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so that the waters forrned a high
wall on both sides, and the Israel–
ites rnarched across on the dry
ftoor of the sea.
Now notice the dramatic exarn–
ple of how God rniraculously
fought lsrael's battle for thern, as
recorded in the Moffatt transla–
tion:
..Moses stretched his hand out
over the sea; the waters parted.
Then the Eternal swept the sea
along by a strong east wind, all
night, till the
bed
of the sea was
dry, and the Israelites rnarched
through the sea on dry ground, the
waters forrning a wall to the right
and left. The Egyptians in pursuit
of thern went into the sea, all the
Pharaoh's horses and chariots and
cavalry. And in the watch before
the dawn the Eternal looked out
frorn the colurnn of tire and cloud
on the Egyptian arrny and threw
them into a panic; He clogged their
chariot wheels till they drove heavi–
ly.
"The Egyptians cried, 'Let us
Hee frorn the lsraelites!
The Eter–
na/ is fighting for them
against the
Egyptians!' Then said the Eterna!
to Moses, 'Stretch your hand out
over the sea, to rnake the waters
flow back upon the cbariots and
cavalry of the Egyptians!' Moses
stretched his hand out over the sea.
Then, as rnorning broke, the sea
returned to its wonted How, and
while the Egyptians were fteeing
against it, the Eternal overwhelrned
the Egyptíans in the rniddle of the
sea; the waters did flow back over
the chariots and cavalry, over the
whole arrny of the Pharaoh, which
had followed thern into the sea, till
not a single one of them was left.
But the Israelites had walked
through the sea on dry ground, the
waters forming a wall to right and
left.
"Thus did the Eternal save Israel
that day from the Egyptians, till
Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead
on the sea-shore; Israel saw the
mighty act of the Eterna! against
the Egyptians, ANO THE PEOPLE
STOOO IN AWE OF THE ETERNAL,
BELJEVING IN THE ETERNAL and in
His servant Moses" (Ex. 14:21-
31 ).
Yes, for a short while, the spell
of AWE still over thern, these people
actually BELIEVED in God. Trusting
42
God to
oo
what he has prornised
requires believing in MIRACLES, you
say? OF COURSE! Salvation requires
miracles! God is a rniracle-working
God!
After this miraculous delivery
frorn disaster- frorn a wAR-a
whole arrny of a then great nation
destroyed-those lsraelites ex–
pressed a little ternporary FAITH.
With Moses, they sang a song of
praise and rejoicing:
"1
will sing
unto the Lord.... The Lord is rny
strength and song, and he is
becorne rny salvation ..." (Ex.
15:1-2).
But now UNDERSTANO the lesson
here!
Ancient Egypt is a type of SIN.
~~
Everybody wants
peace--or at least,
so we profess! We
work for peace! The
pope pleads for
peace! Prime
ministers strive for
peace! Yet there 1s
no peace!
' '
God was, figuratively in type, deliv–
ering these people out of SIN. They
were starting out on Goo's wA
Y
of
life.
But, UNDERSTAND!- God j,l¡._,way
of life requires FAITH.
It
is a life of
OBEDIENCE to Goo. Obedience
requires FAITH. WE are SAVED by
GRACE through FAITH "and that
not of yourselves:
it is the gift of
GOD"
(Eph. 2:8). But not by a
OEAD faith!
lt
ÍS
a LIVING faith that
rnakes obedience possible.
Shadrach, Meshach and Abed–
nego (Dan. 3) obeyed God's com–
rnand against ido! worship-but
their stout refusal to bow down to
Nebuchadnezzar's ido! was possible
on/y
by their RELIANCE ON Goo to
protect and deliver them. They
TRUSTED God (Dan. 3:28). They
exercised
FAITH- Iiving faith!
Ernpty, dead faith-just BELIEVING
that God exists- is not the faith
that saves. "The [dernons] also
believe, and trernble" (Jas. 2: 19).
But faith and obedience rnust
ENDURE! The newly freed Israelite
slaves, sti ll under the spell of AWE
after experiencing such rniracles,
expressed faith and sang.
But they didn't believe very
deeply or for very long. When they
carne to Marah, they found the
water too bitter to drink. This one
little problem in their path brought
thern again to cornplaining and
DOUBTING (Ex. 15:24). Again, by a
rniracle, God rnade the waters
sweet.
Moses led these people on to the
wilderness of Sin-between Elirn
and Sinai. They had now been gone
frorn Egypt one rnonth. And again;
"the whole congregation of the
children of Israel murrnured
against Moses and Aaron ... and
... said ... Would to God we had
died by the hand of the Lord in the
land of Egypt ... for ye have
brought us forth into this wilder–
ness, to kili this whole assernbly
with hunger" (Ex. 16:2-3).
So God
gave them a test of obe–
dience,
along with rniraculously
providing food . God said,
" 1
will
rain bread from heaven for you;
and the people shall go out and
gather a certain rate every day, that
1
rnay prove thern,
whether they
wi/1 walk in my law or no"
(Ex.
16:4).
The particular LAw God was
testing them on was his Sabbath.
And rernernber, they had not yet
reached Sinai. On the sixth day of
the week he would provide thern
with a TWO-DA
Y
portion. On the
seventh day, God's Sabbath, he
cornrnanded thern to rest and
refrain frorn gathering rnanna. On
the sixth day God provided the
two-day supply. Nevertheless, on
God's Sabbath, sorne of the people,
in a spirit of rebellion, and greedy
for gain, went out to gather man–
na.
" How LONG refuse ye to keep
my cornrnandrnents and rny laws?"
thundered God at thern (Ex.
16:28). They were neither
trusting
nor
obeying
God.
The vast congregation journeyed
on and pitched tents in Rephidirn.
Again , there was no water. Again
The PLAIN TRUTH