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A reading from the book of Exodus, chapter 14, starting from verse 1 all the way to verse 31.
Then the Lord said to Moses,
Tell the Israelites to turn back and encamp near Pi-Hahiroth between Migdal and the sea.
They are to encamp by the sea directly opposite Baal-Ziphon.
Pharaoh will think the Israelites are wandering around the land in confusion hemmed in by the desert.
And I will harden Pharaoh's heart and he will pursue them.
But I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his army.
And the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.
So the Israelites did this.
When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled,
Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds about them and said,
What have we done?
We've let the Israelites go and have lost their services.
So he had his chariot made ready and took his army with him.
He took 600 of the best chariots along with all the other chariots of Egypt.
With officers over all of them.
The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.
So that he pursued the Israelites who were marching out boldly.
The Egyptians, all Pharaoh's horses and chariots, horsemen and troops,
pursued the Israelites and overtook them as they camped by the sea near Pi-Hahiroth opposite Baal-Ziphon.
As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up.
And there were the Egyptians marching after them.
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 than to die in the desert.
Moses answered the people,
Do not be afraid.
Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today.
The Egyptians you see today, you will never see again.
The Lord will fight for you.
You need only to be still.
Then the Lord said to Moses,
Why are you crying out to me?
Tell the Israelites to move on.
Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water
so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground.
I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them.
And I will gain glory through Pharaoh and all his army through his chariots and his horsemen.
The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I gain glory through Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.
Then the angel of God who had been traveling in front of Israel's army withdrew and went behind them.
The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them,
coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel.
Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side,
so neither went near the other all night long.
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 right and on their left.
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 that they had difficulty driving.
And the Egyptians said,
Let's get away from the Israelites.
The Lord is 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 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.
The grass withers and the flowers fall,
but the word of our God stands forever.
Amen.
You can take your seats.
Let's pray.
Lord, we thank you that your hand is mightier than any Pharaoh's hand.
And we pray that having witnessed this,
in you showing up in history time and time again to redeem your people,
that you would give us that fear of the Lord,
give us that faith in who you are and what you're capable of.
God, show us your greatness, we pray,
in the preaching of your word.
In Jesus' name.
Amen.
All right.
So, if I could give myself a grade on parenting this past week,
at best, I'd give myself a C-.
All right.
C-.
It was a rough week.
Every morning, a battle.
Every morning, a rush.
Hurry filled our home.
Come on.
Let's go.
What are you doing?
Get moving.
Hurry up.
Obey.
Or else.
Right.
I was loud.
I was mean.
I was forceful.
I was domineering.
This week, I cracked the whip.
Like, more than I can ever recall.
At best, C-.
Parenting.
Now, what in the world does this have to do with Moses
and the crossing of the Red Sea?
I guess what I'm trying to say is that this week,
in the Ong household, I was Pharaoh.
I was Pharaoh.
Or at least, I caught myself living out the same imagination
that animated Pharaoh and his empire.
An imagination dominated by fear and insecurity.
And the sense that, man, if things don't go according to my agenda,
if I start losing the order and the security,
even just in my own household,
everything could just fall apart.
So I better control everyone and everything around me,
no matter the cost.
And if ever my control seems to be slipping out of my fingers,
more pressure, more force,
whatever it takes to get everyone, everything back in line.
That was Pharaoh's way in Egypt.
That was my way in our home this past week.
You know, I think that for a lot of us,
when we approach the scriptures,
we often only ever identify, though,
with the victims and the underdogs,
or maybe the heroes that we're trying to emulate and celebrate.
Like, we can open this book of Exodus,
and we think to ourselves,
okay, we need to have faith like Moses,
like the Israelites,
because look, God delivered the Hebrew slaves out of Egypt.
He defeated their oppressors,
and the power of God's mighty hand went on full display
when the people cried out to him in faith.
So praise God,
trust him in tough times,
and walk by faith,
because even when there seems no way,
God can make a way.
Sermon's over, right?
But what if there's something else going on in this story
that's just as important,
but way easier to miss?
What if this story invites us
not merely to identify with the Hebrew slaves
and with Moses,
but to recognize something of Pharaoh
and his ways in ourselves?
What if Exodus 14 is not just about
how God gets his people out of Egypt,
but also about how God gets Egypt out of his people?
Now, in case you're new,
last week, our lead pastor, Jonathan,
he opened up our series in the book of Exodus,
where we're gonna be giving special attention
to the Ten Commandments,
but before we get there,
we're spending a few weeks
on what happened before the giving of the law.
Because see, the Ten Commandments,
they don't start right there
on page one of the book of Exodus.
No, before God ever tells his people how to live,
and this is so key to understanding the Ten Commandments,
before God ever tells his people how to live,
he delivers them from slavery.
His main intention is not to restrict,
but to liberate and empower,
and that's what we saw last week
in the burning bush,
in the Passover story.
So coming into Exodus chapter 14 today,
the Hebrews, they're free now,
no longer slaves.
The incredible, the impossible,
has happened after 430 pilgrim years in Egypt,
and generations of slavery,
the journey out of Egypt has begun.
And they're being led by God himself
in a pillar of cloud by day
and fire by night.
And they're finally on their way.
But then here, in chapter 14,
in verse 2,
God directs them to do something quite strange.
Verse 2 says,
tell the Israelites to turn back
and encamp by the sea.
For some reason,
after leading them in one direction,
God's now telling them to turn around
and backtrack.
Far from the most efficient route
out of Egypt,
God directed them to take a route
that actually made them look silly
and foolish and vulnerable and confused.
And yet this is exactly his intention.
God says in verses 3 and 4,
I want you to look like you're wandering
and confused and trapped.
In fact, I'm planning for Pharaoh
to pursue you with everything he's got,
all his army, his horses, his chariots,
all the things that made him
a great and successful king over Egypt.
And it is precisely when Pharaoh comes at you
with the fullness of his power and his glory
that I will show the world
who all the power and all the glory
actually belong to.
See, the Exodus story isn't primarily
about Moses or the Israelites
and the miraculous things that happened to them.
No, it's a story about the glory of God
over all other powers.
He's in complete control of the story
and everything always plays out
exactly as he has intended.
So, just as God predicted,
in verse 5, Pharaoh is filled with regret.
Egypt's whole economic advantage,
their whole low-cost labor force,
the unjust engine of Pharaoh's empire,
the Hebrews were no longer their slaves.
And especially after 10 severe plagues
that Egypt just suffered,
Pharaoh's entire world is crumbling.
His agenda, his security, his empire,
his status, his legacy,
it's all at risk.
The control that the pharaohs of Egypt
had enjoyed for generations
was now slipping through his fingers.
So, his back's against the wall
and now what does he do?
Well, the only thing he knows to do, right?
The only thing he could ever imagine
or believe that would work,
he reaches for more power,
more force, more pressure.
The whole of his army, every horse,
all the chariots of Egypt, it says.
Because this is how you get control back.
This is how you secure
your own desired outcomes.
You crack the whip as hard as you need to
until everyone and everything
bends the knee to you.
So, even after, again,
suffering 10 terrible plagues
and being on the losing side
of this battle between
the God of the Hebrews
and all the Egyptians'
most powerful gods,
in Pharaoh's mind,
because of the success that he's seen,
the success that he's seen
in his chariots and his horsemen
and his army,
time and time again,
he believes that he still has a chance.
And because he's never known
a God like Yahweh,
he's never known a God
who is completely all-powerful,
he's never known a God
who is incapable of losing,
in Pharaoh's imagination,
he's still got a fighting chance
to regain control by force.
So, just as God designed,
Pharaoh gears up.
And with every military,
every technological advantage
at his disposal,
he goes to reacquire
his escaped assets,
the Hebrews.
And in no time,
the Egyptians are
on the Hebrews' heels.
And as they approach,
verse 10 says,
the Israelites looked up.
And they were terrified,
and they cried out to the Lord,
verse 11,
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
than to die in the desert.
Did you hear that?
They are literally standing free
outside of Egypt.
And yet Egypt
is not yet outside of them.
It would have been better,
they said.
It would have been better
to live as slaves
of Pharaoh in Egypt
than to die as sons
of Yahweh in the desert.
Though no longer slaves
to Egypt,
they still were slaves
to the fear
and to the threat
of Egypt.
And although Pharaoh
no longer controlled
Hebrew bodies,
he still had a hold
on Hebrew hearts,
Hebrew minds,
Hebrew imaginations,
looking up at Pharaoh's army
in full force,
watching those unstoppable
chariots inch closer
and closer and closer,
hearing the crash
of the roaring waves
behind them,
feeling the mist
of the Red Sea
on their backs,
Israel could only conceive
of two possible outcomes.
They could only imagine
two possible futures
for themselves.
In this moment
where they were trapped
between their former enslavers
and the raging sea
behind them,
as far as they could see,
as far as Pharaoh could see,
as far as anyone could see,
either go back
and live as slaves
or go forward and die.
Slavery or the sea.
And what's so striking
is that Pharaoh and Israel,
you know,
they basically agree here
on all the possible options.
Pharaoh thinks,
I've got them.
They're trapped.
There's nowhere to escape.
And the Hebrews also think,
he's got us.
We're trapped.
And there's nowhere to escape.
The dominance,
even the apparent omnipotence
of Egypt continues to shape
their imaginations,
their sense of what is possible.
Even after witnessing
the ten plagues that God used
to free them from Egypt,
their fears and complaints,
their imaginations reveal
who they really think
is the most powerful one
in control of this moment.
Effectively,
Israel believes the same thing
about power
that Pharaoh does.
They're just on
the other end of it.
And therefore,
they believe they're doomed.
They're hopeless.
They're trapped
with no way out.
Riding his chariot,
Pharaoh says,
I have the power,
therefore I determine
the future.
And facing the chariots,
the Israelites agree.
Pharaoh has the power
and therefore,
he determines our future.
They'd gotten out of Egypt,
but Egypt hadn't gotten
out of them.
Both Pharaoh and Israel,
they were both living
out of the same understanding,
both ruled
by the same imagination.
The same imagination
that ruled me this week.
When I was screaming
at my girls
at the breakfast table,
higher volume,
more pressure,
more threats.
Why?
Because that's how
I implicitly believed
the world to work.
That's what I believed
would secure
my desired outcomes.
Pressure,
tyranny,
aggression,
the ultimate tools
for getting what we want.
In my imagination,
there was no other way.
This is the only way
to get stuff done, right?
And whether you're
on Pharaoh's side of it
or Israel's side of it,
this imagination
is just so prevalent
and influential
if you pay attention to it.
Whether it's,
I have to throw
everything I've got
at this thing
to secure my future,
to secure
my academic outcomes,
my relational outcomes,
my financial,
my career outcomes,
my health outcomes,
more effort,
better technique,
higher investment
because if I don't
concentrate everything
I've got
to make this happen,
who will?
Whether you come at it
like Pharaoh
or whether you come at it
like Israel,
like,
I'm done for.
I'm stuck.
I'm trapped.
And there's no possible
happy ending
because I have no power,
no resources,
no nothing,
no hope for salvation,
no hope for joy,
no hope for my marriage,
my children,
my broken relationships,
my health,
everything's already
been decided for my life
and every possible scenario
stinks.
See,
whether we're desperately
trying to control
our circumstances
or terrified
because of how little
control we have
before the powers that be,
we're basically still living
inside a Pharaoh's imagination
under the shadow
of his oppressive empire
where the future belongs
to whoever can crack
the whip
the hardest.
But here in Exodus chapter 14,
God invites his people
to expand
and to even re-imagine
our imaginations,
to inform our imaginations
by the goodness
and the glory
and the infinite omnipotence
of our holy God.
Precisely,
precisely when Pharaoh thinks
that he's got them
right where he wants them,
and precisely when Israel thinks
that Pharaoh's got them
right where he wants them,
trapped with no possible salvation,
Moses,
the prophetic mediator,
the mouthpiece of God,
he speaks to them.
Three commands
and one big truth.
Verse 13,
first command,
fear not,
do not be afraid.
Second command,
stand firm,
or better yet,
stand still.
you could translate this.
And third command,
see.
Behold,
feast your eyes
upon the deliverance
the Lord will bring you
today.
The Egyptians you see today,
you will never see again.
And then this is probably
my favorite part of the whole passage
in verse 14.
One big truth
and one requirement.
The Lord
will fight
for you.
You need only
to be still.
The battle belongs
to the Lord,
he's saying.
You cannot fight
your way free.
You cannot swim
your way free.
You cannot deliver
your own deliverance.
You must
allow Yahweh
to do that for you.
You cannot do
what only Yahweh can do.
You need not fight
or win your own battles.
You need only
be still
and know
that God
is God.
So,
God invites his people
to go from
bewildered
by the hand of Pharaoh
to beholding
the mighty hand
and outstretched arm
of God.
When in verse 10
it says the Israelites
looked up,
saw the Egyptians
and were terrified,
now here in verse 13
their Lord invites them
to look again
but now higher
toward him.
To see reality
for what it really is
at every point
held and guided
by the mighty hand
of Yahweh.
He wants to fix their eyes
on a power
and on possibilities
far beyond those
of Pharaoh's imagination.
Because,
as he said in verse 4,
he says it again
in verses 17 and 18,
he's on a mission
to manifest his glory,
to make himself known
to Israel,
to the great
and mighty empire
of Egypt
and really to all
the watching world
here between
the Egyptians
and the Red Sea
where the salvation
of his people
seems like an absolute
impossibility.
Yahweh makes himself
known as the God
who creates possibilities
that neither Pharaoh
nor Israel
nor anyone else
could have imagined.
And how?
By making a way
where there was no way,
dry ground
through the middle
of the sea.
It's incredible,
this crossing
of the Red Sea.
Now, if you are
a modern Western
scientific person,
that should sound
pretty amazing to you,
right?
That just,
that doesn't happen,
right?
And as a side note,
if you're here
and you struggle
with Christianity
because of stories
like this,
we're super glad
you're here.
We'd love to speak
to you about your
obstacles and objections
but what we also
want to communicate
to you is,
hey,
at the heart
of the Christian faith
is a crucified Messiah
who was raised
on the third day.
And Christians,
you know,
we aren't a gullible people
but what I would say
is we do have
a very expansive,
joyful,
and hopeful imagination
when it comes to
what our God
can and cannot do.
And we'd love
to invite you
to try that on
and to imagine
and dream with us.
But back to the story again,
for modern scientific people
like us,
right?
This Red Sea event,
it should sound
super amazing,
supernatural,
right?
Unnatural.
But man,
if you were an Egyptian,
if you were an Israelite,
if you were someone
steeped in the mythological culture
of the ancient Near East,
man,
this wasn't just
some unnatural,
supernatural occurrence.
This was so much
more than that.
I want you to notice
what might seem like
a minor detail
in verses 2 and 9.
Do you see where it indicates
the location of this event?
It says that they're
camped out opposite
of this place called
Baal Zephon.
If you know
some of the other parts
of your Bible,
Baal was this God
that many people
in the region
worshipped.
That's because
this was an area
where the worship
of Baal Zephon
was very dominant.
He was known
as the storm God.
Baal Zephon
was associated
with the storm God Baal
known throughout
the region
for his hard-fought
victory over Yam,
which means the sea.
Alright,
so Baal Zephon,
he's known as the storm God
who's defeated
the great power
of the sea.
And in fact,
in the world of Exodus,
across the ancient Near East,
in the stories people
told about their gods
and the ordering
of their universe,
the sea
was often seen
as a threatening,
ominous,
chaotic power
that the gods
waged violent war against,
triumphing only
through fierce
and dangerous struggle.
And they had to fight
in order
to establish
their supremacy
and their kingship.
So you think about
the Babylonian myth
of Marduk
defeating Tiamat,
right?
Or here,
Baal defeating
Yam,
the sea.
But,
in both these stories,
these are battles
where the gods
have worthy opponents.
They have rivals
and so they need weapons.
Baal has to have
another god
make special weapons
so that he could defeat
Yam,
the sea.
Marduk goes to war
with a bow
and arrow,
with a club,
a net,
lightning,
and wind.
Because these gods
are going up
against powers
that can actually
threaten them.
In the ancient
Near Eastern imagination,
the sea was a power
that threatened
both men
and even their gods.
And so,
in these stories,
there's always a struggle,
there's always danger,
there's always risk
and uncertainty
about who's gonna
come out on top.
But now let's come back
to Exodus 14
and watch Yahweh
and the sea.
Is there a battle here?
Is there a struggle?
Is there any uncertainty,
peril,
or risk?
None.
None,
because the sea
isn't another god
vying for power
against Yahweh.
No,
the sea is powerful.
Yes,
more powerful than Israel,
more powerful than Pharaoh,
more powerful than many
of the ancient Near Eastern gods.
But to Yahweh,
the sea
is his creation.
And from the very beginning
of the creation
of the world,
he looked out
upon the ominous,
threatening,
chaotic,
disorderly deep,
and he simply spoke it
into order.
He spoke life
into the world
with the holy breath
of his authoritative words.
And he does so here again.
Verse 21,
Yahweh sends the wind,
he sends his breath,
and the sea moves,
the waters divide,
dry ground appears.
And when he wants
the waters back
where they were,
they go back.
And he even uses
his human servant mediator,
Moses,
to accomplish this.
And Moses himself
doesn't even struggle.
So even as Yahweh
fights for Israel,
he is at the same time
not fighting against
the sea
or any rival.
The sea isn't his rival,
it's his servant.
And that is what Exodus
wants us to see
about Israel's God.
Yahweh isn't just
another ancient storm god
who happens to be stronger
than Baal
and the gods of Egypt.
He's not Marduk
with a better arsenal
of weapons.
It's not like he's got
better tech and gear
than Pharaoh
with his 600 best chariots.
Yahweh is simply,
he's not simply
the strongest god
in the same category
as these other gods.
No, he's in a category
all of his own.
Whereas Baal has to
defeat the sea
to establish his kingship,
whereas Marduk
has to conquer Tiamat
to establish his supremacy,
Yahweh commands the sea
because he's already king.
He doesn't become sovereign
by winning this battle.
The battle reveals
that he's always been sovereign.
Yahweh isn't merely
showing Israel
that he's a better warrior
than Pharaoh.
He's showing them
that he,
and he alone,
is the creator.
And when the creator
is in the story,
Pharaoh doesn't get
to decide
what is possible.
The sea doesn't get
to decide
what is possible.
Even the apparent limits
of creation
don't get to decide
and give the final word
because the creator
can make a way
where there is no way.
When Pharaoh thought
that the sea
was his trap,
Yahweh turned
Pharaoh's trap
into Israel's highway.
This treacherous,
threatening,
unwieldy body of death,
this raging sea,
the thing everyone thought
marked the end of the road
for God's people,
God made a way
through it.
A way to salvation
through the waters,
a way to bring glory
to himself
as the creator
and savior God
who he is.
You know,
another way you could
tell the story
of the exodus
is as the story
of the creator
bringing about
a new creation
and particularly
of subverting
Pharaoh's
anti-creation agenda,
his anti-creation
dominion.
If you think about it,
Pharaoh's really been
an anti-creator
figure from the beginning
of the story in Exodus.
If you look back
in Exodus chapter 1
verse 7,
it says,
the Israelites
were exceedingly fruitful,
they multiplied greatly,
increased in numbers,
and became so numerous
that the land
was filled with them.
Does that language
sound familiar to you?
Sounds like Genesis 1, right?
The beginning of the Bible,
Genesis 1, 28,
God creates human beings,
he blesses them,
and he says,
be fruitful,
multiply,
and fill the earth.
And yet,
what does Pharaoh do
when he sees the Hebrews
being fruitful
and multiplying
and filling his land?
He says,
this has got to stop.
This is not good for me.
This is not good for the world,
for my empire.
So he enslaves them.
He reduces image bearers
to units of production
who make bricks
to build store cities
so that he can,
you know,
accumulate and store
and accumulate and store
and produce and consume
without limit
and at the expense
of his expendable slaves.
And yet,
when slavery doesn't stop
their fruitfulness,
they continue to grow in number.
He commands
that their sons be killed.
He cranks up the oppression.
Throw every Hebrew boy
into the Nile
by violently opposing
the creator's blessing
upon the world
that his people be fruitful,
multiply,
fill the earth with his image.
Pharaoh,
as an anti-creator character,
not only hurts the Hebrews,
but he even hurts
his own empire.
Because what happens
when God looks down
upon his people
crying out
under the thumb
of this Egyptian anti-creator?
Well, creation itself
starts to come apart
in Egypt through the plagues,
right?
The Nile,
the source of Egypt's life,
turns to blood.
Fish and livestock die.
Crops are destroyed.
The sun stops giving light.
Darkness covers the land.
It's like they're going backwards
from the creation story.
And death comes upon
every household
that has not placed its faith
in the true creator God.
Under Pharaoh's reign,
within his imagination,
creation,
Egypt experiences
de-creation.
The national order
that Pharaoh was so
desperate to control
comes apart
in his bloody hands.
And all of his,
and all of this,
it reaches its climax here
in Exodus 14
at the Red Sea,
where just as Pharaoh
had weaponized
the waters of the Nile
against those Hebrew boys,
now the waters
of the Red Sea
are about to fall
in judgment
upon the warriors
of Egypt.
But you know
what's interesting
is that for God's people,
those same waters
became the place
of new creation
and life
and salvation.
They're like baptismal waters
for them.
Just like in the beginning
and just like when God
started over with Noah,
the wind blew,
the waters moved,
the ground appeared,
and God's people emerged
on the other side.
But why only for Israel
and not also for Egypt?
When Hebrews chapter 11,
verse 29,
it says that by faith,
the people passed through
the Red Sea
as on dry land.
But when the Egyptians
tried to do so,
they were drowned.
Did you hear the difference?
It's by faith.
By faith in God's word.
When God told them
in verse 15,
tell the Israelites
to move on,
they did.
They simply took
step by step
by faith,
walking through
the treacherous sea
between the walls
of water
that they just
had to trust
would not come
collapsing down
on them.
But Egypt,
Egypt charges in
trusting not
in the word
of the Lord,
but trusting
in what Egypt
had always put
its trust in,
in horses,
in chariots,
in military strength.
And right there
in the middle
of the sea,
that's where
Pharaoh's imagination
finally dies.
Because the chariots
can't save them.
Verse 25 says,
God jams their wheels.
Think about that.
The very technology
that made Egypt
look unstoppable.
The very thing
Pharaoh trusted
to secure
his desired future
became useless,
a hindrance to him.
And the Egyptians
finally recognize here
and cry out
what Israel should have
known and believed
all along.
Yahweh is fighting
for them.
Yahweh is fighting
for his people
and not as some
king kidnapping,
not as like a king
who's like kidnapping
some immigrant laborers
to build his own
alternative empire.
No.
He doesn't call them
to himself
to be his slaves.
Do you remember
what Yahweh told Pharaoh
all the way back
in Exodus chapter 4?
In Exodus chapter 4,
verse 22 and 23,
Yahweh tells Moses
to say to Pharaoh,
Israel is my firstborn son.
Let my son go
so he may worship me.
And this is who
the Hebrews have always been
in God's eyes,
not Pharaoh's slaves,
Yahweh's sons,
Yahweh's children.
So you see what God
is doing here at the Red Sea
in the whole book of Exodus.
This isn't just God
getting his son
out of Pharaoh's house.
He's beginning to get
the mind of a slave
out of his sons,
out of Israel.
Because slaves,
slaves look up,
they see Pharaoh
and they tremble.
Slaves assume
Pharaoh gets the final word.
Slaves think the future
belongs to the one
with the most
threatening whip.
But God is teaching
these slaves
what it means
to live as sons,
to look up
and see more
than Pharaoh's chariots,
but to see the Lord
of hosts,
who is at the same time
their liberating king
and their affectionate father.
He's teaching his sons
to receive his word
and walk in his ways,
not by the crack
of the whip
as I did
with my girls
this past week,
but with a mighty hand
and an outstretched arm
and with a gentle,
patient,
and loving posture
toward his grumbly children.
See, the point of Exodus
isn't simply
liberation from slavery,
but liberation for
and unto sonship.
The point of Exodus
isn't simply,
wow, Yahweh is
a powerful God
worth trusting,
but Yahweh is also
a loving father
worth living with.
And man,
I think that's what
I was missing
when I was Pharaoh
to my daughters
in my home
this past week.
living within the imagination
of Pharaoh
and his empire.
I thought being a good father
meant controlling my daughters.
I thought I needed
to control them
with force and pressure
and more and more
threatening cracks
of the whip.
But you know,
on Friday,
after like really
just laying it
into my girls
before they hit it off
to school,
I went for my daily walk
with my dog Sammy
and with God
and my heart sank
and I had to fight back tears.
Why?
Because I knew
that the father
I had been to my girls
that morning
was so far
from the father
I've been trying
to point my girls to
in these past eight years
of being a dad.
Our father in heaven.
Hallowed be his name.
Our holy and good,
good father
who is a father
without equal.
And it wasn't even just
that I was treating
my girls like my slaves,
but man,
at the same time
that I was playing Pharaoh,
I too was treating
my own self
as a slave.
A slave to Pharaoh's imagination,
a slave to the idea
that cracking the whip
is the only way
to win in this world.
Sure,
I was holding the whip,
but I was acting
way more like a slave
than a son.
You know,
in the Gospel of Luke,
chapter nine,
Jesus is up there
on the mount
of transfiguration.
Transfiguration.
And as he's praying,
his face and his clothes
all become bright
and glorious,
and then Moses appears
with Elijah,
and they start talking
to Jesus about his departure,
or in the Greek,
his exodus.
And basically,
they're talking about
his cross,
his sacrifice,
or what Jesus calls
his own baptism.
The way he will put sin
to death
through his blood
and triumph over death
and evil
by taking upon himself
the deathly judgment
threatening all God's children.
So,
they're on this mountain,
right?
They're talking about
how he will become
the ultimate Passover lamb
whose blood will cover
and protect every child
of God from judgment.
But then Peter comes in,
right?
And he's like,
Master,
it is good for us
to be here.
Let us start building
some shelters
for you guys.
And Luke tells us
he did not know
what he was saying.
It's almost like
all Peter could think
to do was to
try to make himself useful,
to serve,
try to build something,
get something done,
bring value,
advance the ball
a couple more yards
for God.
And I wonder
if that's how so many of us
show up in the world.
We wake up every day
trying to advance the ball
a couple more yards.
And when we hit obstacles,
we get more and more forceful.
And to us,
it just feels like resilience.
It just feels like
the natural way of the world.
That's how you get stuff done,
right?
And sure,
we want to be Christians
who are diligent.
But how often
does our diligence
actually turn into
desperation
and being incredibly demanding?
How often does our diligence
come more from anxiety
and insecurity
and a slavish mindset
than from the humble desire
of a son
to honor his father
but within our God-given limits?
You know,
when Peter seemingly goes
into servant-slave mode,
it's always stuck out to me
what God says to him
at the Mount of Transfiguration.
He says,
Peter,
this is my son
whom I love.
With him,
I am well pleased.
Just listen to him.
It's like God was telling Peter,
Peter,
my son,
I didn't ask you to do anything
other than fix your eyes
on my son
whom I love.
You see this?
You see this brilliance?
You see my delight in him?
How pleased I am with him?
This is the whole thing,
Peter.
The very thing
he came to accomplish
and offer.
Peter,
you don't need to build
something for the son.
You need the son
to accomplish something for you.
Listen to him.
Look at him.
Love him.
Lean on him.
Because this son
is about to accomplish
the exodus
that none of us
could ever accomplish
for ourselves.
At the first exodus,
Israel stood between
their old life of slavery
and the seemingly
only other option,
the waters of death,
until their mediator,
Moses,
with a mighty
and outstretched arm,
right,
as if it was
the very hand of God
made a way,
a way of salvation
through the deathly waters
into life
and freedom
through the sea.
And when Pharaoh's
forces followed,
they didn't survive
the baptism
of the Red Sea.
There was no exodus
for them
because they had
no mediator
to follow by faith.
But now,
a greater mediator
has come.
And he's gone
through a greater baptism
all alone at first
to accomplish
a far greater exodus.
Except this time,
this mediator's hand
seems far less mighty.
Instead of clutching
a wooden staff,
it's pierced through,
outstretched
and nailed
to a cross of wood.
And when this mediator
is baptized
in the judgment of God,
he actually tastes
death for you
and for me
to bear the judgment
that every child of God
but him
has ever deserved
for all the ways
that we feared
and followed
the pharaohs
of this world
instead of our
Father in heaven.
And it's not until
the third day
that he emerges
from the waters
of judgment,
but emerge he does
to guarantee
resurrection life,
new creation,
to chart a new way
in our broken world
in which there often
seems to be
no good way,
no good option,
no good possible outcome.
This is what he does
and this is the gospel.
The gospel of Exodus,
the gospel of new creation,
the gospel of sonship
for former slaves
like you and me.
Slaves to sin and death,
slaves to the imagination
of Pharaoh
and slaves to fear
and terror
and insecurity.
Jesus,
the greater Moses,
Yahweh himself,
the Messiah King
has come in the flesh,
not to crack the whip,
but to bear the whip
in our place
to bring many sons
to glory.
So,
if this is our God,
why would we continue
to live with
limited imaginations
determined by the empires
of Pharaoh?
Why would we continue
to tremble before
the chariots
and keep living
like no one can save us
but ourselves
when instead
we can live
in our Father's love
and liberty
and in the fullness
and freedom
won for us
in Christ?
So,
as we move on
toward Moses' law,
this,
the gospel,
it's so essential.
The Ten Commandments
aren't new restrictions
for a newly enslaved people,
but they are the way
that liberated children
of God
live in harmony
with their Father
and with each other
after the image
of Christ.
So,
let's live that way
and trust Him.
Let's pray.
Lord,
would you expand
our imaginations
to see the world
as you see it,
to know that
with you
and in you
all things are possible
and all things
turn out for good
for those who love Christ.
We thank you
for our better
mediator Christ,
for His baptism,
for His exodus,
and that you have
graciously invited us
to join Him
in that baptism,
in that exodus.
God,
let us set our eyes
on Jesus
and would He
prove Himself
to be the author
and perfecter
of our faith
and would our lives
demonstrate to the world
all the possibilities
that are in you
and only in you.
In your Son's name we pray.
Amen.