“And Moses stretched froth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength, when the morning appeared, and the Egyptians fled against it; and the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea.” Exodus 14:27
The Lord can accomplish great, and unanticipated, things in a very short period of time. We have evidence of this when He said to Jeremiah: “Thou hast well seen: for I will hasten My word to perform it.” (Jer. 1:12) For the one for whom a day is a thousand years, and a thousand years a day, time is a very small thing. The quickness with which the Lord moves at times, for us, is astounding. This may be one of the great reasons for which we do not know the times that He has set in place. But one thing is for sure. When He said through the Apostle John, “Behold, I come quickly,” (Rev. 22:7), He meant exactly what He declared. In the book of Isaiah, the Lord declares: “I have declared the former things from the beginning; and they went forth out of My mouth, and I shewed them: I did them suddenly, and they came to pass.” (48:3) And finally, by the hand of Malachi, He declares: “Behold, I will send My messenger, and he shall prepare the way before Me, and the Lord, whom you seek, shall SUDDENLY come to His temple.” (3:1) It is often the method of God in dealing with men, both believer and non-believer, to declare very clearly what He is going to do. We see this in the former examples, but also in the book of Habbakuk, when He speaks of a vision that He will give, which is to be written clearly down, to be read plainly. Concerning this vision, He declares that it is yet for an appointed time. But then He adds: “…but at the end it shall peak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will SURELY come.” (Hab. 2:3) What is the great lesson here that the beleiver must grasp? It is that, first of all, God is perfectly faithful to accomplish that which He has promised. Secondly, He will do this in His time. But when it is His time, it may come very suddenly. We see this again when we look at the day of Pentecost, when the prophecy of Joel was fulfulled, and there was the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Scripture declares: “And SUDDENLY there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house, where they were sitting.” (2:2) The promise had been given hundreds of years before, proclaimed in a slightly different way by John the Baptist, and confirmed and reaffirmed by the Lord Jesus in speaking to His disciples. But there came a moment in time when God moved quickly, “suddenly.” He hastened His word to perform it. All the disciples came to recognize it, because they were a part of it. But there was a greater witness, and it was to the world, as representatives from all over the then known world were at Jerusalem for Pentecost. Thousands would be saved because God moved so quickly, decisively, convincingly, and with conviction.
What then of the Egyptians who pursued Israel to edge of the Red Sea, seemingly hemming them in with no escape? With the people of Israel being greatly afraid, and then turning against Moses because of the imminent danger of Pharaoh breaking through with his army to apprehend them, the Lord tells Moses to tell the people to “…go forward.” The people were called upon to be willing to believe God, and set themselves to obey. This they did. The result was that God worked quickly. Looking down upon the host of the Egyptians, He troubled them, took off the wheels from their chariots. They were caught in a trap by the blindness of their pride. The entire army of Pharaoh would perish in the waters. The time had come for judgment, and nothing, nor any one, would stop God from working.
Dear Father, Make us attentively ready. In Jesus’ name, Amen.