The Red Sea Crossing

The sun was shining brightly in the sky, radiating its beams over a wide highway
. Below was a little boy with his nanny by his side. The boy wanted to cross the
street, but his nanny told him that they should cross together. Oh how stubborn
was that little boy! He crossed the street ahead of his nanny even though he sa
w the vehicles rushing to and fro along the highway. A speedy car passed in fron
t of him, the boy backed down a little bit when suddenly, a rushing car went by
behind him. Whack! The car hit the boy’s back and the impact of the collision kn
ocked the boy down. How is he? Is he still alive?
Quite similarly, the Israelites, after they had been delivered found the
mselves in a bad situation. Pharaoh was going after them; they were surrounded b
y a large body of water. What will happen to them? Will their deliverance come t
o naught?
God preserves and protects His people from danger
The Israelites faced certain danger. God’s people face certain dangers (Exod. 14
:1-12).
Israel had been redeemed. Because of the Death of the Firstborn the Pharaoh of E
gypt had given permission for the Israelites to leave. They had packed their bel
ongings, taken many valuable gifts from the Egyptian people, and were on their w
ay to the Promised Land.
Doubtless the Israelites felt that now their troubles were over. They had Pharao
h’s permission to leave, and they were packed and on their way.
Sometimes today people think that once they have become a Christian they
will have no more temptation or hardship in life. This is a mistake. The Devil
will not give up working on people just because they came to Christ. He will sti
ll try to tempt them to doubt God, to sin, or to give up and turn back to their
old, sinful, wicked lives.
Pharaoh’s heart was still hard. Jeremiah said many years later, The heart is dec
eitful above all things and desperately wicked… As Pharaoh saw all of his valued
slaves leaving, he changed his mind and gathered his armies together. There wer
e 600 chariots plus the rest of his fighting army, and they pursued Israel. Phar
aoh himself went along.
Exod. 14:6 And he made ready his chariot, and took his people with him:
Exod. 14:7 And he took six hundred chosen chariots, and all the chariots of Egyp
t, and captains over every one of them.
God did not want them to go by the Way of the Philistines, who lived on the coas
t, since the Israelites, having been slaves for generations, were not yet ready
to fight. Therefore, they turned southward and encamped to Pi-Hahiroth.
When the Israelites saw the pursuing Egyptians and realized that they were trapp
ed, they immediately became terrified, and they blamed Moses for getting them in
to this predicament.
Exod. 14:12 Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us
alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve t
he Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness.
Humanly speaking, it looked as if God had led them into the trap. They immediate
ly forgot the Plagues that had smitten the Egyptians yet left them untouched. Th
ey forgot the Death Angel and the death of all Egypt’s firstborn. They looked at
their difficulty instead of looking to God. They evaluated God in the light of
their difficulty instead of seeing the difficulty in the light of God’s care and
 power. This was the same mistake the spies were to make a year or so later when
they went into the Land and saw all of the difficulties that had to be overcome
. They forgot the power of God who had brought them there. For this reason, they
were forced to wander in the wilderness until that generation died before they
could enter the Promised Land.
We are prone to do the same thing today. We see God’s blessings, power,
and deliverance from our difficulties; yet when some new problem arises, we imme
diately fear and wonder whether God is going to be able to meet this new crisis.
The Israelites were delivered by God’s power. God’s people are delivered by God’
s power (Exod. 14:13-22).
At this point Moses steps into the position of leadership and says to the people
, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord. There seems to be
a little humor in this command. They had to stand still. There was no place to
which they could run. They were completely trapped.
Sometimes God wants us to get into a position like this so that when He
delivers us it will be obvious both to us and to everyone else that the delivera
nce has come from Him and not through our own strength. Moses says that they are
to see the salvation of God. Salvation always comes from God. Sometimes He may
use human means to accomplish His purpose. Sometimes He may even use the actions
of ungodly men or pagan rulers to so order conditions that His purpose is accom
plished. But salvation is always from God.
Moses also tells the people,
Exod. 14:14 The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.
This was not always true. In their later journeys, as they entered the Promised
Land, they had to fight.
We cannot always sit by with our hands folded and expect God to do every
thing for us. God expects us to use what strength, ability, and wisdom we have.
However, at this time Israel was not yet ready to fight. Fresh from slavery in E
gypt they were lacking in both weapons and willpower. Therefore, God says, in th
is instance, that He will fight for them.
How did God deliver them from this predicament? First of all, the angel of the L
ord who had gone before in the pillar of cloud guiding the Israelites, moved to
the rear of the camp. The cloud stood between the camp of the Egyptians and the
camp of the Israelites. As the Egyptians looked at the cloud, it was night. On t
he Israelites’ side of the cloud it was light, and they could see to travel.
Exod. 14:19 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:
Exod. 14:20 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.
Next, as Moses stretched his hand over the sea, God sent an east wind which blew
during the night and the waters were divided and the sea bed became dry land. A
s the Israelites obeyed Moses’ command and went forward, the sea was a solid wal
l on their right and on their left.
Exod. 14:22 And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the d
ry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on thei
r left.
This was a miracle. There have been many attempts by skeptics to explain away th
e miraculous element. But no one can adequately explain away the biblical accoun
t. Perhaps, they say, the place where the Israelites crossed was not the Red Sea
proper but only an arm of it called the sea of reeds. But how deep was this bod
y of water? When the waters returned it was deep enough to drown the Egyptians a
nd horses. How wide was it? There was room for the 600 chariots of the Egyptians
plus the rest of the army at one time. There is no way to explain the Israelite
s’ escape except to say that God performed a miracle in delivering them.
The Egyptians were destroyed by God. God destroys the enemies of His people (Exo
d. 14:23-31).
After the Israelites had crossed the dry sea bed the cloud lifted so that the Eg
yptians could see what the Israelites were doing. Fearful lest they escape, the
Egyptians urged their horses into the sea bed after the Israelites. When they go
t down in to the sea bed they found that it was soft sand, and their chariot whe
els sank into it. As they continued to urge their horses the wheels came off and
the Egyptians found themselves stranded between walls of water. Obeying the voi
ce of God, Moses again stretched his hand over the sea and the solid walls colla
psed and covered the Egyptians.
Exod. 14:28 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 n
ot so much as one of them.
Exod. 14:30 Thus the LORD saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptian
s; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore.
What a marvelous deliverance! What a great lesson for the children of Israel to
carry with them as they began the arduous trip across the deserts of the Sinai P
eninsula and as they faced the difficulties that lay ahead of them. Surely salva
tion is of the Lord. So remarkable was this deliverance that in chapter 15 Moses
prepared a song of praise and gratitude unto the Lord, and also to the great vi
ctory which he had seen won.
Let’s go back to the little boy who was hit by a speeding car. Yes, he was knock
ed down but immediately he rose up. Thank God he’s alive! He learned a lesson no
t to be stubborn, but more important than that, he learned that God preserves an
d protects His people from danger.