Title: Red Sea Perfect Victory (Exodus 14:1)
When Israel left Egypt, Egypt was completely destroyed. As God said, “I have appointed you to show you my power and to make my name known in all the world” (9:16), God made His name known throughout the world and led His people. Not only that, he completely destroyed Israel so that they would never see Egypt again, so that they would never stand up again.
Even so, God knew that the people of Israel still had a sinful nature. So they did not choose the nearest road so that they could not return to Egypt, but led them to the Red Sea (13:7).
Moses, who led Israel, followed Joseph's will and came out with the skull of Joseph (see Genesis 50). This implies that the hope left at the end of Genesis will be fulfilled through the fulfillment of Joseph's wish.
It is clearly shown here that God is leading his people, but he is doing according to his faithful covenant to the end (13:19).
After a while Pharaoh led all his army and followed after Israel. It can be said that Egypt, which had already lost its strength, mobilized an army of this size was the last resort. This is as if Satan, who was thoroughly defeated on the cross, makes his final stride when the end draws near.
Because of this foolishness, Satan thought that if he hung Jesus on the cross, he would have victory. But God is the one who puts the wisest to shame. The wisdom of Satan cannot stop even the foolishness of evangelism, so God destroys Satan thoroughly and knows Satan well enough.
After Pharaoh followed, God immediately encamped the Israelites by the shores of the Red Sea (14:2). This was a strategy that could not be imitated by Sun Tzu or Zhuge Gongming. However, Israel was very weak. Seeing the Egyptian chariot weakened to the point that it had already weakened, the chatter melted and cooled.
Their resentment is just like the nonsense we sometimes talk about today.
Even after seeing that Christ has already been victorious on the cross, we sometimes mistakenly believe that we are still bound by Satan, and yet we cannot forget the joy of the flesh.
“Do not be afraid, stand still and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will work for you today...the LORD will fight for you, and you shall be still” (14:13-14). Moses' voice resounds. We have already experienced countless times, and we are well aware that all things work together for good (Romans 8:28).
Still, it's really sad how many times we resent. But take comfort. What can we do with human beings with a sinful nature? It is true hope and true faith to hope only for God's hand to save us.
From now on, we need the courage to stand still so that God can fight. Indeed, God is great. He stood all night in a pillar of cloud between the camp of Egypt and Israel, and made the other side immobile because of the cloud and darkness, and made the camp of Israel light (14:20).
In the midst of this, a great east wind blew all night, and the waters parted, making the land dry, and allowing Israel to pass through. Then came the Egyptian chariots.
"In the morning the LORD sees the Egyptian army in the pillar of fire and cloud, and he stirs up the army... and the LORD fights for them and strikes the Egyptians" (14:24-25). Immediately the Lord made the sea flow over the Egyptian army as it had been before, "And the water flowed again, covering the chariots and horsemen, and all the army of Pharaoh who went after them into the sea, leaving no one behind" (14:28). This kind of mercenary art was an operation that no other commander had ever done and could not have imagined.
Crossing the Red Sea has a deep meaning. We may be content with Israel being saved, as we saw above, but we should note that there is another hidden meaning behind it.
First, the Egyptian army even mobilized special chariots (the king's bodyguard) to recapture Israel and make them slaves. But God destroyed them all, eliminating the power that would ever again enslave Israel. Therefore, there is no fear of falling into slavery any more. In other words, we can never again become slaves to sin.
Second, the Red Sea incident should not be considered separately from the Passover.
The Red Sea event and the Passover are one event. Simply put, if the Passover was a monument to God's complete destruction of Egypt, the Red Sea incident was a victory in the battle to completely annihilate the destroyed Egypt. In other words, this is a battle between God and Satan who opposes God to the end, and God, who had completely won the Passover, destroyed it thoroughly so that Satan's power could never recover again in the Red Sea. In this way, a complete victory was achieved.
Third, the sea has symbolized death since ancient times. God parted death and delivered Israel from death, which was on the verge of death. It is like seeing the cross of Christ. It should be noted that 1 Corinthians 10:1-3 interprets this as the same meaning as baptism. Baptism symbolizes this long of death through death. Looking at this, all the old people died in the Red Sea, and when they came up from the Red Sea, they were born as new people. Therefore, it has a deeper connection with the Passover.
Finally, the Red Sea incident, taken as a whole, goes back to Gen. 3:15. That is, it is based on the covenant of God. The work of breaking the serpent's head is clearly evident here. God's covenant is eternal and unchanging. In addition, we can see that the covenant with Abraham is being fully fulfilled. We are only looking to the salvation of the Lord (14:13).