypt. At least we'd still be alive. But now we're going to die.
Thanks a lot, Moses. And I love how Moses responds. Verse 13, And 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.
Listen, I love the development of Moses. I mean, think back to how we were introduced to Him. Think back to He kills the Egyptians and He fears the Egyptians and He flees for His life. Think of Him being called at Mount Horeb and how self-doubting He was. I've got a speech problem. I don't know if I can do this, Lord.
Lord, Lord, fear not. Now the nation turns on Him in a moment and says, why did you bring us out here to die? And He just says, fear not. It just goes to show that God chooses the lowly and the weak to bring about His purposes. And I just, I so appreciate that about the Scriptures. Moses is not powerful in himself, but through the Lord He says, fear not.
That's a command. Don't be scared. Don't be scared of this enemy. Fear not. Stand firm. Straighten up.
Don't melt in fear before this enemy. No, stand firm. And you're going to see the salvation of the Lord. You're going to see what God's going to do because He's going to destroy the Egyptians and you're never going to see them again. You just need to sit there, watch, and shut up. That's what He says.
Because the Lord's about to work. Verse 15, the Lord speaks to Moses. He says, the Lord said to Moses, why do you cry out to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward. Lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it. The people of Israel may go through the sea on dry land and I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians that they shall go in after them and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his hosts, his chariots, and his horsemen.
And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen. So backed up against the sea, He says, turn around. You're going through. You're going to stretch out your staff. You're going to divide the waters. Y'all are going to go through on dry ground to the other side and then I'm going to kill every last one of the Egyptians. that's what the Lord just declared to Moses.
And the Egyptians will know the glory of God and His power and how much greater it is than anything they bring to the table. And it says in verse 19, 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 coming between the host of Egypt and the host of Israel. And there was the cloud and the darkness and it lit up the night without one coming near the other at all. So God Acts in buying the Israelites time. The pillar of cloud and fire creates a barrier, creates a firewall, which I don't think that's where that term comes from, but it's computer nerds.
It's a good picture of it. Then it creates a barrier and it buys them time to be able to walk through this Red Sea divine. In verse 21 it says, And 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. You just got to sit in that miraculous event and picture it. Like imagine if you're standing on the dam at Lake Murray and then all of a sudden Lake Murray completely divides into two walls of water from the dam all the way to Saluda, which is long. And these two walls of water divide and it's not just that they divide, that the ground is dry.
Like I was, we were working on this this week and Isaac, who was leading worship here, he grew up on a camp at Bethel and they would drain the pond every once in a while and one time they tried to cross that pond after they drained it and they didn't get very far. This is because it's mud. It got waist deep and it was done. That's how miraculous this is that God with an east wind drives out every bit of moisture from the ground and moves it to the side so that they can walk through and dry ground to the other side. That's the power of God being displayed before the so-called power of the Egyptians.
So he divides it. Verse 22. 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. I mean, just picture that. Like, it's nighttime. You are, it's a step of faith here, taking steps, with your wife, with your children, with your donkeys.
You're looking up and you see maybe the night sky just barely coming through and every step you just see these walls of water to your right and to your left. And the nation of Israel begins to cross to the other side. Verse 23. The Egyptians pursued and went in after them into the midst of the sea. all fear his horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. So this pillar of fire, God moves it and lures them in.
They move in with their strength, with their power, and then all of a sudden, verse 24, and in the morning, watch the Lord and the pillar of fire and of God looked down on the Egyptian forces and threw the Egyptian forces into a panic, clogging their chariot wheels so that they drove heavily. So they're in this Red Sea divine and all of a sudden, God stirs them into chaos. And they start getting their wheels and their chariots clogged. We don't know if the water is starting to come back underneath or what, but they are getting stuck. And then all of a sudden, they know they messed up. And the Egyptians said, let us flee from before Israel for the Lord fights for them against the Egyptians.
They understand what has happened. They have followed Pharaoh, their king, their false God into the Red Sea divine. And they know who they are fighting against. They are fighting against the Almighty God. And this is not going to work out for them. They are panicked.
They are fearful. And they're about to be destroyed. Verse 26, it says, Then the Lord said to Moses, Stretch out your hand over the sea, for the water 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. 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 and the horsemen of all the hosts of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea.
Not one of them remained. So morning dawns, and the people of God are safely on the other side, and Moses puts his hand down, and the waters come crashing down on their enemies. And we know from Psalm 136, this is every single one, including Pharaoh. All of them have been killed. God completely destroys evil. And it says, But the people of Israel walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters being a wall to them on their right, and their left.
Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. 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. So when the waters settle, they are completely, finally, utterly free. The very people that they've been scared of for centuries are done. Bottom of the ocean, bottom of the sea, floating on the seashore.
Their completely, the evidence is there. They can look back and see that evil has completely and utterly been defeated. Can you imagine how joyous that would have felt? How freeing that would have felt to finally look at the people who have caused so much pain and so much hurt for so long, and they're done. And you are completely free. our God completely destroys the work of evil. And that is wonderful.
Our God completely and utterly destroys the work of evil. He breaks the teeth of the wicked. He destroys its power over the grip of His people. And that is wonderful. And the picture of how this finishes is is they fear the Lord. Just a moment ago they were fearing the Egyptians.
And no, they fear God. And they trust God. And they worship. It is a powerful picture. This Exodus is a powerful story. And like so many parts of Exodus, it's not just about the redemption of the Israelites.
Exodus. Exodus is a story that points forward to the Exodus that we receive. It points forward to the redemption that we receive. That if you are a Christian, you walk the same Red Sea road. That's the truth of the Gospel. That if you are in Christ, the Red Sea event is your story.
That everyone in this world comes into this world a slave to sin. Slave to our desires. Under the power of the prince of this world, the enemy of this world. That's how we come into this. That's how we are outside of Christ. And then we approach the shoreline.
We approach the shoreline and God calls us into faith with Him. He does the work and He calls us into faith with Him. And don't miss this. The Israelites, they had to take, this was faith. Hebrews 11.29, looking back in this, says, By faith the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry ground, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned. He calls us to the shoreline and He does the work and He calls us to take a step of faith.
And then when you take the Red Sea road and you begin to finally trust God with your life, what you experience is the work of Christ. That when you step up the shoreline, what is offered to you is Christ crucified on the cross. Christ crucified for our sins, our sins placed on Him. And when you get to the other side of the shoreline, what you look back is you see the evidence of what the work of Christ does for us. Micah 7.19 says, He will again have compassion on us. He will tread our iniquities underfoot.
You will cast our seas into the depths of the sea. He takes all of our sin and casts it into the sea. That all of our sin was placed on Jesus. that He completely does the work for us on the cross. And by faith we trust His work with our lives. And when you come through the other side, if you're in Christ, you get to look back at it. And you get to see what happened to sin.
That the power of sin, the power of evil is completely destroyed. destroyed. If you're in Christ, if you believe in Jesus, if you trusted your life to Him, you can look back at all of it and see that it doesn't have the same power that it did anymore. That all of my sin was cast into the sea. All of my sin was put on Jesus at the cross. And I get to worship Him. I get to delight in Him because of what He has done for me.
That death doesn't have that grip on us anymore. That sin doesn't have that grip on us anymore. That's the point of Romans 6. In Romans 6, it says in verse 3, Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Don't you see that it was a baptism of death when you come through the waters? Your old self is put to death.
It is crucified with Christ. It is no longer you that lives but Christ who lives in you. Don't you see how good that is? It goes on to say in verse 4, we were buried therefore with Him by baptism and death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father we too might walk in the newness of life. That when you come through the waters of salvation you see that the waters of judgment fell upon Christ. And when you come to the other side of the shore you walk in the newness of life that He provides.
And then in verse 7 and 9 He says, for one who has died has been set free from sin. Verse 9, we know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again. Hear this last part. Death no longer has dominion over Him. And He doesn't have dominion over us either. But if you believe in Jesus and you belong to Him death doesn't have power over you anymore.
This fall we walk through recovery. We've had part of our church that's been going through the recovery process and tomorrow is the final night of recovery. And what I love about going through recovery is that you get to slowly begin to remember that the power of sin doesn't rule you anymore. It doesn't own you anymore. The enemy doesn't own you anymore. But you get to look back at the shoreline and see the you get to see the body of sin that was put to death.
And that sin doesn't have power in you anymore. And I get to watch brothers and sisters begin to realize how good our Savior is. Begin to realize what He secured for you. The freedom that He secures for us through His death. If you're in Christ that's offered to you. And you get to look back at the Red Sea Road that you traveled through and see all of the sin that used to haunt you.
All of the brokenness that used to hurt you. you get to remember it's not me anymore. That doesn't rule me anymore. That doesn't have power over me anymore. Christ does. And I will worship Him instead. That is the good news of the gospel.
We as Christians completely trust in the work of Christ that He's done for us. We're not like the Egyptians. We don't trust in chariots. We don't trust in our own work and our own effort and our own talents. We trust completely in the power of Christ. So brothers and sisters as we close out this part of Exodus this is our story.
You did take the Red Sea Road. God completely destroys the power of evil. And that is wonderful.