1-23-15. Exodus 14:1-9. Look To Jesus For Salvation. He Is Our Savior and Deliverer-my devotional.

 Exodus 14:1-9                                                                                  Kevin E. Jesmer

Key verse 14:4                                                                                 1-23-15

 “And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them. But I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.” So the Israelites did this.” (NIV)

God wants to gain glory for himself so that the whole world may know that in Christ alone is salvation and deliverance. Look at Exodus 14:1-9, “Then the Lord said to Moses, 2 “Tell the Israelites to turn back and encamp near Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea. They are to encamp by the sea, directly opposite Baal Zephon. 3 Pharaoh will think, ‘The Israelites are wandering around the land in confusion, hemmed in by the desert.’ 4 And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them. But I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.” So the Israelites did this. 5 When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds about them and said, “What have we done? We have let the Israelites go and have lost their services!” 6 So he had his chariot made ready and took his army with him. 7 He took six hundred of the best chariots, along with all the other chariots of Egypt, with officers over all of them. 8 The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, so that he pursued the Israelites, who were marching out boldly. 9 The Egyptians—all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots, horsemen  and troops—pursued the Israelites and overtook them as they camped by the sea near Pi Hahiroth, opposite Baal Zephon.” (NIV)

Even though the Israelites were freed from their bondage in Egypt and allowed to leave, the Lord was not finished. He wanted to gain glory for himself, over Egypt. (4) God’s glory is revealed when people see his great power and have a deep respect for him. God is glorified when people acknowledge him as the almighty God. He is glorified when his people win victories and Satan is defeated. He is gloried in some of the most difficult and troubling circumstances of life.

God hardened Pharaoh’s heart. It was to gain glory for himself.  Exodus 14:5 reads, “When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds about them and said,’ What have we done? We have let the Israelites go and have lost their services!'” Egypt needed slave labor to continue with its expansion. Pharaoh realized that his lifestyle and grandiose, egocentric plans would be drastically altered without slaves. And so when Pharaoh heard that the Israelites were trapped between the desert and the Red Sea, his heart perked up and a plan was hatched when he saw the possibility of getting them back.. Nothing could change that plan, for Pharaoh’s heart was hardened by greed and pride. The Egyptians were well-equipped with the latest military machines, like chariots and swift horses. So he got in his chariot and took his best troops and sped off in hot pursuit.  He thought that bringing these helpless slaves back would simple. And if he could not bring them back, he would see that they would not live. The situation of the fleeing slaves looked helpless.

The Egyptians were doomed from the start. They were against God’s purpose. God’s purpose was to establish his people as a light on hill for the rest of the world. He wanted to make them into a kingdom of priest and a holy nation. But Pharaoh wanted to keep them enslaved or destroy them. He was going directly against God.

Second, they depended on themselves, their own power and determination and their equipment and horses, and not on God. Their strength was their god as well as a myriad of other idols. When anyone, or any nation depends on their own strength, they are bound to fail, because our own strength and human ingenuity will fail at some point. Anyway, they were fighting against God himself and therefore they could never succeed in their plans.

God had a great and glorious purpose for all that was happening. He was going to bring glory to himself. Why is bringing glory to God so important? It is because Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. (John 14:6) and the world needs to know this. Our God is the Creator. He is our Savior, Redeemer and Friend. He is the true light that gives light to the whole world. The world needs to know where to turn for salvation. They need to know where there redemption lies. It is with Jesus and the Gospel. We may think that the ancient Egyptian culture was great and glorious with their pyramids and architecture and military might. But the Egyptians were deceived by their false religion and many idols. They were suffering. The people were enduring injustice. They needed redemption. They needed to know where to look for redemption, and that it is found in Jehovah, the God of the Israelites…the God of the Bible. We know him as Jesus Christ.

I believe that God is bringing glory to himself in this hard world. Our modern world is in a lot pain and suffering. It seems like the entire Middle East is a wreck, with its wars. Europe is discovering that its secular inclusiveness can not save them from a very real danger dwelling among them. How are we to interpret everything? Of course we don’t know the answers. But through all the chaos I believe that the world will know that Jesus is the way the truth and the life. They will know that in the Gospel they will find salvation and redemption. Jesus is gaining glory for himself through the chaos and the strife. He is helping our eyes and our hearts to seek him and his glory.

There is a reason for strife on a micro level too. A person’s most difficult situations in life are God’s greatest opportunities to bring glory to Christ. God’s children needed to know that their Father God is great in power, and he is on their side. He is leading them through the storm and the blast to the point where people bow their heads and concede that Jesus is Lord. John 1:29, “ The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

How did God teach them his great power? In this passage, he sent the fleeing Israelites into a pocket by the Red Sea. He trained the Israelites through life’s circumstances to put their trust in him. He led the ancient Egyptians into a trap so God could reveal his glory through them. God doesn’t want anyone to perish and to suffer. But even though people find themselves in undesirable circumstances that does not mean that their circumstances are hopeless. God can take any situation and turn it around so that he is glorified through it. He will work through it to shout to the whole world that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world. All glory and praise belongs to the Creator God. God’s glory will be revealed in the Middle East. God’s glory will be revealed in Europe. God’s glory will be revealed in each and every life circumstance. We just need to know how to respond in the midst of it. That response means coming to Jesus humbly, with hearts full of faith and trust.