Blessed Salvation

By faith they passed through the Red sea as by dry land: which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned. - Hebrews 11:29

    “By faith they passed through the Red sea as by dry land: which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned.” Hebrews 11:29

    The event here stated in one sentence is described fully in Exodus 14. That which Israel experienced in deliverance from Egyptian bondage and the crossing of the Red Sea was a picture of our salvation by Christ. When the children of Israel were hemmed in on every side, when they were brought into a position of utter helplessness, hopelessness, and despair, they murmured against God and against his servant, Moses, in unbelief.

    Moses was undeterred by the murmuring of the people. He did not respond to their gripes. Instead, he turned their minds away from their outward danger and directed their hearts to their God.They had “lifted up their eyes and beheld the Egyptians” (v. 10), and were sore afraid. They should have been looking to Christ, to the throne of God and the promise of God. If they had been steadfastly occupied with God’s salvation, they would never have known fear.

    Instead of responding to Israel’s accusations, Moses continued doing what God had sent him to do. He proclaimed God’s salvation. —“Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will show you today: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen today, ye shall see them again no more forever” (Ex. 14:13).

    God’s Work

    Salvation is altogether God’s work. It is not something we do. It is something done for us by our God which we see, receive, and experience when the Lord God graciously forces us to stop doing, stand still, and look to Christ.

    Yes, the children of Israel fled across the Red Sea from the armies of Pharaoh, but how? The Lord God brought them to the place that they had to look to him. There was no human strength to which they could turn. Pharaoh and the armies of Egypt terrified them. They were as helpless as they were afraid.

    Is that not the experience of every chosen sinner? Legal fear and terror never saved anyone. The fear of eternal damnation and a sense of utter helplessness and despair is not Holy Spirit conviction (John 16:8-11). But I never knew anyone to fall into the arms of mercy who was not driven there by the terror of the law. I never knew anyone to flee away to Christ who was not driven to him by Moses. When Israel stood trembling, as it were upon the very brink of hell, Moses commanded them to “stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord.”

    Our Trials

    That which is true of our salvation, our deliverance from the terror of the law and the guilt of sin is also our experience in times of great trial. Believers are sometimes called upon to face great trials. A Red Sea of difficulty and trouble confronts us. It was not Pharaoh who put the sea in Israel’s way, but God. And it is the Lord our God, our heavenly Father, who tries the faith of his children. He uses Satan to do it; but the trial is his work. The deliverance is his as well!

    How often a new born believer emerges from Egypt, thinking that now it will be easy to surrender everything to God, but after a while there is a Red Sea of testing before him, which seems impossible to cross. We are often terrified by powerful enemies. How often the Egyptians (our sins) come upon us and we discover another law warring in our members, bringing us into captivity of the law of sin and death. Our sins are more bitter than ever. —In Egypt Israel’s task masters only had whips. Now they are mounted on chariots! Satan hurls all the power of hell at us.

    We are often troubled with fainting hearts, too. A faint, unbelieving heart is the worst foe a believer has in this world. While faith is anchored upon Christ, the Rock of our salvation, all is well. But when the eye of faith is dim and we look at the storms without and our weakness within, we are tossed upon the sea.

    Divine Revelation

    Faith comes by and acts upon the Word of God (Rom. 10:17). Moses had a revelation from God, which he communicated to the people. It was a revelation to the heart of what God would do (Rom. 8:26). If he had not had the revelation of God’s salvation, he would have drowned as he presumed to cross the sea.

    Faith acted upon God’s revelation. By faith Moses stretched out his rod and stepped into the sea. The Red Sea was parted by the rod of Moses. Even so, the way of salvation, our way of access to God, was opened for us by the law of God, by the satisfaction of justice by the blood of Christ (Heb. 10:19-22). As the waters parted before them, the hosts of Israel walked through the sea with confident, full assurance; and their enemies were “as still as a stone” (Ex. 14:22; 15:16).

    Believer’s Baptism

    The Scriptures (1 Cor. 10:1-2) tell us plainly that the passage of Israel through the Red Sea was a baptism unto Moses. It signified the same thing as believer’s baptism does today. It signified the distinction which God put between Israel and Egypt. So does believer’s baptism. It was an act of obedience to God’s command. So does believer’s baptism. Both Israel’s baptism unto Moses and the believer’s baptism with reference to the finished work of Christ are acts of obedience performed to the command of God (Ex. 14:13-16, Matt. 28:19, Mk. 16:16). As Israel followed Moses through the Red Sea, so believers follow Christ through the waters of baptism, symbolically declaring salvation to be the work of God alone by Christ’s fulfilling all righteousness as our Representative and Substitute.