(2) Israel crossing the Red Sea
(2) Israel crossing the Red
Sea
Exodus 14:13-16 “Then
Moses said to the people, ‘Fear not, stand firm, and you
will see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For the
Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will see them again no more forever.
The Lord will fight for you; therefore you must be still.”
Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Why do you cry to me? Tell the
Israelites to move forward. But lift up your staff and stretch out your hand
over the sea and divide it, so that the Israelites will go through the sea on
dry ground.’”
God speaks to them through
Moses. He tells them to simply observe what God is doing. This is salvation.
Even today, with nothing we can do, people struggle to survive. Salvation is
God's work, and all we need to do is enter into the faith He gives us. However,
people believe and act according to their own thoughts and circumstances,
regardless of the faith God gives them. Therefore, this faith changes depending
on the circumstances. The faith God gives is self-denial and clinging solely to
God's promised word. Salvation is the work of the last Adam, Jesus Christ.
“And I will
see you no more, and never again.”
Here, “forever” means “while the day lasts.” It is in the same vein as “day
and night forever and ever.” The word “Jehovah”
is expressed as Jehovah Yahsa, and in the day of Jehovah Yahsa there are “Lamed,
Kaph, Mem.” The day when “Father, Son, and I”
are separated and then reunited through that word can be said to be the day of
Jehovah Yahsa.
It means to be silent until you
are swallowed (hanashi). God's salvation is something He does directly and
cannot be achieved through human words. The word "raham" includes the
meanings of "to eat" and "to swallow."
God commands. He commands us to
go forward. He commands us not to complain. It is God who opens the door, and
all we have to do is enter through it. The sea splits, revealing dry land.
The dry land (Abasha) is
mentioned in Genesis 1:9 as, “And God said, ‘Let
the waters under the heavens be gathered together to one place, and let the dry
land appear.’ And it was so.” All who came from the first
man, Adam, will live on dry land.
The Red
Sea splits and becomes dry land, allowing the Israelites and the Egyptian
soldiers to pass through. While most of the Israelites die in the wilderness
after crossing the dry land, the Egyptian soldiers die on the dry land where
the Red Sea splits.
The Israelites were in a dilemma
before the Red Sea. They had to watch and follow God's actions, but instead,
they began to resent Him. Those who believed in God's word and went forward
would enter Canaan. However, among the Israelites who left Egypt and entered
the wilderness, none who disbelieved His word entered Canaan.
To blame God is to express a desire
to continue living in this world. In times of danger, humans do not consider
entering the kingdom of God. When the flesh inevitably dies, they have no
choice, so they vaguely desire to enter the kingdom of God.
The Israelites died along with the
lamb because of the Passover lamb. Those who died were no longer afraid to
enter the Red Sea. However, the flesh of all people reacted in the opposite
way. They refused to believe even when God promised to protect them. Only those
who drowned in the waters beneath the firmament met Jesus Christ.
In 1 Peter 3:18-20 we read, “For
Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous,
that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive
by the Spirit, in which he also went on to preach to the spirits in prison—those who
were once disobedient, when the patience of God waited in the days of Noah
while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were
saved through water.”
Those who disobeyed God's word were
drowned in the flood. Those who disobeyed in Noah's day and those who stood
before the Red Sea after the Exodus were all equally disobedient. Of course,
the Israelites passed through the Red Sea, but they were essentially drowned.
The Egyptian soldiers also drowned. The spirits in prison are all disobedient.
Where is the prison? Hell or Hades?
Those who disobey ultimately represent those who oppose God and disobey Him in
the kingdom of God, and are thus imprisoned (in prison) in this world.
Jesus Christ, by dying physically,
rose from the spiritual dead and speaks to all people in the world through his
spirit. However, even when people hear the words of repentance from Jesus
Christ, who died on the cross, they fail to awaken spiritually. Unless
believers unite with Jesus Christ, who died on the cross, and their old selves
die, the spirit cannot shine.
1 Corinthians 10:1-2 “For I do not want you
to be unaware, brothers, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and all
passed through the sea, and were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in
the sea.” Baptism symbolizes dying with Jesus Christ and being resurrected with
him.
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