Exodus 14:13-31
Thanks for joining us on Hope for Today. This program is brought to you by Heralds of Hope; we are a small radio ministry serving a great big God. Let’s go with Bible teacher J. Mark to Exodus for today’s teaching.
In the difficult experiences of life, we sometimes wonder, is there any way out? For those who trust only in themselves, the situation is hopeless because mankind does not have enough inner strength to get himself out of trouble. But for those who trust in the Lord, there is hope and help because God can deliver, and He is faithful to those who call upon Him. His knowledge of the situation is total, and His resources to help are unlimited.
Sometimes you may face a situation where the future seems totally impossible. In fact, even the present seems so terribly difficult that there is no way out. I want to tell you GOD CAN DELIVER. He delights in doing the impossible and getting glory to Himself in the process. This assurance comes as we study the account of the deliverance of the children of Israel when they came out of the land of Egypt many, many years ago. The account is given in Exodus 14:13-31.
13. 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 forever.
14. The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.
15. And the LORD said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward:
16. But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea.
17. And I, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them: and I will get me honor upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen.
18. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I have gotten me honor upon Pharaoh, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen.
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.
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.
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 drove them heavily: so that the Egyptians said, let us flee from the face of Israel; for the LORD fighteth for them against the Egyptians.
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 seashore.
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.
From this experience of Israel, I want to lift out several brief statements which demonstrate the ACTIONS God employed to deliver His distressed people.
The first action statement is in verse 14: “The Lord shall fight for you.”
He Defended His Own
In their experience there was no other help available. There was no other way. They were hemmed in. The sea was ahead, the mountains on each side, and Pharaoh’s army was rapidly approaching them from behind. Their doom seemed certain. There wasn’t any help available except the LORD. And He defended His own.
Few people have such difficulties as Israel had in this experience, but no matter what kind of trouble you have, even as difficult as this, God can deliver you, for He will defend His own. This statement you can apply to your life. The LORD shall fight for you, providing you are one of His.
The second statement comes in verse 21: “the LORD caused the sea to go back.”
He Divided the Sea
The statement tells us the LORD was active with respect to His people. There was no other way for them except to go forward. In fact, that is what the LORD told them to do. He told Moses to tell them to go forward. But the sea was in front of them, so the LORD opened the way through the sea. Not over it but through it, so they could escape.
Now I believe this was a miracle of God. The LORD caused a strong east wind to blow all night. It divided the Red Sea, piled up the water on both sides, and the people of Israel walked through on dry land. It was a miracle. God performed this miracle to divide the sea. Some will scoff, claiming this is wishful thinking, a made-up fairy tale. But really, is it hard for the Creator to control His creation in ways that benefit His people? The answer is obvious.
It may easily be that in our difficult situations, we do not see the hand of God. Perhaps we don’t have eyes or faith to see Him, or we ignore Him. We too often don’t give God credit for helping us out of our difficult places, we wrongly take the credit for ourselves. But God can open a way for you, too. It may not be like the Red Sea, but whatever your difficulty is, the LORD can deliver. For Israel, He divided the sea.
A third action of God is in verse 24: “The LORD looked upon the host of the Egyptians.”
He Destroyed the Enemy
He did this from the pillar of fire and cloud. He looked upon the host of the Egyptians because He had designed to destroy them. Earlier in this record, the LORD announced He was going to harden Pharaoh’s heart and cause him to pursue after the children of Israel into the Red Sea so that He might teach Egypt that He is God.
The LORD must oppose the enemy of His people. If He does not, He is not God. In this case, it was Pharaoh and the Egyptians. He distressed them severely. He took the wheels off their chariots and made them drag heavily in the soft seabed. God looked upon the hosts of the Egyptians as His enemies because they had set themselves against Him.
It is a great comfort to know that the enemy is never greater than God. No matter how much he may bring together in terms of his army and resources, he is never bigger than God. So, the LORD looked upon the hosts of the Egyptians and destroyed the enemy.
The fourth action statement in this passage is in verse 30: “The LORD saved Israel.”
He Delivered His People
Once in a while, some listener will ask, “Why did the LORD treat the Jews like He did?” ‘Why did He choose the Jews?” Well, the answer is very simple. He chose the Jews because He wanted to use them to bring the Messiah into the world and to demonstrate to all people of the world what it means to be the people of God.
You must always remember that the LORD is not accountable to us. He does not need to tell us why He does things a certain way. He operates within the choice of His sovereignty. So, your understanding of why God chose the Jews instead of some other people is not that important. It is important to acknowledge that what He does is according to His own sovereign right. So, the LORD saved Israel.
After Pharaoh and his chariots and horsemen were all in the sea, Moses was instructed by the LORD to stretch out his hand over the waters, and they were completely destroyed, and God saved Israel. He acted on behalf of His people. He delivered His people.
If you are one of God’s children, it will be that way with you. But you can’t go against what God has said and expect Him to deliver you. You must do what He has said in full and honest obedience if you want the deliverance God has for you. I urge you to trust in the LORD at all times because GOD CAN DELIVER!
Thanks, J. Mark, for this teaching from Exodus. The Bible is incredible, and each generation can learn from all that is written in this wonderful book. For example, people everywhere want to be free. In Exodus, the children of Israel were enslaved by the Egyptians. You know the story Moses led them to “freedom.” But were they really free? What does it mean to actually be free?
The common answer to that question is, doing what I want to do when I want to do it. This is a nice thought, but is this what it means to be free? We have the freedom to make many choices, despite the fact that there are many people who are not living free. They are not slaves to the government or to other people, but they are slaves.
II Peter 2:19 calls us slaves to what has mastered us. You see, instead of being in slavery like the children of Israel, many people are slaves to their own desires. With their free choice, a small choice was made. That one small choice grew into an addiction. They would like to quit, and many try, but too many times, a life of freedom leads to a life of slavery.
Thankfully this does not have to be the end of the story. Jesus tells us that if “He sets us free, then we will be free indeed.” This, my friend, is real freedom. Praise Jesus, this freedom knows no boundaries, it does not matter which country you are in, or who you are working for, this freedom is for everyone.
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This brings us to the end of today’s program, thanks again for being with us. We look forward to being with you next week. I will leave you with the words of Jesus from John 8. “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Go and live in that freedom.
*This episode is an exposition of Exodus 14:13-31 by J. Otis Yoder, re-recorded by J. Mark Horst, with an opening and closing by Arlin Horst.