… and all passed through the sea; And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea …
Moreover,
brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were
under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; And were all baptized unto
Moses in the cloud and in the sea. (1 Cor 10:1-2)
The reader is reminded that the Lord parted two bodies of water for the
Children of Israel (excepting the parting of the Jordan for Elisha, with Elijah’s
mantle, alone) – one at the beginning of their Wilderness journey when they
were baptized as one nation in the Waters of the Red Sea, and later at the end
of their journey as they departed the Wilderness to take possession of that
Land of Promise for which they had sought for forty years beyond Waters of
Jordan Banks.
The Lord God precedes His people in the place of danger to guide them, and
followers hard after them to defend their rear echelons. He does so for us
today. He is the God of Wars and the Captain of Battles. He makes the crooked
way straight before us, and positions His Holy Angels behind to guard our
flanks and rear from the enemy of our souls. The Lord God Almighty is about to demonstrate
His Providential care and protection to His people Israel, and to us who learn
of Him in the pages of His Book.
After that first, dreadful Passover in Egypt in which the
oldest child (male or female) of each family was taken by the Sword of the Lord
(excepting those whose dwellings were covered by the blood of the lamb),
Pharaoh, having lost his dearly beloved son, gave chase to block the escape and
to capture the Children of Israel. His army was perhaps the finest in all the
land for experience, equipment of chariot and sabers, and battle attire. There
are four component parts of this dramatic event given in the 13th and 14th chapters of Exodus:
1.
God,
by design, draws Pharaoh’s Egyptian army to follow hard on the Children of
Israel. His purpose is to entrap that army and demonstrate the power of
Almighty God against an overweening and wicked sovereign;
2.
The
murmuring of God’s people due to their lack of faith (murmurs always arise from
that cause);
3.
God’s
final Operations Order to Moses revealing His perfect plan to both save Israel
and destroy Pharaoh;
4. Nation of Israel is baptized, in
Toto, under waters of the Red Sea and Pharaoh’s army is destroyed, in Toto, in
those same waters.
The people of Israel were terrified when they looked behind
and saw the army of Pharaoh giving chase in resplendent battle array and
swiftly approach by horse and chariot. These people of Israel were completely
defenseless apart from the Sovereign power of the Lord upon which they must
depend, or perish! The Children were led by the Lord Himself to a point,
bordered on the north by the wilderness marsh, on the south by stones and
crevices, to the rear by Pharaoh’s army, and, just to add drama to an already
drama-filled situation, God has brought them to the banks of the Red Sea before
them. They are hedged in on all fronts with no weapons of war, and no good
place to flee from Pharaoh. We would refer to this predicament in Alabama as “sitting
ducks.”
If we follow the leading of the Lord, the circumstances of
terrain and odds are of little consequence. The Lord had led Israel in the form
of a Pillar of Cloud by day and Fire by night. And the LORD went before them
by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar
of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night: He took not away the
pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the
people. (Ex 13:21-22) It often happens we follow the
leading of the Lord to places that seem to be impossible of extrication. If we
exercise patience and wait upon the Lord, we are in for a glorious surprise!
This Pillar preceded the Hosts of Israel to this point of seeming entrapment.
But see what God does next.
As I previous wrote in my study of Exodus, One clear note
is sounded here on the Lord’s plan: He brings the Children of Israel to a
seeming impasse in the marshes of the Red Sea – not for their ruin, but to
demonstrate His mighty power to save. The Children of Israel were seemingly
trapped in their position – hemmed in by marshes on one side, and the Sea on
the other. They appeared easy pickings for the Egyptians. God not only knows
the thoughts of the hearts of His people, but He also reads the thoughts of the
hearts of the wicked. He knows Pharaoh’s character like a book because He is
the one who made him. The mysteries of God are beyond our finding out. That
which is a means of salvation to the people of God is also found to be trap for
their enemies. (Devotion on Exodus 14, 11 Dec
2014 AD)
10 And when Pharaoh drew
nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians
marched after them; and they were sore afraid: and the children of Israel cried
out unto the LORD. 11 And they said unto Moses,
Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the
wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of
Egypt. (Ex 14:10-11)
But what to do with Pharaoh’s army closing on the rear
elements of the Hosts of Israel? God has a means of checking that pursuit. The
people murmured in fear and a failure of faith: For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than
that we should die in the wilderness. And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye
not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you
to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no
more for ever. The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace. (Ex
14:12-14) This is
the whole point of God bringing the Children of Israel to this impasse – to
demonstrate His power and might. When my mother and my father forsake me,
then the Lord will take me up. (Ps 27:10) And with what a mighty,
outstretched arm does the Lord take us up!
19 And the angel of God, which
went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of
the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them: 20 And it came between the camp of
the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them,
but it gave light by night to these: so that the one came not near the other
all the night. (Ex
14:19-20)
The Light of God issuing forth from the cloud toward Israel
at night was light to them, but the dark cloud was the side that faced the
enemy and caused them to stumble in darkness. This cloud by day and fire by
night was the very Angel of God – the Lord Himself. He went before the Children
to point the Way; and He moved behind them when protection and salvation were
necessary. The Lord Jesus Christ was that One who followed the Children in the
wilderness.
The natural law does not allow the waters of the sea to defy
gravity and stand erect in vertical walls. But the God who made the Natural Law
is also Lord over it. The Pillar of Fire by night gives light to Israel, but
strikes terror in the hearts of Pharaoh and his army. They cannot approach the
place of entrapment yet, but the Lord will allow, in due time, that army to
advance to its own ruin and detriment. The Holy Ghost gives light to us in times
of darkness, but to the world, that light is darkness and it stands in terror
of it just as the legions of Pharaoh did.
21 And Moses stretched out
his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east
wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. 22 And the children of Israel went
into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto
them on their right hand, and on their left. (Ex 14:21-22) The outstretched
hand of Moses represented the outstretched arm of God. It is a sweet grace of
God that He allows His children to have a ‘hand’ in His mighty works – but it
is His power that parts the waters and not that of Moses! This miracle of the
parting of the waves of the Red Sea is most extraordinary. The waters at the
point of crossing are said to be more than 75 ft. deep. Imagine the two walls
of water (one on the advancing side and the other on the receding side) being
held erect and in place to make a way for the Children of Israel to cross over.
That strong east wind was a heated tempest that dried the ground under their
feet. Coming from the east, it must of necessity pass over the Empty Quarter of
the Arabian Desert – the largest desert in the world (just to the east of the Red
Sea). The air is completely devoid of humidity and will dry anything it
touches.
That which is a saving grace to the People of God is a
destroying wind to their enemies. The same miracle that saves Israel is the
very one that destroys Pharaoh and his army in the depths of the sea. 23 And the Egyptians pursued, and
went in after them to the midst of the sea, even all Pharaoh's horses, his
chariots, and his horsemen. 24 And it came to pass, that in the
morning watch the LORD looked unto the host of the Egyptians through the
pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians, 25 And took off their chariot
wheels, that they drave them heavily: so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee
from the face of Israel; for the LORD fighteth for them against the Egyptians. (Ex
14:23-25) The
Egyptians pursued on the heels of the Children of Israel into the bed of the
Sea. But the Pillar of Fire that followed them waited its due season to slam
the door of the trap on the Egyptians. Once the entire Egyptian army was in the
bed of the Sea, God peered back at them from the Cloud and the Light was
blinding and caused confusion for the chariots and cavalry of the Egyptians. IT
is likely that the traces and horses of the chariots became entangled together
and must have been abandoned. It is interesting to note that a number of
chariot wheels have been discovered fairly well preserved at the bottom of the
Red Sea only recently.
26 And the LORD said unto Moses,
Stretch out thine hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the
Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen. 27 And Moses stretched forth his
hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength when the morning
appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it; and the LORD overthrew the
Egyptians in the midst of the sea. 28 And the waters returned, and
covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came
into the sea after them; there remained not so much as one of them. 29 But the children of Israel
walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea; and the waters were a wall unto
them on their right hand, and on their left. 30 Thus the LORD saved Israel that
day out of the hand of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon
the sea shore. 31 And Israel saw that great work
which the LORD did upon the Egyptians: and the people feared the LORD, and
believed the LORD, and his servant Moses. (Ex
14:26-31)
To have experienced such a mighty work of God in their
salvation would seem to have sealed their faith forever, but succeeding history
proves that these stiff-necked people took occasion to murmur against Moses and
the Lord at a later time as if the Lord had never lifted a hand in their
defense. How fickle are we in trusting both the power and mercy of God!
It seems that God sanctifies not only individuals, but
nations, to His purpose as He did here with the descendants of our father,
Abraham. The entire nation was baptized under the waters of the Red Sea. They
were symbolically covered by the Crimson Blood of Christ in both the Passover
of the Angel of Death, and the Pass-under the crimson Sea with the Angel of
Life. But there were yet many who were not all clean as was not Judas. We must
come before the Lord in humility and repentance to receive Him wholly. Have you
done?
