Sermon Text: Exodus 14: 19-31
Images convey a lot in the way of information and emotions. I just took one of those silly “tests” on Facebook last night purportedly the outcome would tell me my foremost personality quality by looking at pictures and choosing the best description of what I saw as the primary color or emotion it made me feel. My outcome was: wisdom. Good one—that! In the earlier days of texting—to do a smile one did a colon and an end parentheses. Now, there are emoticons that you can add to your texts that show a whole range of emotions---probably too many and more information conveyed than people want to know, right?
Our reading today in Exodus 14—of the pillar of fire and cloud leading the Israelites away from Egypt to freedom and of the parting of the waters of the Red Sea so that the Israelites can escape from the pursuing army of Pharaoh give us the images of God’s presence with us, His protection of us, and His saving grace.
“The angel of God who was going before the Israelite army moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud moved from in front of them and took its place behind them. It came between the army of Egypt and the army of Israel. And so the cloud was there with the darkness, and it lit up the night; one did not come near the other all night.”
The pillar of cloud and fire was presaged in Exodus by the burning bush that Moses encountered in chapter 3. The burning bush is a theophany—a manifestation of God’s presence with his people. The pillars of cloud and fire take us to the next level of intensity of God’s presence with his people, an intensity that will reach its climax at Mount Sinai, where that presence will be too much for the people to bear. For now, the presence of God in the cloud and fire is meant to be unbearable not for the Israelites---but for the Egyptians.
This “angel of God” we also find in the burning bush narrative: “There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush.” This was a concrete manifestation of God’s presence to his people. It appears to be a bracket announcing salvation from bondage to Moses at the burning bush and God’s presence in the salvation itself at the parting of the Red Sea. The role here was to keep the Egyptians from attacking the Israelites.
One commentator lifted up the Hebrew word “shekinah” or the “dwelling of God” to describe the visible presence of the Lord. It hid the Israelites from the pursuing Egyptians and lighted the way at night for Israel. To the Egyptians it was a cloud of darkness. It later covered Mt. Sinai when God spoke with Moses and is believed to be the “bright cloud that covered them” at Christ’s transfiguration on the mountain recorded in Matthew 17 in the New Testament.
“Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. The Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night, and turned the sea into dry land; and the waters were divided. The Israelites went into the sea on dry ground, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left. The Egyptians pursued, and went into the sea after them.”
The image of the Israelites fleeing the Egyptians walking on dry land with the walls of water of the Red Sea on either side of them is one of many artists’ renderings as well as Cecil B. DeMille’s epic movie “The Ten Commandments” starring Charlton Heston and Yul Brynner. It features the iconic scene of the parting of the Red Sea that is ingrained in our American psyche. It was released in October of 1956 and had an impressive list of achievements: the largest set ever created for a film, the most expensive film made to that date, nominated for seven Academy Awards, one of the most financially successful films ever made, and according to the Guinness World Records, is the seventh most successful film of all time.
Here are a few “takeaways” from this parting of the sea story in Exodus:
Sylvia G. Dunstan wrote a poem that ties in the image of water to redemption:
Crashing waters at creation ordered by the spirit’s breath. First to witness day’s beginning from the brightness of night’s death.
Parting water stood and trembled, as the captives passed on through. Washing off the chains of bondage—channel to a life made new.
Cleansing water once at Jordan closed around the One foretold, opened to reveal the glory ever new and ever old.
Living water, never ending, quench the thirst and flood the soul. Wellspring, source of life eternal, drench our dryness, make us whole.
Nice imagery in the poem bringing water from creation through to Jesus as the Living Water to lift up God’s presence, protection and salvation.
Another commentator asked the question “What does the Exodus have to do with you?” That’s a good question! The commentator refers to John 5: 24 (where Jesus says): “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.” Notice the “crossed over from death to life”. When Jesus spoke these words, the image of the Exodus may not have been his reference and yet it is appropriate. As Christians, we have crossed over from our slavery to sin and death to a new beginning as God’s people. We who are in Christ have moved out of one country and into another (or moving toward another as in the heavenly country that awaits us).
Another thought this same commentator lifts up is this: The sea through which the church has passed has remained parted since the coming of Christ and will not go “back to its place” until our world comes to an end. Wherever men and women come to a saving knowledge of the one Lord Jesus Christ, wherever children raised in Christian homes reach the age at which they make the faith of their parents their own, the exodus in its fullest, most sublime sense is happening. The meaning of the Exodus for Christians today, is to be understood in light of our relationship to Christ, the new Moses. It is a story of salvation in Christ.
The significance of the Exodus to us personally is not found in what we do with it but in what God has done for us already. We have missed the theological point of the story if we reduce the grand theological message to moral lessons such as “Be faithful in a tight fix” or, “Don’t fear tough times—God will take care of you.” These are good things to remember. But the Exodus story is not a pep talk for when we go through trying circumstances but rather it is a pep talk to remind us that God HAS won the battle. All of our daily battles, which are real and matter to God, should be seen in the context that God has won the battle. There are many personal situations in which we want God’s help. So we ask God to help. Perhaps we ask him to give us a new job when we don’t get promotions. Can we say to God: “You delivered the Israelites out of Egypt. Now do the same for me?”
It is not a personal “save me” conclusion but one of salvation of our eternal lives. Any “bad hair day” is not our personal “Egypt” nor is any person we don’t like our “Pharaoh”. It is not a reason why we should be disappointed in God when our expected “deliverance” does not come. This is not a “get out of suffering at all costs” mentality. What God did for Israel some 3500 years ago is not something we can so with as we please. It is not a story about Israel as much as a story about God and about who he is. It is not a story that will be duplicated in the lives of individual Christians anytime they get into trouble, but a story that gives us a glimpse of the underlying battle between God and evil, well beyond our circumstances, a battle that has eternal ramifications. The fact of the matter is that whatever circumstances we find ourselves in, we must remember not that we are awaiting God’s deliverance, but that that deliverance has already come, in Christ. We should not say: “What I am going through is like Israel’s Egypt experience,” but “My Egypt experience is behind me. I am on the other side of the sea, so how am I expected to behave?” How do I live in the light of already being saved? That is the question for us today. We may figuratively be “wanting to be free” but we are already “free”. It makes a difference in how we live. It makes a difference for others. God’s presence with us may not be in a pillar of fire and cloud but the image fits. For myself, I use the image of a Godly “hug” as well as being covered in a warm blanket and being led with my hand in His. These images help me focus on Him, lifting me and my problems out of my mind’s mire into a mind set on heavenly things—that all is well because the battle has already been won---the real battle---for our salvation! May these thoughts bring you peace!