Question
CROSSING THE RED SEAPRIVATE
Exodus 13:17-15:21
Key Verse: Hebrews 11:29
1. In verse 17 God said, “If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.” What does this tell us about the Israelites?
2. The Israelites went up out of Egypt “armed for battle” in verse 18b. What does the expression “armed for battle” suggest about the life that awaits them after the exodus? (Mark 4:17; Matthew 11:6; John 16:33)
3. On their way to the Promised Land, the Lord led the Israelites away from the shorter route through the Philistine country, to the longer route through the Red Sea. Hebrews 11:29 reveals that the Lord did this to teach them faith in Him. What can we learn about: 1) the way God trains His people; and 2) His purpose for the training?
4. What do Joseph’s prophecy and instructions about his bones in verse 19 teach us about faith? The way the Lord guides the Israelites in verses 20-22 is quite amazing. What parallel (regarding the Lord’s guidance) can we find for Christians today?
5. In Exodus 14:10-12 the people grumbled bitterly to Moses. What do the following complaints reveal about them?
1) “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die?”
2) “What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt?”
3) “Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’?”
4) “It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!”
6. In Exodus 14 the Lord helped the Israelites overcome their difficult challenges by faith in Him. What do the following expressions teach us about faith?
1) “I will harden Pharaoh’s heart.”
2) “The Lord will fight for you.”
3) “You need only to be still.”
4) “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites move on.”
5) “Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground.”
7. Who crossed the Red Sea? Who was drowned (14:28)? What made the difference? (Hebrews 11:29) What did the Israelites learn from crossing the Red Sea by faith? (Exodus 15:2-3, 11, 13, 18)
Manuscript
Message
CROSSING THE RED SEA
Exodus 13:17-15:21
Key Verse Hebrews 11:29
By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned.
This morning we would like to study the faith that crosses the Red Sea as on dry land. The Israelites crossed the Red Sea as on dry ground. We have heard people cruising on the sea on a cruise line, not passing through the sea on foot. But the Israelites passed through on foot. How did they do it? They did it by faith. During our life’s journey we will face many Red Seas. When we learn the faith the Israelites learned, we too can pass through the Red Seas as on dry ground. Therefore let us think about the faith that enabled the Israelites to pass through the Red Sea on foot. What kind of faith did they have?
First, they believed in God who called them out of Egypt into the Promised Land (Exodus 13:17-18)
Look at Exodus 13:17-18. “When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, ‘If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.’ So God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea. The Israelites went up out of Egypt armed for battle.” This passage shows that God ran two risks in doing what he did.
What did God do? He called the Israelites out of Egypt into the Promised Land. This calling is the highest calling because it is not just changing the Israelites’ living environments in terms of mere geographical location. Rather, it involves calling each of them out of the life that lives as slaves to lowly desires to the life that lives as a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. God expresses this lofty purpose in Exodus 19:5-6, “‘Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.”
What risks did God run? There are two risks. The first risk existed inside of the Israelites and the risk outside of them. The first risk is the slave mentality built inside of the Israelites; the second one is the war that was waiting for the Israelites.
When we think about it, it is not only God but also each Christian who runs the same risks in responding to God’s calling to live as his children. This already tells us that a Christian has two challenges, that is, the challenge found inside, and the challenge found outside. The inner challenge is the challenge to overcome our old sinful nature. The external challenge is the challenge to overcome the sinful world.
Let us stop for a moment and think about the inner challenge. What is inside of a man? Deuteronomy Chapters 18-19 give us a clue to this question. But at this moment we are not going to read this passage because the sin problems described there are too colorful. Jesus, who knows what is inside of a man, said simply in Matthew 15:9, “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.” These are the formidable enemies that exist inside of a man. The Lord God called the Israelites to himself despite so many sins that existed inside of the Israelites. Indeed, the Lord ran a great risk of losing the battle. The Lord God dared to fulfill what is truly noble out of what is totally ignoble. He had a daring dream to call a sinful nation to be a holy nation.
The external challenges were also very challenging. These challenges include the Pharaoh and his army chasing after the Israelites, the Red Sea lying ahead of the Israelites, and all the nations who were hostile to the Israelites. In particular, the seven Canaanite nations entrenched in the so-called Promised Land were determined to fight to the finish. Similarly, a Christian who is born again newly and is following Jesus each and every day is faced with lots of challenges coming from this world. The challenges include peer pressures, temptations to go back to sinful old habits, persecutions from family members, and so forth. In asking people to follow him, Jesus also described these challenges in different places of the Bible. For example, in Mark 4:17 Jesus referred to a man as a seed sown on rocky soil by saying, “But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away.” Life that follows Jesus is not like a man walking through flower beds. It is a rugged path. It comes with troubles and persecutions.
When we are faced with these internal and external difficulties, we feel frustrated. We are tempted to stop running the race marked out for us and go back to old ways of life. Like the Israelites, we do not want to face war. Rather want to go back to Egypt. But this is not God’s will. God’s will for us is to deal squarely with our sinful nature and overcome it. His will for us is to brace ourselves against hardships, trials, ordeals, and all kinds of confrontations and overcome them. God’s will for us is to come to God and live as his treasured possessions. His will for us is to be more than conquerors, conquering everything conquerable. His will for us is to live as his children bearing his image. The purpose of God’s calling is high and noble. It is for us to be transformed into Jesus’ likeness. It is for us to be as gentle, kind, and loving as Jesus. It is to be as fruitful and, ultimately, as conquering as Jesus was.
Second, they believed in God who was with them and traveled with them (Exodus 13:19-22).
After the exodus the Israelites did not know where they were going. They had no idea of how to overcome all the challenges lying ahead. But they were not terribly worried. Why? It was because the Lord God was with them, and worked with them as their guide. Look at vs. 19-22. “Moses took the bones of Joseph with him because Joseph had made the sons of Israel swear an oath. He had said, ‘God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up with you from this place.’ After leaving Succoth they camped at Etham on the edge of the desert. By day the LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people.”
This passage gives a child of God great comfort. It assures him that despite harms and dangers that might lie on the way the Lord will surely help him to successfully finish his journey through this world and lead him to a desired haven safe and sound. Two things stand out to assure us of this success. First, is the message we get out of what Joseph instructed in regard to his bones. “Moses took the bones of Joseph with him because Joseph had made the sons of Israel swear an oath. He had said, ‘God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up with you from this place.’” There is a gap of about four centuries in between the two points of time: the time Joseph issued instructions in regard to his bones and the time Moses actually took the bones and carried them. This time gap shows that faith is not limited by any limitations such as time. Faith sees things that are sure to happen even four centuries later. Seeing what will happen even four centuries into the future motivates a man of faith to make a practical arrangement such as relocating his burial site from one place to another. This leads us to a question: why did Joseph bother to move his bones? When we recall that Joseph was a man who understood the deep things of God, we can easily conclude that he issued instructions on his bones looking ahead to the perfect world to come, that is, the resurrection of his body and the fellowship that will take place with those who live by faith in the same God, that is, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Faith is never a vague idea. It enables man to see one’s life as it stands today, tomorrow and in eternity with great clarity and precision. This faith then helped Joseph to see his resurrected life, the life that is to be enjoyed in a specific location with a specific category of people. He believed and saw the life that will be with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, his siblings and beyond. Likewise, by faith we can see the life that will be at home with Jesus and with his faithful ones, such as Peter or Paul.
This comfort is not based on psychological manipulation. It is based on the Lord God being present with his children, journeying with them through this mundane world. In those days the Israelites did not have electricity. They did not have flashlights or street lights. So it was impossible for anyone to make a journey at night. But the Israelites were different. Why? It was because the Lord was with them and guided them in a pillar of fire. Come to think of it, they did not have any cooling systems like air conditioning. So it was impossible for a large population especially pregnant women, senile people or little children to travel at daytime through desert areas with scorching heat. But the Israelites had no problem. Why? It was because by day the Lord was with them in a pillar of cloud. Jewish rabbis say that this cloud was not a small pillar like the power pole at the Downey UBF parking lot, but was like a huge umbrella of cloud spreading over the entire city of Los Angeles. This cloud did not create gloomy feelings like any cloudy days in L.A. Rather it created a sweet happy ambience, so that the Israelites would enjoy not only the shade but a warm, happy environment, making them happy like a flock of happy chickens under the wings of a mother hen.
The pillar of fire and the pillar of cloud foreshadows the Holy Spirit residing inside of a believer in Jesus Christ. But it is possible that just as the Israelites did not pay much attention to the presence of God among them, a Christian can remain indifferent to God’s guidance leading them through His indwelt Spirit. After this Faith Bible Study series, we would like to put together Bible lectures on the Holy Spirit. But for now we want to make sure that we live by faith in God who is with his children journeying with them, protecting them and providing them with what they need for a life’s journey.
Third, they believed in God who trained them to have faith in the Lord their God (Exodus 14:1-31).
The Lord God is a good shepherd for his children. A good shepherd knows the name of each sheep. In his divine knowledge the Lord God said, “If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.” So what did He do? God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea. Why did God do this? The answer is quite obvious. The Lord God wanted to train them. What was the point of training? The point was to help them to develop firm faith in the Lord, so that by this faith they would face war, defeat their enemies, and come out as more than conquerors.
How then did the Lord train them? Exodus 14 describes in detail how the Lord trained them. Exodus 14 is not unfamiliar to us, for Hollywood movie makers made a movie, “The Ten Commandments” and there they created the scene of Moses leading the Israelites through the Red Sea. This Red Sea is not just in the Middle East but also in Universals Studios in Universal City. So let us spend some time on Exodus 14 and think about how they passed the Red Sea as on dry ground but how, when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were all drowned.
But before we take a tour through this chapter we would like to make one point clear: this chapter records not just a fun-filled exciting story but a training ground. It describes the first training program the Lord God put the Israelites through for their faith training. The Red Sea is not just a sea but a device which the Lord God created to teach the Israelites and all who would believe in Jesus what faith is all about. This chapter leads us through theatrical settings where a lot of Hollywood-movie-type actions are being presented. All the arrangements in these stage settings were designed to teach them what faith is all about – the faith that should empower them to become more than conquerors. Specifically, how did the Lord train the Israelites? Five points can be mentioned:
(1) I will harden Pharaoh’s heart.
In many places of the book of Exodus, particularly in Chapter 14, we see the Lord God repeatedly saying to Moses and through him to the Israelites that it is the Lord who hardened the heart of Pharaoh and caused his army to chase after the Israelites.
God is the God of economy. He does not waste anything. And he does not waste words. When he says something he always says it for a reason. He has a specific problem to address, for example. This is particularly true with him repeating the same message again and again.
Why then did the Lord God repeatedly say that it is he who hardened the heart of Pharaoh and caused him to do what he did? Again the answer is obvious. The Lord wants them to see God and see beyond Pharaoh. He wants them to see the God who is unseen. He wants his children to see that a visible man like the menacing Pharaoh is like a mere chess piece on a chess board, whereas the Lord is like a chess player moving chess pieces here and there on a chess board.
But the Israelites did not see matters this way. Having lived in Egypt as a slave nation for a long time they did not see God as God, but rather they saw Pharaoh as their real boss. They saw Pharaoh as the one who provided them with food and shelter. Of course Pharaoh did not offer them much. All he did was to toss in front of them just enough for them to barely survive. He gave them the minimum necessary to keep them operating as working machines. Still, however, the Israelites regarded the provision from Pharaoh as a source of security. They considered Pharaoh as the real provider.
But they did not see God who made Pharaoh. They did not see God who created the Israelites to even serve Pharaoh and even provide Pharaoh with what Pharaoh needed!
Joseph however was different. While in Egypt he did not see Pharaoh as his real boss. He saw the Lord God as his real boss. So when he stood in front of Pharaoh he talked about God the Creator of the Universe as the Real Provider. This put Joseph above Pharaoh. This faith that sees God above Pharaoh led him to live as a shepherd for Pharaoh, not as a slave to Pharaoh.
Again Exodus 19:5-6 reads, “‘Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.” Here “a kingdom of priests,” especially the word “priests,” suggests to us an exalted position – the position which is above the nations but below the Lord God. By “above” or “below” we mean spiritually above or spiritually below. God’s purpose in calling each Christian as a follower of Jesus remains the same. Regarding the same purpose, the Apostle Peter says, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light” (1 Peter 2:9). In order for us to live as a royal priesthood, however, we need to have faith in God who is above and beyond all men.
(2) The Lord will fight for you.
Because the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, he indeed decided to send the best of his best soldiers who were equipped with the best military equipment. Then the Israelites heard the thunderous noise of the Egyptian officers driving the chariots led by horses, wielding drawn swords ready to smash down them. Then they were so terrified that they all cried out to Moses complaining ever so bitterly. Look at vs. 10-12. Let us read this passage. Their complaint shows that they did not have any faith in God.
So what did Moses do? Look at vs. 13-14a. “Moses answered the people, ‘Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The LORD will fight for you.” Let us turn to our neighbor and say, “The Lord will fight for you.’” Here we learn two things: each time a “situation” arises, we must firmly believe that the Lord fights for his children. Second, when we see our sheep facing a “situation”, instead of trying to help them in a humanistic way, we must help them to see the Lord who fights for each of them, so that our Bible students would not only overcome challenging moments of their lives but also learn faith from them.
(3) You need only to be still.
In v. 14b, Moses said, “You need only to be still.” This does not mean we should not do anything. Rather, it means we must remain calm, and turn our attention away from the visible reality and fix our eyes on the Lord. Then strangely, fear will subside. Anxiety will disappear. We then can think more clearly. Instead of responding to the challenge with human fear or shaky emotions, we can ask God for help. Then the Lord provides us with the wisdom. Then we can show a faithful response.
(4) Tell the Israelites “Move on!”
Although Moses said bold things like “The Lord will fight for you” or “You need only to be still”, still he had no idea of what to do. So he knelt down and cried out to the Lord for help. Then the word of the Lord came saying, “Why are you crying out to me?” This means “Stop praying, and start acting.” What was the action plan? “Tell the Israelites ‘Move on.’” The command “Move on” here is very important. We are not to go back and be smashed down or enslaved by the enemies but to move on. Say to one another, “Move on.” The Apostle Paul also expressed the same idea when he said in Philippians 3:13, “Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead….”
(5) Raise your staff and stretch out our hand over the sea.
Let us all read v. 16, “Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground.” Symbolically the staff here refers to God’s word, that is, the Bible. The command to raise up the staff is tantamount to the command to hold God’s word in high honor. More fundamentally, the staff refers to Jesus Christ for us to rely upon. Then, the command to stretch one’s hand refers to the command to apply the word to our problems, and secure a solution from God’s word. The command to divide and open the way that is dry ground to pass by is the command to let the problem obey God’s word. Each time we see one stumbling block standing in the way of God’s will, we must always remember this principle, and apply to our problem what the Lord commanded Moses to do. Then mysteriously the Lord God will show us the way. Indeed as Moses did this, the water congealed. Water stood up in walls, remaining firm and solid. Dry path emerged. People then passed through.
The Egyptians thought that they could pass through the sea. But by the time they got in with no time to go back out, they got stuck. Then as Moses stretched out his hand once more, water fell back and they all died.
Fourth, they believed in God who will reign for ever and ever (Exodus 15:1-21).
In Chapter 15:1-18, Moses wrote a poem, the song of praise. This song incorporates the kind of faith the Israelites learned from the miracle. It is worth reciting again and again. But we have no time to do so right now. I would encourage every one to read it again and again. But, for our own purpose right now, it is sufficient to read 15:18. Let us read this passage altogether. “The LORD will reign for ever and ever.’ This passage shows that through this miracle they learned that God is the sovereign ruler, not just in one or two generations but for ever and ever. This indicates that the faith the Israelites learned many centuries ago as they crossed the Red Sea has the same application to all who put trust in the Lord in every generation. One word: By faith the people passed through the Red Sea.
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Manuscript
Biblenote
Crossing the Red SeaPRIVATE
Exodus 13:17-15:21
Key Verse Hebrews 11:29
By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned.
This passage shows us that we Christians are called to fight against the enemies all by faith in the Lord. It teaches us that faith in the Lord gives us the perfect guarantee of absolute victory over all of our enemies. By the same token, if we try to defeat our enemies on our own we are bound to fail.
[By enemies we mean real enemies, that is, the devil and his schemes. Pharaoh and his soldiers are symbolic of the devil and his subjects.]
1. In verse 17 God said, “If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.” What does this tell us about the Israelites?
** Israelites lived as a slave nation, because: first, they did not want to stand up, meet the challenges and fight to overcome them; and second they remained fatalistic because they did not have faith in the Lord.
The first point is a symptom, the second a cause.
This is inconsistent with God's purpose of creation in Gen 1:26-28, that is, for man to have faith in the Lord and conquer the environment rather than being ruled by it.
2. The Israelites went up out of Egypt “armed for battle” in verse 18b. What does the expression “armed for battle” suggest about the life that awaits them after the exodus? (Mark 4:17; Matthew 11:6; John 16:33)
** It is like a baby crying out as it comes out of it’s mother's womb, and since day 1 of his or her birth into this world, the baby must strive hard not only to survive but also overcome himself and the world, not only in terms of physical challenges but also spiritual as well.
It is true of all newborn Christians. Everyone born of God must go through a maturing process, through learning how to meet challenges.
3. On their way to the Promised Land, the Lord led the Israelites away from the shorter route through the Philistine country, to the longer route through the Red Sea. Hebrews 11:29 reveals that the Lord did this to teach them faith in Him. What can we learn about: 1) the way God trains His people; and 2) His purpose for the training?
** God trains his people not by covering them up with blankets, but through sending them hardships and difficulties so that through these challenges they would learn faith in the Lord and become more than conquerors.
** The point of training is to establish them as rulers over his creation, and for them to serve as God's instruments for God's glory.
4. What do Joseph’s prophecy and instructions about his bones in verse 19 teach us about faith? The way the Lord guides the Israelites in verses 20-22 is quite amazing. What parallel (regarding the Lord’s guidance) can we find for Christians today?
** His prophecy and instruction regarding his bones teaches us about faith that sees what is to come even more than 4 centuries ahead. When we have this faith we can also even see the glorious world to be revealed as Jesus comes again. 1Th 4-5; Rev 22.
** The cloud in the day and the pillar of fire during the night are symbolic of the Holy Spirit residing in each believer.
This shows that living by faith in the Lord is not like blindly jumping off a cliff.
5. In Exodus 14:10-12 the people grumbled bitterly to Moses. What do the following complaints reveal about them?
1) “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die?”
2) “What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt?”
3) “Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’?”
4) “It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!”
** The word 'graves' or 'die' shows us that they were afraid of dying. The fear of death is the key characteristic of a slave.
** They blamed Moses for all the hardships they had.
** They did not take responsibility for their personal decision to leave Egypt.
** They still lived in the past. They did not have any bright vision for the future.
6. In Exodus 14 the Lord helped the Israelites overcome their difficult challenges by faith in Him. What do the following expressions teach us about faith?
1) “I will harden Pharaoh’s heart.”
2) “The Lord will fight for you.”
3) “You need only to be still.”
4) “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites move on.”
5) “Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground.”
** The Lord helped them to see that Pharaoh and his soldiers are merely chess pieces, and the Lord is the chess player moving the pieces.
** This expression teaches us that we must believe in the Lord who fights for us. This tells us that we must fight through the Lord who fights for us.
** Our job then is to continue in complete trust in Him. This does not mean that we should keep our arms folded, doing nothing. Rather it means we must be keenly aware of and attentive to what the Lord is doing.
** The expression "move on" shows us that faith is the mother of revelation for concrete plans of action.
** This passage specifies the action plan in detail.
1) First, raise your staff. Staff refers to the Bible. The word "raise" is suggestive of the need for us to hold God's word in high honor, making sure that God's word would ring out clearly, so everyone would hear the message, understand it, and move accordingly. When we do this, faith arises in our heart.
2) Second, stretch out your hand over the sea. When faith arises in our heart, then we can start moving our finger. Then hand. Then arm. The expression 'over the sea' refers to the need for us to start coping with the problem before us. The message is that we need to 'face' the problem, that is, the Red Sea. Never ignore or avoid. Take a good look at the problem. Then start working on it.
3) Third, to divide the water. The word "divide" is the key. The wisdom is found in the adage 'divide and conquer.' Every problem is divisible.
4) Fourth, so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground". Two points stand out: No. 1. Go through. No. 2. on dry ground. The expression "go through" shows us that on many occasions direct confrontation is the only way of solving the problem. The expression "on dry ground" shows us that we need to see what is underneath, that is, dry ground. Faith sees what is underneath.
7. Who crossed the Red Sea? Who was drowned (14:28)? What made the difference? (Hebrews 11:29) What did the Israelites learn from crossing the Red Sea by faith? (Exodus 15:2-3, 11, 13, 18)
** The Israelites.
** The Egyptians.
** Faith in the Lord.
** They saw the Lord in, through, above, and beyond, obstacles.
The end.
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