Exodus 14:26 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.
A question worth considering is: is the Bible completely accurate and authoritative or is it speculative and open to man’s considerations? There are many people who approach the Bible as if it is some type of a general guidance to life, but that it cannot be taken at face value. That is how most people approach life in general.
We have been taught this false philosophy for a long time. We have governments that write laws and have laws on the books that they do not implement, and then they waste time and money working on new laws that they can stack on top of old laws to further use as they so choose. There has been much debate about gun laws in Canada. We have a government in office now that wants to take the guns away from us all. The government has plans to bring in laws that would be far more restrictive than we have now, but they know there would be some people who would rise up against them if they dared to bring them in now. They are not quite wicked enough to just walk into houses and steal people’s guns, although that is what they did a few years ago during a major flood in southern Alberta. They were later forced to give those guns back to their rightful owners, but they did not face any penalties for stealing those guns because they were the “officials”. There are many examples we could look at on this but the point is that our governments, including our police forces, do not view the law as being absolute and in need of being used fairly across the board.
In the religious world, there are many who do not believe the Bible to be the Word of God and thus a book of absolute authority and they believe it is acceptable to take what we want and change what we want to our own liking. That is certainly the way Pharaoh approached the truth. His false religion was set up that way, so why shouldn’t the LORD’s Word be the same? Not only did Pharaoh approach the truth that way, but the children of Israel did so as well. They wanted a better life than they had experienced in Egypt over the past number of years. However, they did not want to submit to God’s leadership. That was too foreign to their way of thinking.
In verse 26 the LORD told Moses to stretch out his hand over the sea and the waters would come back upon the Egyptians. This was the final stroke against Pharaoh and the Egyptians while they were alive. In verse 27 Moses obeyed the LORD. The waters returned back together in full force. The Egyptians fled against this massive deluge of water. The text tells us that the LORD overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. The LORD did not need the water but He used the water He had originally created and He used the force of the walls of water crashing down to toss the Egyptians around in the water.
We see in verse 28 that the Red Sea was a large and deep body of water. The entire Egyptian army with their chariots and horsemen was covered in the water. The LORD declared that not one person was left alive. All the horses were also destroyed.
In verse 30 we read that this is how the LORD saved Israel on that day. This is the salvation that Moses spoke of earlier in the chapter. We read that Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore. The LORD gave them proof of His judgment upon the enemies of the LORD. The children of Israel could set aside their concerns about the Egyptians from this time forward. They could have done so much sooner, but they did not walk by faith.
This is another picture of the gift of salvation that the Lord provides for repentant sinners. Their old life is dead and they are given a new heart that desires to walk in righteousness. True Christians are different. They can look at their past, but the do not long for that past any longer. The devil will tempt the true child of God and sometimes they will yield to the temptation, but if they are truly saved and in sin, the true God will chasten them and bring about the peaceable fruit of righteousness. God is holy and He loves the world too much to present a false view of Christianity. The devil likes to present a false view of Christianity to keep his followers in bondage.
Verse 31 tells us that Israel saw the great work which the LORD did upon the Egyptians. We read that the response of the children of Israel was to fear the LORD and to believe the LORD and His servant Moses.
Sometimes we are slow learners. Sometimes we do not catch on to what the LORD is doing and the blessing of the LORD. The Bible shows us that Israel’s fear of the LORD and their belief in the LORD was very temporary. It was similar to what we read in John 8:
John 8:30 As he spake these words, many believed on him.
The verses following that verse show us that their belief was not a genuine belief. It was very superficial and very shallow. Those who have this superficial belief will fall away and show who they truly are when testing comes. They were never saved and thus can fall away.
The Bible teaches us many times the importance of true faith. True faith begins with salvation. The lost person needs to turn to God in repentance and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ alone for salvation. After a person is saved they need to be taught to observe all that the Bible declares.
Matthew 28:20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
The closer the saved person walks with the Lord, the stronger he or she will grow in the faith. Today is the Lord’s Day. It is the day God has given us to set aside our busyness and come together under the authority of His Word. It is the day when there is greater opportunity to learn of the Lord. We do that through attending a Bible-believing local church.
Let me encourage each reader to attend a true, Bible-believing local church today. This is very important for the saved as well as for the lost. A true church does not offer opinions, but rather declares the Word of God with conviction. Jesus promised the Jews who believed on Him in John 8 that the truth would make them free. They rejected that counsel. Don’t be like they were. Take the truth and ask God to apply that truth to your heart today.
Pastor Bartel
