The Next Moses (Part 4)

The Next Moses (Part 4)

Exodus 14:1-15:21

The Red Sea crossing presents a story that is always exciting in the telling and retelling. It has a way of binding us in its spell.

Our twenty-first-century mentality seems to need to explain a miracle. In many ways, we need to explain away a miracle. We seemingly need reasons for the wonder. Ours is an age that seems to need explanations. We cannot merely accept that which defies rational interpretation. We attempt to master the sacred with our minds.

In this story, the writer is giving us a lot more than word pictures about winds blowing water around. In relating the story of crossing the Red Sea, the writer is preaching. What is his message? Once you put yourself in God’s hands, be ready for adventure! That is exactly what Moses did. Moses not only put himself, but a whole nation into the hands of God.

The writer in Exodus is looking back and he is saying, “To be God’s people is genuinely exciting.” To really be God’s people is authentically exciting. If you put your hand into the hand of God, be ready for things to happen! It is possible to miss the adventure, even when you are right in the middle of it. But the adventure is real; it is sure. In part, adventure is what caused the Bible to be written. The Bible is the written record of God’s active accompaniment of God’s people. This promise is sure: more adventure always lies ahead.

The writer also proclaims this particular event as a central act of God in history. Regardless of the specific details, this is a major decisive event in God’s overview of history. The story of the Red Sea crossing is to the Hebrew scriptures what the story of Easter is to the New Testament. The climactic Easter event gives rise to genuine mystery and abiding wonder. Easter is the definitive saving event of the New Testament story. The barrier of death is broken. All of the remainder of the gospel story now makes sense.

The Red Sea crossing is an event cloaked with mystery and abiding wonder. It is the story of the deliverance of a people out of bondage. The exodus is the singular saving event upon which the rest of the Hebrew Bible is built. We don’t know with objective accuracy all that actually happened at the Red Sea in the thirteenth century. We only know that an abiding covenant was the result. God promised to be faithful to a people for all time.

The writer also proclaims that we are held in God’s hand at all times. Life is not without pain or suffering or even dying. Life is not without setbacks or doubts or uncertainty. All of these things are part of living. They do not happen as a part of God’s plan, but they are a part of living on this planet. Yet the message is steadfast and consistent. When the enemy is chasing us and when the churning unknown lies before us like a vast ocean, God is still with us. God will be with us even when the enemy is in hot pursuit and when the future looks bleak. God will sustain us, uphold us, and then graciously receive us at the end of our journey.