August 3, 2003 Exodus 14
The wind whipped through his hair, piercing through the woolen fibers of his coat as if they didn’t even exist. It was an almost unbearably cold night, the kind that makes even the most burly of men shiver to the core. Alan was not a burly man. As a matter of fact, he didn’t feel like much of a man at all. After having ignored his family for the past two years due to his busy work schedule, his wife was leaving him, and his children didn’t even seem to like him. Even with all of his promotions at work, he was miserable. So there he stood, on a precipice of steel - looking over the edge - contemplating one final jump to finish it all. As his eyes gazed downward, he couldn’t but help reminisce his past year - wondering to himself, “how could things have gone so wrong so fast?”
It didn’t take long for the Israelites to find themselves in a similar situation. The Egyptians—all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots, horsemen and troops—pursued the Israelites and overtook them as they camped by the sea near Pi Hahiroth, opposite Baal Zephon. (Ex 14:9) In several days at most, they went from being ecstatic about leaving Egypt, feeling footloose and fancy free, to being surrounded by water, hills, and the Egyptian army. They were on the brink of disaster. Today God puts the Israelites’ shoes on our feet, leads us to the edge, and says, “have a look see!” He shows us what life is like -
Standing on the Edge of Disaster
I. Led there by the Lord
I haven’t been that close to death very often in my life. From what I have, I can guarantee you that it’s not a fun place to be. One of the first things that runs through your mind - if you have time to think - is regret. When I was driving to school back in high school, I went barreling through a snow drift at 55 miles an hour, only to have my car turn sideways just as a semi was coming over the hill. It was at that point I said to myself, “I shouldn’t have been going that fast!” Regret is something that immediately enters our mind. “I wish I had . . .” More often than not - we have no one to blame but ourselves. We need to be honest about it. You don’t end up bankrupt because of just a run of bad luck. You don’t end up with sexual disease by staying faithful to your spouse. More often than not - we bring ourselves to the edge of disaster by our own sinful decisions.
But the Israelites hadn’t done that - at least in today’s text. With a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, the LORD was leading them back and forth through far eastern Egypt - only to have them end up be trapped by the Egyptian army. So how did they respond? “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!” (Ex 14:11-12) When the Israelites were led to the edge of disaster, they started complaining big time - wishing they had never followed Moses in the first place.
The Israelites didn’t realize what God says about life. Psalm 23 says that life with God isn’t all green pastures. He also leads us down the valley of the shadow of death. Following God is actually called a “narrow path”, one filled with pain and trouble. God says to our students, “come follow me down the narrow path of respect, virtue and truth.” “But God,” we say, “none of my classmates are down that path. I’ll get ridiculed if I go down that path. I won’t get to drink and have sex if I go down that path. That would be reputational suicide!” God says, “yep, that’s right - come on down - follow me and get ready to die.” When we know the pathway that God wants us to go on will cause us a loss of a job or reputation, it’s amazing how we easily find reasons to say to God, “let’s stay in the green pastures! I don’t want to go into the valley of death!”
But the real temptation comes after we DO go down that valley - and end up suffering for it. The Israelites wondered, “what in the world did we follow this cloud here anyway? We’re just going to get slaughtered for it! We should have stayed in Egypt!” This is where the real temptation hits us. Remember when Potiphar’s wife made advances at Joseph. He resisted - held firm. But where did it get him? A couple years in prison! Do you think that Joseph ever said to himself, “what good did that do me?” That’s where the even greater temptation is - instead of being happy about having resisted the temptation - we become angry because of the results of it. When following God doesn’t seem to pay off, we feel like we’ve been cheated. Kids become angry with God when they lose boy friends or popularity due to morality. Adults become angry because the system they live under rewards cheats instead of hard working people. We panic and are tempted to leave the narrow path because there doesn’t seem to be any rewards. We forget that God doesn’t promise all green pastures in this life. He talks about enemies and death being all around this journey of life.
II. Be still and strike the water
How did God respond? Moses said to them - “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. 14 The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.” (Ex 14:13-14) Be still. It sounds so easy. Don’t worry. Don’t complain. As a matter of fact, don’t do anything. Several weeks ago I had a case of poison ivy - a rash had spread all the way up both of my legs and even up to my arms and a part of my stomach. It didn’t matter where I was, I would start scratching. People would say, “just leave it alone. Don’t scratch it.” That was easy for them to say. Telling a human to “be still” - is like telling a two year old child to sit still - it’s against their very nature. They naturally think, “I have to do something!” The Israelites must have thought, “we have to do something! Let’s climb a hill, fight back, go swimming, hide - something!” God said, “no - do nothing. Be still.” If the Israelites had tried to go swimming, they would have drowned. If they had attacked and fought, they would have died. All they could do was nothing - and they knew it.
When it comes to being saved, this is the principle that God lives by. You must do nothing, God must do everything - the calling, the cleansing, and the keeping. Why? Because we don’t have the power to do it. We’re born dead in sin. (Eph 2:1) God doesn’t just say to be good, but to “be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48) This is what God’s Word says - and God doesn’t lie! God’s Word says that “he hates all who do wrong.” (Psalm 5:5) God doesn’t say he just hates homosexuals, adulterers, or greedy people, he hates all who do wrong - any kind of wrong. This paints us into a corner and makes us say, “then God must hate me.” So this drives us to the edge of disaster - surrounded by God’s law and God’s wrath, because we realize we can’t be perfect. Romans 3 says, “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of the Lord.” Then, God says that “the wages of sin is death.” (Romans 3:23) This final blow comes at us like the Egyptian army and leads us to the edge of despair. We are surely headed to hell. And what can we do? God says - nothing - just “be still.” It doesn’t seem to make sense. We got ourselves in this mess, but we can’t do anything to get out of it? Can’t we at least run? Fight? Something? No, God says - “be still”. Paul says, we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law. (Ro 3:28) You just sit there and do nothing. You must do nothing.
The Israelites sat still, and Moses prayed. How did God answer? Then the LORD said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on. Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground. It would have seemed crazy to any rational human being. What good is this staff going to do? If I hit the water, it’s not going to run away from me. You would think God would give him a magical scoop shovel, or a huge ark - but a staff? That’s what God said - just use the staff - and the sea behind you will split in two.
God continues to use seemingly foolish things to save us from pending disaster. If you want to win souls He says, “pour some water on a child and say, “I baptize you in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,” and that will save him from an eternity in hell. He says, “open up this book and talk about a man who lived and died over 2,000 years ago, and those words will change his life forever.” Any logical person would say, “what kind of power is in that old book? What kind of life do you find in that old water? It doesn’t make sense. This Christianity tells people they are all sinners on the way to hell, but then it offers these goofy ways to be saved - through water and the Word! Through a guy who lived and died thousands of years ago? What kind of a religion is this? I’m not stepping into that! It’s too easy! Do nothing, ha! I want to do it myself!”
III. Watch the Lord Deliver
Against all logic, Moses raised God’s staff over the water. With nowhere else to go, the people sat still. And God did miraculous things! The story continues on - Then the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel’s army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them, 20 coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long. 21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the LORD drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, 22 and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. (Ex 14:15-22)
Jesus Christ was the angel - the messenger - who was in that cloud. He provided darkness to the Egyptians and light to the Israelites - guiding them across the Red Sea on dry ground. With Jesus Christ behind them, and a powerful wind in front of them, God split the Red Sea in two. That whole evening over two million people walked on dry ground to the other side of the sea. And then what happened to Pharaoh and his officials? The Egyptians pursued them, and all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots and horsemen followed them into the sea. 24 During the last watch of the night the LORD looked down from the pillar of fire and cloud at the Egyptian army and threw it into confusion. 25 He made the wheels of their chariots come off so that they had difficulty driving. And the Egyptians said, “Let’s get away from the Israelites! The LORD is fighting for them against Egypt.” 26 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters may flow back over the Egyptians and their chariots and horsemen.” 27 Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea went back to its place. The Egyptians were fleeing toward it, and the LORD swept them into the sea. 28 The water flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen—the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived. (Ex 14:23-28)
It’s kind of interesting that earlier in this story, God didn’t have them go straight up to the Philistines because he said, “If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.” (Ex 13:17) He knew they were too weak in faith to be able to handle something like that. So instead, He led them to the edge of the Red Sea, had them trapped by the Egyptians, and then delivered them. God had to have known the Israelites would freak out when this happened, but He did it anyway. Why did He do this? I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD. (Ex 14:4) This awesome act of destruction would not only bring the Israelites to a greater faith, but it would also glorify God to the Egyptians and leave no doubt in their minds who the LORD really was. How did the Israelites respond? When the Israelites saw the great power the LORD displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant. (Ex 14:31) When the Israelites were standing on the edge of disaster and God delivered them, they feared the LORD and Moses.
Just as Jesus separated the Egyptians from the Israelites and protected them, so Jesus protects us from God’s law, His wrath and His hatred. Just when we’re ready to be sent to hell - sure that we are heading there, God’s grace takes us from our descent by crying out, “the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53) When Paul says, “the wages of sin is death,” we start falling into the abyss - but just before we hit it, he continues, “but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23) Just as God sends us over the edge, the grace of God through the blood of Christ takes hold of our shirt collar and pulls us back to safety. God assures us - Jesus died for the world! That includes you! Through your baptism God promises you that, all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. (Ro 6:3-4) So even though God’s law tells us we deserve death and hell, the gospel assures us that we already went there when Christ was sent there in our place!
What an awesome thing this does for us! What a mighty impression that leaves. We were threatened hell by God’s Word! We were going there for sure. But then, by the grace of God and forgiveness of Christ, we were pulled from hell itself by the sacrifice of Jesus. By the work of the Holy Spirit - God blazed a path through our heart and promises us a free ride to the Promised Land. Think about how much of an effect that leaves on us. They say that one of the things that bonds someone together the most is going through a disaster together. It isn’t until you’ve been on the edge of disaster that you will truly fear your Lord and trust in Him. Until you’ve been led to hell, you won’t get to heaven. But if you can sing with Paul, “chief of sinners though I be, Jesus shed his blood for me” - then you know what it’s like to be on the edge - to be pushed over the edge - and to be rescued from the edge. Then, to you, Jesus is not just a great prophet, but He truly is the light of salvation. That same God who terrifies you now gives you comfort. That same God who kills you now brings you to life.
When I was in high school, I got in the car with a classmate of mine, who drove like a complete maniac. He passed people on winding roads, up hills, and scared me half to death. All I could do was to lay in the back seat and pray for my life. By the time I was done, I was plum angry with him for putting me on the edge of disaster for no reason but a cheap thrill.
God had just driven the Israelites to the edge of disaster - a place they would never want to be again. But he didn’t do it just to get a cheap thrill out of them. God’s Word says that this experience produced a fear of the LORD. How long would that last? We’ll find out in the weeks ahead. Standing on the edge of disaster is a scary place to be. God may lead us there several times a year, a month, or even a day. As scary as it is, it’s necessary - because it makes us thankful for life. It makes us thankful for God’s escape plan - the “do nothing plan” - where Christ does everything - and we enjoy the walk to safety. Because of God’s deliverance we realize what a wonderful LORD we have - one who is worthy of our fear, love and trust. It’s a vision of God we can only have when we’ve been standing on the edge of disaster. Amen.
