Right after the passover God wants to make sure that the Israelites will remember what He did for all time.
Exodus 13
14 “And in the future, your children will ask you, ‘What does all this mean?’ Then you will tell them, ‘With the power of his mighty hand, the Lord brought us out of Egypt, the place of our slavery. 15 Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, so the Lord killed all the firstborn males throughout the land of Egypt, both people and animals. That is why I now sacrifice all the firstborn males to the Lord—except that the firstborn sons are always bought back.’ 16 This ceremony will be like a mark branded on your hand or your forehead. It is a reminder that the power of the Lord’s mighty hand brought us out of Egypt.”
In our lives God has worked a lot, and maybe when you were less spiritually mature God did a work in your life and you forgot about it, well as you grow older maybe God will remind you of that time in your past that He has been with you. As you grow you should realize that those times are important, and that you need to pass them on to help the faith of others.
Sometimes we need something to be so obvious and in our face, as a symbol on our hand in order to remember what God has done, and He understands that.
Then right after telling the Israelites to never forget about what He does for them and to pass it down for generations He leads them to the Red Sea and then leads them across it, which had to have been one of the most amazing events to see ever.
Exodus 14
19 Then the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel’s army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them, 20 coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long.
21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the Lord drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, 22 and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left.
I’m sure this cements their faith in God….
Meanwhile in Mark 4 we see another example of God’s power over the water.
Mark 4
35 As evening came, Jesus said to his disciples, “Let’s cross to the other side of the lake.” 36 So they took Jesus in the boat and started out, leaving the crowds behind (although other boats followed). 37 But soon a fierce storm came up. High waves were breaking into the boat, and it began to fill with water.
38 Jesus was sleeping at the back of the boat with his head on a cushion. The disciples woke him up, shouting, “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re going to drown?”
39 When Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Silence! Be still!” Suddenly the wind stopped, and there was a great calm. 40 Then he asked them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
41 The disciples were absolutely terrified. “Who is this man?” they asked each other. “Even the wind and waves obey him!”
The disciples would have known the story of the Exodus inside and out, and this showed them very clearly that God was working, and that Jesus must be serving God to have these abilities. Through the rest of the book, and in the other Gospels we see their lives changed by the message of God, and in the rest of the Exodus we will see how many of the Israelites receive God’s instructions, and I think Jesus summarizes the different responses we can have really well in Mark 4.
14 The farmer plants seed by taking God’s word to others. 15 The seed that fell on the footpath represents those who hear the message, only to have Satan come at once and take it away. 16 The seed on the rocky soil represents those who hear the message and immediately receive it with joy. 17 But since they don’t have deep roots, they don’t last long. They fall away as soon as they have problems or are persecuted for believing God’s word. 18 The seed that fell among the thorns represents others who hear God’s word, 19 but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the worries of this life, the lure of wealth, and the desire for other things, so no fruit is produced. 20 And the seed that fell on good soil represents those who hear and accept God’s word and produce a harvest of thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted!”
The disciples will take a little while to catch on, but by their example that we see later in the New Testament we see that they were the good soil in this parable, and in Exodus we will start to see that many in the Israelite community represent the footpath or the rocky soil in this parable. It is important for us to maintain our connection to other strong Christians and continue to read God’s word so that we can grow deep roots and weather the storms of life, so that we can be a good witness to others and keep the faith.
Chris Mattison
Links to today’s Bible reading – Exodus 13-14 and Mark 4
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