To Encourage You

Hebrews 11:29 “By faith the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned.”

What’s the most fearful and unknown situation you and I will ever face? Is it not death?  There will come a time when there is no escaping it.  It may seem like it will never get here, but it most certainly will – and then what? What awaits us?  What will happen when we walk not just through the valley of the shadow of death but walk into death itself?  Perhaps there’s a lesson for us in Israel’s miraculous passage through the Red Sea.  And it’s a lesson for believers and unbelievers alike.  As Israel fled from the terror of their enemies they eventually came to the Red Sea. There was no way out. To go back meant certain death, or at least slavery at the hands of the Egyptians. To go forward meant death in the sea.  It was at this moment that God commanded Moses to command Israel to go forward.  They were to trust Him for their salvation, but they still had to take that first step, not on the basis of how things looked but on the basis of what God had said. Such a step is called a step of faith.  And when they did this, what happened?  Miraculously, the waters parted to give them salvation, victory, and life.  

So, what about the Egyptians? Confidently and foolishly they entered the sea as well, not by faith, mind you, but by their own efforts and self-assurance. If Israel could do it, they could as well. They’d be fine. They just knew it.  But then the wheels came off, literally, that is. Their chariot wheels became stuck in the mud and they were thrown into confusion.  In their terror, they cried out “Let us flee from before Israel, for the Lord fights for them against the Egyptians” (Exodus 14:25). But it was too late for them.  They knew death was coming and the Lord was not on their side!  They died a horrible death that day while Israel experienced breathtaking deliverance, not only from death, but from the pursuit of their enemies. 

That’s exactly what is coming for believers.  Though many of them are mistreated now, some in literal bondage like the Israelites were (think North Korea, China, Eritrea), and eventually all die, death is not the end.  It is a path to life and freedom from the enemy forever.  This is the future for all those who die, but in that death are “commended through their faith” as the heroes of the faith were that we are told about in Hebrews 11.  But for any unbeliever who, like the Egyptians, thinks he or she can enter into death with no consequences based on their own goodness, their good works, or anything else other than faith, the same terror that fell upon the Egyptians awaits them.  And that terror will go on forever. 

There is always hope for the Christian, no matter what he or she faces, up to and including death. But for the unbeliever, who, like the Egyptians, remains unbelieving and hardhearted no matter what God has told them in His Word and demonstrated through His many acts of salvation for the redeemed, there is no hope.  Yet God in His great mercy continues to plead while there is yet time with such words as these: “As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die?” (Ezekiel 33:11).  It’s one of the lessons of the Red Sea – hope for the believer, but hopelessness for the unbeliever.  Yet, because of God’s grace, if the unbeliever, while there is yet time, just turns to the Lord and believes, all things gloriously and forever will change.