In the Exodus, the Red Sea functioned like a line in the sand, a defining moment that the Israelites would come back to again and again in their hearts, to remind themselves how present God was with them and how actively he was working on their behalf.
God’s presence would not always be as tangible as a pillar of cloud or fire—neither for them nor for us. Just think about the reality of God dwelling with us right now through the person of the Holy Spirit. He’s a presence we can’t usually see or feel. I mean, I wish we could, right? How cool would that be? Say, “God, are you with me right now?” And you look up and see this little glowing cloud above you, a little traveling nightlight when you have to get up and go to the bathroom. Or you’re trying to decide who to marry, and the little cloud goes and hovers over the person God wants you to marry. That would be amazing, but that’s not how it works now.
God often works through our efforts and activity. It’s invisible; it seems hidden, so to speak—and because he does that, we can start to forget that he is with us, or we might even start to doubt that he is present with us. So God gave the Israelites an event he wanted them to come back to again and again, a defining moment that reminded them of God’s presence and his faithful activity.
And it worked.
Exodus 14:31 says that, “[At the Red Sea] Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.” And it wasn’t just that generation. Throughout the book of Psalms, written 500 or so years after the exodus, the psalmists continually bring up the Red Sea as proof of God’s commitment to Israel. In fact, the Red Sea deliverance is the most frequent image of salvation referenced in the Old Testament. For centuries afterwards, when faced with a crisis point, the people of God would look back to the Exodus. Later generations didn’t merely say, “I trust in God my Savior.” They said, with specificity, “I trust in the God who rescued his people from Egypt, who led them with a mighty hand through the waters of the Red Sea.”
What’s the point for you and me? What the Red Sea was for the Israelites, the cross and resurrection is for us. So Paul, for example, tells the Romans: “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” It’s simple logic, Paul says, look at the cross! If God was that committed to you, then, when he was dying for your sin, don’t you think he’ll take care of you now?
Are you worried about some provision? Your future, some situation, some obstacle, some need? If God provided the bigger thing—giving Jesus for your salvation—can’t you rest assured he’ll provide the lesser things? He didn’t go to the cross to rescue you just to bring you into the wilderness to die. It’s like the Puritan John Owen said, “The greatest insult you could ever give to God, after the cross, would be to doubt his love for you or his commitment to care for you.”
Do you hear internal voices from your past condemning you? Maybe a voice inside of you reminds you of all the mistakes, all the shame from your past life, or some struggle you can’t shake now—and it tells you, “You can’t escape that! There’s no way you’re a child of God. Who are you kidding? Real Christians, they don’t struggle with that right there!” To which Paul says, “But who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.” Between you and your sin now is an impassable ocean called the cross of Jesus, and not one accusing, condemning Egyptian can make it across that ocean. Those voices you hear taunting you are your old masters in Egypt, but they can’t get to you.
I like to think of it like that glass at the zoo between me and those scary spiders. (I don’t mind snakes, but spiders are part of the curse of hell. There were no spiders in the Garden of Eden, I’m quite sure, and there will be none in heaven.) As long as that glass is there, I don’t have to be afraid. I’m actually pretty relaxed. I lean up real close to the glass to see all their little spidery details. But if that glass was suddenly gone? Well, I’d squeal and run away like a middle school girl.
Martin Luther felt like the devil constantly brought up his sins to him and tormented his conscience with them, whispering stuff to him like, “There’s no way you’re a Christian. God can’t love and accept you. You’ll never be good enough. You’re too inconsistent. Too weak. Too sinful.” And eventually, rather than try to argue with Satan or prove he wasn’t as bad as Satan suggested he was, Luther began to say, “Yes, Satan, all those things you say about me are true. And by the way, here are a few more of my faults you forgot about that you can add to your list of things to accuse me of before God. But you’ve forgotten that Jesus has already seen these and died for them to put them away. So you can present all these sins and 1,000 more.”
“And by the way,” he would tell Satan, “while you are up there before God accusing me, maybe you should consider your own soul, because last I checked, things don’t turn out too well for you.”
God’s defining act can become your defining moment—but only if you let it. So when doubts and questions pummel you, don’t try to address them one by one. That’s like trying to defeat the entire Egyptian army. Instead, look back to God’s defining act. Look at the land of Egypt that God has brought you out of. Look at the Red Sea, he split it in two for you. Look to the cross of Jesus, where your sins were put to death. And look to the empty tomb, where Jesus walked out, carrying new life for you, on Easter morning.
Pastor J.D. completed his Ph.D. in Theology at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. He serves as a member of the Board of Directors of Chick-fil-A, serves as a Council member for The Gospel Coalition, and recently served as the 62nd president of the Southern Baptist Convention. Pastor J.D. and his wife Veronica are raising four awesome kids.
"Editor's Note: Pastor JD Greear's "Ask the Pastor" column regularly appears at Christianity.com, providing biblical, relatable, and reliable answers to your everyday questions about faith and life. Email him your questions at [email protected]."
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