Sun.’s Devo - Salvation Through the Sea -

Read: Exodus 13:17-15:18; Matthew 21:23-46; Psalm 26:1-12; Proverbs 6:16-19 God did not let Moses take the children of Israel through the land of the Philistines which was the shortest way. He was afraid that they would turn back if they faced war so soon, even though they were equipped for war. Instead, he led them with a pillar of cloud in the daytime which changed to a pillar of fire during the nighttime. It led them to the Red Sea. They carried the bones of Joseph with them. *** God had the Israelites camp in front of Baal-zephon which was the Lord of the North - the last Egyptian gods they would defy. God told Moses that the Egyptians were coming to pursue them, so he could do one more act to show Egypt that He was the Lord. *** Egypt came with six hundred chariots, plus and they overtook them in front of Baal-zephon. When the Israelites saw them coming they were greatly afraid and took it out on Moses. Moses told them to stop being afraid because they were about to see the salvation of the Lord. These Egyptians they see today, they would never see again. The Lord would fight for them, and they didn’t need to say a thing. *** God told Moses to start moving the people toward the sea and lift his staff over the sea to divide it. Then, he was to march the people through the sea on dry ground on the other side. God would send the Egyptians after them into the sea and he would defeat them to his glory. *** The angel of God who was in front of them went to the rear and the pillar of cloud went with him. It made it dark on the Egyptian side and light on the Israelite side so they could cross the sea all night. The waters were a wall on both sides of them, but God had sent a wind to dry the seabed so they could walk on it. When the Egyptians pursued, their chariot wheels were so heavy that they sunk into the ground. *** God told Moses to stretch his hand over the sea and it came back throwing the Egyptians into the midst of the sea and drowning them. But the way was still dry for the Israelites and they got safely across. Israel saw this great miracle and feared the Lord and believed in Moses. Moses taught the people a song of triumph and praise to the Lord. *** No other story is referred to as much as this story. It is the picture of salvation. We all live in Egypt, in bondage to sin until we come to the knowledge of Christ. Then we cross the Red Sea that washes us of our sins and sets our feet on a new path, a new destiny. Our lives are a walk through trials of the wilderness to get us to our promised land. He goes before us and behinds us and is our light. We are sheltered under the shadow or cloud of his presence. *** In Matthew, Jesus entered the temple and the chief priests and elders came to him and asked him who gave him the authority to preach like he knew he was right. Jesus told him he would answer their question if they would answer his. He asked them if John’s baptism was from heaven or from man. They discussed it amongst themselves. They were caught because they didn’t want to have to admit John was from God, because they had not accepted him, so they said they didn’t know. So, Jesus told them that he didn’t have to answer their question either. *** Then, Jesus told a parable about a man who had two sons. He explained that John was the son who went and did the will of his Father. They were the ones who said they would do God’s will, but didn’t. *** He gave them another parable about a master who built a vineyard and leased it to tenants and then went to another country. He sent servants to get its fruit, but the tenants kept killing them. Finally, he sent his son, thinking they would respect him. But, they killed him to get his inheritance for themselves. Jesus asked the teachers the law what they thought the master would do to the tenants. They said he would put those wretches to a miserable death and give his vineyards to more responsible tenants who would give him his fruit. *** Jesus explained that he was the stone that they had rejected that God made the cornerstone. *** The religious leaders were the unrighteousness tenants that had killed all the prophets and were now going to kill the son. They perceived that Jesus was talking about him and though they wanted to arrest him, they were afraid of the crowds who honored him to be a prophet. *** Nothing has changed since then. We still have the keepers of religion who hate the Spirit of Christ. We as the Body of Christ hold all the power to stand against them. They are more afraid of us becoming one and realizing our power. We never need to be afraid of what they will do to us because we are on God’s side and he will win. *** Lord, may we walk in your will and never be afraid of the weak enemy who stands against us. If God is for us, who can stand against us. Give us boldness to be bold as lions and harmless as doves.