Four Points Church

To God alone be the glory!

The crossing of the Red Sea is one of the most dramatic miracles in all of the Bible. This mighty act and its association with the people of Israel’s deliverance from Egypt makes it a foundational part of God’s history with Israel. It is referred to directly no less than fifteen times (Deuteronomy 11:4; Joshua 2:10; 4:23; 24:6-7; Nehemiah 9:9-11; Psalm 66:6; 77:16-20; 78:13, 53; 106:9-11, 21-23; 136:13-15; Isaiah 51:10; 63:11-13; Acts 7:36; 1 Corinthians 10:1-2, 13; Hebrews 11:29), with many more allusions (Psalm 18:13-15; 74:13; Isaiah 23:11; 43:16; Nahum 1:4; Zechariah 10:11). The Red Sea crossing is something that the people of Israel referred to again and again, because it reminded them of God’s great power and care for them. For us who live in anticipation of Jesus’ return, it is also a picture of Him delivering us from the power of sin and Satan.

The exodus is a monumental event in human history. For 430 years, God’s people resided in Egypt (Exodus 12:41). Now they are free. But God knows the fickleness and forgetfulness of mankind, and this is why He builds the Feast of the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread into the annual calendar of His people. He calls them to remember His great work of deliverance.

The day of the Passover has arrived just as God has promised (see Exodus 4:23). Pharaoh has not heeded God’s commands, therefore the firstborn males in all of Egypt will be killed. Israel will be saved from God’s wrath with this sign: the blood of a lamb smeared on their doorposts. Everything that God had told Israel to prepare for now comes to pass in the events that unfold.

You would think that at any point in Exodus 7-10, Pharaoh would have had enough and abandoned his stubborn hold on the people of Israel.  However, just as the plagues have become harder, so has Pharaoh’s heart (Exodus 11:10). It takes one last plague to break his resolve and force his hand to send God’s people on their way (11:1). In this passage, we read what the plague on the firstborn will entail. We also see God’s gracious provision to spare the life of His people, called the Passover.

As we begin to look at the plagues, we see a pattern emerge. God makes a clear statement through these plagues to His people and to the Egyptians. He sends the plagues in a calculated and orderly way, showing His sovereignty and His divine order among the affairs of men. Nothing is random or by chance. God is in complete control over everything: past, present, and future.

In Exodus 6:28-29, God once again reminds Moses of his task, which is to stand before Pharaoh and deliver to Pharaoh all of the words that God has spoken to Moses. As usual, Moses gives God an excuse! He says, “Behold, I am of uncircumcised lips. How will Pharaoh listen to me?” (v. 30). Moses feels very unfit to accomplish this task. Will the king of Egypt listen to this old, stuttering Hebrew man? What unfolds next should provide us all with great encouragement and prove to us that God uses very unfit people to accomplish His perfect plan!

We’d all like to deliver on our word when we make commitments, but sometimes we can’t. We can get sick, or our car won’t start, or we simply forget to follow through. God is not subject to any of these limitations or lapses. He is all-powerful and is never unable to do what He says He will do. In this passage, God answers Moses’ complaint about the effect of his first audience with Pharaoh with a series of “I will” statements. Over the course of the first half of Exodus, God will fulfill these commitments over and again.

The instruction God gave to Moses at the burning bush was very clear.  “You and the elders of Israel shall go to the king of Egypt” (Exodus 3:18).  At the end of chapter 4, things seemed to be going according to plan.  Moses and Aaron had met with the elders, pitched the plan, performed the signs God had given them, and Israel believed (4:29-31). However, by the time Moses and Aaron get to Pharaoh, they are conspicuously alone, with no mention of the elders being with them.

God has equipped Moses with supernatural powers to validate his call, and assured Moses of his inevitable success in bringing the Israelites out of Egypt, despite Moses’ unbelief and lack of confidence in himself.  Moses has all he needs to return back to Egypt to rescue the Hebrews from the snares of the Egyptians. 

However, Moses must first return from the wilderness to Midian, to formally seek the permission of Jethro to rejoin his kindred back in Egypt.