The Crossing (Exodus)

Good morning, church. Well, it's great seeing all of you out here this morning. It's good seeing you. And we're going to be continuing with part four of our series through the Bible. We're really taking a twelve week journey through the book of Genesis, all the way to the book of Revelation.

We're going to be dipping down from time to time. Obviously we can't preach the whole Bible, but we're going to look at the major themes that contribute to what we call the metanarrative, that really the Bible tells one big story. And, and that's what we'll be talking about today. But before I begin, I want to officially begin the countdown today. It's six weeks before Easter Sunday.

Six weeks from now will be Easter Sunday. And you might say, well, why? Why do we need a countdown? Well, first of all, it's because it's one of the greatest gospel opportunities of the year. People who often won't accept our invitation to come to church will often come on Easter Sunday.

And so it's a great opportunity to invite your friends, your family, your co-workers, and your fellow students at school to church. And so people who won't often come will come at a time like that. And so we've set a prayer goal, a faith goal of who we're inviting. And so for our Rocky Mount campus, we're praying for twenty first time guests, and we're praying as a result of them coming and their families coming, that we will have over 250 at our Rocky Mount campus on Easter Sunday. And we're praying for thirty first time guests here on Easter Sunday in Wilson.

And we're praying for over 600 to be in attendance here. Now, some of you are disturbed. I know that I named numbers. You're like, oh, it's not about numbers. And you're right, it's not about the crowd, but it is about the life change.

And so in order for people to hear the gospel, you have to invite them to hear the gospel. And so we believe that there are people in Wilson and in Rocky Mount and people in eastern North Carolina that have yet to hear a clear presentation of the gospel. And we think Easter Sunday is a great opportunity to do that. And so we're not ashamed to say that we're asking God for specifics. And when you pray specifically, God answers specifically.

And so that's why we're praying that way. These are not just numbers. Every number represents a name and every name represents a soul. And every soul is dear to the heart of God. And so we're going to be praying, and here's how I want us to pray.

Pray like this. Lord, who is my One, who is the person you want me to talk to about the gospel, about the good news of Jesus, and that I want to invite you to come to church with me on Easter Sunday. Now, you can invite them any Sunday, but as I was saying before, they're often more open to coming on Easter Sunday. And pray for open doors, pray for boldness, pray for softened hearts, pray for people to respond to the gospel. Now, you might not realize this, but something is going on in our church right now, and we're experiencing a growth right now that can only be explained by God.

And so just last Sunday, and I'd be interested to see what we're looking like today, but just last Sunday, between our two campuses, our attendance and the number of guests we had was greater than last Easter Sunday. And so what that's telling me is even before we start inviting more people, that God's doing a thing. And so we want to cooperate with God. God's trusting us with people that are coming hungry for the word of God. And so we want to treat that as if it were gold, to be careful about it and to care for people as they come in.

And so here in our Wilson campus, because this room, in case you didn't notice, especially if you're visiting for the first time, this was one of six theaters in this theater. This was the old Regal Cinema that we bought and we've inhabited as our church home. As our church home. Right. But we haven't changed this room very much.

We put in a little temporary stage, put in some new carpet, and a few other things. Right. But you can tell: your cup holder, your chair, this came with the theater, the slanted floor.

And so what we've tried to do as a church, we try to put our resources, our money towards ministry and people first and projects and buildings second. And so we've been inhabiting this building and launching a second service. And now we've launched two more services next door in recent years. And so next door, we have me preaching right now. Hello, Gathering Place next door, I'm preaching on the video screens.

I'm in here with this great crowd next door. And they have a different venue. They have tables and places where they can put their coffee on a table. They don't have cup holders, but they have tables.

And they have a place they can put their Bible and their notebooks. They have a coffee service in the room. So it's a little bit more informal there. They can get up and go get their coffee and I won't eyeball them and call them out because I can't see them, right?

And so if you've never checked out the Gathering Place, check it out now. Why would I want you to do that? I'm happy that you're here. It's because as we approach Easter Sunday, we are going to max out both rooms. And so if it's important to you to invite people to church, get here early, bring them with you, sit with them, and then if some of you have never checked out the other room, maybe make room for more by checking out the other room.

I don't want to inconvenience you, but sometimes it's okay to inconvenience yourself so that someone can choose Jesus. And so we're still trying to just fill this building before we spend more money on bricks. Does that make sense? That's what we're trying to do. So here's some other things that we're going to do to help you invite people.

We're going to help you with your community engagement by, first of all, offering you an opportunity to feed the hungry. We do this every Spring. Both of our campuses go out and we hang bags a couple weeks before Easter. We're going to do that on March 21st. We're going to hang bags on doorknobs that basically say, help us feed the hungry.

Put your non-perishables in here and we'll be back next Saturday to pick them up. And so we do this every year. The Hope Station tells us that we're one of the largest contributors to their food pantry in the city. We gather tons of food every year going into Easter. Help us feed the hungry.

And then we go back out the next Saturday, gather it, and we drop it off at the Hope Station. In fact, we help organize it and help them get it on the shelves appropriately. We take a team in there and do that. At that second time when we pick up stuff, we're going to be hanging door hangers on the doors, thanking people for helping us help the hungry.

And then the door hangers will say, Easter at Eastgate. You're invited. So that's a touch. Here's something new we're going to do this year and only the brave among you will participate. So I don't know who you are yet, but you think about it.

We're going to make yard signs that say “Easter at Eastgate.” They're two by three printed on both sides. And if you're brave enough, you'll stick it in your front yard. Now, this is the problem that you'll be facing. Your neighbors will now know you go to church, and so you'll have to watch your language.

Stop yelling at people, get off my grass. You'll have to watch yourself. But no, I'm being serious. It's an opportunity to easily let them know where you go to church and to start spiritual conversations in your neighborhood. And as you do a walk around your neighborhood.

Hey, are you the one that put out the sign? Yeah, you know, we'd love to have you. So we're going to have those signs in the lobby for you over the coming weeks that you can pick up if you're brave enough to

let your neighbors know that you're a believer. And so we're going to give you some invite cards, business signs. We're going to give you as many tools and much training as we can to help you talk to people about Jesus. Easter is coming. The clock is ticking.

Christ is coming again soon. So let us keep on telling people about Jesus. Our dream, our vision is that we would saturate eastern North Carolina with the gospel so that every man, woman and child receives repeated opportunities to see and hear and respond to the Gospel. That's my six-week countdown for Easter. Now let's preach.

That was me just talking. So we're going to be in part four today, in a message I've entitled, “The Crossing.”

We're going to be talking about how God parted the sea and rescued his people from the Egyptians by letting them walk across on dry land. And so it's a very important story in the Bible. But before we begin, let's find our place in the story and see where we've been so that we understand the rhythm of what we've heard so far. In Genesis 1 through 3, we saw that God made a perfect, good world. He made us in his own image,

but sin entered the story and fellowship was broken and death entered the picture and spread. Yet in the midst of this, God promised a coming seed that would crush the serpent's head. Then in Genesis 6, we saw how human wickedness had multiplied until judgment came through a worldwide deluge. A flood. Yet God gave a remnant, a rescue, a man named Noah and his family, and he gave him an ark.

And that ark we talked about points to Jesus. Jesus is our Rescuer, our ark. In Genesis 15, we saw that God made a unilateral covenant with Abram. And he walked a blood path twice, once representing humanity and once representing the Father. So that we have had our sins paid for.

And how this picture points to Christ, our salvation. And also at that same time, as he walked that path, he gave a prophecy to Abram. And he said, your seed, your offspring will be carried into a foreign land, and they will be servants, slaves there for 400 years. But after 400 years, I'm going to bring them out. He doesn't name that land, but today we find out that that land was Egypt, and they were slaves in Egypt, just as God had said for 400 years.

And we come now to the part of the story where God promises to bring them out of Egypt. We come to that part where the leaders at the Bible Project, and you can Google that, you can go online and look at these great videos from the Bible Project, but they looked at this story and they said the Exodus story is the most referenced story in the entire Bible. The story shapes the Bible's whole view of reality. In fact, you could say that this story that we're studying today gives you a map of the whole Bible because God keeps telling this story over and over again. Now, you might be saying, well, Gary, that was a powerful history lesson. I could go through the begats with you and get you completely caught up.

So Abraham beget Isaac, and Isaac beget Jacob, and Jacob beget those 12 tribes of Israel. And God got in a wrestling match with Jacob and he changed his name to Israel. And then his son Joseph got sold into slavery, but then he rescued his own people because he became the second in command. That's how they ended up in Israel. But you'll have to read all of that on your own because we're only dipping down in these major themes as we can over these 12 weeks. You might be wondering, well, that was impressive, Gary.

You even did the begats. What's that got to do with me in 2026? What does a rescue story 3500 years ago have to do with me? Well, I'm glad you asked. It's because the truth is we eventually all find ourselves with an enemy pursuing us from behind and an obstacle blocking the way in front.

Might not call it the Red Sea, you might not call it Egyptians, but you might say that your past is catching up with you. You might call it an obstacle that's in front of you. Maybe it was bad news at the doctor's office. Or maybe it's something that's going on in your marriage, or maybe you just got laid off at work or I don't know what it is, but you don't know how to get over it. You don't know how to get around it.

You don't know how to get under it. You're terrified to try to go through it. But that's what God calls his people to do. Not to go over it, around it, or under it, but to go through it. In Exodus, chapter 14, Moses recorded how the Lord displaces saving power and rescues the Israelites from the Egyptians and takes them across the sea on dry land and judges Egypt because of its sin by closing the waters on top of them.

As we look at this text, I think we'll see a map of the Bible. And more than that, I think we'll see Jesus as I've promised. As we read closely, I believe we can find Jesus on every page. So let's look for Jesus in this story. I think we'll see three pictures in this story today of Christ, our ultimate redeemer.

Are you ready? Let's read. Get your seatbelts on. We're going fast here. Exodus 14:10-31 (ESV) 10 When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and

they feared greatly. And the people of Israel cried out to the LORD. 11 They said to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Is not this what we said to you in Egypt: ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”

13 And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. 14 The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.” 15 The LORD said to Moses, “Why do you cry to me?”

Tell the people of Israel to go forward. 16 Lift up your staff, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground. 17 And I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they shall go in after them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, his chariots, and his horsemen. 18 And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD,

when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.” 19 Then the angel of God who was going before the host of Israel moved and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them, 20 coming between the host of Egypt and the host of Israel. And there was the cloud and the darkness. And it lit up the night without one coming near the other all night. 21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the LORD drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. 22 And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. 23 The Egyptians pursued and went in after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen.

24 And in the morning watch the LORD in the pillar of fire and of cloud looked down on the Egyptian forces and threw the Egyptian forces into a panic, 25 clogging their chariot wheels so that they drove heavily. And the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from before Israel, for the LORD fights for them against the Egyptians.” 26 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen.” 27 So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal course when the morning appeared. And as the Egyptians fled into it, the LORD threw the Egyptians into the midst of the sea.

28 The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen; of all the host of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea, not one of them remained. 29 But the people of Israel walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. 30 Thus the LORD saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore.

31 Israel saw the great power that the LORD used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the LORD, and they believed in the LORD and in his servant Moses.” This is God's word. We're looking for three pictures that point to Christ as our Redeemer. Here's the first:

We're looking at those first few verses. Particularly, we're looking at this man called Moses. We see him as a go between, as a mediator, one who stood in the gap, representing God to the people and the people to God. He's a mediator, a go between. Israel panics.

They've been rescued from the ten plagues. They'd seen it all, and they were astounded. And they had left Egypt with great wealth that they had essentially carried off Egypt's possessions. And they've been in the wilderness for a little while now.

They're headed away. But somewhere along the line, after they left, Pharaoh and his leaders had second thoughts. And their hardened hearts caused them to get the chariots together and to pursue. And so these Israelites who had seen the ten plagues and the wonder of a rescuing God, the minute they saw those Egyptians, they forgot everything they'd seen. And they were afraid.

It says in verse 10, 10 “When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly. And the people of Israel cried out to the LORD.” They were afraid. They were overwhelmed with fear. Now, you might be sitting there thinking, I'm glad we're not like those Israelites. But

we're a forgetful people. This is why every Sunday we remember the Lord's Supper. He said, “Do this in remembrance of me.” This is why every Sunday we remember he got up on the first day of the week. Every Sunday, in a way, is Resurrection Sunday.

It's why we gather like this, because we get forgetful during the week. We have to have at least a weekly reminder. But it'd be better if you'd read the scripture and pray every day. Get a daily reminder. We're forgetful people.

They forgot already. They saw the reality of the Egyptians. They saw the reality of the Red Sea. And they were afraid. And they began to grumble.

Isn't that what we do when we get scared? When we get afraid, we grumble. And God hates grumbling. I do, too. I still grumble sometimes, but I hate myself for it sometimes when I do it, like, no, I don't hate myself, but I hate the grumbling.

You know, it's the opposite of gratitude. It's the opposite of faith. I think God hates grumbling, too. And they're grumbling to Moses. Why didn't you just let us stay in slavery?

You led us out here to die. And so that's the situation Moses is facing. But he reassures them. What does he say? He speaks to them.

Verse 13, And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again.” Fear not. Stop being afraid. Stand firm.

Stand firm. Okay. See the salvation of the Lord. Open your eyes. Look for salvation.

And I like the last part in verse 14, “The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”

Stop grumbling. Wait on the Lord. He gave him four instructions there. Fear not. I could have just preached those two verses.

That would have been a good sermon, right there. It would have been less reading. Verse 13 and 14. Fear not. Stand firm.

See salvation. Be silent. That's good instruction. Stop that grumbling. Be quiet.

Look for salvation. It's a good word. He's the mediator, but he points to the true and perfect mediator. In First Timothy, Paul says this, 1 Timothy 2:5 (ESV) “For there is one God,

and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” There's only one. One go between. You know, Moses is only a shadow, a preview of the Christ that was to come and has come. He comforts, but he can't change hearts.

He stretches out his staff, but Christ stretches out his hands on the cross. He's the true go between. He's the bridge between God and man. He's the intersection between heaven and earth. And there's only one.

And he gives his life at the cross. For Jesus is our perfect mediator. Paul writes about it in Hebrews. He says this, Hebrews 8:6 (ESV) “But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old

as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises.” He says he's got a better covenant and he's offered better mediation. And we're speaking of Jesus now. Have you ever been in trouble with the law? Now, don't raise your hands, because I'm not trying to out you or anything, but don't look at the person you know who has been in trouble with the law.

Just keep your eyes forward. Just keep your eyes forward like he's talking to you. No, I'm just. It's a theoretical question, rhetorical question.

Did you have to get a lawyer or an attorney? And so, you know, at a time like that, nobody wants to have to call an attorney, but when you need one, you need one. Okay. Now, there have been times in my past, I’m not gonna say the details, but I do have a little bit of a heavy foot where I have called upon help from an attorney and got some help on that, you know, trying to keep those points off my insurance and a few other things, trying to lower the fee. There's nothing like having someone who can represent your side of the case.

I think it was my tires. I had those bigger tires.

My right foot's heavier than my left foot. But I still had to pay a little fee. I had to pay the lawyers. It's costly, but I'm glad I had a I had a lawyer that could represent my side, but also understood the law side, and so he could go between.

Well, I hate that I had to do that. It's not fun, but I'm glad. When you need one, you can find one.

What do you need today? Oh, God. He's a holy God, and He judges sin. He does not fail to judge sin, but he's provided a way. And he provided not only a mediator, but one who would take our sin upon himself.

And so the holy God poured out his wrath and his judgment on Jesus. So as Paul says in Romans 8:1, "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” And as we talked about the Ark a few weeks ago, the rain fell on the earth and it fell on the Ark, but those that were inside didn't get wet. And so when you come to Jesus the great go between the great mediator, he died in your place. And when you receive him and you're in him and he's in you, God counts you righteous because Christ paid it all.

He's the perfect mediator. So when the enemy comes and says to you, who do you think you are? I know who you are. And he begins to accuse you of crime. And the truth is, what really gets you is, he's right, I'm guilty.

But then the Holy Spirit of Christ comes to you; I'm your advocate. And I paid for that sin. I paid for that sin. And he stands before a holy God. And when God looks at you, believer, with Christ in your life, he sees not you and your sin, but he sees Christ in his righteousness imputed to you.

Oh, he's the perfect mediator. So fear not, stand firm. See the salvation of Jesus and wait for it. Be quiet and watch him work. That's the first picture.

Do you see it in verses 10 through 14? Let's keep going. I see a second picture; I see another glimpse, another shadow:

Christ the only way. The Lord said to Moses, 15 The LORD said to Moses, “Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward. 16 Lift up your staff, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground.” I told you about this earlier. I don't know if he told him about it earlier or not, but that's what he says to Moses right here.

What are you waiting for? Can I show you what we're looking at here so you really get your mind around it. Those of you that grew up watching “The Ten Commandments,” have a picture in your mind of what Moses looks like. You feel like you're going to be disappointed when you get to heaven if he doesn't look like Charlton Heston.

Okay, I'm with you. Okay, I understand.

But that was a movie. Can I get you to enter the story with me for a minute? Like, let's really get inside the Bible story. So, you know, I love maps.

Here's a map that I got together. I found this satellite map of the area and I drew a line on it. And this is really based on some research that was done by Steve Rudd. He's an archaeologist, believes in the Bible, and he tried to use the Bible as his map. But also recent archaeological discoveries.

And so this maps out the way the Israelites traveled. Over here is Egypt. Up here's the land of Goshen. Off the map a little bit, where they were from. And they are going away from the Egyptians.

And then the Egyptians pursue them and they find themselves down here in a dead end. Now, maybe you can see it if you look at the map. This is a highly mountainous area to the north of this point right here that goes down into the Red Sea. This is like God's “peace sign” on the map of the world, right? And so they're right here on the coast.

And to the south, they've got the Red Sea. To the east, they've got the Red Sea. To the north they've got mountains. And to the east they've got Egyptians. They’ve got the Egyptian army.

They're stuck. How are they going to get out of this? It's like God brought them to this very place so he could put on display his power and his glory. So let's just kind of get in our minds what this place looked like. Now, here's what Mark Rudd says about it.

He says that he believes they crossed at the Straits of Tehran. At the Straits of Tehran, there's like a natural land bridge right here. There are places in the Red Sea that are as deep as 6,000 ft. Did you know that?

But as you come up into the Gulf of Aqaba and I've been here, this is the land of Jordan, Saudi Arabia, modern day Israel, Egypt. You can stand right here at Aqaba. I've stood right here in the water, in fact, in my office, if you want to come see me sometime. I've got a red rock that I picked up off the bottom. I was thinking, I'm in the Red Sea and I see a red rock.

So I got it, brought it home, and I was right here. But you can stand in Aqaba right here. You can stand in the land of Jordan right here. And you can see Egypt, you can see Israel, you can see Saudi Arabia. And you're standing in modern day Jordan, it's an amazing kind of spot.

But right here, the straits of Tehran is an unusual place. So you can go from 6,000 ft deep in the deepest part. But as you come up into that Strait of Aqaba right there, the deepest point, and it's going to sound deep, there's a brief spot right as you leave the shore where the Israelites probably were. It is about 800 ft deep right there. Then it immediately comes up to around 160 ft on average, which is the most shallow section of that entire part of the Red Sea in that section.

Does that make sense? And it's close to 10 miles wide. Now I know you have in your image the Ten Commandments and they're like waving at each other on opposite shores. The average human adult walks about three miles an hour.

If you were going 10 miles, that's three and a half hours for you as an individual to walk across that section of the Red Sea. So the Bible describes it, it took them pretty much all night. They're walking across on dry land because an east wind came and they're walking across on dry land. And there are over 600,000 fighting men. So if you add it up and you include women and children and old people, maybe there's 3 million people crossing the Red Sea, which is a ten-mile crossing.

Meanwhile, the angel of the Lord has moved the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire. Pillar of cloud by day, pillar of fire by night. He's moved it from in front of them where he was leading them to behind them where he's protecting them and he's keeping the Egyptians from being able to get at them while he parts the sea. Now did I tell you how deep it was? 800 ft at one place, but mostly 160 ft.

So when you had a picture of that water being about yay deep or something like that. No, think more like a twenty-story building or maybe an eighty-story building at its deepest point going straight up. I recently saw a children's cartoon of this and I like the insight that maybe they saw marine life swimming in the walls as they're walking along. I don't know; that's not in the Bible. But I'm just trying to get inside the story.

And they're walking across dry land and they're terrified and they can't believe that the ground is dry. But then the minute they get close to the other shore, the Egyptians, because God had hardened their heart, they go in there. It took some bravery to go in there. You have to have a hard heart to jump in there. And so they go in.

And as they go in, the scripture says that they started coming to their senses because their chariot wheels started getting clogged up. I believe the water started sort of slipping down those walls, and it kind of got down into the dry land. It started turning into mud, and the water's starting to come up and it's getting squishy now. It looks like God's fighting for them. Let's get out of here. So did you enter the story?

I did my best. Are you with me? I tried to “put the cookies on the bottom shelf” for the little kids. I did it especially for you older adults.

You're in the story. And God brought him on the other side, and then he judged Egypt. You know, that part about the hard hearts kind of bothers me a little bit; God hardened their hearts. You know, that's in the Bible. Describing Pharaoh several times.

But I went back and looked at it this week, just to remind myself. The first five plagues, after each one, he would say something about giving Israel more of their freedom or letting them go back to the promised land. But then he would harden his own heart. Go back and look after the first five, after the plague of blood, after the plague of frogs, gnats, flies, livestock. After each one, it says that Pharaoh hardened his own heart.

It wasn't until after the sixth plague that it says the Lord hardened his heart. It reminds me of Romans, chapter one, where it says that he turned them over to a debased mind since they had chosen to worship the creation over the Creator. And he said, I'm just going to turn you over to that. I think there's something similar going on.

Pharaoh already had a hard heart. The leaders already had a hard heart. He turned it over and he goes, if you want a hard heart, I'm going to let you have a hard heart. I think that might be what's going on.

It's kind of what the early church Father Origen said. He said, the same sun that melts bright butter hardens clay.

And so for some of us here today, we hear the word of God and it melts our heart. But some of us hear the word of God and it hardens us even further. Be careful that God doesn't turn you over to a hard heart. He turns them over to a hard heart. Now, as they're crossing.

Gary, how does this speak to Jesus as the only way? Well, as we look here, did I show you the map? Can I show it to you really quickly again? Pop the map back up.

And so they couldn't go south because of the sea. They couldn't go north because of the mountains. They couldn't go east because of the Egyptians over here. The only way they could go is if God parted the sea. There was only one way out of this mess.

And if God didn't act, they'd never get out. But God did and he saved them and he parted the sea. But he didn't just part the sea, he judged Egypt. Here's the thing, he got them out of Egypt, but it's going to take him a while to get Egypt out of them. Because Egypt is a picture of the world.

It's a picture of your former life. It's a picture of your sinful life before you came to Christ. It's a picture of where you used to be. God, when he saves you, he gets you out of bondage to sin. He gets you out of bondage to the Egyptians.

He gets you safely away from them. But it takes him a while, it takes him the rest of your life in the wilderness to get Egypt out of you.

Because it takes some sanctification. It takes a while for us to get his help with that. That's why Jesus said to Thomas, when Thomas asked him, how can we know the way? John 14:6 (ESV) Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

I'm the way. Notice that God didn't remove the sea. He made a way through it. Not over it, not under it, not around it. He took them right through it.

Salvation is not found in self effort or alternate routes. Step forward in faith alone, in Christ alone. He is the only way. And this leads us to the third picture that I see here. We see he's the Mediator. He's the only way, and he's the risen Savior.

The third picture is Christ the risen Savior. We're at verse 23 and following. We've worked our way up to verse 22, but now we're at 23 and following. And when we get to verse 24, we see him refer to the “morning watch.” Verse 24,

24 “And in the morning watch the LORD in the pillar of fire and of cloud looked down on the Egyptian forces and threw the Egyptian forces into a panic,” That's Hebrew time. They didn't have watches. They didn't have clocks. They would divide the night watch into four watches.

So the morning watch is the fourth watch. So that's like 3 to 6am; that's right when the sun starts, the red of the sky in the east and sun starts coming up, the sun would have come up on the Israelite’s side. The Egyptians would see it coming. And as the sun comes up, the pillar moves. And now the Egyptians see they're escaping.

They've been disrupted all night long as the Israelites. They had them cornered, man. They had them right on the shore, they couldn't run away. And as the pillar moves they see that they're already almost all the way across like that. And the sun's coming up in that fourth watch.

Who is that angel of the Lord by the way? It just says the angel of the Lord. And when he moves, the pillar moves. Who is that? I agree with most theologians who look at this that they see the pre-incarnate Christ, that he's right there.

He's right there. This is before he was born to a woman. It's before he became one of us. He's the second person of the Godhead, the Son of God. He's the pre-incarnate.

Theologians call this a “christophany,” an Old Testament appearance of Christ. I believe Christ is present as the angel of the Lord. He's present in the pillar of fire by day, in the pillar of cloud by night. And he's the one that kept them in protection, protected them. But now he opens the way and he's also the judge.

Paul saw it like this. Paul in First Corinthians talks about Jesus being present with them in the wilderness. He says, 1 Corinthians 10:1-4 (ESV) 10 “For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 and all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.” He's calling the Red Sea crossing like a baptism into the old covenant. It's a foreshadowing of the baptism that we experience today, the baptism into Christ.

He says they were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea and all ate the same spiritual food. Speaking of manna, they all drank the same spiritual drink, which he's speaking of the drink that came from the spiritual rock. And he says that spiritual rock is who? Christ. You know what Paul was doing?

He's doing the same thing we're doing. He's finding Jesus on every page. Because if you want the key to the Bible, the key is Christ. This is a book about him primarily. And so as we look at this, we can see that Christ is present here.

And he's represented by the way across. There's only one way across. But more than that, as they get to the other side and they're standing on the other shore. And if we had time, we'd read chapter 15, because chapter 15 is one of the top 10 hits on Hebrew radio. Okay?

I mean, Moses wrote this song. And I think his sister Miriam jumped in there with a tambourine and helped out. She got credit on the album. They got in there and did a praise and worship song, man, because God saved them. And we see this summary at the end.

And he judged the Egyptians and he saved Israel. Verse 30, “Thus the LORD saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore.” In verse 31, Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians. Verse 31, “Israel saw the great power that the LORD used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the LORD, and they believed in the LORD and in his servant Moses.” So the people feared, instead of being afraid of the Egyptians, now they fear God.

When you fear men, you'll stay in fear. When you fear God, you won't fear men anymore. You won't fear this, anything in this world. If you have a fear of God. It's the beginning of wisdom.

The book of Proverbs says to have a respect, a sober, worshipful honoring of God. It's the beginning of wisdom. It says they feared the Lord and they believed in the Lord. They believed in him. As they came across this point, you can almost see this as a picture of baptism.

Paul says it was. It points to the baptism we have that we saw this morning with our two candidates that came confessing Jesus. It's like the old life was swallowed up in the waters. In 1 Corinthians, chapter 15, Paul writes that death is swallowed up in victory.

1 Corinthians 15:54-57 (ESV) “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” The Red Sea crossing is a foreshadowing of believer's baptism.

And when you think about Jesus and how he came, like Moses, he was almost killed as a baby in Bethlehem. God told his father Joseph to escape to Egypt. And then he fulfilled the scripture. “Out of Egypt I called my son.” And he comes back to the land of Galilee.

When it's time for him to begin his public ministry, he gets baptized in the river Jordan by his kin, his cousin John the Baptist. And then the Spirit carries him from baptism to 40 days in the wilderness. It's the reenactment of Exodus. Because this story is not the big story. Exodus points to the big story.

The big story is Jesus. He put this in here over and over. Again in the Psalms and the prophets. The most referenced story in the Bible is the Exodus story. Why?

Because one was coming to fulfill it. His name is Jesus. And when we look at baptism, we see the picture of Christ's death, burial and resurrection. And we look at this story, we see the saying, don't miss it. Don't miss it.

Israel was delivered from Pharaoh, but they would still struggle with sin.

If you say yes to Jesus today and you receive him as your Lord and Savior, he'll bring you out of Egypt, he'll bring you out of the world. But Monday morning will still come and you'll still have to wrestle with the old man, the old life. But now you have the spirit, you have the word of God. You can be faithful at church and have the people of God. And then the next 40 years, as we wait for his return, or he calls us home to the promised land, he's going to wean us off of evil.

He got us out of Egypt, but it's going to take a little while for him to get Egypt out of us. And so we'll see the rest of the story and we'll keep talking about it over the next few weeks. But today, why not today? Consider that as that morning watch came, there was another morning where Jesus was in a tomb. Not on a shoreline, but in a borrowed tomb.

And the stone was rolled away. He walked out alive. And sin, death and the grave, and Satan were overcome and defeated forever. So are you still standing on the shore in fear today? Or have you stepped forward in faith?

Believing in Jesus, that's the goal of every rescue story in the Bible. That's the goal of the story, that you would believe in our Redeemer, Jesus Christ. Have you given your life to him? Let's pray.

Lord, we're astounded by your story and we're amazed that you would invite us into your story, that you would want us, that you would desire us, that you would love us so much that you would send your one and only son, Jesus, your only begotten son, to die in our place and to be raised from the grave. I pray for that person today. Is it you, my friend? I pray for you that you would come to Jesus today right in your seat. You can pray with me right now.

Prayer is just a reflection of your faith. It's an expression of your faith. Pray like this if it's your heart's desire. Dear Lord Jesus, I'm a sinner, but I believe you died on the cross for my sins. I believe that you were raised from the grave and that you live today?

I believe it. Would you come into my life? I surrender my heart to you. I surrender my life to you. Would you come in and forgive me of my sins and cleanse me and give me your righteousness?

Adopt me into your family. I want to follow you as my Lord and Savior the rest of my life. If you're praying that prayer of faith, believing, the scripture says he will save you, just as he did the Israelites, he'll rescue you. Others are here today and he saved you. You're a believer, but you're in the wilderness.

Would you talk to him now and say, lord, I need you today. I'm facing something that I don't know how to get through. Lord, I need you today. Would you remind me of your power and of your presence? I believe in you, Lord.

I'm your follower. But you know what I'm facing. I lift up these prayers now for you and for myself. In the name of Jesus, Amen.

Audio

1. PICTURE 1: Christ the perfect Mediator.

2. PICTURE 2: Christ the only Way.

3. PICTURE 3: Christ the risen Savior.

Audio

What to watch next...

The Commandments

The Conquest

The Crown

The Captivity

Ready to Dig Deeper?