Sermon - The Hand of God Part 2
Exodus 14:15-30 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on. Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground. I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them. And I will gain glory through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen. The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I gain glory through Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen.” Then the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel’s army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them, coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long. Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the Lord drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. The Egyptians pursued them, and all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots and horsemen followed them into the sea. During the last watch of the night the Lord looked down from the pillar of fire and cloud at the Egyptian army and threw it into confusion. He jammed the wheels of their chariots so that they had difficulty driving. And the Egyptians said, “Let’s get away from the Israelites! The Lord is fighting for them against Egypt.” Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters may flow back over the Egyptians and their chariots and horsemen.” Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea went back to its place. The Egyptians were fleeing toward it, and the Lord swept them into the sea. The water flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen—the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived. But the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. That day the Lord saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore.
This is where the climax begins. The LORD prepares for battles. He had his game plans all up His sleeve and is about to unleash them upon the Egyptians. In this portion of the Scripture, I would like you note the 4 different parties at play: The LORD, Moses, Pharaoh and his armies and the Israelites.
The hand of God fights for His people. From the table, we can see God playing an active role in defending His people. His active role in the story greatly outweighs the deeds of men. The Scripture appeals to us to put God as the focus of the Exodus story. He is the hero here, not even Moses. He takes the action and He alone defends Israel.
The biggest difference between our God and idols of the pagan is that our God is active. Unlike the man-made idols, which are dumb, deaf and blind, our God takes initiatives, He speaks to us, He listens to our prayer and He acts as He pleases.
The biggest difference between the worship of the LORD and the worship of pagans is that the worship of the LORD is initiated by the LORD Himself while the worship of the pagans are initiated by self. We worship God as a response to Him stemmed from our admiration for His active initiatives in human history.
Isaiah 44:12-23
The blacksmith takes a tool
and works with it in the coals;
he shapes an idol with hammers,
he forges it with the might of his arm.
He gets hungry and loses his strength;
he drinks no water and grows faint.
The carpenter measures with a line
and makes an outline with a marker;
he roughs it out with chisels
and marks it with compasses.
He shapes it in human form,
human form in all its glory,
that it may dwell in a shrine.
He cut down cedars,
or perhaps took a cypress or oak.
He let it grow among the trees of the forest,
or planted a pine, and the rain made it grow.
It is used as fuel for burning;
some of it he takes and warms himself,
he kindles a fire and bakes bread.
But he also fashions a god and worships it;
he makes an idol and bows down to it.
Half of the wood he burns in the fire;
over it he prepares his meal,
he roasts his meat and eats his fill.
He also warms himself and says,
“Ah! I am warm; I see the fire.”
From the rest he makes a god, his idol;
he bows down to it and worships.
He prays to it and says,
“Save me! You are my god!”
They know nothing, they understand nothing;
their eyes are plastered over so they cannot see,
and their minds closed so they cannot understand.
No one stops to think,
no one has the knowledge or understanding to say,
“Half of it I used for fuel;
I even baked bread over its coals,
I roasted meat and I ate.
Shall I make a detestable thing from what is left?
Shall I bow down to a block of wood?”
Such a person feeds on ashes; a deluded heart misleads him;
he cannot save himself, or say,
“Is not this thing in my right hand a lie?”
“Remember these things, Jacob,
for you, Israel, are my servant.
I have made you, you are my servant;
Israel, I will not forget you.
I have swept away your offenses like a cloud,
your sins like the morning mist.
Return to me,
for I have redeemed you.”
Sing for joy, you heavens, for the Lord has done this;
shout aloud, you earth beneath.
Burst into song, you mountains,
you forests and all your trees,
for the Lord has redeemed Jacob,
he displays his glory in Israel.
As we read Isaiah 44, we find that the worship of pagan idols centers around the work and glory of man, but the worship of the LORD our God centers around Him.
Sub-point 2: God is Glorified in Our Obedience
Something very interesting thing to note from Exodus 14:15-30. God commanded Moses to raise his staff. To God, asking Moses to raise his staff is seemingly meaningless. God is powerful and mighty. By His own hands He fought against the Egyptians, by His words the world came to be. So why does God need to involve any man at all? He could have parted the Red Sea even if Moses did nothing!
As for Moses, what God asked of him was completely incomprehensible. What would raising his staff do to save them from the pursuit of the Egyptians? How would raising his staff divide the water to the point where they could walk on dry land? Today if I set before all of us a tray of water and if I raise my own hand or even a staff, the water would not divide. The best I could do to divide the water would be to use something to separate them. But what would raising his staff do to the gigantic Red Sea?
But God did so to create an opportunity for Moses and his people to respond in obedience and to display their complete trust in Him. Even though God is powerful, He wants to involve us in His story and His plan so that we may have an opportunity to be in a relationship with Him where we trust and obey Him. God is glorified in our obedience to Him.
Sometimes the church gets very agitate as we think about what to do for the upcoming year: what kind of activities that we need to carry out? What event should we hold to attract people? What property to acquire next to expand His kingdom? Where should we go next for mission to bring His name to people that do not know Him. I will not say that such considerations are wrong. In fact to focus our plans around our desire to glorify Him is great. But we want to be careful not to get into the idea that it is what we do that glorifies Him. At times, we think we need to do this and that, exhaust ourselves in restlessness to glorify Him. We leave hardly any room for God to act and display His wonder, and leave ourselves hardly any time to fascinate at His work. But “the end of man is the beginning of God”. God begins when the strength of men fails and sits in still and in peace, waiting for Him.
This is exactly what Moses and the Israelites did: they stood still for the LORD to act, and they saw one of the greatest feat of God in history. Can you imagine the picture that the Israelites were seeing? They must be terribly terrified and completely awestruck at the same time. To WALK across the Red Sea was by itself a task of the impossible, to actually walk on dry ground? Imagine the two walls of water that was on their left and right. It would be like going into an Aquarium, hemmed in between the water. I could vividly remembered my first time into an aquarium and I was so terrified by the shark and the stingray. How could anyone not be in fear to see a God who is capable of such feat?
And when all these had ended, they saw the Egyptian army was completely wiped out and their bodies laid lifelessly along the shore. It was a picture of complete defeat for those who thinks that they can defy God and stand as His enemy. It was a picture of victory for the Israelites when they did not even lift a finger to fight. All they did was RUN! God did ALL the fighting for them.
God is not glorified in the big things we do for Him, the big church building we raised for him, or the big Noah’s ark replica we build for Him. He was glorified in Noah’s obedience to Him when he built the ark; He was glorified in Abraham’s obedience to Him to leave his family into the Promised Land; He was glorified in Daniel’s obedience to Him to not partake the King’s food and to continue to pray to Him even when persecuted; He was glorified in Paul’s obedience when he went through all the sufferings to bring the gospel to the Gentile; He was glorified in Jesus’ obedience that resulted in His death on the cross and the salvation of the world. He was glorified in the obedience of the saints that gave God the space to act miraculously and put the spotlight on Him instead of man.
What was seemingly meaningless to Moses was the crucial key to the salvation of the Israelite: there can only be salvation in obedience to the LORD. In the same way, Jesus’ death on the cross was seemingly meaningless to the eyes of the world, but it is crucial key to the salvation of the world. Our profession of faith in Jesus Christ were seemingly meaningless, but it was the key that separates us from the unsaved. God, is glorified in our obedience to Him. And surely, the only response fit for a miraculous rescue was the Israelites’ response:
Exodus 14:31 “And when the Israelites saw the mighty hand of the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant.”
Conclusion
God's Character, My Encounter.
your sermon?
ReplyDeletePraise God for His word!!!!!
;)
Yes. Praise God for His Word.
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