God Delivers His People
Moses and the people of God were backed up against the Red Sea as Pharaoh and his army charged across the plains toward them. God said, “Tell the people to go forward.” God was about to divide the sea! This was not a natural event any more than the birth of Jesus was a natural event. God did this. God then told Moses that He would harden the hearts of the Egyptians to go in after them. There is no fear of God in their hearts, and God hardened their hearts even more, as He had done with Pharaoh. Why, Lord? “I will get glory over Pharaoh, and all his host, his chariots, and his horsemen. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord.” Remember Moses had said to the people of Israel, “The Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again.” God’s judgment fell on Egypt on the same day God’s deliverance came for His people. I believe this points us also to the final judgment, as our Lord will right all wrongs, settle all accounts, and execute perfect and complete judgment on His enemies. All while God welcomes His people into the new heavens and earth.
When Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, God brought a strong east wind that blew all night, dividing the water into two halves and drying out the ground so that 2 million people and all their belongings and animals could walk across. Just imagine this mighty wonder of God. Think of what that looked like. It was the largest and most magnificent aquarium the world has ever seen. Amazing sea creatures on the right and left, but not behind glass!
The people of God started walking to the other side on dry ground, but they still had a problem. The Egyptians pursued them into the sea, also on dry ground. As they raced toward Israel, I would imagine moms and dads were having to calm their children and themselves as they heard the chariots rumbling. It will be ok. Moses told us God would fight for us. And he will! If he opened this sea for us to walk through, He is not going to let Pharaoh and his army hurt us! They walked on dry ground even as they stood in faith on the solid rock of almighty God. Isaiah wrote of God’s miracle at the Red Sea, “Was it not you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made the depths of the sea a way for the redeemed to pass over?” He did. And God says to us, “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.” Will we throw our whole weight onto that bedrock of God’s promise? We can! Faith is ours, even in the midst of the sea.
David would write later, “Some trust in chariots.” And boy did Pharaoh and his men trust in chariots. And in horses. This was perhaps the most powerful army in the world, and they knew it. They were feeling good as they raced across the floor of the Red Sea toward the people of Israel. And then God reached down and messed with their chariots. Some say the wheels fell off, others say they got so clogged up they wouldn’t roll but had to be dragged like sleds by the horses. David may have been inspired to think about that when he wrote, “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. They (chariots and horses) collapse and fall, but we rise and stand upright.”
I believe when the wheels came off was when the soldiers under Pharaoh’s command started to read the handwriting on the walls of water on either side of them, so to speak. It said something like, “You have been tried and found wanting.” Ok, maybe not. But they were thrown into a panic. They said, “Let us flee from before Israel, for the Lord fights for them.” The enemies of God gave testimony to His power in their final moments, but without repentance. They believed in God, but it was not saving faith, any more than the devil’s belief in God will save him.
The army of Pharaoh, and certainly Pharaoh himself, did not repent. They fled in fear from God’s power and protection of His people, but they did not humble themselves before Him. They were all swallowed up by the sea and their bodies ended up on the shore. The Bible says, “not one of them remained.” The people of God continued their journey to the other side of the sea and the greatest miracle of deliverance in the Old Testament was complete.
God delivers His people. Then and now and forever.