Introduction: Read Exodus14.

The Bible does give a precise location for the crossing of the Red Sea or Sea of Reeds. The Israelites camped near Pi Hahiroth between Migdol and the sea opposite Baal Zephon. We have three place names but today no-one knows where they were! So we do not know exactly where the crossing took place or the nature of the Sea of Reeds. I think it most likely that it was a northerly extension of what is now known as the Gulf of Suez in an area today of saline lakes. I will in this exposition refer to this finger of tidal water as the Red Sea.

Peter Enns in his commentary on Exodus thinks the crossing of the Red Sea prefigures the story of salvation in Christ but does not have much to do with how we conduct our lives from day to day. I do not agree with this. The Israelites had left Egypt and were on their way to the Promised Land. The crossing of the Red Sea is a story about how God protected his people from their enemies. It does have modern parallels because God still preserves his church from enemy onslaughts.

So, I hope, as always, to find something in this story of relevance to us today.

(1) God led the Israelites into trouble.

God led the Israelites south along the western side of a northerly extension of what is now called the Gulf of Suez. This meant they remained in Egypt hemmed in between the Arabian Desert and the sea. It was a route that took them further and further into difficulty.

Pharaoh concluded the Israelites had lost their way and could easily be recaptured. Indeed, such was the inhospitable terrain into which they had wandered they might welcome a return to Egypt.

Sometimes God leads his people into trouble. When he does so, it is for a purpose - as in this case. God told Moses: "But I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD." v4.

We see this in the life of Paul. He was arrested by the Romans in Jerusalem for his own safety. For the next five years Paul was no longer free. He was confined, trapped, imprisoned in Caesarea for 2 or 3 years, then escorted to Rome - a journey that took nearly 6 months, followed by 2 more years under house arrest. God had a purpose in Paul's predicament. During this time the apostle was able to witness to all sorts of different people that he might not have done otherwise.

If God leads us into a predicament for his own purpose he is the one who will get us out of it. This is something the Israelites were to find out. They were going to be able to escape eastward from Egypt across the Red Sea into the Sinai Peninsula.

This was my experience. God undoubtedly expected me to care for my invalid father after my mother died. This meant I resigned from my teaching job and gave up almost everything else in order to look after my father who was in the later stages of Parkinson's disease. Some people said I was very foolish because I would find it very difficult to get back into teaching. When my father died and my work was done God helped me to secure a teaching post in a really lovely school where the children were friendly and affectionate. I believe it was God's provision. He delivered me from an unpromising situation.

(2) Pharaoh regretted letting the Israelites go.

Pharaoh was not alone in rueing the loss of the Hebrews. His officials also regretted losing their slave labour force. Many of the Jewish women were in all probability household slaves and as such their loss would have been felt immediately.

So, with the full support of his officials, Pharaoh mustered a fighting force of 600 elite chariots and along with others chased after the Israelites.

Pharaoh never experienced a change of heart over the enslavement of the Hebrews. He was forced to give way by the death of the Egyptian first born. In spite of the ten plagues, he wants the Israelites back. He cannot bear their loss.

Satan hates to see God's will done. Whenever he is defeated Satan will look for an opportunity to counterattack and recoup his losses. This is something that occurs on many levels:

(a) In China the Christian church has known several years of relative freedom from state interference. However, recently some high officials in the Communist party have become alarmed by the tangible evidence of growth in the form of new, large, impressive church buildings. This has led to the demolition of churches in Zhejiang province on the south-east coast. The upsurge of repression is a typical ploy of Satan.

(b) In organisations like the Church of England it does not matter how many times the proponents of Gay Marriage are defeated they will keep on coming back over and over again until they get their way.

(c) When an individual is converted and delivered from the clutches of Satan the new believer will not be left alone. Our enemy does not accept defeat gracefully. Even when Satan lost his contest with Jesus in the desert he only departed for a season!

In Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress it was not long after Christian had set out on the narrow way that led to the Celestial City that he fell into the Slough of Despond. Christian wondered why the miry slough had been left to discomfit unwary pilgrims. The answer he got was: The miry slough is such a place as cannot be mended: it is the descent whither the scum and filth that attends conviction for sin doth continually run ..... for still as the sinner is awakened about his lost condition, there arise in his soul many fears and doubts, and discouraging apprehensions, which all of them get together, and settle in this place. And this is the reason for the badness of this ground.

Very often a new convert will experience a period of flatness when nothing about the new life in Christ seems real. Prayer becomes difficult, worship a chore and the company of Christians unexciting. In such circumstances the immature believer may be tempted back to old way of life with its pleasures and treats - all of which are very real. The Israelites in the wilderness grew tired of their daily diet of manna and longed for the old life in Egypt with its fish, cucumbers, onions and garlic. Yum yum!

The epistle to the Hebrews was written because Jewish Christians were being tempted to return to Judaism with its festivals, rituals, certainties and relative freedom from persecution. Some Christian Jews must have succumbed to Satan's suggestion that their new faith was not worth the persevering in - otherwise the epistle need never have been written!

(3) The Israelites' slave mentality.

The Israelites may have been delivered from slavery in Egypt but a slave mentality persisted. The attitude of the Hebrews on the shores of the Red Sea was very different from that of the new generation of Jews forty years later who waited to cross the Jordan in full spate and enter the Promised Land.

The Israelites who left Egypt did not revel in their freedom. They were not willing to take responsibility and defend themselves against the Egyptian army. They went out of Egypt fully armed after all. Instead of preparing to do battle they complained to Moses. They saw themselves as victims and needed someone to blame whenever things went wrong. The Israelites had no inner strength. Time and time again in adversity they turned on Moses and questioned his leadership. God's people were still slaves at heart. On this occasion they said: "Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? .... It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert." v11and12. This is pathetic. No Israelite was compelled to leave Egypt. Each individual had a choice - but in difficulty the grumblers were not willing to take responsibility for their decision.

Christians who escape Satan's clutches are better off than the Israelites in that they are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Nevertheless new Christians do not lose their worldly attitudes all at once. They might well jib at Christian discipline and long for aspects of the old life particularly the freedom to indulge self. When trouble comes immature Christians often find it difficult to cope with. Jesus recognised this in his Parable of the Sower. The seed that fell on stoney ground germinated and made a good showing until scorched by fierce sunshine when it withered and died.

Moses on this and subsequent occasions bore the brunt of the Israelite's displeasure. It is very hard for church leaders when people lack faith in them in times of difficulty. When I took on the task of ensuring that all the tombstones in our graveyard were secure there were several people who didn't think I knew what I was doing. One lady wrote me a letter to this effect and suggested I turn the whole job over to a stonemason. She quite overlooked the fact that it was the fault of stonemasons that the tombstones were insecure in the first place! I have to say that the lack of faith in my abilities proved unfounded.

(4) Moses displayed true faith.

Faith is easy when things are going well. True faith is needed in time of tribulation. Moses shared the predicament of the Israelites. He was trapped between Pharaoh's chariot force and the Red Sea. If anything he was in greater peril because as leader of the flight from Egypt he was liable to be executed.

Moses believed what God told him. He was forewarned about what would happen; God reassured his servant Moses that he would use Pharaoh and his army to bring glory to himself. See v1to4.

It was still pretty scary for Moses but nonetheless he spoke with confidence: "Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. ...... The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still." v13and14. Moses' message was: "Don't panic; stand firm; keep calm."

This is how the great heroes of faith in the Old Testament responded to testing situations. When Daniel learned that the death penalty awaited a person who made requests of anyone other than king Darius in a thirty day period he calmly carried on praying by an open window towards Jerusalem three times daily.

Peter and John did not panic when they were interviewed by the Sanhedrin for proclaiming the risen Jesus to the people. Peter and John displayed such courage and confidence that the members of the ruling council were amazed.

All through the centuries Christians of faith have withstood persecution and discrimination. They have calmly stood firm without panicking. In the words of Martin Luther:

A safe stronghold our God is still,
A trusty shield and weapon;
He'll help us clear from all ill
That hath us now o'ertaken.

(5) God's deliverance.

(a) It was assured. The Lord said to Moses, "Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on." The time for crying out had passed and the time for moving on had come. This is true in a variety of contexts:

• If you have been praying about becoming a Christian: asking for faith, assurance, a visitation, an experience - it may well be time to move on - to stop dithering, vacillating, procrastinating and make a commitment. This could also be true of baptism and church membership.

• Some churches spend a long time discussing and praying about improving facilities, for example. Eventually a time comes for moving forward.

• We shouldn't forget that after Jesus found the people of Nazareth had no faith in him and he could do few miracles, he moved on. I think a time comes when we have to stop crying out to God about an unresponsive people and move on. French students, for example, are so closed to the gospel that it is virtually a waste of time and resources trying to evangelise them.

(b) It was based on knowledge of local Geography. The Gulf of Suez extended further north than it does today. It probably included what are now called the Bitter Lakes. This is an area of great crustal instability - a northward extension of the African rift valley system.

It is likely that the Israelites crossed where the Gulf of Suez or Red Sea was tidal, narrow and fairly shallow. (The area consists of small lakes and swamps today.) A strong south-east wind would have driven some water back northwards. This combined with an ebbing tide left a corridor of muddy land across which the Israelites escaped at night. The water either side of the corridor prevented Pharaoh's army outflanking the Israelites. The pillar of cloud between the Israelites and the Egyptians made an attack in the rear unlikely and also prevented the Egyptians seeing what was happening.

Eventually as the pillar of cloud moved the Egyptians could see what was happening and drove their chariots onto the muddy floor of the Red Sea. Many chariots held two or three people - they were not light! This was a disastrous mistake. The chariot wheels got stuck in the mud causing chaos. In the midst of the confusion in the Egyptian ranks the wind dropped and the tide started coming in. Water rushed back from two directions to cover again the mudflats and drown the entire chariot force of Pharaoh.

This was a great and marvellous deliverance. Unlike many other instances in Israel's history it required little human input other than the outstretched staff of Moses. God had said: "The LORD will fight for you." The LORD did so using the unusual configuration of the Red Sea and a strong wind off the desert from a south-easterly direction.

It is evident that the Israelites' deliverance from the Egyptians at the Red Sea is very different from the Passover and their release from captivity. So it is wrong to equate it with our deliverance from sin. The crossing of the Red Sea was rather an instance of God protecting and preserving his people from their enemies. This happened over and over again in Israel's, and subsequently, the churches' history. As time has passed it has taken more than a strong south-east wind to protect God's people.

(c) It owed something to the foolhardiness of Israel's enemies. Pharaoh and his officers were stupid to drive their chariots onto the mudflats and sandbars of the Red Sea. They got stuck and could not outpace the returning waters. Pharaoh and the military over-reached themselves.

This happened many times in Jewish history. The Philistines paid a heavy price for humiliating Sampson in a public place. Goliath and the Philistine army discovered it did not pay to underestimate a shepherd boy with a sling. Haman thought he had got the better of Mordecai but Esther had been left out of the equation.

Satan's stale old tactic of persecuting the church has usually been counterproductive. Right from the beginning when persecution of the church in Jerusalem forced the believers to scatter and take the gospel all over the Roman Empire Satan's strategy has misfired. In recent centuries it misfired in Russia, Cuba and China.

(6) The response of God's people.

And when the Israelites saw the great power of the LORD displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD and put their faith in him and Moses his servant. v31. God's amazing deliverance of his people renewed and refreshed the people's faith in God and his servant, Moses. So it should! Our faith is invigorated by the gains the church has made in the most unlikely places. The wonderful growth of the church in China is a huge encouragement to all of us in the West.

However a faith dependent upon signs and wonders is a very weak and uncertain faith. The Israelites' belief in God and his servant did not last for very long. God's people were in no condition to fight for possession of the land of Canaan. It would take 40 years in the desert and an entirely new generation of Israelites before this became feasible. Sadly many, many churches lack the ability to take on the strongholds of Satan because the faith of their members is so very fragile.

O for a faith that will not shrink,
Though pressed by many a foe;
That will not tremble on the brink
Of poverty or woe.