Well, welcome to Week Five of Seeing Jesus in the Old Testament.
I'm Dr. Joel Muddamalle, and this is my dear friend, Lysa TerKeurst.
And this week we re talking about Protections --
Lysa TerKeurst: That s right.
JM: -- about the protection of God.
But more specifically, we're going to also look at seeing Jesus in the midst of our fears
and anxieties.
Lysa, there are so many moments that we have in life that are riddled with fear and riddled
with anxiety.
And one of the things that gives me such great comfort in Scripture is that God was so good
that He didn't hide those from us.
He's so honest, you know, and He gives us pictures and examples, all throughout the
Scripture, of the people of God that have experienced the very same thing.
One of the most important, I think I say this a lot, about a lot of stories.
But, I think one of the most important stories, specifically about the people of Israel, is
the story of Israel and the Red Sea.
It is a moment--if there is a descriptor, of fear and anxiety for the Israelites--
this is one of them, and I want to point out a few details.
So, let's turn to Exodus, Chapter 14.
One, I want us to see that there's nothing random that takes place when it comes to God
and His purposes.
And so, in verse 17, Exodus 13 actually, verse 17, this is what we find, "When Pharaoh
let the people go, God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although
that was near.
For God said, Lest the people change their minds when they see war, and they'll return
to Egypt.
But God led the people around, by the way of the wilderness toward the Red Sea."
Now this goes on, we re gonna look at chapter 14 in more detail.
But ultimately, what's taking place is, God intentionally leads the people of Israel all
the way to the Red Sea, knowing that Pharaoh is going to be close behind them.
And what seems like a dead end is actually going to be a moment for God to actually show
His supremacy and His power and His might.
Now, Lysa, we've done a lot of -- LT: And His ultimate protection.
JM: And His ultimate protections.
Yeah, so we've done a lot of study throughout the Old Testament.
But when I say the sea, what do you think of when I say the sea?
LT: Well, I would love to say, when we see the sea mentioned in the Bible, that it s
just this beautiful calm, you know, like, a day by the sea, like, you know, the seagulls
and the shells and kids laughing and playing in the waves.
But actually, when we see the sea in scripture, it really is a sign of chaos, and absolute
danger.
And I love what you pointed out, Joel, because there was no easy path for the Israelites.
And I think sometimes we think, "Why in the world would God have the Egyptians behind
them and the Red Sea in front of them?"
I mean, surely there was another route, and there was, and it was actually a shorter route.
But God knew that the Philistines would strike such fear in the hearts of the people that
they would run back to Egypt.
And so, I think this is pointing out something that, in life, just like Jesus says, in the
New Testament, "...In this world you will have
trouble.
But take heart!
I have overcome the world" (John 16:3b, NIV).
In other words, I think there's going to be many situations in our life where there's
no perfect path.
There's no absolute easy way to get through whatever it is that the Lord is leading us
through.
JM: Yeah.
LT: And so, I think one thing if we want to really see the, the description of the sea
in Scripture, where it, it is likened to a treacherous enemy, we can turn over to Jeremiah
Chapter 6 starting in verse 23,
it says, "They are armed with bow and spear; they are cruel and show no mercy."
They sound--so this is the enemy of the Israelites.
This is, this is the enemy that, that the sound of the enemy is this, "...They sound
like a roaring sea as they ride their horses; they come like men in battle formation to
attack you, Daughter Zion."
So, so many times, we could go through lots of other scriptures too, where the sea was
a symbol of chaos and possible destruction.
So, imagine the Israelites' feelings, OK?
There, and like I said, there's no obvious good path; every path feels scary to them.
For the Israelites, God delivered them.
But at this moment, they had an enemy behind them.
Yes, they got out of Egypt and God answered their prayer and He delivered them, but the
Egyptians are now chasing them.
So, the Egyptians are behind them, the chaos and the danger, possible destruction-- maybe
even death--of the sea is in front of them.
So, it's almost like they're caught.
I know, you've probably heard the saying between a rock and a hard place, I mean this is just
a very scary situation.
And I understand this because I've felt this way before.
I felt like I was in the middle of--if I go back, it's terrible; if I go forward, it's
terrible--and so I asked this question, "Jesus, where are you now?"
JM: Yeah.
And the big question is, "How are you going to protect me?
How are you going to take care of me?
Is there a way out that isn't going to cost something from me?"
LS: And so, Joel, I have this question.
OK, we're talking about seeing Jesus in the Old Testament,
and so, where is the presence
of Jesus here in this Red Sea story?
JM: Yeah, so this is really important.
Let's look at a couple more verses in Exodus 14 that will help us to see Jesus pretty clearly.
Exodus 14, starting in verse 14, this is what Moses says to the Israelites.
He says, "The Lord will fight for you; and you have only to be silent."
Which I think that verse on its own is incredibly powerful, but basically what Moses says to
the Israelites is, "Hey, by the way, everything you experience from this moment on, you have
to remember that none of this is anybody else's doing except the Lord's doing.
And this is evidence that the Lord is fighting for you."
Then, this is where we actually see the presence of Jesus in the Old Testament, verse 19, "Then
the angel of God who was going before the host of Israel moved and went behind them,
and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them."
So again, think of this image, the images of sea and death in front and Egyptians and
death behind.
And what is the enemy?
Death and Pharaoh coming from behind.
Literally the angel of the Lord goes from before them and goes to their backside.
Now in military language, it's called the flank.
The place behind you is the weakest
place that you have.
And this is where the angel of the Lord goes.
And this is where the pillar of the cloud goes.
In verse 20, it says this, "coming between the host of Egypt and the host of Israel.
And there was the cloud and the darkness.
And it lit up the night without one coming near the other all night."
We know the end of the story that the Red Sea parts and the Israelites go through the
Red Sea to the promised land on the opposite side.
But the other very important part of the story is that the Egyptians actually follow them
into the Red Sea, and the sea actually collapses onto them.
In our study, we've looked at this angel of the Lord figure.
And we've actually made, I think, the compelling reason to say actually, the angel of the Lord
can be likened to the preincarnate Messiah, Jesus Himself.
And so, here's the presence of Jesus, who's there.
But here's something even more incredible.
This is setting an anticipation, an expectation, for the people of Israel, that in the same
way that God saved Israel from an image of death, the sea, and actually brought order
to
chaos by parting the Red Sea and letting the people go through, the Egyptians themselves
have died in the sea.
Death has somehow defeated death.
What happened at the cross?
Jesus--goes onto the symbol death, and through His own death, He defeats death itself.
This is a greater enemy than Pharaoh, than the Assyrians and the Babylonians to come,
than Rome.
This is the ultimate enemy, the ultimate power that has the ability to put crippling anxiety
and fear in the hearts of humanity, the fear of death.
And who is victorious over it?
The Messiah, Jesus Himself, who comes between us and the enemy, who separates it so that
even though we
pass through death, on the other side --
LT: We don t have to fear it.
JM: We don t have to fear it.
On the other side, we meet Jesus.
LT: And so, I know we've turned to Hebrews 2 before, but of course, I have to go back.
And obviously, Hebrews 2 is in the New Testament, but I think this is going to connect New Testament
to Old Testament.
What you're saying is that Jesus is there because He's the one that provides the buffer
between us and death, and between the Israelites and the Egyptians, right?
And so, listen to Hebrews Chapter 2 again, starting in verse 14, "Since the children
have
flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death, [Jesus, so by Jesus'
death], he might break the power of him who holds the power of death," [And who holds
the power of death?]
"that is the devil, the enemy, and free those who all their lives, [verse 15] and free those
who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death."
I think it's so powerful when we bring the Old Testament and make the connection of the
New Testament, and we see Jesus so clearly through it all.
Well, as you study seeing Jesus through the different Protections this week, I pray that
you have a deep revelation of Jesus being the very protection--maybe you don t see it,
maybe you don t even see evidence of it--but you can stand in the assurance that Jesus
is there between you and the enemy.
And He was there in Scripture in that way and He's there in that way in our lives as
well.