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Good Sunday morning friends, today we are reading Exodus 15 and it’s so appropriate because it’s the first recorded worship experience of the Exodus adventure.
I hope, where-ever you are on this Sunday, your worship will be similar to what we will discover this morning, in this very special Exodus 15 worship response, to one of the most spectacular miracles of all time.
We need to put ourselves into the story.
About 2 million people, most of them Hebrew slaves, are standing along the Red Sea shoreline, looking back west, toward Egypt. As the waves lap up on the shore, more and more debris is floating onto the beach. Bodies…lots of Egyptian soldier bodies, and all the clothing and weapons and parts of chariots that float.
Pharaoh’s army had been drowned, smashed by walls of water which crashed upon them, as God opened Red Sea, through which these slaves had run to freedom, collapsed in a thunderous roar, upon the pursuing army. Can you picture it?
Have you ever stood in the crashing waves at Daytona Beach, Florida, or similar places, where the waves are so big they knock you down and tumble you over and over in the surf, pounding you into the sand underwater? It’s like an avalanche of water! My guess is none of us has experienced a true Tsunami, but that is what happened here. Now imagine walls of water 20 or 40 feet high collapsing upon you.
Exodus 14:6 tells us 600 of Pharaoh’s best chariots, along with many other chariots, and we presume hundreds of soldiers on horses and camels, had pursued Moses the fleeing Hebrews. Exodus 14:20 tells us they had been held back all night by a dense cloud, while God provided light so the slaves could escape through the miraculous opening of the Red Sea, with walls of water on both sides of them as they ran, pulled their carts and hurried their animals through the tunnel of water.
In the morning, when all the Hebrews and their belongings and animals had arrived safely on the far side, the cloud dissipated and Pharaoh’s army rushed into that opening in the water, with a terrifying war cry. We can imagine the panic on the shoreline as the defenseless slaves saw them coming…until suddenly God slammed the water walls down upon them.
Moses recorded it like this: “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 them into confusion. He made the wheels of their chariots come off…And the Egyptians said ‘let’s turn 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 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 seas went back to its place…The water flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen – the entire army of Pharaoh which had followed the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived.” (Ex. 14:23-28)
So now stand there, ankle deep in the waves. As far as you can see along the beach, there are cheering slaves. And out on the water, as far as you can see, floating debris. I imagine the noise is almost deafening… shouts, cries, whistles, anything that makes a noise, all celebrating the miracle of what they have just experienced and seen with their own eyes. Can you see the people picking up pieces of debris and waving them in the air and shouting with tears streaming down their faces?
And then you hear it… tambourines, and the Jewish ram’s horn trumpet and singing. First off in the distance, and then like a wave it comes closer and closer to you. “I will sing to the LORD, for HE is exalted. The horse and rider HE has hurled into the sea.
The LORD is my strength and my song, He has become my salvation.
He is my God and I will praise Him, my father’s God and I will exalt Him. . .”
Exodus 15 tells us song burst forth on the shoreline that morning of their deliverance. “Then Miriam the prophetess, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women follower her, with tambourines, and dancing. Miriam sang to them:
‘Sing to the LORD, for HE is highly exalted. The horse and its rider He has hurled into the sea.'” (15:20,21)
We’ve all seen Jewish dancing and celebration, so it’s not difficult to imagine this scene is it…only remember, this is not a bar-mitzpha, nor is it a Jewish wedding dance, this is 2 million rescued, delivered slaves in celebration on the shoreline, with ‘miracle debris’ floating ashore all around them.
How long did the party last, we don’t know, but I would guess most all day, maybe several days.
As you read through the words to the song they sang… look closely at how descriptive of this remarkable miracle and how ALL the praise and glory is being given to God. No human being is given any credit for anything in this. The song is like the waves, building and crashing with eloquent power and praise.
“Who among the gods is like YOU, O LORD? Who is like YOU –
Majestic in holiness,
Awesome in glory,
Working wonders?
You stretched out Your right hand, and the earth swallowed them.” (15:11,12)
And then, it’s as though the worship leaders instructed the people to turn around, turn their attention away from the Sea and the debris, and turn their attention forward, into their future. I can imagine with their backs to the water, they began to sing with a great sense of hopeful anticipation. . .
In Your unfailing love You will lead the people You have redeemed.
In Your strength You will guide them to Your holy dwelling” (15:13)
Do you see friends, there is a total reliance of heart and mind upon the God who has delivered them,now leading them forward, into a future only HE can see, to a place only HE knows? Do you hear their confidence in God’s good plan and trustworthiness? I just have to ask, do you and I have that same confident anticipation as we look ahead into our future?
And then the song makes another shift… their eyes lift up, beyond the horizon they can see. They begin to sing of other peoples, other nations whom they will encounter, and who will hear about this remarkable Exodus deliverance God has accomplished.
“The nations will hear and tremble; anguish will grip the people of Philistia. The chiefs of Edom will be terrified, the leaders of Moab will be seized with trembling, the people of Canaan will melt away, terror and dread will fall upon them.
By the power of YOUR arm they will be still as a stone –
until YOUR people pass by, O LORD, until the people YOU bought pass by.
YOU will bring them in and plant them on the mountains of Your inheritance –
the place, O LORD, YOU made for your dwelling…
The LORD will reign for ever and ever.” (15:14-18)
I wonder, my friends, how this worship…the words, the focus, the celebration, the confidence in God, will compare to whatever you and I will experience this Sunday, where-ever you will worship?
At this moment, there was great unity. All eyes, hearts and minds were turned upward to God in prayer and celebration. All the credit for what has taken place is being given to God, and with a great sense of anticipation that this same God will continue to use His miraculous power, to accomplish His full purpose of bringing them into the land He has for them, and they will be His people and He will be their God!!
At some point, the celebration calmed down, the euphoria turned into reality as they looked out into the desert, picked up their belongings, gathered their animals and began the long trek to their new homeland. We’ve all been on long trips. We’ve all heard our kids ask the famous question “are we almost there”? How long before that question started to rise up from the children in this huge caravan of 2 million people heading out into the desert?
“Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea and they went into the Desert of Shur. For three days they traveled in the desert without finding water.” (15:22) The journey has begun. The cloud above them by day, the pillar of fire by night. They were truly “Walking With Jesus” but it didn’t take long, and dry mouths, blowing sand, empty water containers. . . and the horrific reality of the vastness of the desert without water. Worship turned to wailing pretty quickly, and I don’t blame them. Especially when they came upon a little lake, but it was rancid, undrinkable water.
Please take note of what the people did, what Moses did and what God did at this place called Marah, the place of bitter water! What a great miracle. . .again. I wonder if the piece of wood was a tree limb in the shape of a cross, just laying on the sand? Or was it a piece of chariot wood that someone had been carrying as ‘miracle debris’? Whatever it was, God used it to turn bitter water into sweet water, and I believe once again a worship celebration broke out.
“There the LORD made a decree…and there He tested the people. He said “If you will listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in HIS eyes, if you pay attention to HIS commands…I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD who heals you.” (15:26) As you may know, the name God gave Himself here is Jehovah Rapha…”the God who heals you.” I wonder how many of you have experienced the healing power of Jehovah Rapha in your life journey? Could it be TODAY is the day, Jehovah Rapha is ready to touch you, right at the point of your deepest need? Maybe a physical healing, maybe emotional healing, maybe healing of some relationships, or maybe the healing of your heart? Or maybe the greatest healing of all… His rescue of you from your bondage to sin, as you trust Jesus to deliver you today!?
One last verse “Then they came to Elim, where there were 12 springs and 70 palm trees, and they camped there near the water.” Oh my, can you imagine how wonderful that was for all of them? I would guess they stayed there several days…reflecting on all they’ve experienced with God. I imagine each night, around the fires, worship songs spontaneously broke out again. Slowly they were beginning to understand freedom FROM Pharaoh, and freedom in FOLLOWing El Shaddai, the all sufficient God; YHWH, the great I AM, and now Jehovah Rapah, the God who heals. Oh my friends, I hope this Sunday is that kind of glorious day for you!
Oh God we praise You, we thank You, we worship You today . . .
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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