In yesterday's study Moses told the people to be strong and behold what the Lord is going to do. They won't have to fight the Egyptians for their freedom. The Lord is going to make a way for them to escape.
Now the Lord tells Moses to get on the move. "Then the Lord said to Moses, 'Why are you crying out to Me? Tell the Israelites to move on.'" (Exodus 14:15) The Lord isn't saying there's anything wrong with crying out to Him for help. I think Moses probably began praying fervently the minute he saw the Egyptians coming over the hill. But it's time for action now. It's time to step ahead in faith. If Moses stands there praying on and on without performing an act of faith, the Egyptians will overtake the people.
"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." (Exodus 14:16) How did miraculous things get done while Moses was still in Egypt? Wasn't it by using his shepherd's staff? Whenever the Lord was about to bring a new plague upon Egypt, He instructed Moses to raise the staff. The Lord didn't need the shepherd's staff in order to do His work; the staff was an object used to get people's attention---to let them know something big was coming. Human beings can't see God face to face and we often need something tangible upon which to fix our eyes; Moses' staff was that object. Now the time for prayer is past. The time for action has come and the Lord tells Moses to raise his staff again. Something big is about to happen.
The Egyptians are obsessed with seizing the Israelites, so much so that they won't be thinking clearly when they reach the Red Sea. They're going to charge right in after them in a fit of wounded pride and anger. The Lord is going to do nothing to quell their rage. He's going to allow this scene to play out because the Egyptians are playing right into His hands. "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 through his horsemen. The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I gain glory through Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen." (Exodus 14:17-18)
Something awesome happens next. The Lord---in the person of the pre-incarnate Christ---stands between Israel and her enemies. "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." (Exodus 14:19-20a) How do we know this is the Lord Jesus Christ? Because in the Old Testament, whenever we encounter a being called "the angel of the Lord", this is assumed to be an appearance of Christ before He was born into the world as a man. This is how the Lord interacted in a physical presence with Old Testament believers. No human being has ever seen God the Father. (John 1:18) In fact, the Bible tells us that if we met Him face to face in our human weakness, the glory of His holiness would consume us. We find this reference when later in Exodus Moses begs to see the face of the Lord, and the Lord informs him why this is not possible: "No one may see Me and live." (Exodus 33:20) The only way man can behold the face of God by looking upon the One who is "the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of His being". (Hebrews 1:3) For further proof that Christ is the One who stands between the Israelites and the Egyptians at the Red Sea, the Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 10:1-4 that Christ was present with the Israelites on their journey from Egypt to the promised land. He states that Christ, the Solid Rock, was with them every step of the way.
Christ has been marching in front of Israel as she makes her trek from Egypt to the Red Sea. In those days the king of a nation was also the general of the army who would ride out in front of his troops. Nothing helped the morale of the troops more than to see their supreme leader at the head of the army, going forward fearlessly in front of them. I don't think Israel has ever been referred to in the Bible as an army until in our passage today, but they are rightfully referred to as such, for they are the Lord's army even if He doesn't intend them to fight this particular battle. Until now He's been in front of them as their King and General, but now the Israelites need a rear guard while the Red Sea is being parted for them, so Christ moves in between them and Egypt's army. The cloud obscures them from Pharaoh's sight until the next morning so that he is rendered unable to make a move against them until the sea is ready for their crossing. "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." (Exodus 14:20b)
The Egyptians are stuck sitting right where they are. They are encompassed in a darkness that is both literal and symbolic---symbolic of the deep spiritual darkness of their wicked, hate-filled, idolatrous hearts. At the same time we find the Israelites enjoying a light that is both literal and symbolic. They don't have to sit in darkness while they wait for dawn. Their hearts aren't dark either, for they are placing all their hope and trust in the Lord. No one who places their trust in the Lord is sitting in darkness, spiritually speaking.
I feel grateful this morning thinking about all the times the Lord has stood between me and danger. Just as He moved to stand in between Israel and Egypt in today's passage, many times He has moved to stand in between me and an enemy, whether that enemy was the one we all have (Satan) or whether the enemy was a fellow human being who intended evil toward me. Many times the Lord has stood between me and an oncoming disaster to avert it. We are not even aware of all the times He has saved our lives, but I think when we get to heaven we're going to find out just how many times Satan desired to kill us through an accident or by disease or by the hand of a human being. We'll find out how many times Christ stepped in between us and danger, standing as an immovable and impenetrable force through which nothing could pass. Until the day comes when we behold Him face to face and bow at His feet in thankfulness for His protection, let's go ahead and start thanking Him now that He's preserved and protected us thus far. As the old hymn "Amazing Grace" says, "Through many dangers, toils, and snares I have already come." Amen! Thank You, Lord Jesus!
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