(Exodus) Exodus 14:13-16 — J. Vernon McGee

Now notice verse 13 now,. "'And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord.'". You see, the Lord here is the one that will work in their behalf. All they have to do is to accept it and receive the salvation.

They are to stand still. God will be the one that will move in their behalf. And my friend, you can't lift a little finger to work out your salvation. All you have to do is to accept what God has done for you.

Now notice here as we move on, God says, "'Fear ye not, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will show to you today. For the Egyptians, whom ye have seen today, ye shall see them again no more forever.'".

In other words, you better tell them goodbye because you're not going to see them anymore. Now verse 14,. "'The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.'". That's the wonderful thing for us.

It's God who worked, it's God who wrought our salvation, and he gives to us that peace that comes that our sins have been forgiven because of his redemption. Now verse 15,. "'And the Lord said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me?

Speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward.'". In other words, they are to stand still to see the salvation of the Lord. But now when it's wrought, they are to lay hold of it, and they'll lay hold of it by faith.

And that will be evidenced in whether they go forward or not. "'But lift thou up thy rod, stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it, and the children of Israel shall go on dry land through the midst of the sea.'".

Now here is something that I'd like to call your attention to especially because there have been so many natural explanations offered for how the children of Israel crossed the Red Sea. Now I think it's pretty well established today, and I think all reputable and conservative historians and theologians agree that the Exodus took place.

It's a historical event. But how did they cross the Red Sea? And there are those that like to say that the wind is what blew the water back. But it was a wall of water on both sides. And of course, that pretty much eliminates just the idea that the wind blew the sea back.

And yet we're going to find here that that is mentioned. Then there are those that attempt to offer the explanation that the thing that took place was some sort of a natural phenomena, that the sea was rolled back.

And some have even come up with an earthquake that took place at this moment, and they say that's the miraculous part of it. But the thing that you have to face is that a miracle is recorded here, and you either accept it or you don't accept it.

And this is the historical record of their crossing the Red Sea. And it is, "...they shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea.". Now, when they crossed over the Red Sea, friends, it was just like going across that desert.

The sand was dry, and they didn't even get damp when they crossed the Red Sea. They just didn't get wet at all. Not a drop of water fell on them. They crossed over dry shod, we are told here. Now, that is important to see, and only a miracle would explain that.

I was discussing this many years ago, in the days when I was much younger and liked to argue about this with another young liberal theologian. And he was coming up with all kinds of explanations, and I think I stumped him with this.

I said, how would you explain they went over dry shod? Now, I said, granted that the water was blown back, and granted that that took place. I said, wouldn't you agree that the sand would be a little wet, and they probably got their feet wet when they went over, maybe had to take off their sandals?

But it says they went over dry shod. There wasn't enough water there for them to even get their feet damp. Now, I say to you, that's pretty hard to explain, is it not? Unless you're willing and prepared to believe that there are miracles in the Word of God.