Simply Unbelievable

I. God is working my situation to

Glory = Exodus 14:4, Exodus 14:17, Exodus 14:18

God’s “Glory” is not just shiny light; it’s His Person. God’s person can be manifest in light (God is light) as a physical property. Ultimately God’s glory is more than light, it is the inner being (person) of God. Who he is.

II. What did Moses have to do to part the sea?

=

When I obey God in simple things, he does unbelievable things.

III. This Miracle God Is Showing Us Himself.

God is

• Exodus 14:19-20, the pillar and the cloud are a “theophany” the physical presence of God.
• This episode represents the conclusion of the “separation” narrative between Egypt and Israel. Throughout the plagues God had been separating his people from Egypt. So the plagues that fell on Egypt did not fall on the Hebrews. While there was darkness in Egypt, there was light in Goshen. They were separated. This was highlighted in the Passover, where God separated the people covered by lambs blood at their door from the people who did not put the blood over their door. Finally this separation is brought to a dramatic conclusion with God physically separating the Hebrews from the Egyptians with his own presence in the cloud of glory.

God is

• Exodus 14:31, they saw the great power of Yahweh. In Exodus 14:21, we are shown God’s power as the sea is swept back by a mighty wind.
• B.H. Carroll, the first president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary said, “There came a mighty wind like a wedge and split that sea wide open, clear to its center.”
• See, Isaiah 51:10 and Isaiah 43:16
• What God wants to do, he can do. God does not have a bucket list. He’s not saving up power.
• Your next step with God is probably not hard, it’s just scary. That’s why it requires faith.

God is

• Exodus 14:23-24: We see God’s active work to punish Egypt for chasing after Israel after promising to set them free.
• Exodus 14:25, literally, “He caused them to drive in heaviness.” They became like dead weight. Ever picked a child up and said, “You’re making yourself heavy!” Well God made the chariots heavy.
• God is merciful, but he has a limited patience with evil.
• Exodus 14:26, notice Moses stretched his hand over the sea. It wasn’t hard!
• Psalm 136:15 says that Pharaoh drowned in the sea. (Unless Egypt’s armies are simply represented as “Pharaoh” in the Psalm. But it does single him out along with the army.)

God is

• Exodus 14:29, God displays amazing love by bringing his people throught he sea on dry ground.
• Their response: Exodus 14:30-31

1. Chose to believe in Him. (Faith was invigorated)

2. Accepted Moses as their representative.

3. Feared the Lord. Because he’s real!

V. ARCHEOLOGY

• The traditional site of the crossing on the Sinai Peninsula was chosen by Helen, the mother of Constantine in the 4^th century based on dreams of her son. In the sixth century a monastery was built there to give the site validity. However, there is no evidence that over a million people were in that area.
• Galatians 1:17 and Galatians 4:25 suggest that Mount Sinai is in Arabia. It would make sense then that they traveled through what we know as the Sinai Peninsula (known in the Bible as the Wilderness of Sin) and crossed at the Gulf of Aqaba. That would lead them into Arabia, where there is ample evidence of a great nation passing through. (There’s even a mountain scorched on top.)
• At the Gulf of Aqaba has a land bridge under the water that is 8 miles across and 900 feet wide. Each side has a sheer drop over five thousand feet. The land bridge is extremely flat, covered in sand and gravel. Dr. Lennart Moller writes, “Dr. Lennart Moller: “That means if the water is removed, and the sand is dried there is solid ground to walk on.”
• On the land bridge in the Gulf of Aqaba, divers have found corral in the shape of chariot wheels. Corral is a living organism; it must attach to something to make a shape. So, while the wheels under the corral have long eroded, the corral has remained in the shape of the object it originally attached to.
• Divers compare distribution corral to a “Junk yard, like the aftermath of a disaster.”

VI. Imagine the scene!

The entire thing happened at night. (Pharoah is destroyed in the morning after the people have crossed.) The Angel of God became a wall, giving fiery light to one side and darkness to the other.

Imagine feeling the wind as it pushed back the sea, heat from the wall of fire, and the small of salt water as it rose up. Imagine stepping into the sea and finding the ground firmer than the beach you were just standing on.

The people passing through were a great mix; young, old, children, moms. Even Gentiles were with them (exodus 12:38.) They carried carts of stuff through the sea (Exodus 12:26) and even the bones of Joseph went with the (Exodus 13:19.)

I like it that in the Prince of Egypt, Spielberg imagined whales and fish being visible in the walls of the parted sea. (It’s like an aquarium no glass.)

For all that to happen, what did Moses have to do? One simple thing: Lift his staff.

1. TAKE the

2. Let God take care of the

Think faith is taking big steps. = Usually taking small.

Moses didn’t part the sea, God did. But to be used by God, Moses had to step forward simply and trust the Lord.