On The Road to Freedom

Exodus 14:10-31

Moses Leads the Israelites Across the Red Sea

The Lord entered into a covenant with Abraham.  God promised Abraham descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and the sand by the sea. They would also be given a land.

Abraham’s descendants were known as the Israelites. They actually multiplied into a very huge population in Egypt after many years. However, they were slaves in Egypt and did not have their own land.

So, the Lord raised Moses to bring the Israelites out of Egypt into the Promised Land – Canaan.

Initially, the king of Egypt – Pharaoh did not allow the Israelites to leave. The Lord sent 10 plagues on the people and land of Egypt, showing the Lord’s almighty power and majesty.

As a result, Pharaoh was forced to surrender and allowed Moses to bring the Israelites out of Egypt with him. Moses led the Israelites towards Canaan. They faced a predicament when they arrived at the Red Sea. How were they going to cross it?

Suddenly, they heard news of Pharaoh’s army coming after them from behind. They were in a pinch! For Pharaoh had regretted his decision and wanted to bring the Israelites back to Egypt.

Facing the Red Sea, with the Egyptian army coming up behind them, they were terrified. They grumbled to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die?”

Faced with this uncertain and dangerous journey, they did not have faith in the Lord. They were like some Christians who had tasted the joy of believing in the Lord, but ended up grumbling when they were faced with sufferings, “Why am I so unlucky after believing in Christ? Isn’t it better when I was not a Christian?”

Each and every one of us will face many “Red Seas” in our lives. We do not know how to move forward. But we need to remember that we should not falter and doubt God and insist that we return to Egypt.

If that is the case, our faith would not be able to grow and we would not see the works and glory of God. We will become Christians that are weak and sorrowful every day.

Be Still, for the Lord will Fight for You

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; you need only to be still.” (verse 13-14)

Fear cripples us. Human’s natural reaction when faced with enemies is to run. When we are hemmed in from the front and from the back, we naturally will cry and scream and blame someone else. These reactions will only make the situation worse.

That is why the Lord wants us to still have faith and depend on Him even in these difficult and trying situations. He wants us to obey Him, to “not be afraid, stand your ground, and be still”; and to “watch me fight for you”.

True faith is to obey God’s commands and not to be affected by the environment and our personal feelings.

Today, we are in a world where natural and man-made disasters, political turmoil, personal relations run rampant. It causes us to be uneasy, lost, wanting to back down and surrender to our situation. If we do not be still, nor remain calm but panic, the results will be terrible!

“Do not be afraid, stand firm, be still” means to remain calm and obey God’s leading and instructions. We should not let our environment and the threat of the enemy affect us, but we should remain faithful to God and not complain or grumble.

We should not let slander and gossip that attempt to destroy the unity of the church affect us. We do not need to bother about words that intend to attack and hurt us. If we put too much weight on idle talk and how others look at us, we will be burnt out. It is not worth it!

We should be strong, be still and rest in the presence of God.

Walking on the Promises of God, or Against God?

When Moses raised his staff towards the sea, God sent a strong wind in the night. The water parted to the left and right, and the Israelites walked in between the walls of water on dry land.

The “sea” represents an evil environment, and also an attack of the devil.

Genesis 1:2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

Genesis 1:9 “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so.

The Lord is a Creator!

Psalm 74:12-14 also describes the parting of the Red Sea as the Lord defeated Pharaoh or the devil to save the Israelites.

“But God is my King from long ago; he brings salvation on the earth. It was you who split open the sea by your power; you broke the heads of the monster in the waters. It was you who crushed the heads of Leviathan and gave it as food to the creatures of the desert.”

The Lord parted the Red Sea, and the Israelites had faith in the Lord and passed through peacefully on dry ground. The Lord is also a Redeemer. He redeemed the Israelites. He also achieved a new creation – the people of God.

By faith, the Israelites believed God’s works and crossed the Red Sea, then they belonged to God’s and became His holy people.

New Testament authors wrote that the crossing of the Red Sea is a display of faith by the Israelites. In Hebrews 11:29, “By faith the people passed through the Red Sea on dry land.”

Paul says that the crossing of the Red Sea and the journey in the wilderness of the Israelites foreshadows the spiritual lives of Christians.

In 1 Corinthians 10:1-4, “For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.”

Today, we believe in Jesus and was baptized. As we emerge from the water, we belong to Jesus and became the sons and daughters of God.

As long as you obey God’s will and head towards the promised land that God has given you and cross the Red Sea with faith, a new beginning is going to happen to you!

On the other hand, the armies of Egypt were very naïve. They wanted to cross the Red Sea to capture the Israelites. The Red Sea remain parted for them, but this was a trap laid down by God.

The Egyptian army intended to use God’s resources to go against God’s creation. They wanted to capture God’s people and make them slaves.

When the Egyptian army were in the middle of the sea, all of a sudden there was chaos and confusion, and the wheels of their chariots broke. Moses then raised his hands once again and the water closed up on the Egyptians, drowning all of them.

That day, the Lord delivered the Israelites from the hands of the Egyptians. Seeing the bodies of the Egyptians in the sea, the Israelites feared the Lord and also believed in the Lord and his servant Moses.

Both the Israelites and Egyptian army walked on the same dry land; the former crossed peacefully, and God’s creation and redemption occurred. The latter, however, was destroyed, this was God’s judgement.

The powers of evil that go against God and harm God’s people will surely receive God’s judgement and be destroyed. The strongest army in the world – and her government, the evil Pharaoh, and their resources were immediately sunk under the sea.

The power of God is far stronger than any evil force in the world. No one can ever measure the power of God.

Today, are we like the Israelites, walking in God’s promises in our lives? Are we depending on the grace of God to do His holy work? Or are we like the Egyptian army, going against God and sabotaging His holy work?

We should turn to God and stop any acts that rebel against God and harm lives. Instead, we should surrender our lives to God and be partners with God in the works of His kingdom.