A Greater Deliverance

The story of the Exodus is epic. After demonstrating His power over Egypt’s false and useless gods, the God of heaven leads the children of Israel out of Egypt to the shores of the Red Sea. But here they are faced with another crisis: Pharaoh and his army have come behind them in hot pursuit.

Everything about this moment is dripping with drama. The Israelites had the Red Sea in front of them, the Egyptian army behind them. They were totally trapped. In an instant the people lost their heart for the Promised Land and complained that it would have been better if they had just stayed in Egypt as slaves! To which Moses replied, “Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever. The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace”(Ex. 14:13, 14).

God’s next instruction was unbelievable; He said, “Go forward,” and then He told Moses how. The more you reflect on the miracle of this moment, the more magnificent it becomes. We know from Exodus 12:37 that there were at least 600,000 men in this multitude— excluding women, children, and livestock. People-wise, we’re probably talking about more than 2 million. That’s like moving the entire population of Houston, Texas, across the Red Sea in one night! No one knows for sure the distance they had to cross or where exactly they did it. Nevertheless, evacuating a crowd this big, along with their livestock, was a huge logistical undertaking! Truly God worked an absolute miracle: That whole community walked through the sea, on dry ground, in a single night. Once they had all crossed, God allowed the walls of water on either side of that dry path to come crashing in on the pursuing Egyptians with tsunami force. The entire Egyptian host was completely wiped out.

The more you reflect on the miracle of this moment, the more magnificent it becomes.

I particularly like how Exodus 14:27 describes this finale: “And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and when the morning appeared, the sea returned to its full depth, while the Egyptians were fleeing into it. So the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea.” The word translated “overthrew” is na’ar, which specifically refers to the rustling of a lion’s mane after it roars. Literally, the Lion from the tribe of Judah proved Himself to be the mighty deliverer of His people.

In light of this, I find this quote to be truly remarkable: “In freeing our souls from the bondage of sin, God has wrought for us a deliverance greater than that of the Hebrews at the Red Sea. Like the Hebrew host, we should praise the Lord with heart and soul and voice for His ‘wonderful works to the children of men.’. . . What compassion, what matchless love, has God shown . . . in connecting us with Himself, to be to Him a peculiar treasure! What a sacrifice has been made by our Redeemer, that we may be called children of God!”[*]

Whatever your story may be, know and be encouraged that the rescue of a soul from Satan’s grip is a deliverance greaterthan that of the Hebrews at the Red Sea. Your story is epic. God undertook the greatest rescue when it came to your redemption. Calvary is proof of it.

[*] Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1890, 1908), p. 289. (Emphasis supplied.)