Exodus 13:17-14:31

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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 left and on their right. 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 they had difficulty driving. And the Egyptians said, let's get away from the Israelites. The lord's 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 the 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. 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. This is the word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God. Nikki, thank you so much for reading that. Let me lead us in a prayer as we come to look at it. Father, I need your help now. Because just like the Israelites and Exodus sea, what happens in these next few minutes is not in my power.

It's not in our power, but it is entirely in yours. And so, Father, would you by your spirit work in our hearts that we might hear your voice, that you might prepare us, that one day we will meet you for our prayer. In Jesus name, amen. I remember as a 14 year old, I was sitting with a bunch of others in a Pathfinder session. And my pathfinder's leader was a man called Bill Thomas.

And he looked at us, and that week Bill's father had died. And he looked at us and said, this week my dad died. His final words were, as I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I'm a little apprehensive, but I fear no evil. And then he looked at us and said, one day you will walk through the valley of the shadow of death. You will lie where my father lay.

Will you be able to say those words?

Today's passage is a passage that will help us to be able to say those words when we are in that position. We're in the book of Exodus. For those of you who've not been with us for a while or need a catch up exodus, we've got God's people, they're in slavery in Egypt. To a maniacal dictator who has tried to set up this racial cleansing to do away with them. But God has raised up Moses, a saviour from God's people.

He is then sent back to Pharaoh. To go to PhaRAoh and say, God, his Name is YahweH, is telling you to let my people go free. And pharaoh, he kind of wobbles around a little bit, but basically his response is, who is Yahweh? And Yahweh says, well, I will show you by gaining glory over each of your gods. As he brings plague after plague after plague to the point where even those around PhaRaoh are begging, PhaRAoh, let them go.

Let them go. And PhaRAoh's heart gets hardened and hardened and hardened to the point where he says, no, I will not let them go. And so God brings about the final of ten plagues. We saw it last week. It is a death in every house in Egypt.

For the Egyptian, it meant the death of the firstborn child. For the Israelites, it meant the death of a lamb that would die in the place of the firstborn child, its blood put on the doorposts. It was a terrible, terrible night. And it was enough to finally break pharaoh's iron grip on his people. On God's people.

And so out they go. From Egypt, they were told that they take some of the gold from the people around them. In fact, we're also told that they take some of the people from the people around them, that others join them as they go out. Maybe other people from other races, possibly people from Egypt themselves, who've put their trust in Yahweh and go with God's people. And God himself leads them out as this pillar of fire and pillar of cloud.

It's a kind of visible picture of God as he leads his people out into. Into the desert. And today we pick up the story at that point, and we pick up with a slight odd thing. You see, after having gone to all the effort of getting God's people out of Egypt, we're told, verse two. Tell the Israelites to turn back and encamp near PI Hihoroth, between Migdol and the sea.

They are to encamp by the sea directly opposite Baal Zephyr. Now, I'm not a military strategist in any way, but even I know that this doesn't make a lot of sense. You're leaving a country from a man, a dictator, who doesn't want to let you go, and you're led back towards them. That seems odd. And what's worse, you're led to camp beside a sea.

Now, I don't know how many of you have seen the film at Dunkirk. If you've not seen it, you've probably read about it. This is a very vulnerable place to be, isn't it? With Dunkirk, they had the third Reich army on one side and the cold, dark sea on the other. And they waited and they waited and they waited, and it felt like there was no rescue.

No wonder the Israelites were terrified when they saw the Egyptians coming to them. But why has God brought them to this place of vulnerability? Why is it that God, having done all that work, has taken them here?

And we see the reason for it is that God has set them free physically, but they have this phoney freedom. Look with me at how they react in verse ten. As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians marching after them. They were terrified, understandably, and cried out to the Lord. And what did they cry out to him?

Well, I think verse eleven helps us with the tone. They said to Moses, was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Didn't we say to you in Egypt, leave us alone, let us serve the Egyptians? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians and die in the desert.

There they are, and they are petrified because they look at the Egyptians coming and they think, oh, if only we were still slaves. You see, they've been free all of about five minutes. And when they're put under pressure, where's their safe space mentally? Back in Egypt. If only we could go back to Egypt.

If only I could go back to that place of enslavement. That was where we were safe. Here. Here brings death. And that's important, because for some of us, when we come to a place where we feel vulnerable, what we often do is we reach out for our kind of mental safe spaces, don't we?

We go to that thing that we think will support us. So we take a good thing like I don't know, work. And we say, I'm having a really tough time. My life feels rubbish. So what am I going to do?

I'm going to throw myself into work, and I'm going to hit my deadlines, and I'm going to do okay in that. Or maybe we do it with another good thing with family. We say, actually, I'm just going to throw myself into time with my family or time with my friends. Maybe it's something completely different. Maybe actually, when life is hard, we throw ourselves into that addictive habit that we have wrestled with in the past.

It gets so much easier to reach for that cigarette.

I don't know what it is that we reach for. Many of those things can be good things. But when we make them our safe space, when we make them the thing that we reach for, when we feel vulnerable, what we actually do is we elevate them to a place that they can never truly satisfy. What do I mean? I mean that with all of those good things, when we make them our be all and end all, they become like pharaoh.

They say to us, you need to serve these things. And if you don't, then it's like death to you. What do I mean? If I make work a good thing into the thing for which I am living, when I am vulnerable, I reach out, I throw myself into work, then I begin to feel, well, what happens if I don't make that promotion that I need and work says to me, well, then you're going to stay at this same level again. You're going to carry on with the daily grind as it is.

And we think, oh, man, that feels like death to me. Maybe I throw myself into friends. I long for their affirmation, for their support. And I think if I don't get that, if I act in a way that my friends don't like, and they're not going to support me in this, that feels like death to me. Do you see how a good thing, like friends or work or whatever it is, when it becomes the ultimate thing, it becomes something that actually enslaves us.

And that's often something that comes out when we are feeling vulnerable.

You see, the Israelites are there, and they look and they see the Egyptians, and their two options are either death or slavery, and they reach for their safe space. If only I could go back to slavery. These are the same Israelites who've just seen ten plagues. All they need is an 11th plague. They've got the pillar of cloud and fire right with them.

All they need is to call out.

But they're enslaved still, and God does not want them to live in this phoney freedom. So he brings them to this place of vulnerability to show that the only thing that can bring them freedom is, is Yahweh himself. And he does that, doesn't he? Look at how he does it. First of all, he takes the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire and he moves from in front of them to behind them.

How is it that God saves them? He interposes himself between God's people and the things that are going to come at them. It's as if his two legs are the clouds of fire and the pillars of fire and cloud. And they come round and they stand in between God's people. And he says, a bit like Gandalf, you shall not pass.

You're not going to come at my people. I am interposing myself between you. I'll bring light to the one side, I'll bring darkness to the other. Then what does he do? He takes the death of the waters that they're backed up against and he makes a way through it.

Lift up your staff. Hold out your hand. Moses and I will part this sea so that they walk through on dry ground with a pillar of water, with a wall of water, water on either side of them. And finally, what does he do? The final part of the night, the Lord looks down from the pillar of fire and the pillar of cloud and he says, lift up your hand and your staff once more.

And the waters come in, and that threat to God's people is removed from them for good as the waters wash over them. You see, what does God do? God interposes. God provides a way through death. God removes that which would hurt them from him.

And actually, each of those acts is an act both of judgement and of mercy. Did you notice that at the pillar of cloud and fire, it brings light to one side, darkness to the other? Mercy and judgement. The waters that open as a dry path bring mercy to God's people. They throw through, bring an opportunity for the pharaoh and his armies to follow in judgement.

The judgement on pharaoh and his armies, as the water come back in and is itself a mercy to God's people, as they never see pharaoh again. This man who enslaved them and threw their children into the nile.

You see, it's strange. We see this judgement and mercy coming together. And actually, in the scriptures we see this again and again and again. In Isaiah, it's picked up and it's talked about as this kind of strange work of salvation, judgement and mercy, as if they're one same thing happening at the same time. And of course, we see how that plays out, don't we?

In the New Testament, as there on the cross, what do we see? Judgement and mercy. As there on the cross, what does Jesus do? He steps in, in between you and the things that would harm you. In between you and your sin.

There, as Jesus takes on him, the one who had no sin became sin for you, so that he could interpose himself between you and your sin. The one who became sin for you did so so that you may come to God. How he made a way through death itself.

The one who hung on the cross there triumphed over evil, so that one day will not just be freed from the punishment of sin, but freed from the presence of sin. It's no longer something that will plague us. You see, their story is once more our story, isn't it? Judgement and mercy. And that's important because this is a day that changed everything for God's people, the Israelites.

It says, verse 30. That day, Yahweh saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians. Verse 31. And when Israel saw the mighty hand of Yahweh displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared Yahweh and put their trust in him. You know, this is the first time in the book of Exodus we hear of God's people putting their trust in him.

This is a moment that changed everything. They saw God as the one who is the only one who can give them a safe space. He can protect them through even this vulnerability. In the New Testament, this is picked up and it's spoken about as the baptism of God's people, places like one corinthians. Why is that important?

Well, because as Christians, what has happened to us as christians, we have seen a greater act of mercy and judgement than we see here in this passage. We've seen it there at the cross as their. Jesus bleeds the death that I deserve, and as I am baptised into him, that means that I no longer need to live for all those things. I can enjoy the job, I can enjoy the family, I can enjoy the nice things this earth affords without making them my boss. Why?

Because Jesus. Jesus has saved me. Because he is my safe space that I can go to when I am vulnerable. Because he alone can rescue. We sung it already, Martin Luther, a few years ago, quite a few years ago.

He used to sometimes struggle with sin, as we all do, and he scraped into his desk these words, baptizatus sum. I'm rubbish at Latin, but it means I am baptised. And he used to look at it when he was tempted to reach out to those other safe spaces, those other things that he would put in the place of God to rescue him and keep him safe. What did he do? He said, no, I am baptised.

That's not me anymore. My place of refuge is Yahweh and him alone. I can cry out to him, knowing that he saves.

And that's important, because from time to time in our christian lives, we will come to times when we feel vulnerable. And our temptation is to reach out for all sorts of other things other than God, maybe to go back to those things that used to enslave us many years ago.

But if you're a Christian, that's not you. I don't know the Latin for you are baptised, so let me say it in English. You are baptised, you are one of God's people. That is not who you are anymore. Cry out to him.

But the Lord will bring us to those places in order to show us again and again that he is the one who will save us. And that's important, because as he does that in these mini bits of vulnerability in our life, he will do it so that we are prepared for that day when, as Bill Thomas Father said, I will walk through the valley of the shadow of death, and you will do so too. And he is preparing us for that place of ultimate vulnerability. It is vulnerable. As a vicar, I have seen it a number of times.

It is hugely vulnerable being in that position. We close our eyes and we have no power over what happens next.

But if we are Jesus, we cry out to one who does, and one who has already made a way through death. Very quickly, I said that actually, in this place of vulnerability, it reveals our hearts. It reveals the hearts of the Egyptians, of the Israelites. It also reveals the heart of Pharaoh, doesn't it? Because this is a story where we see his heart, he sees vulnerability.

And what does he do? As authority, as evil authority always does. It seeks to control. So he readies his chariots, 600 of the best chariots, plus all the other chariots, with commanders over all of them. This is not a small force, this is an army that is coming out.

He sees their vulnerability, he comes after them. He is so hell bent, and I use that word advisedly, hellbent on getting God's people here, that he follows them even into the walls of water on either side. And what's shocking to me, and I hope it's shocking to you, is it's only literally when the wheels are falling off his attack that he realises, let's get away from the Israelites. Verse 25. Yahweh is fighting for them against Egypt.

These are people who've seen plague after plague after plague. They've been warned again and again and again, seen this supernatural pillar of cloud and fire in front of them bring darkness. They've entered into a place where they see walls of water on either side. And it's only at the point that their wheels are falling off that they say, wait a second, Yahweh might actually be against us, by which point it is far too late. They are literally in the sea.

That picture of death.

We see Yahweh's judgement on evil. We see that he will judge, and that's sabering. And actually for some of us, and even part of me, would much prefer not to preach on a God who judges right here because it's hard to hear. But actually, like Pharaoh was warned and warned and warned. The scriptures warn us again and again and again.

And Jesus does so more than anybody else. And all the scriptures, he warns us about the fact that there is a God who will judge because he longs that we don't go there. He longs that we will find in him our safe space, our salvation.

And so I need to ask, is it possible that you're here today? And when you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, you will meet a God who has warned you again and again and again to come to him and you've not responded.

Maybe he's warning you even through my words right now. Come to me. Let me forgive you. Let me take the punishment you deserve on the cross. Let me offer you life and life eternal.

Don't be like Pharaoh. Don't keep ignoring him and think it's going to be okay. Because one day the waters will come down. One day we will walk through the valley of the shadow of death. And if that's something you need to talk about before you leave this place, please do so.

Speak to me. Speak to Roger, anybody who you've seen at the front today, we would love to speak to you before you leave this place.

As a 14 year old, I was asked, one day you will walk through the valley of the shadow of death.

Will you be able to say, I'm a little apprehensive, but I fear no evil.

I was asked that at 14. I'm asking you that today.

And if you want the answer to that to change and you need to talk to somebody, please stay at the end of the service. I will stay here at the front. Very happy to talk to you, but right now, let me lead us in a prayer now. Father God, we. We often feel vulnerable.

I certainly do, Father. I'm sorry. And we are sorry for those times that we reach out to all sorts of other things, things that used to enslave us, things that could still enslave us if we allow them. Rather than reaching out to you, Father, help us to find in the cross of Christ our salvation, our safe place.

Father, I pray for any here who as of yet don't know you, perhaps even now, are hearing that warning. Come to me. I pray that we would have opportunity to pray, to speak for I ask it in Jesus name. Amen.