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In Exodus 14, God set a trap for Pharaoh and the Egyptians and He used the Israelites as bait. But why? To demonstrate His power, spread His fame, and reveal His glory. Take a look at the God-centered God with us!
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Christ – The God-Glorifying God
Exodus 14:1-31
This morning we are going to examine the most famous and greatest Old Testament miracle – the parting of the Red Sea. This miracle is the Old Testament equivalent of the resurrection of Jesus Christ in the New Testament. And the reason we’re going to focus on this event, is so that you and I can see another aspect of Jesus Christ. Christ is the God-glorifying God!
Let’s read Exodus 14 together.
Exodus 14:1 “Now the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
2 “Tell the sons of Israel to turn back and camp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea; you shall camp in front of Baal-zephon, opposite it, by the sea.
3 “For Pharaoh will say of the sons of Israel, `They are wandering aimlessly in the land; the wilderness has shut them in.´
4 “Thus I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will chase after them; and I will be honored through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD.” And they did so.
5 ¶When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his servants had a change of heart toward the people, and they said, “What is this we have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us?”
6 So he made his chariot ready and took his people with him;
7 and he took six hundred select chariots, and all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them.
8 The LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he chased after the sons of Israel as the sons of Israel were going out boldly.
9 Then the Egyptians chased after them with all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, his horsemen and his army, and they overtook them camping by the sea, beside Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon.
10 ¶As Pharaoh drew near, the sons of Israel looked, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they became very frightened; so the sons of Israel cried out to the LORD.
11 Then they said to Moses, “Is it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you dealt with us in this way, bringing us out of Egypt?
12 “Is this not the word that we spoke to you in Egypt, saying, `Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians´? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”
13 But Moses said to the people, “Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the LORD which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever.
14 “The LORD will fight for you while you keep silent.”
15 ¶Then the LORD said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to Me? Tell the sons of Israel to go forward.
16 “As for you, lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, and the sons of Israel shall go through the midst of the sea on dry land.
17 “As for Me, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them; and I will be honored through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen.
18 “Then the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD, when I am honored through Pharaoh, through his chariots and his horsemen.”
19 ¶The angel of God, who had been going before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them.
20 So it came between the camp of Egypt and the camp of Israel; and there was the cloud along with the darkness, yet it gave light at night. Thus the one did not come near the other all night.
21 ¶Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD swept the sea back by a strong east wind all night and turned the sea into dry land, so the waters were divided.
22 The sons of Israel went through the midst of the sea on the dry land, and the waters were like a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.
23 Then the Egyptians took up the pursuit, and all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots and his horsemen went in after them into the midst of the sea.
24 At the morning watch, the LORD looked down on the army of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and cloud and brought the army of the Egyptians into confusion.
25 He caused their chariot wheels to swerve, and He made them drive with difficulty; so the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from Israel, for the LORD is fighting for them against the Egyptians.”
26 ¶Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters may come back over the Egyptians, over their chariots and their horsemen.”
27 So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal state at daybreak, while the Egyptians were fleeing right into it; then the LORD overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea.
28 The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen, even Pharaoh’s entire army that had gone into the sea after them; not even one of them remained.
29 But the sons of Israel walked on dry land through the midst of the sea, and the waters were like a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.
30 ¶Thus the LORD saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore.
31 When Israel saw the great power which the LORD had used against the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD, and they believed in the LORD and in His servant Moses.”
You will recall that the Lord had gone through the land of Egypt at midnight, and had killed all the first-born of Egypt who did not have the bloody mark over their doors. That night there was a great cry and wailing throughout the land of Egypt. Pharaoh called for Moses and told him to leave quickly before all the Egyptians were dead. And that’s exactly what the Israelites did. They set out immediately from Egypt on their journey to the Promised Land. As they got to the edge of the wilderness, and did not know which way to go, God revealed Himself in a pillar of cloud and fire, and began leading His people in the way He wanted them to go.
Now, that’s when things get interesting. God gave Moses specific instructions about where they were to camp. He says in verse 2, “Tell the sons of Israel to turn back and camp before Pihahiroth, between Migdol and the sea; you shall camp in front of Baal-zephon, opposite it, by the sea.” In effect God told Moses, “I’m going to set a trap, and I’m going to use you as bait!” God told Moses to have the Israelites camp with the Red Sea at their back, and the mountains on either side. In that position, there was absolutely no place to escape. Now, why would God do that?
Verses 3 and 4 give us the answer, “For Pharaoh will say of the sons of Israel, ‘They are wandering aimlessly in the land; the wilderness has shut them in.’ Thus I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will chase after them; and I will be honored through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.’ And they did so.”
When we look at this story through modern Christianity’s eyes, we are dumbfounded. “I thought God loves His people. I thought God wants to protect His people. I thought God wants to bless and do kind things for His people.” But in this instance, God is terrifying His people!
Pharaoh has had a change of mind about the Israelites. At first, he couldn’t get them out of Egypt fast enough. But now that things have cooled off a little, he has reconsidered. Between 2 and 3 million Israelite slaves have left Egypt. Can you imagine the amount of free labor Pharaoh has lost? Who’s going to build all his pyramids now? On top of that, the land has been devastated by the plagues God sent on Egypt. The crops are gone, the livestock are dead, the locusts have devastated every living thing. Egypt has been ravaged and wasted. And now, all of the Hebrew slaves who made Egypt prosperous are gone. The Egyptians had to rebuild their nation. Also, the Egyptians had given gold and silver to the Israelites before they left. Even if each Hebrew family only received a little, amounting to $100, the combined total wealth would have been about $60,000,000! The Egyptians could rebuild their nation much quicker and easier, if they could somehow regain their Hebrew slaves and confiscate their wealth.
Pharaoh hears that the Israelites are shut in, with no way of escape. There is a sea behind them, and mountain ranges on both sides. The Egyptian army was the most powerful army on the face of the earth. The Hebrews had no weapons and were untrained in war. It would be a very easy thing for the Egyptians to bind them, and lead them back to Egypt in slavery again.
You can well imagine the scene. The Israelites heard the rumbling of horses’ hooves a way off in the distance. As they turned to look, they could see the billowing cloud of dust of the advancing Egyptian army, the shouts of the soldiers, and the shields and swords glinting in the sun. They could see the select chariots racing toward them. Mothers began to scream and clutch their children. The men began to rail on Moses, claiming that it would have been better for them to remain slaves in Egypt, than to die out here in the wilderness.
Now, in this story, God is doing 2 very strange things.
- He hardened Pharaoh’s heart, so that he would chase after the Israelites. Instead of softening Pharaoh’s heart to save him, He hardened it to destroy him! Romans 9:18 says, “So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires.” So much for the idea that God loves everybody exactly the same, and is doing everything He can to save everyone. Now, we should note that God didn’t change Pharaoh’s heart. It was not as though Pharaoh had a soft heart toward God and the Israelites, and God changed it into a hard heart. No, Pharaoh’s heart was already hard toward God and Israel. God just confirmed Pharaoh in the hardness of His heart and made it a little harder. In this story, 11 times the Bible says that the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, 2 times it says that Pharaoh hardened his own heart, and 5 times it says that Pharaoh’s heart was hardened.
- He terrified His own people. Verse 10 says, “they became very frightened.” Now, we are accustomed to thinking that if a person loves God and is serving Him, that God would never do anything to bring fear or pain or suffering into His life. Not in this situation! God deliberately caused the Israelites to camp in a place where Pharaoh would march after them, which would bring terrible fear into their hearts.
Now, you might be tempted to say at this point, “That’s not my God! That’s not the God I have always been told about!” That may be true. But this is the God of the Bible! And you and I had better get rid of our God as soon as we can, and exchange him for the true and living God revealed in the Bible, or we may find ourselves worshiping a God of our own imagination.
Now, this morning I want to show you why God did all of this. What was He after? Why did He set a mousetrap for the Egyptians, and use His people as cheese? Let’s look at three reasons.
1. To Demonstrate His Power
The apostle Paul discusses this very thing in Romans 9:17 where he writes, “For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, ‘For this very purpose I raised you up, to demonstrate My power in you, and that My name might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth.’”
Now, what kind of power are we talking about? This is enough power to part the Red Sea, so that 2-3 million people could walk through in a single night. When I imagine God parting the Red Sea, I imagine Him creating a path maybe 20 or 30 feet wide. However, this path would have had to be at least a half mile wide for all those people to be able to cross over in a single night. Notice Exodus 14:22, “and the waters were like a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.” These walls of water would probably have been hundreds of feet high. This truly was an awesome sight and display of power.
But notice that this power was used in two ways. It was used to deliver the Israelites, but it was also used to destroy the Egyptians. God raised up Pharaoh because He wanted an occasion to demonstrate His power. Not just His power to save, but also His power to destroy.
We should also note at this point that God decided who He would use His power to save, and He also decided who He would use His power to destroy. God didn’t save the Israelites because they were righteous. All of them were unrighteous. God decided to save the Israelites because it suited His purposes to do so. God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and raised Him up, because He wanted an occasion to display His awesome power to His creatures.
2. To Spread His Fame
The second part of Romans 9:17 says, “and that My name might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth.” Not only did God want to demonstrate His power, but He also wanted to spread His fame. And, that’s exactly what happened. Forty years later, when the Israelites were entering the Promised Land, Joshua sent out two spies to Jericho. These spies met Rahab, who protected them and hid them in stalks of flax up on the roof. In Joshua 2:9-11 she said, “I know that the LORD has given you the land, and that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land have melted away before you. For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. When we heard it, our hearts melted and no courage remained in any man any longer because of you; for the LORD your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath.” God had spread His fame over the earth through the parting of the Red Sea. This pagan land was still in awe of the God of Israel 40 years later!
Exodus 14:4 says, “and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.” The Egyptians had gods and goddesses for just about everything. They had a god of the Nile, a goddess of the frogs, and a god of the sun. Interestingly, their god of the Nile couldn’t keep it from being turned to blood, the goddess of the frogs couldn’t keep them from coming up out of the Nile into every home, and the god of the sun, couldn’t keep it from being darkened at God’s command. God, here, is wanting to demonstrate He alone is the only true and living God!
Consider these passages of Scripture:
1 Samuel 12:22, “For the Lord will not abandon His people on account of His great name, because the Lord has been pleased to make you a people for Himself.”
2 Samuel 7:23, “And what one nation on the earth is like Your people Israel, whom God sent to redeem for Himself as a people and to make a name for Himself, and to do a great thing for You and awesome things for Your land, before Your people whom You have redeemed for Yourself from Egypt, from nations and their gods?”
2 Kings 19:34, “For I will defend this city to save it for My own sake and for My servant David’s sake.”
Psalm 23:4, “He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.”
Isaiah 43:25, “I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake, and I will not remember your sins.”
Isaiah 48:9-11, “For my name’s sake I defer my anger, for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you, that I may not cut you off. Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction. For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another.”
Ezekiel 20:14, “But I acted for the sake of My name, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, before whose sight I had brought them out.”
Ezekiel 36:22-23, “Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord God, It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for My holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you went.”
John 12:27-28, “Now my soul has become troubled; and what shall I say, ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify Your name.” Then a voice came out of heaven: “I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.”
1 John 2:12, “I am writing to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven you for His name’s sake.”
Do you see how God does everything for the glory of His name? He is spreading His fame, His reputation, His glory.
3. To Reveal His Glory
Exodus 14:4 says, “I will be honored through Pharaoh and all his army.” God did what He did to be honored through Pharaoh and his army. As God revealed His glory, He was honored even through the destruction of His enemies.
Now, God revealed His glory in two different ways in this story.
- God revealed the glory of His power to save the children of Israel. He exercised His great power to part the Red Sea and bring them through on dry ground. What was the result? Exodus 14:31 says, “When Israel saw the great power which the Lord had used against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in His servant Moses.” As a result of seeing the glory of God’s mercy, the Israelites honored God by fearing Him and believing in Him.
- God revealed the glory of His power to destroy the Egyptians. He exercised His great power to bring the Red Sea down upon the Egyptian army, and drown every last one of them. Not only did God use His power to save, but also to destroy. And in both cases, He was glorified and honored.
The apostle Paul writes about this truth in Romans 9:22-23, “What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory.” Now, notice that God is willing to demonstrate His wrath and make His power known. He wants to do that. But He isn’t doing it yet, because He is enduring with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction. Why is He enduring them? So that He can make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy. God patiently endures vessels of wrath in order to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy. One day, He won’t patiently endure these vessels of wrath any more. Then He will glorify His justice and wrath and power in the destruction of vessels of wrath. And He will glorify His mercy, grace, and kindness in the salvation of the vessels of mercy.
Conclusion
My friends, you might be in a similar situation as the Israelites. Maybe you feel shut in, boxed in, hemmed in. You find yourself in an impossible situation, humanly speaking. There is no way out. You are trapped. Maybe you feel stuck in a bad marriage, stuck with an unreasonable parent, stuck in financial poverty, stuck with a cancer that won’t go away. What’s more, God Himself has done this to you! God has purposely put you in this impossible situation. Why? So that He can demonstrate His power, spread His fame, and reveal His glory!
Now, you might think, “I don’t think I like God using me to glorify Himself! I don’t like experiencing pain, grief, heartache, and fear. Hey, I didn’t sign up for this!” The reality is, that it doesn’t matter whether you like this or not. When you create a universe, you can set the rules and call the shots, but until then, you need to bow in the dust and put your hand over your mouth.
You know what the difference is between the saved person and the lost person? The saved person loves God and wants more than anything to glorify Him. He is willing to face fear, and pain, and difficulties, if only God demonstrates His power, spreads His fame, and reveals His glory. The lost person hates God and wants more than anything to glorify himself. He is repulsed at the idea of facing pain, suffering, or persecution in order to glorify God.
In the case of the children of Israel at the Red Sea, God deliberately boxed them into a very uncomfortable and frightening situation, in order for Him to demonstrate His power, spread His fame, and reveal His glory. Are you willing to go through those painful and difficult situations if it will glorify God?
How can we bring glory to God when we face terrifying or hopeless situations in our life? We can glorify God by showing that we truly believe Jesus is better than health, or comfort, or riches, or this life. If when you have cancer, you don’t blame God, but trust Him in the midst of it, witness to His greatness to others, and look at dying as gain, you glorify God. If when you go through a financial crisis, and end up in bankruptcy, and lose your job and home, you still find your joy in Him, you show that He is better than riches. If when you experience a difficult marriage, perhaps to an unbeliever with whom you can’t share the Lord, but you still find joy in prayer and the Word, and you continue to share God’s love with your spouse, God is glorified. If when you face financial lack, you still rejoice in God, and find Him better than great wealth, God is glorified.
My friends, let God use you to glorify His name! That’s what God is constantly doing! If you cooperate with Him, it will go well for you. If you resist Him, He will still use you to glorify His name, but it will go bad for you!
Paul said in Philippians 2:10-11, “that at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.” Now, not every knee will willingly bow and confess Christ as Lord out of love to Christ. Some will be forced to bow and confess. They hate Christ and hate the fact that He will judge them for their sins. They will not be saved. The goats will bow and confess but then be cast into eternal hell. But that brings glory to God, just as it brings glory to Him when the sheep bow and confess because they love Him.
Will you surrender to God and live for His glory? If so, you will find all the riches of heaven are yours. But if you resist God and live for your own glory, you will find all the torments of hell are yours. What will you choose today?
Application Questions
- Does anyone here feel like they are hemmed into an impossible situation today? What is it?
- Is anyone struggling with feeling resentful that God would use their difficulty to glorify Himself?
- What can you do to find joy in the midst of your pain?
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