By Stan Key
Getting out of Egypt and beginning the journey to spiritual wholeness is both harder and easier than you might think. Before we begin to follow Christ, we tend to think that the hard part will be discerning the way, finding provisions, winning the battles, and going the distance. As for putting our faith in God, that’s easy. However, once embarked on the journey of salvation, we discover that just the opposite is true. The easy part is doing the walk and freely receiving God’s gracious provision every step of the way. But trusting in God when all hell is breaking loose? This may be the hardest thing we’ve ever done! “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24).
Paul put it this way: “By grace you have been saved through faith” (Eph. 2:8a, emphasis added). Salvation is “not a result of works.” All we must do is believe. It sounds easy, doesn’t it? But have you tried believing the promises of God lately? Listen to me: trusting in God is not only difficult, it’s impossible! Unless God touches your doubt-filled heart with grace, you will never be able to do it—never. But that is precisely what God wants to do. He stands ready to graciously enable your stubborn, rebellious heart to grab hold of those precious promises and believe! “This is not your own doing; it is the gift of God” (Eph. 2:8b, emphasis added).
Nothing better illustrates both how easy and how hard redemption is than the story of the passage through the Red Sea as told in Exodus 12–14. It all begins with a lamb. Who could have imagined that deliverance from slavery would begin this way? Each family was to take a lamb and kill it at twilight. By putting lamb’s blood on the two doorposts and the lintel of their houses, they would be spared when the angel of death passed over the land. The flesh of the lamb was to be roasted and then eaten to provide strength and nourishment for the journey ahead (see Ex. 12:3–13, 24–27). No one gets out of bondage without first getting “under” the lamb’s blood and eating its flesh. The lamb dies so that we can live. Redemption starts here!
With the completion of the Passover meal, the people of God began their journey. God provided a pillar of fire to be a constant source of direction every step of the way (see Ex. 13:17–21). God had given his people something far better than a map: they had a guide.
The air must have been thick with excitement as the people set out on their journey. Perhaps they sang and danced as they followed the pillar of fire before them. Surprisingly, God led them to the shore of the Red Sea where steep mountains rose on both sides. They were boxed in. God had led them to a place where there was no way out—and the Egyptian army was in hot pursuit (see Ex. 14:5–9). Had God led them into a trap? Many threw up their hands in despair. “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness?” the people grumbled to Moses. “It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness” (Ex. 14:11–12). What looked like disaster, however, was about to be transformed into victory!
In the biblical story, water is often associated with salvation. Just as the waters of the flood carried the ark to safety while at the same time destroying those who persisted in unbelief, so the water of the Red Sea provided redemption for the faithful but judgment on those who rebelled against God. As in baptism, water symbolizes a new beginning.
The story of what happened at the Red Sea illustrates what it takes for God to accomplish our salvation. Most importantly, it takes a promise from God. True freedom is never the result of human effort or wishful thinking. Our sins hold us in a stronger grip than we can break on our own. Without divine help, we will remain in bondage forever. However, if the sovereign God makes us a promise of deliverance then everything changes. This promise was heard most forcefully perhaps when God said to Moses at the burning bush: “I promise that I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites… a land flowing with milk and honey” (Ex. 3:17, emphasis added).
But a promise, to be effective, must be believed. No one experiences redemption who does not put into practice what the New Testament calls “the obedience of faith” (see Rom. 1:5; 16:26). At the Red Sea, when faced with an impossible situation, the people of God discovered that faith meant more than an intellectual acknowledgment of the truth about God. Even demons have this kind of “faith” (see James 2:19). God’s people gave evidence of genuine, saving faith when they responded to the three commands that came to them at the Red Sea.
And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, 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.” The Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward.” (Exodus 14:13–15)
Fear not. When the Bible tells us not to fear, it doesn’t mean we are not to have feelings of fear. Rather, it means we are not to be controlled by our fears. As emotional beings, few of us can stop from trembling in the face of sudden danger. But we can control whether we permit our fears to lead us into paralysis and disobedience.
Stand firm. We can easily imagine at this point what the Hebrews may have been tempted to do: run, hide, negotiate, surrender, swim, etc. However, such responses would have thwarted the deliverance that God was about to perform. In this situation, the command was straightforward and clear: be still and let God do the rest. This was his battle. We are familiar with the adage, “Don’t just stand there; do something!” For the Hebrews, their challenge was to do just the opposite: “Don’t do anything; just stand there!”
Go forward. God had just told the people to be still and do nothing. Now, he tells them to march forward. Though the commands at first seem contradictory, they are really two ways of saying the same thing. The key is timing. There is a time for passive trust, and there is a time for active obedience. When we remember that the waters of the Red Sea had not yet parted at the time this command was given, we begin to realize what a bold step of faith they were being called to make! But as the people resolved to trust God and simply do what he told them to do, Moses held up his rod, the waters divided, and a highway appeared through the sea. God made a way where there was no way. Often God delivers his people through their difficulties rather than from them.
This issue of The High Calling is about the all-important first step on the journey of salvation. Some call it conversion, others the new birth, and still others justification by faith. Whatever the term, the Red Sea refers to that crisis moment when we are empowered to step boldly forward in the obedience of faith. If you have never made that step, we pray this may be the moment for you to come to a life-changing decision. It is both easier and harder than you think!
[Editor’s Note: This article is from the May/June 2020 issue of The High Calling.]