Exodus Part 15: “No Turning Back”
Prayer
Review
We have seen 10 plagues and have seen the power of God at work.
The whole point of the exodus was to establish a worldwide reputation for God.
The point of the ten plagues and miraculous Red Sea crossing was to demonstrate the incredible power of God on behalf of his chosen people.
The result of these great displays would be that God’s name would be declared throughout the whole world and that there would be a reputation associated with His Name.
The world would know there is no greater god than the God of the Hebrews.
The prophets and poets of Israel years later would interpret the Exodus this way.
Isaiah says that God’s aim in the exodus was to make for himself an everlasting name.
Isaiah 63:12 & 14 “Who caused His glorious arm to go at the right hand of Moses, Who divided the waters before them to make for Himself an everlasting name… So You led Your people, to make for Yourself a glorious name.”
Psalm 106:7-8 teaches the same thing:
Our fathers, when they were in Egypt, did not consider thy wonderful works; they did not remember the abundance of thy steadfast love, but rebelled against the Most High at the Red Sea. Yet he saved them for his name’s sake, that he might make known his mighty power
Later in the conquest, entire nations and kings would shudder when they would hear of the Israelites, because they knew what God had done on their behalf.
God’s purposes of the Exodus was not just to free some poor slaves.
God’s purpose was to make His name known in the entire earth.
His purposes haven’t changed.
His purpose in touching your life isn’t just because He loves you, (though He certainly does)
His purpose in setting you free from the yoke of sin isn’t just because He hates seeing you in slavery (which He does).
He desires that His Name be known in all the earth!
He desires that ALL PEOPLE come to know who He is and have a similar relationship with Him.
That the whole earth would know Him as God!
Exodus 13:17-22 Now when Pharaoh had let the people go, God did not lead them by the way of the land of the Philistines, even though it was near; for God said, "The people might change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt." Hence God led the people around by the way of the wilderness to the Red Sea; and the sons of Israel went up in martial array from the land of Egypt. …Then they set out from Succoth and camped in Etham on the edge of the wilderness. The LORD was going before them in a pillar of cloud by day to lead them on the way, and in a pillar of fire by night to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night. He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people.
A short honeymoon:
How long did your honeymoon go before your first fight?
That is the statement we are hearing. If you had a big fight before you got to the altar, you might have not gotten through the vows. You might have walked out of the church.
God is saying that if the Israelites have to face a big fight before they have learned how to trust Him and love Him, they might choose for captivity over death.
Most new Christians I have met have a nice little honeymoon effect to their relationship with God.
There seems to be a sweet time where the trials seem to melt away and everything is heavenly bliss.
They get to enjoy forgiveness and a clear conscience.
They experience answered prayer for the first time in their lives and are on cloud nine.
It is easy to sing the praises of God! Everything seems to be going your way.
But along the way, something happens that tests whether we are in love with God because of what He does for us or because of who He is.
I believe that this is the test that every one of us takes many times in our lives.
It is a test that says, “do you follow Me because I gave you that girlfriend or that job?”
Will you still follow Me if you don’t have that thing you love.
Do you love that thing more than me?
The question we are ultimately asked is “Do you love the gift more than the giver?”
God is giving the Israelites some time to learn to love Him for who He is rather than just for what He can do for them.
Lets continue with our narrative:
It is likely that less than 7 days will pass between the time that the Israelites left Egypt and the time they will reach the Red Sea Crossing.
They travel by day and night without setting camp.
2 million people (600,000 men aged 14 or older) trek with their meager belongings across the desert.
They have unleavened bread to eat and they drive their flocks ahead of them.
They started out in a hurry and have gone without rest..
When they finally set up camp, they camp at Etham at the edge of the wilderness.
Exodus 14:1-9 Now the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2 "Tell the sons of Israel to turn back and camp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea; you shall camp in front of Baal-zephon, opposite it, by the sea. 3 "For Pharaoh will say of the sons of Israel, `They are wandering aimlessly in the land; the wilderness has shut them in.’ 4 "Thus I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will chase after them; and I will be honored through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD." And they did so. 5 When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his servants had a change of heart toward the people, and they said, "What is this we have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us?" 6 So he made his chariot ready and took his people with him; 7 and he took six hundred select chariots, and all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them. 8 The LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he chased after the sons of Israel as the sons of Israel were going out boldly. 9 Then the Egyptians chased after them with all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, his horsemen and his army, and they overtook them camping by the sea, beside Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon.
Did you read verse 2? “Turn back…camp opposite by the sea”?
God does something very extraordinary.
He has them double back and camp in a dangerous, penned in place. SHOW SLIDE
There is only mountains to the west toward Egypt.
To the east is water.
They have a large plain on which they set up camp.
There is no escape here. No way out. They are trapped.
But God knows what He is doing.
He closes off their escape route, just as He closes off our own escape route in life.
He hems us in and makes it so we cannot go back to our former way of life.
He burns your boats and leaves you with nowhere to go.
Why would He do such a thing?
It is because He has a solution to meet your need that far exceeds anything that you could dream of.
Maybe you have “put your hand to the plow” as Jesus described it
"Anyone who starts to plough and then keeps looking back is of no use in the Kingdom of God" (Luke 9:62, GNB).
Now are looking back at the life you once lived, wondering, “Gee, I wasn’t all that unhappy there, and I sure seemed to have a good time”
You are like Lot’s wife, “looking back.”
You are like the Israelites, looking back at the slavery you came from and forgetting its bitter lessons and the miracles God worked to free you.
Do you find yourself looking back at the so called “fun” you used to have before you gave yourself to Jesus?
Do you still long for the days when you had no restraints on your life, when you could intoxicate yourself with self-indulgence?
Do you not realize it was those very things that enslaved you and brought you to the point where you cried out to God to set you free?
Why would you want to go back?
Back to our text:
God is setting a trap for a proud Pharoah, who gets reports from his forts and outposts throughout the land.
He hears that the Hebrews are trapped, they are walled in with their backs to the sea.
So he changes his mind again and begins pursuit, to kill and capture and once and for all, subdue these “escaped slaves.”
So he takes 600 GOLD guilded chariots and all of the others in his army and advances. They probably made the journey pretty quickly, in perhaps just a few days.
Exodus 14:10-14 As Pharaoh drew near, the sons of Israel looked, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they became very frightened; so the sons of Israel cried out to the LORD. 11 Then they said to Moses, "Is it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you dealt with us in this way, bringing us out of Egypt? 12 "Is this not the word that we spoke to you in Egypt, saying, `Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness." 13 But Moses said to the people, "Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the LORD which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever. 14 "The LORD will fight for you while you keep silent."
The Hebrew scouts on the mountains see the enemy approaching and send the alarm through the camp.
They become alarmed and begin to complain and cry out to God.
They are angry that they have escaped one difficulty only to now face death.
Isn’t this what happens to us with God?
He delivers us, He answers the prayers of our heart and sets us free, and then for some reason, we find ourselves in a bind in our lives, where we aren’t getting our way or what we want.
And we get mad at God.
God replies to them in V13 "Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the LORD which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever. 14 "The LORD will fight for you while you keep silent.
“For you” (Huper) is the word of substitution we talked about last week.
“For you” is that word of doing something for someone that they cannot do for themselves.
“For you” is that word of working on behalf of someone else.
God desires to do for us things. He wants to work on our behalf.
He isn’t interested in what you can do FOR Him.
He is interested in doing something FOR you.
This theme, as we learned Sunday night, runs through the OT and NT like a thread through a garment.
We too often try to do things in our own strength “FOR God”
We all too often live life in our own strength and through our own resources.
We even do church through our own abilities.
We rarely dream dreams big enough that ONLY God can accomplish them.
We find it easier to rely on what WE CAN do, and not on what ONLY God can do.
A God sized vision requires trusting God to provide for what He has called you to do.
It is not what we do for God that is written in eternity, it is what He has done for us.
Romans 8:31 “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?”
2 Cor 6:21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
This is the idea of substitution, trading our sin for His righteousness.
Substitution is the idea of God taking our place, of Him doing for us what we cannot do for ourselves.
God doesn’t just free Israel from slavery in the Exodus.
He takes them to the promised land.
He delivers them from slavery to a land of promise and privilege.
It is not enough to be set free from something unless you are delivered to something.
The Christian life is too often described as what you aren’t doing any more.
It is not just the life of giving up stuff.
It is a life of what you are doing now!
You have been delivered to a life of promise and privilege.
Promises of answered prayers,
Promises of abundant living.
Promises of a land teeming with milk and honey – that is the privilege.
Of being His people!
Of a relationship with God that is inexhaustible with blessings and fruitful living.
Of a life led by the Spirit – of the excitement of what is God going to do today?
Those were the things that the 12 tribes experienced during the years of conquest when they entered the land…but then they got settled and comfy and lost the excitement of being on the same page with God.
Have you lost that excitement?
Are you comfy now, I will go to church, pay my tithes, read my bible and come to some fellowships.
Isn’t that what the Christian life is?
No way!
It is far more exciting that that!
If your life is dull as a Christian it can only be because you are not touch with what God is doing.
God is never dull or boring!
He is doing something exciting, like changing people’s lives every day.
And He wants you to be a part of the plan. Won’t you?
Back to our text:
Exodus 14:15-20 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Why are you crying out to Me? Tell the sons of Israel to go forward. "As for you, lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, and the sons of Israel shall go through the midst of the sea on dry land. "As for Me, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them; and I will be honored through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen. "Then the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD, when I am honored through Pharaoh, through his chariots and his horsemen." The angel of God, who had been going before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them. So it came between the camp of Egypt and the camp of Israel; and there was the cloud along with the darkness, yet it gave light at night. Thus the one did not come near the other all night.
“why are you crying out to me? Tell….”
This is the crisis of leadership for every leader.
A godly leader is called to “stop crying and take a step of faith”.
Too often we cry about what we don’t have, but we never exercise the faith to obtain it.
We spend so much time complaining to God that we miss His words “move forward.”
This is what our congregation voted to do last Sunday night.
We voted to begin the process of searching for a minister of worship.
Do we say, “we can’t afford it?”
But the words of our God who doesn’t have the limitations we have are, ”stop crying out and move forward”
Why are we moving ahead to pave a parking lot?
Gee, doesn’t that cost a lot of money?
Stop crying out (and complaining about the mud and dirt) and move forward!
Take a step of faith.
The angel of God moves between the two camps and puts darkness on the Egyptian side (like that of the 3 days?) but light on the side of the Israelites, even at night!
Lets look at our final passage:
Exodus 14:21-31 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD swept the sea back by a strong east wind all night and turned the sea into dry land, so the waters were divided. The sons of Israel went through the midst of the sea on the dry land, and the waters were like a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. Then the Egyptians took up the pursuit, and all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots and his horsemen went in after them into the midst of the sea. 24 At the morning watch, the LORD looked down on the army of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and cloud and brought the army of the Egyptians into confusion. 25 He caused their chariot wheels to swerve, and He made them drive with difficulty; so the Egyptians said, "Let us flee from Israel, for the LORD is fighting for them against the Egyptians." 26 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters may come back over the Egyptians, over their chariots and their horsemen." 27 So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal state at daybreak, while the Egyptians were fleeing right into it; then the LORD overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. 28 The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen, even Pharaoh’s entire army that had gone into the sea after them; not even one of them remained. 29 But the sons of Israel walked on dry land through the midst of the sea, and the waters were like a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. 30 Thus the LORD saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. 31 When Israel saw the great power which the LORD had used against the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD, and they believed in the LORD and in His servant Moses.
Archeological evidence shows a ridge that the Israelites passed over, coming from a large spit of land with only one entry point and no exit other than the sea.
The Wadi Watir leads through the mountains, opening on the middle of a wide sandy beach on the Gulf of Aqaba.
The beach at Nuweiba is large enough for Israel to "encamp by the sea" where the desert had "shut them in" (Exodus 14:2-3).
The beach is 4.25 miles long by 2 miles wide. It appears clearly on satellite pictures, and is the only site that matches all points of the Bible account
Not only that, but under water are the calcified, coral encrusted remains of a chariot wheel along with bones.
In addition, the crossing site leads directly into the land of Midian (Moses’ in-laws home where he spent 40 years).
You might recall Moses was on the mount of God when he heard God speak to him from a burning bush. He was told it was holy ground. He was told….
He was in the land of Midian.
Ancient bible maps showed a different site in the Sinai peninsula, which were actually selected by Emperor Constantine’s mother, a psychic. The site lacks any archaeological evidence and in fact comes in conflict with the biblical record.
How did God dry up the waters? We assume He dried them up. I ran across a very unusual theory that holds “water.” (pardon the pun).
Imagine a cold front blowing in, pushing the waters back and creating walls of ice of this sand bar, land bridge.
Imagine how ground that was covered with water could be completely dry in a short time?
But by freezing it.
And then, how did the ground become soggy so quick that the Egyptian wheels slipped and slid and became mired? Ice which began to melt.
Lets summarize:
The Jewish people face the impossible.
They were hemmed in.
On one side was the waters, the journey of faith and suffering, symbolic of the cross.
On the other side, behind them were the Egyptians, symbols of the world.
Though none may join me, I still will follow…
No turning back…
The cross before me, the world behind me…
No turning back…"
So they cross the waters that are thousands of feet deep on either side of a narrow strip of raised seabed.
They can now never return.
They have been supernaturally delivered.
There is now no way back. God has closed the sea. They can only go on ahead.
"I have decided to follow Jesus,
I have decided to follow Jesus,
I have decided to follow Jesus,
No turning back, no turning back.
A couple went to see a marriage counselor about their troubled marriage. After listening to a "he said-she said, she said-he said" dialogue for some thirty minutes, the counselor held up her hands and said, "Stop!"
She then told them the story of Cortez’ ships. According to legend, when the Spanish explorer Cortez landed on the eastern shores of what is now Mexico the first thing that he did was burn his ships. He then told his men that they had come to this new land not to go back, but to conqueror. By burning his ships he left his men with no choice, conquer or perish.
"That is what you two must do," the counselor told the couple sitting before her. "You must first decide if you want to stay married. And if you do, I will work with you, but you must burn your boats. That means that you have to fire your attorneys and each of you must give 100% of yourselves to your marriage. If you are unwilling to do that, you are wasting my time and your money."
When you come to Christ, you cannot walk away. You belong to Him. There is no turning back. You won’t be fit if you do. Won’t you burn your boats? Leave the past behind?
What is it that is keeping you from following Jesus?
I also want you to think about the Israelites. God chose them. He chose them all.
He didn’t just choose the good ones.
He didn’t just choose the righteous ones.
He didn’t just choose the religious ones.
He didn’t give a test to see if they had a child out of wedlock
He didn’t check to see if any were drug addicts or alcoholics.
He took them all. All they had to do was to ACCEPT His offer of the blood on their doorposts, and to begin the journey of following Him on this journey of faith.
What they all had in common was the blood on their doorposts.
What they all had in common was the departure from Egypt.
They all left everything behind.
They all began a brand new life, dependent upon God.
Their past mattered no more.
That is the call of God to you today.
Come under His forgiveness
Won’t you follow Him today?
