The first thing, when God has awakened the soul to a sense of sin in His sight, is the question how it may be secured against its righteous judgment. Then it sees the blood on the doorposts and gets peace. Therefore, if I lose sight of the blood, God is still, to my soul’s understanding, a judge. Now that is not at all the proper place for a believer to be in. There is the justice of God, and “without shedding of blood is no remission” (Heb. 9:2222And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. (Hebrews 9:22)). If I can say that the blood which has been shed has satisfied that justice, I can see that God is no longer a judge; His justice has been satisfied. But if, on the other hand, His justice still has to be satisfied, God is still a judge.
The Power of Evil
The Israelites got so terrified, distressed, and dismayed, so under the power of evil which was against them, that they got into the practical question of whether God or Satan was to have them. And so constantly it is with saints. We have been such slaves to the power of Satan that we do not have a consciousness of redemption to God. There was Pharaoh (Satan to us), the power of evil, pursuing them and driving them up to this point, till death and judgment (of which the Red Sea is the symbol) stared them in the face. The question must be settled, if they could get through death and judgment. They could not get out of the difficulty by their own strength: The Red Sea was before them, and they could not get through it. Pharaoh and all his host were behind them, and there was no escaping by another road. They were quite shut in and brought to the sense that there must be a deliverer or it was all over with them. All this was exceedingly alarming in itself, but it was God’s way of delivering. “Moses said, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will show to you today: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen today, ye shall see them again no more forever” (Ex. 14:1313And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will show to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever. (Exodus 14:13)). You can neither go backward nor forward; you must just stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. “The Lord shall fight for you; and ye shall hold your peace” (Ex. 14:1414The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace. (Exodus 14:14)).
The Lord steps in and puts Himself between Satan and His people. “The angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them: and it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these: so that the one came not near the other all the night” (Ex. 14:19-2019And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them: 20And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these: so that the one came not near the other all the night. (Exodus 14:19‑20)). Before He gives the comfort of deliverance, He always takes care that Satan does not touch us.
The Power Over the Sea
What comes to Israel then? Verse 21: The very thing that seemed to be their destruction becomes their salvation. “Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left” (vss. 21-22). It was no battle for Israel against Pharaoh. “The Egyptians pursued, and went in after them to the midst of the sea, even all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. And it came to pass, that in the morning watch the Lord looked unto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians, and took off their chariot wheels, that they drave them heavily: so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel: for the Lord fighteth for them against the Egyptians. And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen. And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it; and the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them: there remained not so much as one of them. But the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea; and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left. Thus the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the seashore” (vss. 23-30).
Death
Death is the wages of sin; there is no escape; the Red Sea must be passed. “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Heb. 9:2727And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: (Hebrews 9:27)). It is the natural consequence of sin. No matter whether Egyptians or Israelites, death and judgment overtake all. The Red Sea must be passed. But if met in grace, as it was by Israel, we shall see that this very thing is our full and unmingled deliverance. There poor Israel stood and looked at the eternal overthrow of their enemies. When the Egyptians were lying dead on the seashore, they were safe, singing the song of redemption. True, the wilderness had to be passed, Amalek to be fought with, and the like, but they were out of Egypt.
Assaying to Pass the Red Sea
And now about the “assaying” to pass the Red Sea: It is that, alas! which many are doing at the present time. I am not now speaking of the avowed enemies of God, but of those who are “assaying” to pass through death and judgment in their own way. Just because they are in a Christian country and among Christians, they hope with the name of Christ to get to heaven in company with the people of God. But if we have got up to the Red Sea, death and judgment must be passed, and where shall we be with all our Egyptian wisdom and learning, with all our chariots and horsemen, before death and judgment? If the question of death and judgment is not already settled (as it was for Israel when “by faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land”), it must be our destruction. People confess they have to die and that after death there is a judgment, but if they are “assaying” to do this in their own strength, it must be then positive destruction.
We must all, converted or unconverted, give up the world. The strongest admirer of the world must sooner or later give up its vanities and its pleasures, its hopes and its interests; he must give them up. The only difference is this, that the Christian gives them up for God; the worldling gives them up because he cannot keep them. The king of Egypt gave up Egypt and Egypt’s court, as well as Moses, but there is this difference, that the king of Egypt gave it up for judgment; Moses gave it up for Christ.
J. N. Darby (adapted)