“I will sing unto the Lord, for He hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath He thrown into the sea.” Exodus 15:1
Dear Ones:
It was a momentous day when God delivered Israel from Pharaoh and his army. There were several things that were remarkable about that day. The first was that God, in His sovereignty and wisdom, brought the whole nation of Israel to the edge of that which was impossible to accomplish without His intervention. With Pharaoh behind the people, and the Red Sea before them, there was fear and apprehension. Moses would take a position of faith in declaring, “Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will show you today.” (Exodus 14:13) However, it seems that even Moses was greatly tested in his faith, as the Lord would ask him: “Wherefore criest thou unto me?” (v.15) It is then that the Lord commands Moses: “Speak to the children of Israel, that they go forward.” Why did God bring Moses and the people into this situation, in this way? He is determined to make of them all, men and women of faith, faith that is singularly and wholly SET in God, and not in man. We find a similar call to faith about forty years later when Joshua and the people are on the shore of the Jordan river, about to cross over into the promised land. At this time of year the Jordan river overflowed its banks, so that the river was wider and deeper than normal. The command of the Lord was for the priests who carried the Ark of the Covenant to enter the Jordan River. There was a promise associated with that commandment to the priests to “stand still in Jordan,” and it was: “As soon as the soles of the feet of the priests that bear the ark of the Lord of all the earth shall rest in the waters of Jordan, that the waters of Jordan shall be cut off from the waters that come down from above.” (Joshua 3:13) The call of God to Moses and the people at the Red sea, was basically the same for Joshua and the people at the Jordan River. Both situations are similar in that all the people were faced with an impossibility, but one that must be embraced by faith. It will be Jesus, many years later, who will say: “The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.” (Luke 18:25) How do these two illustrations of faith apply to us, to the world and nations of the world”
In Psalm 2, we are faced with the grim reality of not only resistance to faith, but raging opposition to faith. In the days of Moses, that rage was seen in Pharaoh and his army which, against all logic, and the very evident revelation of God to all, pursued Israel down a path into the sea, by which God would save Israel. That rage had made the Egyptians blind, and caused them to react irrationally. The same was true of the people of Jericho at the time when Joshua and the people of Israel were on the verge of conquering the city. The people of Jericho had heard about God drying up the Red Sea, and delivering Israel. They had also heard of how the Israelites had conquered two Amorite kings on the other side of the Jordan. Rahab, a woman of faith in Jericho, would tell Joshua’s spies of how faithlessness and fear had gripped the people. For both the Egyptians and the people of Jericho, there was a resolute rejection of God, even though they saw His works. There was no faith.
In spite of all opposition, God the Father, will declare to the Son in Psalm 2:8: “Ask of Me, and I will give thee the heathen (unbelieving nations) for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for Thy possession.” (2:8) It will be by the sacrifice of the Son, His resurrection and ascension into heaven, and the out-pouring of the Spirit of Pentecost, that His saving victory over the nations will be known.
Dear Father, Give us to see Your saving power to the ends of the earth. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Love, Dad