Exodus Chapter 14

Exodus 14:1 And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying,
2 Speak unto the children of Israel, that they turn and encamp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, over against Baal-zephon: before it shall ye encamp by the sea.
3 For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in.

Remember what Pharaoh had to give up. The Israelites did all the hard work. They build the buildings, and did the work the Egyptians did not want to do. They were brilliant in all they did and good at it. That is how Jews have always been. A country that takes its Jewish population lightly is absolutely crazy. They are good at whatever they attempt. Pharoah was letting their way of life go. It meant that Pharaoh would have to rely on untalented, lazy Egyptians. For if we do not learn to work hard, and let everyone else do our working, thinking and learning for us, we will get lazy and unfruitful. Yet he failed to remember that Israel was not his in the first place. He had no rights to them. No one has a right to own another human being.

I believe God prefers that we come to this realization on our own but when we are stubborn and refuse to listen to God, death and destruction comes.

When it came to Pharaoh, it cost him the destruction of Egypt and the loss of all the firstborn. Even this did not stop him from regretting that he let the people go. He chased after them not ever expecting God to open up the sea before them.

Exodus 14:4 And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, that he shall follow after them; and I will be honored upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host; that the Egyptians may know that I am the LORD. And they did so.
5 And it was told the king of Egypt that the people fled: and the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants was turned against the people, and they said, Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us?
6 And he made ready his chariot, and took his people with him:
7 And he took six hundred chosen chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt, and captains over every one of them.
8 And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued after the children of Israel: and the children of Israel went out with a high hand.
9 But the Egyptians pursued after them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, and his horsemen, and his army, and overtook them encamping by the sea, beside Pi-hahiroth, before Baal-zephon.
10 And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians marched after them; and they were sore afraid: and the children of Israel cried out unto the LORD.

Fear gripped the heart of the Israelites as they saw the approaching armies. Lest we criticize them for their unbelief, we must remember that in the same circumstances we would probably do the same thing.

Exodus 14:11 And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt?
12 Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness.
13 And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will show to you today: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen today, ye shall see them again no more forever.

They were in a place where there was absolutely nothing they could do to save themselves. They could not swim across, they could not fight, they could do nothing. The salvation had to come from God Himself.

This is a picture of a lost sinner before God. He is in the depths of sin bound by drugs, alcohol, fornication, hate, lust, envy, greed, idolatry and many other things that is destroying him spiritually and physically. There is no way out of the mess he had gotten himself into. There is no hope.

Yet there is one who died for his sins. There is one who came just to lift up that one sinner from his mess and set his feet on the solid rock of Jesus Christ the Son of God. He is God's way of salvation given freely to any and all who would believe.

As only God could save them from the Egyptians, only God can save mankind from his lost condition and make them new creatures in Christ and fill them with the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Exodus 14:14 The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.
15 And the LORD said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward:
16 But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea.
17 And I, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them: and I will get me honor upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen.
18 And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I have gotten me honor upon Pharaoh, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen.
19 And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them:

Christ Himself may have been this angel. In that case it would not have been an ordinary angel. Even when that cloud separated Israel from the Egyptians that should have been enough to cause them to go back to Egypt and not pursue after them.

Exodus 14:20 And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these: so that the one came not near the other all the night.
21 And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.

I would have loved to have seen that. To those that do not believe in miracles, a greater miracle than that happens when just one soul is saved from sin and granted eternal life through His faith in Jesus Christ.

Exodus 14:22 And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left.
23 And the Egyptians pursued, and went in after them to the midst of the sea, even all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen.
24 And it came to pass, that in the morning watch the LORD looked unto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians,
25 And took off their chariot wheels, that they drove them heavily: so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel; for the LORD fighteth for them against the Egyptians.
26 And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen.
27 And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it; and the LORD overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea.
28 And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained not so much as one of them.
29 But the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea; and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left.
30 Thus the LORD saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore.
31 And Israel saw that great work which the LORD did upon the Egyptians: and the people feared the LORD, and believed the LORD, and his servant Moses.

This is awesome. I believe every word. I also believe in the latter days when there shall be false signs and wonders because Satan had limited power, that there will also be great miracles of deliverance to those that believe and trust in God. Yet even if we do not see the visible miracles it is still a miracle that we do not see signs and still believe by the witness of the Holy Spirit. God has given us a few visible signs but some of us reject them. One visible sign is the evidence of speaking in tongues when God baptizes people in the Holy Spirit. When that happens we do have proof of the supernatural presence of God.

This happened to me when I wasn't even at church. I wasn't praying and no one laid any hands upon me to receive. I was in the back seat of a car driven by my dad when I was thinking about God and just simply started to say something like praise the Lord. I might have said it but I might not have said anything at first, I don't remember that part. Then, the Holy Spirit began to speak through me a beautiful language I had never heard or spoken before. At first it came out a little stifled until I yielded my tongue to the Lord and then I heard a beautiful language. I knew the Holy Spirit baptism had come. My dad and step mother knew immediately what occurred and they began to praise the Lord with joy.

God is still doing miracles if we would only start believing in His word. DC

Exodus 15

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