Israel crossing the Red Sea is a model of faith which
must act when God has offered baptism as a way to accept His free
grace. The Typology of the Red
Sea
For I do not want you to
be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all
under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. 1 Cor 10:1
They were all baptized
into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 1 Cor 10:2
They all ate the same spiritual food
1 Cor 10:3
and drank the same spiritual drink;
for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and
that rock was Christ. 1 Cor 10:4
Nevertheless, God was
not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered over the
desert. 1 Cor 10:5
Faith as "the power of access" or "the power
to become" is symbolized by two things at the Red Sea: First, the
cloud which is typical of Christ moved to stand between the
Israelites and the Egyptians. This gave them the power to give up
"the old man of sin." Second, when Moses, who typified the Redeemer,
raised his hand the way was opened through the sea--a way which the
Israelites of their own power could not make. God had made all of the
"earning-meriting" provisions but man still had to accept the free
gift.
Grace has no power until it is accepted. The
"power to become" had no effect at the crossing of the Red Sea and
God would feel real loss if His offered His grace was not exercised.
Those who failed to be "baptized unto Moses" thereby abdicating the
power to save themselves would have been run down by Pharoah's swift
army.
Israel was in the land of the enemy and
subject to bondage, God's will was that "none should perish," He
provided all of the means of protection from the enemy (the cloud),
He provided the path through the sea, and He wanted them all on the
other side. The Israelites belief in God and His provision--if "faith
only" is true--should have landed them safe on the other side, but it
did not happen that way.
Walking across was not optional
We are told that "Judaism was Christianity
under a veil, wrapt up in types and dark hints." That is what Jesus
said about Parables "from the foundation of the world."
The OT examples we believe are more than just
a NT writer reaching back to find commonly known material to justify
his own teaching; these events were real types and shadows of the
gospel message. It is more than interesting that there are many
shadows prefiguring baptism and in none of these events is the
God-defined time-place event optional. Failure to comply with any of
these events would have meant sure destruction. How strange then that
the Holy Spirit would allow Paul and others to confuse the twentieth
century religious world if these events are just optional.
Shouldn't the Holy Spirit have said "The flood
shows that one 'might if he wishes' cross the red sea (be baptized)
as an acknowledgement that God has already saved him from Pharoah's
charging chariots because he has acknowledged that "God COULD save
him"? Or, "you may get on the ark or not as an optional act because
you already believe in Me." No, these acts are God's appointed events
where He bestows free grace; and failure to reach out and accept them
by the appointed means is proof that one does not have faith.
The Event:
Israel obeyed God's voice through Moses and
gathered up their goods (and their idols as we hear the rest of the
story) and were attempting to escape from slavery in Egypt. Pharaoh,
however, does not want to lose them and sent his army to bring them
back. This is symbolic of Satan who always promises one thing but in
the end puts one back under his bondage.
The Cry of Helplessness
The escaping Israelites found themselves at
the banks of the Red Sea unable to cross and they saw the army
bearing hard down upon them. What could they do? They cannot fight
the army by themselves and they cannot swim the Red Sea. They reach
the point where God can save them--they give up all hope of saving
themselves and are brought to the point where they are willing to
trust God to do through Moses what they know they could not do for
themselves.
Moses obeyed God and the Red Sea parted with
huge banks of water on each side of a grave-like lane but Israel
still could not trust what they were seeing--never has the water
piled up to make way for one to pass. However, they put their trust
in Moses as a type of Christ and walked through on dry ground but
they were under the water. Water is symbolic of destruction of sins.
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. As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there
were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and
cried out to the LORD. They said to Moses,
Was it because there were no
graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have
you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Didn't we say to you in
Egypt, 'Leave us alone; let us serve
the Egyptians'? It would have been
better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!"
Exod. 14:9-12
Just as there is often a conflict between
works and faith, this example shows how faith must be demonstrated in
action. Moses says "you need only to be still" meaning that there is
no way that you can dry up the Red Sea which is the only escape
route:
Moses answered the people,
"Do not be afraid. Stand firm and
you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The
Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The LORD will fight
for you; you need only to be still." Exo 14:13-14
However, God demands that if He is going to
fight for us then we must "move on."
Then the LORD said to Moses,
Why are you crying out to me? Tell
the Israelites to move on. Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the
sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea
on dry ground. Exo 14:15-16
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The pillar and cloud had been
travelling in front of the Israelites with the dual capacity
to guide them during the night and day. Drowning in the Red
Sea lay ahead and the army of Pharaoh behind. The only
escape demanded supernatural help..
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Moses told the Israelites to stand see and see
how God would rescue them when they had abandoned all of their own
resources. However, in order to see the glory of God, they are
commanded to move on. What God is saying is "move on even though from
your own perspective you will be marching into the sea to
drown."
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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, 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. Exo 14:19-20
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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, and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with
a wall of water on their right and on their left. Exo 14:21-22
But they cried to the
LORD for help, and he put darkness between you and the Egyptians; he
brought the sea over them and covered them. You saw with your own
eyes what I did to the Egyptians. Then you lived in the desert for a
long time. Josh 24:7
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The Egyptians pursued them,
and all Pharaoh's horses and chariots and horsemen followed
them into the sea. During the last watch of the night the
LORD looked down from the pillar of fire and cloud at the
Egyptian army and threw it into confusion. He made the
wheels of their chariots come off so that they had
difficulty driving. And the Egyptians said, "Let's get away
from the Israelites! The LORD is fighting for them against
Egypt." -- Exo 14:23-25
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Then the LORD said to Moses,
"Stretch out your hand
over the sea so that the waters may flow back over the Egyptians and
their chariots and horsemen. Moses stretched out his hand over the
sea, and at daybreak the sea went back to its place. The Egyptians
were fleeing toward it, and the LORD swept them into the sea. The
water flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen--the entire
army of Pharaoh that had followed the Israelites into the sea. Not
one of them survived. Exo 14:26-28
But the Israelites went
through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right
and on their left. That day the LORD saved Israel from the hands of
the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore.
Exo 14:29-30
Faith or trust grows as we see God working His
will in the world. The initial but reluctant trust which caused
Israel to believe in the impossible was changed into sight when
ultimate triumph came.
And when the Israelites
saw the great power the LORD displayed against the Egyptians, the
people feared the LORD and put their trust in him and in Moses his
servant. Exo 14:31
There are some questions that this is a symbol
of water baptism because the cloud was not over them but stood
between them and the enemy. However, the cloud was before them and
then passed over them to stand between them and the enemy (Exod.
14:19). The symbol means that when we have reached the end of the
road to self-salvation, Christ moves into position, passes over man's
submitted body, and stands between man and sin with His own personal
righteousness. Christ is our Passover; He has paid the price on the
cross; and salvation as a potential reality is available to all who
will accept it.
This is God's gift of "the power to become
children of God" or the "power to escape from the enemy" because
Satan's power has been utterly destroyed on the cross. There are no
powers to be overcome and one has to simply do what his mind says
cannot save him--walk through the Red Sea on the dry ground already
provided by God.
Another objection is that "the Israelites did
not get wet!" This is true and the symbol or type matches the
antitype perfectly. The sea was like a watery lane to freedom to the
Israelites but it was a watery grave for the enemy. For while the
Israelites went under the sea without getting wet, in baptism it is
not the "new man" who is immersed or buried but it is the "old man of
sin" who is drowned in the "flood." The "new person" or the
"resurrected person" walks out the other side in total freedom and
never gets wet because the "baptism is for the dead." The "new men"
could look back from the saved side of the Sea and see the "dead men"
strewn all around on the shoreline.
The Egyptians, who are typical of sin and
bondage, were immersed and "put to death" in the waters but the
Israelites, as a people separated from sin and bondage, were
"resurrected" by coming out the other side. In Christian baptism the
same pattern is followed; the "old man" dies and is buried and the
"new man" is resurrected to walk in newness of life in a "free land."
If the symbol which the Holy Spirit employs is
to have any connection to reality we must conclude that the refusal
to "get into the ark," "commit to crossing the red sea," or refusal
to "be baptized" with an act which Peter says "does now save us"
might be a refusal to allow the "old man" to get too close to the
death-dealing blow which God has prescribed.
"In baptism we are separated from
the world. Secondly, the type shows a unification--Israel was
henceforth a separate and sacred body, set apart for God alone. So
baptism now unites all the baptized into one body that belongs wholly
to God. Similarly the flood immersed the evil generation of Noah's
day but bore aloft Noah's family high and dry; in this too, typifies
Christian baptism" (Lenski, Commentary on 1 Cor., p. 391).
These people were not baptized "into" the body
of Moses but were baptized "into" Moses in the sense that they had no
alternative but to identify with Moses and commit themselves to an
act where they had to give up all trust in themselves.
Furthermore, baptism, eating spiritual food,
drinking spiritual drink and following Christ was not a Calvin-like
predestination:
They all ate the same
spiritual food 1 Cor 10:3
and drank the same
spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that
accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. 1 Cor 10:4
Nevertheless, God was
not pleased with most of them;
their bodies were scattered over the desert. 1 Cor 10:5
God rescued Israel to protect His own name
even though they deserved to remain in Egypt where they worshiped
Egyptian idols and polluted the name of God. They rejected undeserved
grace even though they swore to live by the Covenant laws of grace.
They fell into musical worship honoring Osiris under the symbol of
the golden calf, lost the Covenant of Grace, were given the Law of
Moses and a priesthood to keep them out of God's rpesence.
Jesus Christ came as "another Moses" and we
shall hear Him or there is no other remedy. Jesus commanded that the
gospel includes baptism as the expression of faith and willingness to
follow Him. It is still possible to fall back into ceremonial
legalism and reject Him and grace.
See
the nature of the worship Israel left in Egypt
See
how musical idolatry occurred at Mount Sinai
Kenneth Sublett
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