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"Why God Does What He Does"
Welcome Back! Welcome back after our celebration of the
resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Welcome
back also to our year-long journey through the Bible called
“Thy Kingdom Come.” It is very appropriate in the shadow the
deliverance of the resurrection that our lessons would lead
us to the greatest act of deliverance in the Old Testament;
the Exodus from Egypt and the Crossing of the Red Sea.
As we have made our way through the Old Testament, I have
told you that one of the keys to reading this portion of
Scripture is to remember always to keep your eyes on the
promises of God. Today I would like to share with you
another principle in understanding the Old Testament and
its message. As you read, it is important to lead your
mind not so into understanding how things happen but rather
why they happen. Our account of the Exodus today is an
excellent example of this. God leads his people out of
Egypt and across the Red Sea on dry ground and Moses even
tells us how he did it, but even more important is why
he did it.
It is a scene that is probably most familiar from Cecil B.
DeMille's classic "The Ten Commandments." But the
reality of it must have been something that even Hollywood
could never quite capture. The Israelites had been
delivered from Egypt. Pharaoh, who refused to release
the people for so long, now can’t get rid of them fast
enough. The Bible tells us that 600,000 men plus women,
children, and many other foreigners made the journey out
of Egypt, scholars estimate that their numbers may have
been as many as a million people. Those who were once
enslaved were now free and what is more, they carried the
wealth of Egypt with them. It is a deliverance that is
so incredible that only God could possibly have done it.
But God is not finished yet. They traveled out toward
the sea. Their speed must have been no greater than the
oldest and youngest could have traveled. And their joy
was soon to turn to fear. Pharaoh changed his mind once
again and this slow moving, poorly organized mass was soon
to be overtaken by the fastest chariots and one of the
armies in the world at the time. The children of Israel
were trapped, trapped between the chariots of Pharaoh on
one side and the impassible sea on the other. The situation
was hopeless. There was death in front of them and death
behind them and they were, to say the least, terrified,
and as we do so often, in their fear they cried out against
the very God who had rescued them from their slavery.
But God had one more trick up his sleeve. Moses called the
people to not be afraid but rather to watch the deliverance
that God in mind for them. The angel of the Lord and the
pillar of cloud moved between the Israelites and the armies
of Pharaoh and what is more, in a moment that our physics
will never explain, they caused it be dark on the Egyptian’s
side and light on that of lsrael. All night long an east
wind blew the waters of the sea and dried the ground on
which the Israelites would soon pass. You can well imagine
that not many slept that night, some from fear and others
the awe inspiring sight as that incredible wind divided
the waters and path of dry ground approached throughout
the night.
The rest of the story is equally familiar. The slow moving
mob crossed the sea on dry ground with a wall of water on
either side of their train. The Egyptians came then in
hot pursuit. The Israelites arrived safely on the other
side but the army of Pharaoh realized too late that God
was fighting for Israel and they ended their days in the
waters of the sea. When the Israelites realized the
incredible thing that God had done for them, they feared the
Lord and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant.
If only it were to last!
As familiar as the story is to us, it is still hard for
us to relate to completely. The deliverance seems beyond
our wildest imagination, but one thing that we can relate
too, and that is their fear. We too, know God and yet we
know fear. But even more importantly, we know God’s rescue
in the midst of our fear. Just what does he rescue us from?
There is so much in our lives of which to be afraid. We
live in fear-filled world where war is a reality and nations
continue to test destructive weapons in spite of all.
We will in a community where even the maternity ward of a
hospital is not necessarily a safe place. But the reality
is that our fears come most often from inside of ourselves.
We have fears and desire rescue from so many things. We have
fears about our health, about depression, about our relationships,
about the problems of raising children, about our finances, and
in general we have fears about the future. We have the kind
of fear that keeps us up at night making us doubt ourselves
and sadly even our God. In spite of ourselves, we who have
celebrated the rescue that came through Jesus’ resurrection
just one short week ago still doubt our God and his goodness.
Sometimes we even say things to him that sound a bit like
the plaintive cry of Israel: “were there no grave in Egypt
that you brought us out into the wilderness to die?
This reality, the reality that we, in spite of all that
God has done, still doubting him is the thing that should
fill us with fear most of all. The truth is that we so
often question God. We so often attempt to take things
into our own hands. We so often leave his commands and
desire in crumbs as we strive to do what we really want
after all. Trapped in the reality of our sin, sin about
which we can finally do nothing, we are in a hopeless
situation. There is death behind us and death before us.
It is in the light of such a hard reality that we look
again with fresh eyes at the plight of the Israelites.
For what did God do in the midst of the murmuring and
crying out against him? Well, quite simply, he rescued
them anyway. And that is what he does for us.
The account of sea being divided by wind and of a million
strong mob crossing over on dry ground is really beyond
our ability to grasp. But the truth is that it is nothing
compared to what God has done for you and me. To rescue
the Israelites he sent a wind. To rescue us he sent his
Son! Jesus came to earth to rescue us. He came to live
out the life that God intended, to bring us hope where so
often there is fear. Ironically, Jesus himself knew many
things that should stir fear. He knew the rejection of his
message. He knew scheme and plot and finally a completely
underserved death sentence.
If the account of the Red Sea leaves you in wonder, look
on the very Son of God on cross. Watch as he endured a
death that brought darkness where there should have been
light. Finally, look on the wonder of his cold, lifeless
body as it was placed in a tomb. But then remember not
to be afraid. Do not be afraid, but rather stand firm and
see the deliverance that the Lord has brought you today.
We celebrate it with lilies and music and much fanfare.
We celebrate it because on the first Easter it was discovered
that Jesus Christ was no longer in the tomb. He had been
delivered from death by his Father in heaven.
Look on all these things and remember that he did them for
you and for me. We have been rescued from our sin and from
its penalty once and for all. Like the Israelites, we pass
through water, the water of our baptism, and on the other
side, apart from anything that we could ever do, God rescues
us completely by his own miraculous effort.
I do not want to pretend that there is no longer anything to
fear in this life. If I were to tell you that, you might imagine
that my views were just a bit too much Pollyanna. There is fear
and anguish and the craving for rescue in this world as long as
there is sin. I didn’t need to tell you that. Yet in the face
of all that you have dealt with in your life, in the face of all
that you may be facing at the moment in the face of what we watch
on the evening news, Moses’ words ring out to us over and over
again. “Do not be afraid, stand firm and watch the deliverance
of our God!” Easter is indeed the most important thing that we
could ever celebrate!
Remember in the Old Testament, how God does things is not nearly
as important as why he does them. He rescued the Israelites as
he has promised to do, and in Christ he has rescued us as well, now
and forever.
In Jesus' Name! Amen.
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