Let us turn once again to God's
Word and turning to the chapter that we just read in Exodus 14
and I'll read again for our text verses 13 and 14. Exodus 14 and
reading verses 13 and and fourteen. And Moses said
unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation
of the Lord, which he will show to you today. For the Egyptians
whom ye have seen today, ye shall see them again no more for ever.
The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace. And the subject that I want to
take up can be summed up as the sovereignty of God in salvation. That's what we have declared
in these verses. And Moses said unto the people,
Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord,
which he will show to you today. For the Egyptians whom ye have
seen today, ye shall see them again no more for ever. The Lord
shall fight for you and ye shall hold your peace. And then at
the end of the chapter we're told how Israel saw that great
work which the Lord did. The great work of God, the sovereignty
of God in salvation. The Lord is in all of these things
of course. It was the Lord who was leading
them and leading them by that fiery cloudy pillar as we're
reminded at the end of the previous chapter how the Lord went before
them by day in a pillar of a cloud to lead them in the way and by
night in a pillar of fire to give them light, to go by day
and night. He took not away the pillar of
the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night from before
the people." In all their movements then, they are under the mighty
hand of God. And we see how, in fact, the
Lord was leading them about strangely. There in that 13th chapter of
verse 18, God led the people about, it says, through the way
of the wilderness of the Red Sea. They were strange leadings,
really, and they're now brought by God's direction into a situation
that they find to be most trying and most difficult. how the scene
is set there at the beginning of the chapter when the Lord
speaks to Moses that the children of Israel are to encamp before
Pi-Ha-Hiroth between Migdal and the sea over against Baal-Ziphon
before it shall ye encamp by the sea, says
God. And then this, for Pharaoh will
say of the children of Israel, they are entangled in the land,
the wilderness hath shut them in. And by the sea, the Red Sea
is before them, either side is wilderness and mountains, and
behind them now the pursuing armies of Pharaoh. They're so shut in and there
seems to be no way of escape. There at verse 19, how the Egyptians
are pursuing with all their horses and chariots and ever drawing
nearer to this encampment of the Hebrews. And so, what do
we read at the end of verse 10? They were sort of fray. Oh, they
were sore afraid. And the children of Israel, it
said, cried out unto the Lord. And they said unto Moses, Because
there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die
in the wilderness? Wherefore hast thou dealt thus
with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt? And then, in the words
that I announced for our text is words in verses 13 and 14. Moses addresses them and says,
Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord,
which he will show to you to die. Oh God's sovereignty in
salvation then is that that we have set before us in this passage
of scripture and as we come to consider these verses this morning
for a while I divide what I'm going to say into two parts first
of all to say something with regards to their standing and
then secondly to look at their sight the thing that they made
to see first of all their standing and what is it that God says
to them through his servant fear you not Stand still, he says. Stand still and see the salvation
of God. It's interesting that initially,
as God's messenger Moses tells them that they're not to be fearful.
All God's people are often a fearful people. And that's why, is it
not, that there are so many Fear nots scattered throughout the
word of God. There are a multitude of fear
nots, as you know. And we find many of them there
in the book of the prophet Isaiah. And they're very precious and
comforting words that the prophet speaks. Isaiah 41 10. Fear thou
not, for I am with thee. Be not dismayed. For I am thy
God, I will strengthen thee, yea, I will help thee, yea, I
will uphold thee, with the right hand of my righteousness. And what a comforting word is
that, and so emphatic, because it doesn't just say fear not,
but that personal pronoun is inserted, fear thou not, and
it's a singular pronoun, it's a very personal word that God
declares to every individual amongst his people. He says to
them in that personal and special way, I am with thee, be not dismayed,
I am thy God. And then again, verses 13 and
14, he says, I, the Lord thy God, will hold thy right hand,
saying unto thee, fear not, I will help thee. Fear not, thou worm,
Jacob, and ye men of Israel. I will help thee, saith the Lord,
and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. And as I said on previous
occasions, it's interesting so often to turn to the margin and
there in that 14th verse we see that worm Jacob and the men of
Israel are but a very small remnant a very little component. The
margin says, and ye few men. And ye few men of Israel. Our God's people often are afraid
because they feel so weak and so insignificant. And then again, when we go over
to chapter 43 here in Isaiah, we have more fear nots. In the
opening verse, but now thou saith the Lord that created the old
Jacob, And he that form thee, O Israel, fear not, for I have
redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name, thou art mine. And verse 5, fear not, for I
am with thee, I will bring thy seed from the east and gather
them from the west. Oh God, addresses himself then
to the needs of his people, he sees where they are, he sees
how fearful they are at times, they are so afraid, So, full
maybe of doubts as well as fears. But God takes account of them
here, as pursuing from Egypt. So, the Lord God comes first
of all with this gracious word, fear ye not, he says to the children
of Israel. Stand still. stand still and
see the salvation of God. What is their standing? They
are to stand still. Be still, says the psalmist,
and know that I am God. Now what is the significance
here of such standing as that? What are we to understand by
this command? Oh yes, God speaks a word, a
gracious word of comfort in the fear not, but then He does issue
this imperative. He tells them what to do. They
are simply to stand still. And there are three truths, I
believe, that we can deduce from such a commandment. They are
not to fret. They're not to fret. They're
not to worry. They're not to be anxious. How we see them here,
so so ready to blame Moses. And they point the finger at
Moses, there in verse 11. They say to him, Because there
were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in
the wilderness? Wherefore hast thou dealt thus
with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt? Is not this the word
that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone? that we
may serve the Egyptians. It had been better for us to
serve the Egyptians and that we should die in the wilderness. Or they remind him of what they
had said previously. Had he come and only brought
much trouble to them? He was supposedly the one whom
God had sent to be their deliverer. But how they, even in early days,
resented him. There in chapter five, after
Moses had gone before Pharaoh and demanded that he let the
people go. We're told how there were the officers of the children
of Israel that met Moses and Aaron. They stood in the way
as they came forth from Pharaoh and said unto them, The Lord
look upon you and judge because you have made our saviour to
be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh and in the eyes of his servants
to put a sword in their hand to slay us. They're always ready
to blame. And the person they blame is
Moses. Moses and his brother Aaron.
But in fact, in a sense, we might say that they are really wanting
to blame God. When we're told how they cried
out unto the Lord, it says at the end of verse 10, they were
so afraid and the children of Israel cried out unto the Lord
and they said unto Moses if we put those two things together
we see that in fact it's not so much Moses that they wanted
to blame no they're crying out they're complaining to the Lord
the one who had sent this man amongst them ready to blame God
and isn't that what happens when we come into that place where
we begin to be anxious and and fretful when we're full of doubts
as well as fears. Oh what does the Lord God say?
Cease from anger and forsake wrath. Fret not thyself in any
wise to do evil. The words of the Psalmist there
in Psalm 37.8. Cease from anger and forsake
wrath. Fret not thyself in any wise
to do evil stand still in other words and look what he said to
them at the end of verse 14 hold your peace hold your peace or
God speaks to us oftentimes does he not in these fashions he has
to deal with us we might think sometimes in a severe manner
And we have to pray that He would grant to us that spirit of gracious
submission, ready to stand still, ready to hold our peace. First
of all, then, they're not to fret, but also He is telling
them not to flee. They're not to go back. They've
come out of Egypt. God has graciously delivered
them. He's shown mighty work to ten
plagues. And the last of those plagues,
he had visited a terrible judgment upon the Egyptians. The Egyptians
had sought to slay all the young baby boys that were born to the
Hebrews. And what did God do in the tenth
plague? He sent his destroying angel. And all the firstborn
of the Egyptians were destroyed by that angel. Oh, God had visited
a terrible judgment upon those people to bring his people out,
and he had led them out. He had brought them forth, and
they're not to go back. They're not to return. We read
again in the book of Psalms of those who do turn back in the
day of battle. We read of the children of Ephraim
there in Psalm 78, verse 9, the children of Ephraim. being armed
and carrying bows turned back in the day of battle. They kept
not the covenant of God and refused to walk in his law and forget
his works and his wonders that he had showed, marvellous things
did he in the sight of their fathers in the land of Egypt
in the field of Zion. He divided the sea and caused
them to pass through and he made the waters to stand as an heap. And you see the connection, you
see, all these Ephraimites, how God reminds them of that incident
that we're considering when God himself appeared for his people.
God's people are not to be those who would turn back. We're not
to turn back to perdition. God had delivered them, and he
had delivered them in such a remarkable fashion. And again, we have the
reminder of that. only just previously in chapter
12. Here we have the record, of course,
of the Passover, their deliverance. And God says, calling to Moses
and Aaron, Rise up, get you forth from among my people. This is
addressed to Pharaoh, of course, both he and the children of Israel.
Rather, it's addressed to the Israelites, isn't it? Rise up,
Get you forth from among my people, both ye and the children of Israel,
and go, serve the Lord as ye have said. Oh, this is Pharaoh
addressing them, isn't it? Let's get it right. It's Pharaoh
addressing Moses and Aaron. God has so dealt with them and
he commands them, tells them clearly that they are to go and
depart from his children. Take your flocks and your herds,
as ye have said, and be gone. And strangely, he says, bless
me also. Well, that was what had happened. And that was a
great deliverance that God gave to them. But what had happened
in the past was not enough. We can't live in that sense upon
past experiences. We can remember God's gracious
works and we should remember God's gracious works. But we
want God to appear for us again and again, and this is what they
require here. God must come and God must deliver
them all over again, and this is what God does. And see how
the emphasis at the end of this 13th verse is very much placed
upon the present time. It is the salvation of the Lord
which He will show to you today, it says. He will show to you
today, this day. for the Egyptians whom you have
seen today." Again, there's that repetition. You shall see them
again no more. They're going to see God doing
fresh works. And surely this is what we should
desire, that the Lord would appear for us now. We can draw comfort
from what God has done in times past, but we want a living experience,
the day-to-day experience of the grace of God. And we have
that comforting word at the beginning of Psalm 46 concerning our God. God is our refuge and strength.
It says, a very present help in time of trouble. Oh, He's
not just a present help. No, it says He's a very present
help in time of trouble. He comes just when His people
are in that great need. Throughout this week I've had
this particular verse upon my mind, and it is such a comforting
word, is it not? That God appears for us when
we need Him. That God hears us and God answers
us. And we're not to turn back, we're
not to flee, we're to go forward. But then, besides not fretting,
besides not fleeing, they're also told quite plainly by the
Lord God they're not to fight. and not to fight, but to stand still. And it says in verse 14, the
Lord. The Lord shall fight for you and ye shall hold your peace. Now, we have to reconcile what God
is saying here with what follows. He says at the beginning of verse
13, stand still. But then what does he go on to
say? In verses 15 and 16, the Lord says to Moses, Wherefore
cryest thou unto me? Speak unto the children of Israel
that they go forward. But lift thou up thy rod, and
stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it, and the children
of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea. What is the significance here?
How do we reconcile these things? Is that to stand still and then
they're told to go forward? Well, as they're told to go forward,
at the end of verse 15, then we have that 16th verse, but,
and it's a significant but, Because Moses is to lift up the rod.
They are being reminded here that they are not to look to
themselves at all. They are not to look to their
own strength or any ability of themselves. They are to look
to God himself and to God alone. This is what God is commanding. And this is what we have to learn.
Not trusting our own strength even as we go forward. All our
faith, all our confidence is to be placed only in the Lord
God Himself. The words again of the Psalm,
Psalm 44, verse 6, I will not trust in my bug, neither shall
my sword save me, but thou hast saved us from our enemies, and
hast put them to shame that hated us. All their confidence then
is to be only in God. And the significant thing of
course is this rod. Lift thou up thy rod, he says.
What was this rod? Well, it was that that Moses
had when God had called him, when he was tending the sheep
of his father-in-law, Jethro there in the wilderness of Horeb. And God had said to him concerning
that rod, Take this rod in thine hand, wherewith thou shalt do
signs. And this rod, you see, is a sign. And it's a sign to the children
of Israel that God is the one who is altogether their Deliverer.
They're not to fight in their own strength, they're to only
rest in the Lord their God. And isn't that what God's children
are always called to? To fight. And we're to fight
the good fight of faith. Oh, it's the fight of faith.
And faith, of course, is such a self-denying grace. No looking to ourselves where
there's true faith, but that resting all together in the Lord
Jesus Christ. And what a fight it is, it's
a good fight. That's how Paul speaks of it,
writing to Timothy, it's the good fight of faith. Or what
is the believer to do? Put on the whole armour of God. We have that armour provided,
spoken of at the end of Ephesians chapter 6, and to put it on,
and that to stand fast, and that to look to God for every provision,
that to be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might. And so this The command that
we have to stand still is really their strength. The strength
of the Lord is to stand still. We read again in the prophecy
of Isaiah, Isaiah 37, that their strength is to stand still. And the psalmist, as I've already
referred to those words in Psalm 46, stands still. or be still and know that I am
God. It's not easy. It's not easy
to be still. All nature is so legal. All nature wants to be up and
doing. We're so wedded, you see, to
the idea of a covenant of works. Even when we see sinners being
awakened under the preaching of the Gospel in the Acts of
the Apostles, what is their initial response? What must we do? Those
on the Day of Pentecost, the 3,000, what must we do to be
saved? The Philippian jailer in Acts
16, what must he do? We think there's something to
be done. Or we want to do something maybe to justify ourselves. but
it is God who justifies the ungodly. This is the significance of the
commandment that God is giving to them. They're not in any sense
to look to anything of themselves. Their trust is to be simply and
solely in the Lord their God. The Lord shall fight for you
and ye shall hold your peace. We recently consider that prayer
of Jehoshaphat. Remember in 2 Chronicles chapter
20 the Moabites and the Ammonites coming against Judah. And what does Jehoshaphat, that
godly king, do? Oh, he cries to God, O our God,
wilt Thou not judge them? For we have no might against
this great company that cometh against us, neither know we what
to do. Neither know we what to do, but
our eyes are upon Thee. And now God answers his prayer.
There, at verse 17, ye shall not need to fight in this battle. Set yourselves, stand ye still,
and see the salvation of the Lord with you, O Judah and Jerusalem. Fear not, nor be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them,
for the Lord will be with you. And Jehoshaphat bowed his head
with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants
of Jerusalem foul before the Lord, worshipping the Lord, or
that we might be those who would worship God as we come and acknowledge
all our sinful weaknesses and our utter dependence upon Him. Here then is to be their standing,
not standing in their own strength, but standing steadfast by the
grace of God alone, but then also in the second place to say
something with regards to their sight. God tells them here in
this 13th verse, stand still and see the salvation of the
Lord which he will show to you today. For the Egyptians whom
you have seen today you shall see them again no more forever. There's something to behold with
the eye. They are to see the salvation of the Lord. But see
what it says, He must show it to them. He must show them this
salvation. And what is it that God is doing
here? Well, a number of things. First of all, they are to see
that it is God Himself who saves. It's God Himself who saves. And
how is it that God saves them? He saves them really by the cloudifying
pillar. Again, look at what follows,
verse 19. We're told of the angel of God,
which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind
them. And the pillar of the cloud went from before their face and
stood behind them. And it came between the camp
of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel. And it was a cloud
and darkness to them, but he gave light by night to these,
so that the one came not near the other all the night. And
then in verse 24 we're told he came to pass that in the morning,
watch, the Lord looked unto the host of the Egyptians through
the pillar of fire and of the clouds and troubled the host
of the Egyptians. It is so evident here that this
cloudy fiery pillow is associated with the Lord himself. It is
really the Lord who is there in that pillar. Again, going
right back to the previous chapter, it says at verse 21 in chapter
13, the Lord went before them by day. It was the Lord who went
before them by day in a pillar of a cloud to lead them by the
way, and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light to
go by day and night." So, what they see in the pillar,
the pillar of cloud, in the daytime, the pillar of fire, at nighttime,
it's the Lord, it's the Lord's presence, it's the Shekinah glory
that would ultimately be there upon the Mercy Seat. in the tabernacle when they came
into the possession of the land that God had promised. But this
pillar is really, more specifically, a type of the Lord Jesus Christ
himself. It is in Christ that God reveals
himself, be it in the New Testament, but also, we must remember, in
the Old Testament. Look at what we read later in
chapter 23. Here in chapter 23, verse 20,
God says, Behold, I send an angel before thee, to keep thee in
the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared.
Beware of him, and obey his voice. Provoke him not, for he will
not pardon your transgressions, for my name is in him. Who is
this angel of the Lord? Well, we think of the angel of
the Lord many times in the Old Testament. He appears. He appears
to Abraham. He appears to Jacob. He appears
to Gideon. He appears to Manoah. Or remember Jacob? There at Peniel,
the angel wrestled with him till the breaking of the day. And
that was an appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ, wrestling
with Jacob in prayer, and Jacob there becomes Israel. He's a
prince with God. Oh, he's wrestled with God himself.
And here you see, it's an angel that God sends before them. And
it's an angel who's there in that fiery, cloudy pillar. And
God says, My name is in him. Oh, this is the eternal Son of
God. the only begotten of the Father,
the one who is full of grace and truth, and it is the Lord
Jesus. What does God say concerning
him? If they fail to obey his voice, if they provoke him, he
will not pardon your transgressions. Well remember when the Lord Jesus
healed that man who was a paralytic really, he was a paralyzed man,
his friends had brought him where the Lord was, they brought him
on a bed, they presented him to Christ, and Christ, seeing
this act of faith, said to the man, Son, thy sins be forgiven. And there were scribes present,
and they said, who can forgive sins but God only? And they're
right, only God can forgive sins. But the Lord Jesus Christ is
God, and he can forgive sins. And he then turns to the man
and tells him to take up his bed and walk. It is the Lord
Jesus Christ. It is in Christ and in Christ
alone, of course, that God saves. There is none other name under
heaven given amongst men whereby we must be saved. And there's a great promise,
again, wondrous gospel promise, and we find it there in the book
of Isaiah, Isaiah 4 and verse 5. It says this, the Lord will
create upon every dwelling place of man Zion, And upon her assemblies
the clouds and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming
fire by night, for upon all the glory shall be a defense." Well,
that was the glory of Jerusalem. It's the presence of God, of
course, there in the midst, in the tabernacle, then subsequently
in the temple. And when we come to the last
book of Scripture, the opening words of Revelation 10, we read
of a mighty angel clothed with the clouds and feet as pillars
of fire. It's the same imagery just being
taken up in Revelation as we have here in Exodus 23, and it's
the Lord Jesus Christ. Neither is there salvation in
any other. There is none other name under
heaven given amongst men whereby we must be saved. And there in
the Old Testament there was ever that godly remnant and they must
have had some understanding of these things, these mysteries
that God sets before them. This salvation is in his only
begotten Son. God saves and he saves through
Christ. But what else do we see here?
We see clearly a separation. There's a separation, verse 20,
concerning the cloudy fiery pillory came between the camp of the
Egyptians and the camp of Israel. And there's a difference. It
was a cloud and darkness to them, to the Egyptians. But He gave
light by night to these, to the camp of the Hebrews, so that
the one came not near the other all night. Oh, God makes a difference,
puts a difference. Again, we have it previously
in chapter 11 and verse 7. Here is the last of the plague,
the threatening of the firstborn, and it says there at verse 7
in that 11th chapter, "...against any of the children of Israel
shall not a dog move his tongue, against man or beast, that ye
may know." as that the Lord doth put a difference between the
Egyptians and Israel. This is the word that Moses takes
to Pharaoh. God the Lord himself is putting
a difference between the Egyptians and Israel. And again, previous
to that, we go back to chapter 8 and verse 23, we read this,
I will put a division between my people and thy people. God's words through his servant
to Pharaoh, I will put a division. And the margin tells us here
in that eighth chapter that it is literally the word redemption.
I will put a redemption between my people and thy people. And of course, what is the Passover?
It reminds us. It reminds us of that great work
of redemption that the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished. And it's
not a universal redemption, is it? It's a particular redemption. It's for certain people. Even
as many as the Lord God Himself had chosen and committed into
the hands of His Son. God puts a division, a redemption,
between the Egyptians and the children of Israel. Oh, there
is a separation here. There is a separation. And we
see it in the ministry of the Lord Jesus, even as He comes
to Israel. Time and again there were those
who believed, but there were the multitudes who refused to
believe. They were offended. There was
a division because of him. There was a division because
of his sayings. He came unto his own, his own
received him not, we're told. how solemn it is, to the one
the savour of death unto death, to the other the savour of life
unto life. The Gospel divides, there's no
question about it. There are those who come to believe,
and there are those who reject the message of the grace of God. And God is the one who separates. He separates by and through the
ministry of His own Word. Or they are to see something
then, they see salvation, they see salvation is of the Lord,
they see that there's a difference, there's a separation being made.
And then finally, I want to just emphasize this truth, it is God
who has to show them. If God doesn't show them, if
God doesn't reveal it to them, they will not, they cannot see
it. Isn't that the language that
we have in our text? Fear you not, stand still and
see the salvation of the Lord which He will show to you today. He will show it to you and He's
going to do it that very day. That's His promise. Or think
about it was revealed to Simon Peter just who Jesus of Nazareth
really was. When he makes that great confession
at Caesarea Philippi, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living
God, and the Lord says, Blessed art thou Simon by Jonah flesh
and blood, and not revealed it unto them. But my Father, which
is in heaven, oh, it must be revealed. And as it was with
Peter, so too with Paul, when he pleased God, He says, who
separated me from my mother's womb and called me by His grace
to reveal His Son in me. The Lord Jesus Christ has to
be revealed in the heart of the sinner. It's that gracious work that
God does by and through the Holy Spirit when the sinner is born
again and there is that faith, that trusting, that resting,
in the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We sometimes
sing that lovely hymn, 399, Jesus, reveal thyself to me. Well, we
need the Lord to come and to reveal himself to us. Christ
has said, I will manifest myself to him. We have these things
written. words of Holy Scripture and can we not pray over them
and plead them that God would do that very thing those words
of Christ there in John 14 21 I will manifest myself to him
says Christ do we ever pray over that and ask that the Lord would
come and manifest himself to us the Lord has to show us these
things fear ye not stand still and see the salvation
of the Lord which he will show to you to die. Remember the prayer of Elisha
there in 2nd Kings chapter 6. The armies of the Syrians are
about him and his servant sees all the hosts of the Syrians
and he's afraid. And what does the prophet do?
He prays to the Lord, O Lord, he says, open his eyes that he
may see. And the prophet's prayer was
answered and the eyes of the young man were opened and he
saw. Oh, he saw the angels of God, the chariots of fire around
the prophet Elisha. The Lord God, you see, is that
one who has to show us the truth of his word and he has to reveal
to us the truth that we have in this text today. Oh, He has
to show us all these things, and He has to show me. I tell
you time and time and time and time again. We read it, we preach
it sometimes, we forget it. But the Lord is gracious and
longsuffering with us. Though we be such dull scholars,
or that the Lord would come and be our teacher, and reveal these
things and show all these great truths to us today what comforts
are here many many words in some way I suppose just a few words
it's a short text really just two verses but what precious
truth fear you not stand still and see the salvation of the
Lord which he will show to you today for the Egyptians All those
enemies, all that sin, all that unbelief, the Egyptians whom
you have seen today, you shall see them again no more forever.
The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace. May the Lord be pleased to bless
His Word to us. Amen.