For PowerPoint Download Click Here: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/jvfzdevpvnw5ln35f3an9/Ex-14-Lesson-Ppnt.pptx?rlkey=ycl1467h3n0vn3k4p7t8bt460&st=0t08jtof&dl=0
Review: Last week we looked at the Christmas story in Luke 1, noting God’s grace and favor on Mary as He dispensed grace to Mary and she was a recipient. The announcement of the fulfillment of God’s Messianic plan was revealed through Gabriel. And Mary showed exemplary faith as she moved toward the virgin birth.
Title: Power Revealed
Text: Exodus 14:19-31
Memory verse: Exodus 14:13, “And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again.”
Theme: God displays His power.
Introduction: In this week’s lesson we see that the Greek word for exodus is utilized close to 50 time sin the OT and 3 in the NT. It means what it sounds like, to make an exit or the closure of one season and with it the implied start of another. Deuteronomy 7:19 refers to this season in Israelite history this way: “19 the great trials that your eyes saw, the signs, the wonders, the mighty hand, and the outstretched arm, by which the Lord your God brought you out. So will the Lord your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid.”
Opening Discussion Question: Has there ever been a movie or a movie scene that’s special effects impressed you?
Context: After the 10th plague and Passover Lamb, Pharaoh sent Israel away and they made their exodus. They make their way to Baal-zephon beside the Red Sea, and God shares with Moses that He would harden Pharaoh’s heart yet again to display His power to Israel. Have you ever faced a huge question mark in your life, and you believed God could get you through, but you thought in your heart, “How in the world? This is pretty daunting.” Sometimes God will put us at Red Sea places to display His power to us as well. Pharaoh’s army—complete with 600 chariots—enact their hot pursuit. Israel doubts and cries and complain and accuse Moses (vv. 11-12). Moses relies on God and calls the people to fearless faith. God went in between the army and Israel and held them at bay. God told them to get ready and prepare to MOVE OUT…and can you imagine how that must have felt with the army behind them, the Red Sea in front of them? God instructed Moses to lift His staff over the Red Sea, and God made a DRY path—not a muddy path—but a dry path! In vv. 15-18 the waves crash the Egyptian army in hot pursuit into smithereens once and for all; their strongest foe in a moment, utterly decimated.
Summary: God’s power enabled Israel to successfully depart Egypt, defeat Egypt through the watery walls that collapsed on Egypt, and in this God displayed His power to Israel that filled them with reverential awe.
Main Points:
- The Escape (The Departure by God’s Power) (vv. 19-22)
“19 Then the angel of God who was going before the host of Israel moved and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them, 20 coming between the host of Egypt and the host of Israel. And there was the cloud and the darkness. And it lit up the night[a] without one coming near the other all night. 21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. 22 And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.”
- The angel of the Lord here was at the burning bush and as the death angel passing over on the 10th plague, and here he is named as manifesting God’s visible presence to Israel as they journeyed.
- In verse 19 the presence of God that guided in front of them now created a protective barrier behind them; the text doesn’t say how, but somehow it stopped the Egyptians and separated them from Israel.
Application: There are many ways and times God separates us from danger and temptation that we can’t even see, but He is always with us, protecting us. And we see that displayed here.
- God’s presence in the pillar of cloud by day and fire by night would later fill and overshadow the tabernacle.
- Please look at the devotional below that applies this part of the passage more to home.
- This warm, powerful east wind was created by God and parted the waters into a wall (homah) all night until God’s divine hair dryer created a path for His people.
Application: Sometimes God’s path will take all night—it may take sometimes, some waiting—but in the morning, we can go forward on dry ground.
Discussion: When have you seen God make a way when it seemed there was no way?
II. The Defeat (The Defeat by God’s Power) (vv. 23-28)
“23 The Egyptians pursued and went in after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. 24 And in the morning watch the Lord in the pillar of fire and of cloud looked down on the Egyptian forces and threw the Egyptian forces into a panic, 25 clogging[b] their chariot wheels so that they drove heavily. And the Egyptians said, ‘Let us flee from before Israel, for the Lord fights for them against the Egyptians.’ 26 Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen.’ 27 So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal course when the morning appeared. And as the Egyptians fled into it, the Lord threw[c] the Egyptians into the midst of the sea. 28 The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen; of all the host of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea, not one of them remained.”
- In verse 23 despite seeing God’s power displayed in the cloud, fire, and walled waters, they arrogantly pursued.
- In verse 24 the morning watch was the Jewish timeframe from 2-6 am.
- Then the Lord threw them into confusion, which He often did to Israel’s enemies.
- Their chariot wheels were clogged. The most powerful fighting instrument against them was rendered powerless by God.
Application: What is the most formidable enemy to your walk with God? When we surrender and avail ourselves of His power, even the most powerful enemy to our walk with God is rendered completely powerless.
- (V. 27) Day breaks, God commands Moses to stretch out his arm, the waters drown the Egyptians, and the Israelites witness it in the new day light. They were totally, completely destroyed.
Discussion: How does it influence our faith to know that God is always in control?
III. The Powerful One (The Display of God’s Power) (vv. 29-31)
“29 But the people of Israel walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. 30 Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. 31 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.”
- Verse 29 repeats the waters were a wall, emphasizing the waters of protection for Israel were the same walls of judgement for her oppressors, as it will be in the final judgement when Christ takes His people home.
- Key Word: Saved, used in the OT for God’s appointed judges and for God’s rescue, ultimately in our salvation.
- The word “hand” in verse 30 (Hebrew yad) depicts strength and power. Later on—ignoring the Prophet Isaiah’s warnings in Isaiah 31:3, “The Egyptians are man, and not God, and their horses are flesh, and not spirit. When the Lord stretches out his hand, the helper will stumble, and he who is helped will fall, and they will all perish together.”—Israel would turn to Egypt for help (Can you believe it?!) against the Assyrians.
Application: Rhetorical Question: Gospel: Why is it that in life we foolishly run to things that create more brokenness to deal with present brokenness? Bad friends who don’t give biblical counsel…old habits that are destructive…Brokenness is a result of sin, and sin breeds death in and around us (Rom. 6:23a). It wasn’t always this way when God created the world perfect and saw it was good (Gen. 1:31). The answer is Jesus’s perfect life in our place, death, burial and resurrection on the cross whereby He defeated sin, death, brokenness, and the grave (I Cor. 15:3-4). If we repent and believe the gospel we can recover and pursue God’s original design within and around us. If you haven’t asked Jesus to save you, ask Him, and He will.
- You don’t have to/we don’t have to keep turning to broken means to deal with life’s brokenness, like Israel would eventually do turning to the Egyptians for help, when God was ready to help them if they would only repent and believe on Him.
- Although Egypt was intimidating, they were powerless in comparison to God. Isaiah would describe the power of the nations as this in Isaiah 40:15, “Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as the dust on the scales; behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust.”
- At this sight, Israel feared (Hebrew yare’) God in a positive way, coupling awe and faith.
Doctrine: God
Page 64 says, “God is all powerful and all knowing.”
Jeremiah 23:27, “who think to make my people forget my name by their dreams that they tell one another, even as their fathers forgot my name for Baal?”
Matthew 19:26, “But Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.’”
Closing: What looks impossible in your life right now? Things must have looked impossible for Israel standing on the shore of that Red Sea. But God brought them through. Trust God to display His power in your situation that feels impossible, like He did for Israel.
Closing Discussion Questions: In what ways has your faith been strengthened because of seeing God’s power? Why is praise the natural response when we have seen God work in a meaningful way?
Devotional: “God’s Presence in the Desert Seasons” Link: https://drcalebwalker.com/2024/12/18/devotional-gods-presence-in-the-desert-seasons/
Click Here for General Overview Outline Link: https://drcalebwalker.com/2024/12/23/general-outline-exodus-1419-31-power-revealed-from-lifeway-explore-the-bible/
Caleb Walker 
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