God’s Rescue Through the Wilderness

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Ken Mbugua: Well, let me have you turn your Bibles to Exodus 14. Exodus 14, if you are here, and you are a young man who is thinking about whether or not God has called you to the pastoral ministry, please do not waste your time trying to test God with the kinds of prayers that I prayed. My prayers were more informed by the TBN network than they were from proper exegesis. All that you require is desire for the walk, and for a church that believes that you are biblically qualified for the walk, Exodus 14. Suite together. Then the Lord said to Moses, tell the people of Israel to turn back and camp in front of pi heroes between MIG doll and the sea, in front of Bowser form, you shall income facing it by the sea, for Pharaoh will say, of the people of Israel, they are wandering in the land, the wilderness has shut them in. And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and He will pursue them. And I will get glory over Pharaoh, and all his host. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord. And they did so. When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, the mind of Pharaoh and his servants was changed towards the people and they said, What is this we have done that we have let Israel go from serving us. So he made ready his chariots and took his army with him. He took 600 chosen chariots and all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over them over all of them. And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and he pursued the people of Israel, while the people of Israel why we’re going out defiantly. The Egyptians pursued them all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots and his horsemen and his army and overtook them, and comes at the sea by heroes in front of balsa Farron. When Pharaoh drew near the people of Israel, lifted up the eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly. And the people of Israel cried out to the Lord, they say 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 bringing us out of Egypt? Is not this what we say to you in Egypt? Leave us alone, that we may solve the Egyptians, for it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness. And Moses said to the people, fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation the Lord, 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, the Lord will fight for you. And you have only to be silent. The Lord said to Moses, why do you crouch to me tell the people of Israel to go forward, lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divided, that the people of Israel may go through the sea, on dry ground, and I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, so that they shall go in after them, and I will get glory of a Pharaoh, and all his hosts his chariots, and his horsemen. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord. When I have gotten glory of a Pharaoh, and his chariots and his horsemen. Then the angel of the Lord 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, coming between the host of Egypt and the host of Israel. And there was a there was the cloud and the darkness, and it leads up the night without one coming near the other all night. 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. And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on the right hand, and on their left, the Egyptians pursued and went in after them into the midst of the sea, or Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots and his horsemen. 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, clogging the chariot wheel so that they drove heavily. And they Gyptian said, Let us flee from before Israel, for the Lord fights for them against the Egyptians. 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 upon their horsemen. So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal course, when the morning appeared, and the Egyptians when the morning appeared, and as the Egyptians fled into it, the Lord 3g The Egyptians into the midst of the sea, the waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen, and all the hosts of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea, not one of them remained. 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, that the Lord saved Israel that day, from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, so that people feared the Lord. And they believed in the Lord, and in his servant Moses, this is the word of the Lord. Well, let me ask you, what is your story? Has anybody ever asked you that question? What is your story? It’s not a bad way to try to get someone whom you do not know. I mean, there’s other options about how you could get to know someone whom you do not know. You could ask them for instance, are you married? Where are you from? How many kids do you have? Those questions are not necessarily bad. It’s just that those questions don’t really tell you anything about the past, when you see when you when you ask the question, how, how, what what is your story? What you’re trying to get at is, is how have the important events in your life shaped you? Or at the very least, you tend to get to understand how, how does this individual see those things as having shaped them? You see, when we were reading this particular portion of Exodus, chapter 14, God intended for this narrative of the Exodus to shape his people. It was meant to be that if you were ever to ask an Israelite, who are you, but the event that they would look back to that they would point to that was all defining about who they were was this story. They would say, let me tell you about me. And they would look back of the days when they were slaves. But God saw them and had mercy on them, and came down and delivered them. And that they would say that reality of God who saved us from Egypt has become the all defining reality about who I am. You see that as you continue reading through the book of Exodus in chapter 20, just before the giving of the of the 10 Commandments, God opens up with that preamble. This is who I am, I am the Lord your God has saved you out of Egypt in the Book of Leviticus as he’s calling them to holiness, multiple times at least 11 times he reminds them of this particular event. This is what they were supposed to look back to, quite specifically in in accordance to a particular portion, Exodus 14, the nation of Israel, all of the children of God in Israel, were to look back at this event and specifically see that because it was their god who fought for them. They had no cause, to live in fear, as Exodus 14 specific because it was not just merely that they were saved out of Egypt. But the the way they were saved is to the Lord fighting for them.

That they they had no cause to fear. Brothers and sisters this morning, I’m here to seek to convince you of the same thing that this text was seeking to convince the original reader which was Do not fear for Yahweh fights your foes. For you. You see, by the time you’re getting to the to the 14th chapter of Exodus. It’s like you’ve been watching a movie and the movie has come to an end the damsel has been saved. The villain has been destroyed it’s which is really the the The theme line of the Bible the the bride has been redeemed by Christ. But then at the very end of the movie, sometimes you have a scene where the the villain who’s destroyed the music was already playing in that victorious in the tune whatever it is, and then all of a sudden out of nowhere the villain appears again. As you look Wait, how? He was like totally dead. That’s what you’re seeing happening right here. The nation of Israel has been delivered, and it has been a mighty victory 10 plagues complete. They have pillaged Egypt, they have taken the spoil and they are walking away. Do you see how it says it in verse eight, they are marching, they are walking defiantly out of the land. But then, as they’re walking defiantly out of the land, we are told that they lift up their heads. See that in Boston. When Pharaoh dream here, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes. And behold, it was a shocking thing they saw everything was going just fine. And then they lifted up their eyes and behold, they did something shocking is what they saw. It’s like, bumping into someone in your empty house. And the sudden shocking thing that happens inside you. That’s what happens here. They are immediately terrified by what they see. It’s just that what they bump into is not someone in the empty house, they bump into the the greatest army that is the most terrifying army. But there is an army that is vastly superior in every measurement. The size experienced technology motivation is people are coming after them. The scene that is is unfolding here of of tool nations are war that is ensuing is it’s it’s not the setup for a fair battle by the human eye. I mean, this is this is a battle that is tilted significantly to to one side, it’s it’s more like watching a scene where on the one hand, you have an elite team of commandos armed to the tooth with everything, you know, with all the gear, those night vision things and it’s everything and they’re closing in on a group of stranded tourists who parked way more than they should have parked. This, this is not a there’s not a battle we’re about to watch. This is a massacre that is about to unfold to the naked eye. This is exactly how they see themselves. And you see it in the way they start speaking. They get gripped with fear because of seeing their enemies coming at them. And they start speaking sarcastically to Moses, because as far as they’re concerned, all that is standing between them. And that army is an eight year old man with a stick. And they don’t like the odds of that battle. So immediately everything changes is people who are walking out defiantly are not doing anything differently anymore. They are terrorized. They are gripped in fear. They’re confident boasting in God has so quickly evaporated. Because you see they’re keeping their eyes only on the immediate circumstances that are around them. Brothers and sisters is this is this not us far more often than we want to acknowledge. God is good when we are at a conference and we’re listening to our favorite songs, sipping on our Latte Macchiato granddad’s with a splash of something inside there. Life is good, God is good. But the minute something goes wrong fear takes over. All rationale is controlled by the one thing that we’re fearing. The one thing that we are looking at, that becomes all that matters. No more confidence no More boasting we we are afraid of everything as Christians nowadays, aren’t we? We are fear, we are fearful about the way the culture is going, how things are developing it? It seems like the progressive left is winning the day, let us be absolutely terrified about the future. Did you see what happened at the Supreme Court? Let us come together and shudder.

Did you see Peppa Pig and how she is corrupting our next generation of children. All our children will be undone. All of the gospel they’ve been taught will be powerless, in the face of the mighty pepper. So let us conduct ourselves like that. Let us meet and eagerly share with each other, more panic. Did you see? Did you hear? It’s a man. It’s a disease, it’s a diagnosis. It’s a virus, whatever it is this, this has become us. And it’s because we do not know ourselves. We have become fear addicts latching onto anything that would terrorize us. You know what’s interesting with this passage is in verse four of chapter 14, the the the aim of what God was setting up was, was was to teach the Egyptians about himself. So let me ask for, then the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord. What does the narrative develops, we realize actually, it’s, it’s not the Egyptians here by themselves. The very people of God do not know the law. The Yahweh, the great I Am Who has revealed Himself to them in that 10 point someone, they still don’t know him. I mean, when God is speaking, he basically speaks in such a way that that declares the the Egyptians have a very low view of me, they will think I’m lost in the wilderness. That’s what they think about Yahweh. But look, that’s the same thing that God’s people think about Yahweh. They have a low estimation of God, and they have a high estimation of their enemy. You see, what is happening here is, it’s becoming pretty evident that the Israelites who have been set free still have a problem inside them. They still view themselves as slaves. Notice what the problem here is, the problem here really is they they have a vision problem. When they look, they’re not seeing things as they ought to look at the context here in chapter 13, and verse 21. Scroll back up a little bit. This, isn’t it. Here’s what he says. And the Lord went before them, the Lord Yahweh went before them by day in a pillar of cloud, to lead them along the way and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light that they might travel by day and by night, the pillar of cloud by day. And the pillar of fire by night, did not depart from the from before the people ways God ways God I asked you, his right there with them. That’s the context. And he’s not right there with them in a way that is very hard to discern. He is there with them in the form of a pillar that is blazing in the night that is accompanying them wherever they go. But when they lift up their eyes, what do they behold, Pharaoh and his armies. They are not seeing the fact that their God is with them. His presence has not forsaken them even in this moment, even in this fight, that they are about to get into, into those opening portions of of chapter 14. They are not seeing that that God is the sovereign Lord over all things. He has just shown them through the plagues that he is the one who is in control of all creation. And here it shows that he is in control of absolutely every detail. This is a setup. They are not where they are because of an accident. They are exactly where God wants them to be. But the people of God are not seeing that. They’re seeing right past his presence. They’re seeing right past his power. The story actually is, is unfolding just as God ordained that it would, he knew exactly what Pharaoh would do. He has hardened Pharaoh’s heart, so that he will do exactly what he wants to do. And that is what God’s people ought to be seeing when they lift up their eyes. But because they don’t see the truth, what happens to their heart is they are gripped with terror, watch, they speak with their tongues, is some really mean harsh things. So what happens when people stop believing in God? I mean, you could take their words and do a lot of things with them. Just just just summarize it this way. This is how we start talking when God is invisible to us. You lash out at everyone and everything around you. That’s what’s happening to them because fear has taken over, they have immediately reverted back to their slave identity. If you were to ask the Israelites, then what is your story? Here’s what they would say. We are slaves of the mighty Pharaoh. That’s really who they are. You know, this is. So oftentimes, the reality of the Christian life is the sort of dissonance, lack of harmony between the actual reality of what has happened to us, and what our feelings and opinions are telling us. The actual reality is this people have been set free. These people have been rescued, Egypt has already been decimated. But the way in which they are thinking and seeing and feeling as though they are still slaves. The most encouraging portion of the Scripture is the fact that even though they feel like that, even though they’re still so blind, even though they are still controlled by old views of who they are, it doesn’t stop God from saving them. God doesn’t stop them there and tell them, hey, you have to fix this fast and stop fearing and that’s the only way you will get saved. God works for them a salvation that they do not deserve. For us as Christians who are seeking to walk in that victory. What this passage is teaching us is something we say back home, which is it is easy to take a man you can take a man out of the village. But it is very hard to take the village out of the man. What we are seeing here is that it is one thing to get a slave out of slavery. But to get that slavery out of him, is yet another thing. That’s the problem that is being highlighted here. But no worries. Moses has a cure. Moses proposes a cure. Look at how the story progresses. Abbas 13. And Moses said to the people, fear not stand farm 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 the Lord will fight for you. And you have only to be silent. You see if the entire first portion which we have just looked at the entire half have just been laboring through is could be summarized under the idea of of a fearful king, a frightening king. But the the Israelites see and then fear. The second portion could then be summarized under a fighting King that Israel sees and fears. Moses called them after they have completed the review of his performance, which they have very candidly and forthrightly communicated to him. He asked them to fear not. This is what’s going on here. Oh, this panic. All this, I wish this and I wish that all these attacks are simply a masquerade of the fear that has gripped them, monitors them, Do not be afraid, stand firm, and see the salvation that the Lord will work for you. What do they have to do? In this situation?

I mean, there’s a, there’s an army coming ask them, what would they? What would Moses have them do? What would God have them do on instruction is what? You only have to be silent, keep quiet. The way the salvation will be unfolded is God will do the fighting, you will do nothing. God will do the fighting, you will do nothing. Since this is the shape of the Gospel itself, isn’t it? Behold, what salvation God is going to work for you. You don’t get to save yourself, out of this dire situation, God will do all the saving for you. That’s what God’s people need to know. All across time, this portion that is articulated as the gospel in so many different ways in the New Testament, when Moses shows up in the New Testament, speaking to Jesus in the amount of Transfiguration, this is what they’re talking about the the exodus that delivers the departure that Jesus is about to accomplish, articulating the realities of the cross. In Exodus terminology, this is the shape of the gospel, God does the fighting, we do nothing. Have we considered just how much help we need? That up until the point Jesus came, our chief enemies, sin and death had taken down every single man and woman who had come up against them. Not a single one had survived, who stepped into that ring, to fight death. All who died. Remain that in that regard, never to come alive to live forevermore. Until a time when one was born, who was like man like a son of man, one who was an Adam, a second Adam, indeed the last Adam. And when he stepped into the ring to fight with sin, and death, he received the penalty that you and I deserved, he died because of taking upon himself our sin. But after three days, he rose victoriously. Sin and death did not have the last say on him. And it was the first time for all of us as humanity. But we had hope, clearly put on display. It was a promised hope from the very beginning. But to manifest that for us 2000 years ago, we needed exactly this, for God to fight for us. And that’s exactly what he did. When he not only died, but rose from the grave and ascended up to heaven. See what the emphasis here is? Moses is asking them to see Did you catch all the seas? In what Moses is saying? See this, they Gyptians that you see and tremble. You will never see again. This is what we are waiting to see unfold. God, acting like the God that He is who is a warrior king, who will fight for them against Egypt. Notice how quickly everything changes here. He speaks to Moses and he asked him What are you waiting for? Was 15 Why do you cry for me? I like the ramping up of the gears here. Everything changes. It’s like God wants you said that. Watch this. Basically, watch this. It is Battle Mode with Jack way. Moses go what are you waiting for? Why are you crying to me? We’re told in verse nine Tina, the angel of the Lord is present the cloud moves from the front of them and stands in between Egypt and Israel. It is God himself who is acting in this battle the the children of God are not picking up their tools and charging against the Egyptians. They We are watching to see what God will do and God Himself is actively moving. It was 21, we are told that an east wind powerfully pushes the water and and the waters are divided. They’re partying and they’re coming back together by the power of God is exactly how the enemy is destroyed. The reader, the keen reader, who’s who’s going through this would would immediately think about what they have already seen, in this short reading through of the Bible. Because back in chapter eight of Genesis, something very similar has happened. The the sons of God who come into the daughters of man producing this, this great people who are causing violence to spread across all the earth in chapter six, they are brought to judgment is chapter in chapter eight, isn’t it? The Lord brings about a worldwide flood that sweeps away in judgment, all of the enemies of God, and the only ones who are saved, and Noah and his family because Noah had found favor with God. That scene is replaying itself again, in Exodus 14, God is yet at work again to bring about deliverance for his people. This is the God who will have the final say, not Pharaoh, and his armies, not the giants, and all others who follow their ways against God will win, but it is the people of the Lord who will be delivered, and the enemies of God, who will be judged. Look at verse 24, to notice this keenly says, and in the morning, watch the Lord in the pillow fire, and have cloud looked down. Now notice this, do you notice what happened in the first portion that caused all trouble? Everything was just fine until what happened? When they lifted up their words, when they lifted up their eyes, and they saw their enemies coming down, ask them what is happening now? We’re sure that God does what does God look up to see when the Egyptians are so mighty and strong? What does God do? God looks down to see where the Egyptians are. So the problem with the with the nation of Israel was this was when they when they lifted up their eyes and they saw their enemy. What they should have kept doing was kept looking up even farther. So that they would be hold Yahweh who is towering over and above their enemies. And that’s what they fail to do. They see a small enemy, and they fear him. And what they should have done is to have seen a great God and to have feared him. You see, the Egyptians are nothing compared to God, even though they are something compared to Israel. Egypt versus Israel. Yes, commandos versus tourists. It looks like Israel is an ant and an Egypt is the boots, and an ant has all the right to fear the boot in that regard, if that’s all that’s going on. But what if you add into the battle, the one who says the earth is my footstool, the one who is so big that boots absolutely disappears in the scope that he brings to the battle. You see, what’s happening here is they need their eyes fixed. They are not seeing correctly and what God is doing for them, as he’s telling them to watch. What he’s going to do is is helping them to see him active in the battle as their warrior king fighting for them. And to see how he cannot be compared with their enemies. And because of that they ought not to fear is the I really should title this whole portion as divine ophthalmology because their site is all wrong. They are not seeing that God they ought to see. But all they’re seeing is the enemy, that God has purposed to destroy you notice how the selection comes to an end. It comes to an end because the the enemies are destroyed in the waters and when the waters come back and cover them. You decide comes to an end. Verse 31. Israel did what Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians saw the people feared the Lord and they believed in the Lord and in His servant Moses. They finally saw it What they were not seeing at the very beginning. When it comes to an end, they see it. You see how this this text is calling us indeed, to not fear for it is Yahweh who fights all our foes. For us.

This lesson continues on if you just even keep yourself to the pentatonic and in Deuteronomy, after the book of Numbers is done, they went to the land, and what did they see in the land? You remember what they saw in the land? You hear the conference? I’m sure you’ve read your Bible before, for the most of you for the most of you, right? What did they see? They saw giant giants. And what do they do? Do they say, not a problem? For it is the Lord our God, who know? What they saw was their whole reality. And they fled. So listen to Deuteronomy, 129, and 32. So I said to you, do not be terrified or afraid of them, for the Lord your God who goes before you will fight for you, just as you saw him do for you in Egypt. This is the lesson I had told you this. But they failed. It isn’t me 321. And I’ve commanded Joshua, the time your eyes have seen all that the Lord your God has done to these two kings. Your eyes have seen all that the Lord your God has done. This is visible. You saw this, live in accordance to what you have seen about your God, He is your warrior king. And isn’t that what happens as they enter into conquest? What does Joshua see in chapter five? God shows up as what, as a common gentle counselor, to help them shows up as a warrior, doesn’t it? With his sword out of its sheath? Because this is how we take the land people, when the God who goes before us is a God who fights for us, as a warrior, King, and how do they keep the land? What does David see? What are they getting all wrong? In those opening portions of the historical books, David comes in and he fixed it all for them. We’re not going to win because we have strong armies or Great armor, or many horses. The battle belongs to who? To the Lord. That’s how God’s people continue clearing the land. And since that’s what we need to see the most, even today we who are caught up in such fear, need to see that again at the church. For there is no way we walk in the ways of the Lord, in this land that is hostile against us. When all that we see is everything that can happen to us. The governments that can crash us, the diseases that can kill us, the culture that can corrupt us, and our response to all those things becomes panic and fear. We will not be the faithful ones in this land, if that’s all we’re seeing. So it really amuses me that in the book of Revelation, as it’s coming to an end, people who are living in our time in that regard, the end times, what are they asked to see? 70 times hear that right. It’s not my accent. Seven, zero. The word see, or saw, or looked show up in one book, the book of Revelation. And oppressed people who are living in hostile times do you know what is the most dire need is to see things as they really are. Because if all they see is the Emperor coming up after them, before they seize the materialism that is seeking to corrupt them, before they seize the false teaching that is seeping into the church, they will panic and they will not be able to conquer as God is calling them to conquer. So Jesus gives a revelation, a vision of how things truly are playing out to John, would you go there and read these verses with me? The other side of your Bible you cannot miss this revelation and chapter five. Let’s go to a familiar one. There’s 70 places you could go to go to one you know fairly well revelation and chapter five, and captured us the first opening words here truck with me with where we’ve been revelation five. Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne, a scroll written within and on the back sealed with seven seals. And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice who is While the to open the scroll and break, it seals, and no one in heaven or not, or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it. And I began to weep loudly, because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. And one of the elders said to me, we no more do watch instead, Behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David has conquered, so that he can open the scroll, and it’s seven seals. What do they need to see? What do you and I need to see? Jesus is that warrior king. And in His death, burial and resurrection, and now ascension, he has conquered. He has conquered over sin. He has conquered over death, he has conquered over your great enemy, that ancient serpent, the devil, so that even though that lion roars against us today, all that could be against us as God’s children has been defeated. So you are nine our call to leave in faith in Him who has already won for us and walk in the victory that He has done for us. So let me ask you as we wrap up, little child, little child, what do you see? When you look out? May we see him who has risen victorious over the grave, amen.