Israel’s Deliverance

Transcript

GRS 2-19
5/15/2005
Israel’s Deliverance
Exodus 13-15
Gil Rugh

We are going to resume our study in Exodus and we are at Chapter 13. So why don't you turn there in your Bibles to the Book of Exodus and the 13th Chapter. We are in the section, the first part of Exodus that is a defining time in Israel's history, the deliverance of the nation from bondage in Egypt, becomes the reference point that they are to continually look back to, to be reminded of God's great power in bringing deliverance to them. And we saw the establishing of Passover in Chapter 12 and the significance of the Passover for that particular night and then as an on going memorial.

The final plague on the nation Egypt, the death of the firstborn, but God made provision for His people and with the sacrificial lamb, the blood spread on the door posts and lintel, the angel passed over. So we have the name Passover. We know that also Passover marked the beginning of a seven-day feast; the feast of unleavened bread and that would be an ongoing memorial for these marvelous events. We also looked at the significance of the Passover and its relationship to the death of Christ in the New Testament, because Christ is called our Passover in the New Testament.

He is the ultimate fulfillment of all the sacrifices in the Old Testament and in particular as looked at the Passover, He is our Passover. We looked at some of the events related to His crucifixion, the timing and the day of His crucifixion in light of what is said about the Passover in the Old Testament. To really continue that account is Chapter 13 reviewing some of what has been said in connection with Passover, the deliverance of the firstborn, instructions regarding the ongoing memorial of annually observing that event, according to Gods instructions and then we will see God leading His people with the cloud and the pillar.

The first 16 verses of Chapter 13 talk about the dedication of the firstborn, verse 2 sanctify to me every first born, the first offspring of every womb among the sons of Israel, both of man and beast it belongs to me. Because he spared the firstborn of man and beast when He destroyed all the firstborn in Egypt, so they belong to him by redemption. They are His, so what will have to happen is, there will have to be a sacrifice made to redeem them back.

Moses said to the people, remember this day in which you were brought out of Egypt from the house of slavery for by a powerful hand the Lord brought you out from this place and nothing leavened shall be eaten. We go on to review some of the matter s that were revealed in Chapter 12 of the observing of the feast of the unleavened bread and the assurance that Lord is going to bring you into the land he promised you. They did not know at this point that they were 40 years away from that even, but verse 6 "For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread and on the 7th day shall be a feast unto the Lord. That shall go on when you come into the land that was talked about in verse 5.

Verse 10, you shall keep this ordinance at its appointed time, from year to year. When you come into the land of the Canaanite verse 11 as He swore to you and your fathers and gives it to you, you shall devote to the Lord the first offspring of every womb. The first offspring of every beast you own, the male belong to the Lord and so it is the male that is in due here both among the man and the beast.

Verse 13, the first offspring of a donkey, you shall redeem with a lamb, and if you do not redeem it then you shall break its neck and you shall redeem the firstborn of man among your sons. The donkey was an unclean animal as later will be defined in the law that will be set down, Leviticus Chapter, Deuteronomy Chapter 14, talk of these animal unacceptable for sacrifice and the donkey here is singled out it probably is the representative of all the unclean animals. They are not acceptable as a sacrifice so you must offer a lamb in their place or you execute that animal. Kill it and so you can either redeem it by giving a sacrifice in its place or you can kill it, but you do provide the redemption for the firstborn male among the mankind.

Verse 14, it shall be when your son ask you in time coming saying what is this you shall say it to him with the powerful hand the Lord brought us out of the land of Egypt from the house of slavery. It came about when Pharaoh was stubborn about letting us go that the Lord killed every firstborn in the land of Egypt. Firstborn of man, firstborn of beast, therefore I sacrifice to the Lord the male the first offspring of every womb, but every firstborn of my sons I redeem by offering that sacrificial lamb in the place of that son. So you see this is to be ongoing opportunity to explain to the coming generation what God has done and be a constant reminder of his power. That review being done and incidentally you have verse 16, “It shall serve as a sign on your hand and as phylacteries on your forehead for with a powerful hand the Lord brought us out.”

You know, later we talk about writing the word of God on your hands and forehead and so on and these phylacteries are carried out literally by Jews down it today and if you go to Israel today you see some of them at the wailing wall with little boxes on their forehead on the back of their hands and in them they have scripture and they are carrying out what the Bible says "You have them on your hand and on your forehead, they fail to realize the spiritual significance of what is being said here, "Everything wants degenerate to just physical form, but the context shows what he has been talking about. Verse 17 to 22, talk about how God leads with his people when the move out from Egypt, they are not just now on their own and Moses will get directions. They have visible evidence of the presence of God in the cloud and the pillar of fire, supernatural reminder that God is leading them.

Verse 17, 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 people might change their mind if 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, they took the bones of Joseph with them for he had made them promise when you leave take my bones with you. He is a man of faith. With his great power, position of influence in Egypt, he realized Egypt was not his home; it was not the home of God's people. There would come a time when God would bring those people out of Egypt and take them back to the land of Canaan. The land he had promised to them and he didn't want his bones to be staying in Egypt and so “You take my bones with you." ad so they do.

They set out from Succoth and camped in Etham on the edge of the wilderness. They are going to have some places specifically defined and that should be of a help, the problem is we don't know where these places were in those times. So you think well we just go and find Etham and we will know where they are, we will find Succoth, there will be some other identifying spots and if you locate some Atlases, I have taken a number of atlases and looked at different maps and I am amazed they are not even sure where the land of Goshen is. It is difficult for us to know specifically where, it is not essential for us to know, but I want you to understand there is uncertainty, so you look on a map and you will see certain places, here is Migdol up here and we will see that a little bit, oh we don't know for sure that where it was.

If they went this way that's where it is. If they didn't go that way may be it is down here as does happen and you can imagine we are talking, going back 3500 years. Some of these towns and cities just cease to exist and got covered up with the desert and are no longer there. So we are not sure on some of these places, when it says they didn't go by the way of the Philistines, this would have been the normal route out of Egypt and up into Palestine, still is. If you are over there and you want to travel down, we took a bus down one time on one of our trips and came down through and into the land of Egypt. The problem was that since this was the normal way this was the fortified way and you had a series of Egyptian garrisons along the way and they you into the Philistines, so God purposefully doesn't take his people there. One of the reasons is the conflict that would have ensued and the other He has plans for the destruction of the Egyptians.

In the end of verse 17, we are told that God didn't send them out that way, because they would change their mind if they see war and all of sudden if they got to do battle, I mean you have these Egyptians garrisons, we know the Egyptians are going to change their mind and then you run into the Philistines they might say we would just like to get back to Egypt. It wasn't great, but at least we weren't in battle and getting killed and this is constantly on their mind. It doesn't take long till they are out of slavery, too pretty soon they forget how terrible the slavery was and think of only oh boy Egypt wasn't such a bad place. We wish we were back there. So God has his reasons, why he doesn't take them that way. The cloud and the pillar are signs from God of his presence as we noted. He is there from the beginning to lead them, to guide them.

Verse 21, he was going before them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. So they can travel day and night because that pillar of fire lights the way, Remarkable, and evidently he is going to give them strength and enablement just like their sandals are not going to wear out in all the years of their travel. So He gives them strength to travel during the day and during the night to make progress because lets face it if you are going to meet millions people here and every night you are going to stop and set up camp. I mean how long does it take to set up camp for 2 to 3 million people and everybody settled down and get things out and get every thing going. You know the trip will be long but evidently God is making provision for them to continue their travel so that that won't even stop them necessarily at night, doesn't mean they never stop at night, but here is the provision made for travel.

He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night from before the people, so everybody in Israel had a visible indication of Gods presence with them and anybody who begin to doubt say I wonder if God really is the one who brought us out of Egypt may be Moses and Aaron are just some .crazies who came up with idea and you know you soon forget the power of the plagues and that great demonstration that’s why these reminders were established like this feast of Passover and of unleavened bread. And so we are prepared for Chapter 14, the crossing of the Red Sea.

First nine verses talk about Pharaoh and the Egyptians changing their mind. The Lord said to Moses tells the sons of Israel turn back and camp before Pi-hahiroth, good, that’s another good place Pi-hahiroth. And there you are with Migdol, so they are camp before Pi-hahiroth between Migdol and the sea. We can't even agree on where the sea is. At least three different locations people come with where the sea we are talking about is and again the fact we can identify finally to everybody's satisfaction the exact geographical sites doesn't change what the Bible is unfolding here, but I want you to note you just can't go to an atlas and find out where these different locations are. At the end of verse 2, you also have Baal-zephon. You think out of these either out of Pi-hahiroth, Migdol, the sea and Baal-zephon those four sites, we might identify one or two and get things narrowed down, but you go back 3500 years and we still find cities over there that have been buried and we didn't know there was anything there, So not surprising that some of these have disappeared.

So this is where I want you to camp and remember he gave one of the reasons why He didn't take them by the way of the Philistines. They will see war, they will lose heart and they want to run back to Egypt. Another reason verse 3, for Pharaoh will say of the sons of Israel they are wandering aimlessly in the land, the wilderness has shut them in. Pharaoh and the people will get over the loss of their firstborn. They have their funerals, they have their time of mourning and then they are going to begin to think we, we lost our slaves, who is going to do all the work, all the dirty work, and then they are going to say you know what, the Jews are not making any progress, they are lost in the wilderness let's go get them and that's part of God's plan to draw them out for a final destruction.

Verse 4, “Thus I will harden Pharaohs heart and he will chase after them and I will be honored through Pharaoh and all his armies and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord" meaning this battle is not over, what will bring it to its final conclusion is the death of the Egyptians and they did so. So 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 that we have done and we have let Israel go from serving us. So he made his chariot ready, he took his people with him, he took 600 select chariots all the other chariots of Egypt with the officers all of them.

The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, King of Egypt, he chased after the sons of Israel as the sons of Israel were going out boldly. 600 select chariots, it makes a 600 select chariots, this may have been the Royal Guard, this really mean every single chariot in the Egyptian forces are taken they have encampments and military encampments spread up the coast and son on and spread throughout. The select chariot may well have been the Royal Guard that would have been a part of Pharaoh's special contingent and another chariots join with him in this pursuit. The horsemen in verse 9, just a note the Egyptians chase after them with all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh. His horsemen and his army and what we know from archeological studies, Egypt did not have a Calvary at this time, mounted military people on horses, so the horsemen would referred as chariot drivers, charioteers here those who are driving the chariots and his army, they overtook them camping by the Sea, besides of Pi-hahiroth in front of Baal-zephon and maybe someday before the Lord comes, we don't know some of them will make discoveries down there and say guess what they found Pi-hahiroth and Baal-zephon.

Now we know for sure where this place and at this time we don't. Now you have a problem, we don't know sometime is past here for the Egyptians to go through their time of mourning, their burial, get over things and then it dawns on them what has happened. We are not quite sure how far Israel has travelled. These different routes they all suggested the possibilities of the Exodus. So just mentioning this some believe that the children of Israel went up into this region and turned back and came back down. Some suggesting they went out they got out and this is the Sea the Mediterranean and then came back in and to me it this seems awful doubtful. Some believe they could have come down and cut straight across over here, normal route is – believing this down here is where Sinai is and where they would have ultimately gone. Where they went there is a lake here called the Bitter Lake and on some maps they even identify here that this is evidently an old bed that has been dried up and covered over from of what is called the Gulf of Suez now, some of the maps call this the Red Sea.

Now here you have the Red Sea. On some maps, this is called the Red Sea, now we know it as the Gulf of Suez that this could have extended up here we don't know. Some think that they went across, this particular route would have taken them across this great Bitter Lake, and that's where the Egyptian armies would have been destroyed. My views are as good as any one, so I think they come down here and crossed over down here. Why it takes a lot of water and I don't think Israel is hanging around up here for very long .and I don't think that the Egyptians the next morning came to their senses, they have some serious funerals to do and some burials and so on. Pharaoh has got bury his firstborn.

So I think there would have time for them to journey down and like this route here cross somewhere down here where you have a tremendous amount of water and will be destruction of the Egyptian armies. Exactly where it happened is not crucial to us. I just want you to know it’s not a settled matter. You can just open your Bibles and I find the route of the Exodus out of Egypt and now it’s a done deal. There are things we just can't identify geographically. We can't right off those who you know try to undermine or weaken, they say this is a Sea of Reeds and that means therefore this is just a marshy area and that won't fit the account that the denial of the supernatural deliverance. Let’s go back to the account here and then we will get to their crossing the Red Sea.

Verse 10, So here you got this mighty force and I think they would have moved somewhat rapidly to get out of the vicinity of Egypt there, I mean Pharaoh has told them to get out, get out now and they don't have time to have their bread leavened so important to put whatever distance they can between them and the Egyptians. The problem is humanly when we look at they are not going the normal safe route. They are wandering out into the desert it seems. So here you got this vast group of people and they are moving out into a wilderness region that will only cause problems and there will be problems. Food supply will become a problem as you take a couple of million people out into a desert region. They have to ea and so Pharaoh is sure that this is somewhat of a lost cause for the Israelites as they moved out so he is pursuing them.

Verse 10, 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. I noted you know it is amazing – how hard the heart of the sinner is. We shouldn't be surprised when we share the message of Christ with people it seems that there is a hardness still there. Apart from God's grace that’s all there would be. I mean here you have had a series of ten miracles that have all but destroyed Egypt as Pharaoh's servant said culminating with the death of the firstborn of man and animal alike through out the land of Egypt, but no death among the Israelites given time to reflect on it, the Egyptians don't say you know "That is a mighty God the Israelites have." They are back to "Why did we let them go." And that is amazing, but I don't find that near as amazing as I find the response of the Israelites themselves.

They have been witnesses to all these miracles. They have witnessed how God has put a hedge around them. So the miracles in destructive judgments that came upon Egypt did not destroy them in the land of Goshen. Their first born is alive. They are gathered here along the edge of the Sea and can see the cloud in the day and the pillar of fire at night a visible evidence of the presence of God and then we read at the end of verse 10, "They were very frightened. "Why nothing has happened. If that's not enough 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, is not the word that we spoke to you in Egypt saying leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians.

It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptian than to die in the wilderness." These were the people of God. Why does God not wipe them all out there, put them all into the sea and turn the sea all over. Let’s start over. God is a gracious and merciful God I mean it is bad enough that the Egyptians haven't learnt anything, but here Gods people, I mean how long have they been out of Egypt. I mean first potential crisis, nothings has happened, nobody has been killed. The armies haven't taken them and are marching them and nothing has happened. It is all potential and where is their faith it is all flown out the window. Oh, that we had never left Egypt. Oh, that we had only stayed there.

Remember when I told you we should stay there. And the grumble begins and it becomes a pattern of Israel and it will cost them dearly because when all is said and done the adult generation that came out of Egypt will die in the wilderness because of their grumbling in lack of faith, not on this particularly occasion, but you know you start a pattern it is a serious thing even as God's people to refuse to trust Him, to grumble against him. And if I can put it humanly they get away with it and then they get away with it again.

God is gracious. You know what, they have come to a time when only God knows when that is, they cross the line and they don't get away with it any more. There is no going back. They all die in the wilderness, all the adults. It is serious matter. We sometimes don't take it serious enough and here the Israelites God doesn't destroy them for this, Moses steps up and says “Fear not, stand and see the salvation which the Lord has provided ”Gods going to deliver, so what is the problem. I mean all the miracle that he has done in Egypt and the first potential crisis, it is not even a crisis, nothings has happened. They wish they were back in slavery in Egypt. "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 because they are going to die. Look at them out there. This is going to be the last you will see all of them because to the last man they are going to die here in the waters before them. The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent, I love that. Whining, quit crying; be quite, the Lord will do it. There are thinking what are we are going to do. Look at the pillar; look at the cloud, is God in trouble. I mean the Egyptians why did they want the Israelites to get out of there when their firstborn died. Get out we are all dead men, we have to get the Israelites out of here otherwise God will destroy every one of us. Well they forget that, you wouldn't think the Israelites will forget it in such a brief period of time, would you, but they have. So the Lord tells Moses what he has to do.

The Lord said to Moses, "Why are you crying out to me tell the sons of Israel to go forward." You know there is a time to pray, and there is the time to move and some times we pray and think we are spiritual we are just ought to move, I mean what's the crisis, what is the problem – keep on going. "Lift up you staff, stretch out your hand over the Sea and divide it. The sons of Israel shall go though the midst of the Sea on dry land." It is an overwhelming obstacle. The Sea here, the Egyptians here, and we are stuck. What's the problem? Go forward. Stretch out you hand over the sea, the waters will part just walk through it. As for me, "Behold I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so 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 I am the Lord when I am honored through Pharaoh, through his chariots and his horsemen. What are you going to do? You are going to tell the Egyptians to wait until we all get through. I mean this isn't hide and seek. You know that’s a kid’s game, # you know you got to wait, no problem. Look at verse 19, the Angel of the Lord who had been going before the camp of Israel moved and went behind them. The pillar of God moved from before them and stood behind them. So it came between the camp of Egypt and the camp of Israel. There was a cloud along with the darkness yet it gave light at night. The one did not come the other all night. On the Egyptians' side it is dark and on the Israel' side it is light. So the Egyptians are parked. I mean they are in darkness, they are blocked.

The Israel's God is going to prepare the way. God says "I will harden" inverse 17 "I will be honored. Verse 21, Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. 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. So it’s off the way, you know God is not in a panic or in a hurry you know why didn't He just speak the word and the waters stood up and the land was dry. He takes all night to do it, what's the hurry. All the Egyptians are there, so what, they are not going anywhere. You understand the Egyptians are right where God wants them. The Israel is right where God wants the Israel. The Egyptians are is right where God wants the Egyptians. No problem and I have got the Egyptians under control.

So we just take all night and dry out the land. God could have spoken the word and it would have been dry, but He decides to do it with the wind and that gives Israel a chance to sit and wait, to learn a little bit of patience. So at the end of verse 21, The Sea turned into a dry land, the waters were divided, remarkable. We have often seen the pictures often in children's books or stories, they are better illustrated and this would have been awesome, the water standing up and there wouldn't have just been a narrow passage and we are not going through here two by two. I mean we do have to take a couple of million people through, then all the animals.

So this would have been a wide expanse, wide enough even for the Egyptians to think it is all right to go and the sons of Israel went through the midst of the Sea on dry land. The waters were like a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. So they could see it. I mean imagine what they are thing when they are walking through here. They are looking there is water, keep moving up there, keep moving, keep moving okay and the kids walking along and the parents pull them by their hand, come on there. I wonder you know could you put your finger in there, I don't know, but they could see like a wall, here it is. You got a wall.

You know so it’s not just on one side, # was an earthquake upstream or whatever and the water was blocked off there, but you know the Biblical description is it was a wall to them on both sides. It is a supernatural event. Alright, so Israel goes through. We are not told how long did it take them to get through. You know what when they are through then it is all right for the Egyptians to come in and that’s when things begin to unravel. So the Egyptians took up the pursuit verse 23, "And all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, his horsemen went in after them in the midst of the Sea."

At the morning watch, the Lord looked down on the army of Egyptians through the pillar of fire and cloud and brought the army of the Egyptians into confusion. He caused their chariot wheels to swerve. He made them drive with difficulty all of a sudden, things are mired down, .storms break out and now there was an overwhelming panic in the Egyptians. The end of verse 25, “Let us flee from Israel for the Lord is fighting for them against the Egyptians.” Dense aren't they? I mean you would have think that might have learned this after the first plague or second or the fourth or the seventh or the eighth or the tenth and now they are in a position of no return. Then the Lord said to Moses "Stretch out your hand over the sea and the waters close in and they are all covered up.

Turn over to Psalm 77. Psalm 77, we had added information of what God did here. Psalm 77, I am talking about the power and might of God and his deliverance and verse 13, “Your way, O God, is Holy, What god is great like our God?” You are the God who works wonders, you have made known your strength among the people, you have by your power redeemed your people the sons of Jacob and Joseph. The waters saw you O God, the waters saw You, they were in anguish, the deeps also trembled. The clouds poured out water, the skies gave forth a sound, Your the arrows flashed here and there. See the lightning, they are like arrows flashing, the lightening. The sound of your thunder was in the whirlwind. The lightening lit up the world. The earth trembled and shook. Your way was in the sea. Your paths in the mighty waters. Your footprints may not be known. You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

So you see what happens. Israel travels through the sea. The waters are there, its dry. The Egyptians come in pursuit and all of a sudden a thunder storm breaks out. The Earth begins to shake, the chariots won't drive, everything is turned to mud and the chariots are mired down, you have this mass confusion. If you have mud, what you going to do, you jump out the chariot and try to run, but what you’re going to do when there is horror. God just doesn't kill them or anything nor had spoken the word now would have dropped dead. He would do that on other occasions like later on with the Assyrian armies an 180,000 of them will die in their sleep.

God chooses to do this in his way; he brings horror, an overwhelming fear on the Egyptians and the awareness that the God of Israel is the true living God. The trouble is they come that awareness in their destruction and this will happen to the wicked at the end times in the final judgment. They come to that awareness, but it is an awareness that comes in the context of their destruction so the picture here asked is awesome, its just not the waters come back, also you have this storm break out over the Red Sea and the Lightning and the Thunder and the overwhelming horror and then the waters come back and the Egyptian army are encompassed.

Back in Exodus Chapter 14 verse 27, “Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, the sea returned to its normal state at daybreak, while the Egyptians were fleeing right into it. The Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. The waters returned covered the chariots, the horsemen, even Pharaoh's entire army that had gone into the sea after them, not even one of them remained. There is some discussion, did Pharaoh go in? There is no way to say for sure. You know Pharaoh may have been remained on land directing the charge in. Did every single chariot go in, well every single chariot that went in was destroyed. We are not told for sure. The indication here will you give you an idea that the whole army here is destroyed and that may well be. But, it is possible that Pharaoh and some were left to go back and report the events, we don't know.

The sons of Israel walked on dry land through the midst of the sea. The waters were like a wall to them on their right and the left. I mean because God control events; why would these Israelites be afraid, same reason we are. We have experienced such a mighty work of God in our lives as His redemption, His power, the unfolding truth of f His word that record all his mighty acts, His sovereignty, His promises, and all we can talk about it and the .declare it. Something comes up and all of a sudden our knees turn to rubble and our hearts are beating and we can’t sleep at night, we don't know what to do. Why? Well, oh you don't know what I am facing. Well, what about our God.

You know so we look at Israel and I say how could you be like that and I sit and reflect in my chair, of all the times I’ve been like that. How easy it is for me to think this is a unique situation. This is a little different and the situation may be different, the circumstances may be different, but there is one thing that doesn't change God and His power and ability and He is in control. So Israel is safe, there never was a problem. Was there ever any danger, any possibility that the Egyptians would swallow up the Israelite, destroy a number of them and take the rest back into slavery in Egypt or from our perspective which they would never had a chance, God had said what He would do and all His promises are just that sure.

Verse31,"When Israel saw the great Power which the Lord had used against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord, they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses. Oh boy, now their faith is strong, now they are settled, that will last to verse 24, so the people grumbled at Moses, Then they will experience the power of the Lord who is their healer identified in verse 26. Now their faith is strengthened that will last to verse 2 of Chapter 16, then the whole congregation and the sons of Israel grumbled and then Moses will remind them in Chapter 16 verse 8 “You are not grumbling against me, you are not grumbling against Aaron, you are grumbling against the Lord, this is serious business. See a pattern and there is something we have to learn from the New Testament .tells that these things were written that we might learn not to grumble as some of them are grumbled, so these are lessons for us, not just interesting historical notes.

We are ready for Chapter 15 and Moses composes a song to praise God for his mighty deliverance that hymn of praises is the first eighteen verses, celebrates the destruction of the Egyptian armies and the deliverance of the Jews. Never again, they have a lot of things to complain about, but never again do they have to be afraid of the Egyptians. This is the end of that Chapter with the destruction of Pharaoh's army at the Red Sea. This is not the end of Israel’s complaining, but it the end of the problem of the Egyptians, never again are the Jews being afraid in this Exodus about being taken back by the Egyptians. First twelve verses talk about the Exodus "Moses and the sons of Israel sang this song to the Lord."

So Moses composed the song and then it is for Israel to sing, remember they didn't have copies of this. So this is the song as we have songs that rehearse the truth and he said “I will sing to the Lord for He is highly exalted, the horse and his rider he has hurled into the sea, the Lord is my strength and song. He has become my salvation, this is my God I will praise him, my Father’s God I will extol Him. The Lord is a warrior, the Lord is his name. Pharaoh's chariots and his army has he cast into the sea, the choicest of his officers are drowned in the Red Sea. The deep covers them; they went down into the depths like a stone. Your right O Lord is majestic in power; Your right hand O Lord shatters the enemy.” Here note two things go along, the celebration of deliverance for God's people, the celebration of destruction for God's enemies, both are a cause of praise to the Lord. We see His mercy and His justice side by side in these two events.

Verse 7, "In the greatness of your excellence you overthrow those who rise against you. You send forth your burning anger, it consumes them as chaff." Remember the John the Baptist announced the coming of the Messiah, his winnowing fork is in his hand, the chaff will be burned up. The same picture and the character of God does not change and His wrath in dealing with those who oppose Him and His grace and mercy for those that He redeems. Onto describe this, verse 9, “The enemy said I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil, my desire shall be gratified against them. I will draw out my sword, my hand will destroy them.

Lots of high and mighty plans. "You blew with Your wind, the sea covered them, they sank like lead in the mighty waters. Who is like you among the Gods O Lord, Who is like you majestic in holiness, awesome in praises, working wonders. The mighty God, you stretched out your right hand, the earth swallowed them. Israel didn't have to lift a sword. Israel didn’t have to enter into combat at all. All they had to do was to walk. God destroyed them, the enemy. In your loving kindness you have led the people that you have redeemed in your strength you have guided them to a Holy Habitation.

Now the transition, speaking of what we call in the Old Testament, the prophetic perfect, where the prophets often gave their message in the past tense. And they are clearly talking about events yet to take place, sometimes in a very long distant future, but they speak in the past. So we call the Prophetic past. Prophetic perfect, because it is spoken as it is already done, because when God says something will be happen it is as good as done. So when Israel comes into the land, verse 13, you, have guided them to your holy habitation. They are being brought into the Land and that’s forty years away, but it is settled and done. The people have heard, they tremble, anguish has gripped the inhabitants of Philistia.

Then the Chiefs of Edom were dismayed; the leaders of Moab, trembling grips them; all the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away. Terror and dread fall upon them; by the greatness of Your arm they are motionless as stone; Until Your people pass over, O Lord, Until the people pass over whom You have purchased. You will bring them and plant them in the mountain of Your inheritance, The place, O Lord, which You have made for Your dwelling, The sanctuary, O Lord, which Your hands have established. I mean this is common knowledge where Israel is to go to their Land. Joseph knew about it and when God delivered you from Egypt, to take you to that land, take my bones with you, back to Canaan. Passages I like in Joshua Chapter 2, where Rehab shares with the spies "The people of the land are terrified, they are overwhelmed with fear of you and they remember what happened 40 years ago in Egypt, they remember, they have heard about how God destroyed the Egyptians, how He destroyed your enemies, and they are overwhelmed with fear. So what is spoken of here as have done is years away, but it happens exactly as it is unfolded by Moses and the Lord shall reign of ever and ever.

Miriam the prophetess in verse 20. Miriam the prophetess is Aaron’s and Moses' sister. She took the tumbrel in her hands and all the women went out after her with the tumblers and with dancing. Miriam answered them “Sing to the Lord for he is Highly exalted; the horse and his rider he has hurled into the sea." She is a prophetess. She is a one through who God gives revelation and here she leads the women in Israel in dance, this will probably give some of us conservative Christians today a little bit of unease and here you have these women of Israel leading in a dance of celebration and rejoicing, it was a part of Israel’s celebration in honoring God and worshipping Him and will go on down through their history.

Miriam, keep in mind, sometime the picture that you see, you see this young girl out dancing, but Miriam is 90 or so years of age. So a little different picture, we may have to re-draw some of our images because Moses was 80 at the time of the Exodus. Aaron his brother was 83, and Miriam was a young girl when Moses was put in that little basket in the reeds at the Nile remember and she was there to watch and then to suggest to Pharaoh’s daughter and ask would you like to go and get a Hebrew woman to be a nurse for the baby. So she is 10 or 12 or 15 years, we don't know how much older than Moses she is, but she is around 90 lets say, so just have the proper picture in your mind of this women who is leading the dancing ladies and some of you older women can go home and limber up and get ready for some celebration for us.

Other women I have listed who are prophetesses; Deborah, Isaiah’s wife; Hilda, Naodia, and Anna. Miriam, she is the first to be called a prophetess and Numbers 12:2 talks about God speaking through her. Micah 6:4, we don’t turn there, but that says that the children of Israel were led by Moses, Aaron and Miriam and her role as a prophetess she was part of the leadership team if you will of Israel. One, two, three, four, five, and Miriam makes the sixth, one of these is contained in the book of Luke which still be under the Old Testament Economy. But these six are the prophetesses under that Old Testament Economy, Miriam being the first.

So a mighty celebration, Moses has composed a song, Israel is singing it, Miriam is leading the women of Israel in singing in response and dancing and now we have to move out from the Red Sea into the wilderness and three days, that’s all three days into the wilderness, they haven’t found any water. They came to Marah, a spring, a hope here we have water, but the water was undrinkable, it was bitter. The response of the people is “Let us ask our God what we should do. Let’s seek water from Him." Remember the cloud is there during the day. The pillar of fire is there by night. God's glorious presence is still there. It comes to be known as “Shichyna” The glory of His presence, but the response of the people.

So the people grumbled at Moses, saying what shall we drink? You know why is it the last resort is to turn to the Lord instead of the first. Then Moses cried out to the Lord, the Lord showed him a tree. He threw it into the waters, the waters became sweet, I mean no big issue for God. There is plenty of water; I will make the bitter water sweet, How about that! Then he made a statute and a regulation, and there he tested them. He said "If you will give earnest heed to the voice of the Lord your God, do what is right in his sight, give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon you which I have put on the Egyptians For I am the Lord your healer."

They came to Elim where there were twelve springs of water and seventy date palms. So they camped there beside the waters. Ah, life is good. Now here you have the promise of God. They are going to be in this wilderness for three months before they come to Sinai and Chapter 19 of Exodus verse 1 where Moses will receive the Law from God, the Mosaic Law at Mount Sinai. It will be three years in this wilderness and it will be a trying time. But God promises, verse 26, "You listen to me, you do what I tell you, you obey me and I will be your healing. You don’t have to worry about illnesses, you don't have to worry about sicknesses, you don’t have to worry about diseases, I am your Physician, you will be well cared for.

Then he graciously takes them to this Oasis, where there are date palms for them to enjoy, where there are twelve springs of water so they can abundantly enjoy. So they can camp there and enjoy. Israel now is going to be the people they have these assured promise of God. It is hard for me to believe and we are not going into Chapter 16, but by the time you get two verses down, Israel is grumbling again, lessons to be learned. You know how quickly they have forgotten, delivered by the mighty hand of God, His work again and again and again, but every new crisis is a test of their faith, an opportunity for them to look back and be reminded of what God has done to look ahead and be reminded of God has promised and so to respond properly.

Just like we talked about God’s grace in our study in Corinthians. God's grace and what He has done in the past, Gods grace in what he has promised in the future. So we respond accordingly by His grace for sure. So Israel can look back to what God has done and His mighty deliverance. There he has given their promises, the promises they can hold on to in verse 26. They all know, he has promised them the land. So that should control their behavior. God's work in the past, Gods promises the future that is what shapes and controls their conduct now.

We do the same thing, we look back to the work of redemption Christ has done for us, we look forward to the promises that we have that God will bring us to the appointed end and so we conduct ourselves by faith. We trust our God. Doesn’t mean some situations are intimidating, that is all right they are intimidating for me they are not intimidating for my God. Nothing will come into my life tomorrow that God is not capable of handling. Furthermore, nothing will come into my life tomorrow that God has not planned for me. You realize that the thundering Egyptian army appearing on the horizon is part of Gods plan for his people, it is not a catastrophe that is about to overwhelm them that will frustrate Gods plan, it is part of Gods plan

I have much more to hold on to than Israel did at this point, because look at your Bible that’s how far we are. I have all the rest of this, so I have much more to assure me and settle me in my faith then they did and I read about them and say “How could they?” Now trust God and I then have all the rest of the story and all the rest of the promises and all the rest of the evidences of Gods work and my faith-gets weak. Praise God that we have the same God and He has the same authority, same control and He keeps His word. Praise God we are His people.

Let’s pray together: Thank you Lord for your work on Israel’s behalf, Lord we have been just begun to see something of your overwhelming patience and mercy and kindness and love and grace in dealing with the people that you chose for your self. Lord may we be encouraged and challenged. All you have done for us in Christ. All you have promised us in Christ, Lord how can we but trust you and all that comes into our lives today. Pray this may shape our thinking our behavior in the week before us. Lord we also are in awe of the fierceness of your wrath against those who do not experience your redemption. We praise your for Jesus Christ and what we have in Him. We pray in His name, amen.