A 31-day Lenten Devotional Series by Rev. Dave Brown
As we look at the story of the Red Sea crossing, we can observe many marvelous facts. But what do they mean? and how do they apply to us? Let’s start with the Old Testament then look in the New Testament.
The facts of the Red Sea Crossing include these at least: At God’s command Moses lifted up his staff and divided the Red Sea so that the people of Israel could go through the sea on dry ground. It was a super-natural event that employed natural causes (wind) like many of the plagues that came before this event.
When the Egyptian chariots and horsemen went into the sea in pursuit of the Hebrews, the LORD threw the Egyptian forces into a panic. The wheels came off their chariots as they tried to flee and they recognized, “the Lord fights for them against the Egyptians.”
After the Israelites successfully crossed the Red Sea, Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal course. Because of that act, the water covered the chariots and horsemen of all the host of Pharaoh that had followed them into the Red Sea, and not one of them survived.
The meaning of these facts is partially revealed at the end of the story; the application is more fully revealed in the New Testament.
Through this episode the LORD said, “I will get glory over Pharaoh and the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD.” In Philip Ryken’s marvelous exposition of the Book of Exodus, he makes this point in the book title, “Exodus, Saved for God’s Glory,” and many more times in the commentary. “God’s grand purpose in everything he does is to display his glory.” (Ryken:383). In this particular incident God gained glory at Pharaoh’s expense, just as he gained glory at Satan’s expense by allowing his Son to be crucified at Calvary.
Through this episode, the LORD ‘baptized” the Hebrews. That’s how the Apostle Paul interprets it in First Corinthians 10:1-6. It was at least a “type” of that sacrament to come. “For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.”
Paul’s allusion to this OT baptism into Moses, the cloud and the sea turned out to be less than positive. All were baptized, but “with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.” What they missed is what the Puritans called “making use of, or “improving one’s baptism.”
Reflections: Have you improved your baptism? J.I Packer identifies seven ways to do so. See it as a gospel service where God offers deliverance from evil; See it as a marriage service when I was given to Jesus to be his covenant partner; think of it as a burial service when I commit the man I was by nature to total destruction. See it as an Easter festival proclaiming Jesus’ resurrection and mine in and with his. See it as a birthday celebration, for new birth is what co-resurrection with Christ effects. See it as an admission ceremony, bringing me into the family of God as an adopted member. Think of it as a commissioning service entering me into a life wholly given to serve Christ and his cause.” (Packer:156ff)