Creator, Father, King #75

With your unfailing love you lead the people you have redeemed. In your might, you guide them to your sacred home.

ISRAEL WAS FINALLY FREE.

After 430 years of Jewish captivity, God had powerfully redeemed his people from Egyptian bondage. For comparison’s sake, imagine if Americans had been enslaved by a foreign nation from the 1590s to today.

Wow! That’s a long time to be in captivity.

But after the Jews left, Pharaoh stubbornly decided to pursue Israel with his army, including six hundred of his finest chariots. With their backs to the Red Sea and a large Egyptian army moving aggressively toward them in the distance, the Israelites quickly lost faith and began complaining.

“Why did you bring us out here to die in the wilderness?” they bickered to Moses (Exodus 14:11).

Israel had left Egypt with 600,000 men (Exodus 12:37), but these recently freed captives were no match for an expert fighting force with superior training, mobility, and weaponry. By human standards, it wasn’t a fair fight at all.

But who said anything about human standards? Yahweh was about to fight for his people! As God told Moses in Exodus 14:18, “When my glory is displayed through them, all Egypt will see my glory and know that I am the LORD!”

All that night, God’s presence—represented by a pillar of cloud—separated the Egyptians from the Israelites while he parted the Red Sea into two huge walls of water for his people to walk through in the morning. Israel passed safely through, but when Pharaoh’s army pursued, God brought the water crashing back down, drowning all the Egyptians.

What’s It Mean?

As Moses and the Israelites marveled at God’s salvation, they began singing—the first song recorded in Scripture. They praised the Lord for many things, including his “unfailing love,” his redemption, and guiding his people “to your sacred home” (today’s verse).

In the immediate context, the “sacred home” meant the Promised Land of Canaan that God had pledged to Abraham hundreds of years earlier. But this verse—and all of Exodus 15—still bears great truth for modern-day believers. The God who redeemed captive Israel still redeems those who are held captive to sin today. The God who parted the Red Sea still works miraculously in human hearts today. The God who guided his people into the Promised Land will one day guide all of his redeemed into the “sacred home” of eternity in his presence.

Praise the Lord!

Now What?

Read the account of the crossing of the Red Sea and Israel’s song of praise in Exodus 14:1–15:21.

Did You Know?

Psalm 77:16-20 adds that rain, lightning, and thunder were part of God’s miraculous display during the parting of the Red Sea.