Exodus 14:13, commentary and pictures

Trapped between the sea ahead, the pursuing army behind, and mountains on either side with no human way of escape, terrified Israel murmured in unbelief despite all God had done for them. Moses answered without fear, trusting God's command and power though he could not yet see the way out, and told them not to fear but to stand still and witness the deliverance God would accomplish that very day, with their enemies never to threaten them again. God fought for them when they obeyed and advanced, opening the sea for them to cross on dry ground and then drowning their pursuers so oppression could hold them no longer. To stand still means to cease from fear, complaint, and self-devised rescue, to wait in quiet confidence and leave the battle to God who acts in man's greatest need, and then to move forward in obedience even before the way appears. That same trust belongs to all who are helpless before impossible obstacles, for those who hold fast faith, pray with thanksgiving, and go forward step by step will see His saving power reveal His glory and bring victory.

Israel Trapped at Sea

The word was spoken at the Red Sea where Israel was shut in with no possibility of escape unless God Himself interposed. The sea lay before them and Pharaoh's pursuing army pressed behind them, with mountains on either side and impassable barriers around them. More than a million people were hemmed in a valley, trapped between the waters and their pursuers. The oppressor who held them was hardened and relentless, and God alone could free them from his power.

The people were sore afraid when they saw the army marching after them. Despite having seen His judgments upon Egypt and His power in their deliverance, they distrusted God, forgot His past mighty works, and murmured against Moses. They accused him of bringing them out to die in the wilderness and said it had been better to serve the Egyptians than to die there. They became violent and unreasonable with loud wailing, expecting to fall to their oppressors, and even questioned whether the guiding cloud that had led them had led them wrong. With rebellious and discouraged hearts they saw only disaster, defeat, and death.

Moses had brought them there in obedience to God's express command, trusting His power and promises. Though he could not yet see how escape would come, he felt no fear of the consequences and answered calmly and assuringly. He was greatly troubled by their little faith after they had repeatedly seen God's power. Holding the undisciplined host still in waiting before the Lord was not easy. At the same time he himself cried earnestly to the Lord to deliver His chosen people.

God fought for Israel and by power and mercy freed them from bondage. When they obeyed His command to go forward and their feet touched the water, He opened the sea so they crossed on dry land. The returning waters drowned the pursuing army that sought to enslave them again. That oppressor alone could not keep them, and the Egyptians seen that day would trouble them no more forever.

Meaning of Moses' Command

Fear not is a rebuke of fear and unbelief to a terrified people, calling them to trust in God, to be quiet, and to withhold expressions of unbelief. It tells them to stop giving way to fear and to wait before the Lord for Him to reveal His deliverance, even when the route looks impassable and the pursuing army seems about to overtake them. It forbids impatiently seeking what He has not revealed, requiring stillness and trust while waiting for His intervention.

Stand still means to wait in faith before the Lord, committing the way to Him and resting in Him in quietness and confidence as strength. It means to stop hurrying to deliver themselves, to refuse to move rashly or take any unlawful or doubtful step for relief, and to refuse to rush ahead in uncertainty when no path can be discerned. It forbids creating their own light by human wisdom or presumption, for apparent darkness may be temporary and God's help will become clear. It calls for remaining courageous and patient, bending the whole soul to His will and holding faith without trusting feeling, because God can choose the moment of greatest human need to display His power.

See the salvation of the Lord which He will show this day is a promise that they would witness that very day what the Lord would do for them. The Lord would fight for them while they held their peace and remained silent and quiet, leaving the fight to Him and trusting His intervention. This confidence was right because they had reached the danger by following His express command, so He Himself must interpose where there was no possibility of escape unless He did.

The Egyptians seen that day would never be seen again forever means the pursuing enemy would never again threaten them and would trouble them no more. Persevering faith and humble trust in critical times lead God's people to see His salvation, with Him vindicating His cause before the world. Even when escape cannot yet be seen, trust in His power sustains calm assurance that the oppressor will be removed.

God Revealed as Deliverer

The stand at the sea proves that God's word prevails when trusted by those utterly helpless against the power of the whole world. Israel at the Red Sea was a helpless, terrified multitude of slaves standing against the mightiest army of the mightiest nation on the globe, yet by holding fast faith in God's word and His triumph they withstood that power and saw the salvation of the Lord. That trust stood against human power and policy in support of evil, belongs to the world's true nobility and royal line, and is the pattern the youth of today are called to take up.

The deliverance displayed God's glory and proved that He would accomplish what He had undertaken to bring His purposes to pass. It revealed Him as ruler of the universe, greater than the gods of the nations, who guided and protected His people and destroyed the Egyptian army pursuing them to enslave them again. Human resistance only makes His victory more striking and complete.

God brought the people to the sea where escape seemed impossible so they would recognize their helplessness and their need of divine aid. Then by power and mercy He rescued them from temporal bondage and servitude, revealing His power to help and leading them to love and gratitude toward Him and to trust and confidence in Him. When Israel afterward looked back toward Egypt and longed for its former indulgences, He withheld those things to test whether they valued His service and the freedom He had given them more than the pleasures they had known in bondage.

The deliverance was a plain display of distinguished mercy to His people before all the Egyptians. The judgments executed upon Pharaoh were to teach him by sad experience, since he would not otherwise be convinced, that God's power is superior to all others. God intended by exemplary and demonstrative proof of divine power and justice to declare His name throughout all the earth to all nations, to strengthen the faith of His people, and so that their posterity would steadfastly worship Him alone as the One who wrought such merciful wonders in their behalf.

Pattern for Later Church

The trial at the sea was repeated in the Advent movement in the Great Disappointment of 1844, for God led His people then as He led Israel out of Egypt and tested their faith as He tested the Hebrews at the Red Sea. To stand still and see the salvation of God in that disappointment meant to keep trusting the guiding hand that had been with them in past experience and to look for God to save them. Had they continued to trust that guiding hand, they would have seen His deliverance.

That trusting would have meant receiving the third angel's message and proclaiming it unitedly in the power of the Holy Spirit. Had they done so, the Lord would have wrought mightily with their efforts, a flood of light would have been shed upon the world, the inhabitants of the earth would have been warned years ago, the closing work completed, and Christ would have come for the redemption of His people.

The same command governs warning people of the perils of the last days and the solemn scenes revealed in prophecy, especially the near events portrayed by John. There are times then not to take a controversial attitude or argue, but to stand still, to refrain, and to wait quietly for God to bring deliverance. That waiting is done by advancing new principles and crowding in clear-cut truth as a sword working both ways, presenting the truth as it is in Jesus. It lets Daniel speak and Revelation speak to tell what is truth, while in every subject Jesus is uplifted as the center of all hope.

Faith That Obeys Forward

Danger that shuts off advance is set to test faith so that reliance on God is strengthened. When the crisis is met by trusting Christ and following His direction step by step, faith is strengthened and believers are fitted for service. Remembering past deliverance gives confidence in the midst of suffering and trial, and God may choose the moment of greatest human need to display His power rather than letting fear rule.

Faith obeys though no way can yet be seen, advancing in trust and obedience before the sea opens. Israel went forward at command, and the waters parted when their feet touched them, so that they crossed on dry land. Waiting until every obstacle and doubt disappears keeps a person from ever moving, but after doing all that can be done God Himself opens the path and obedience ends in victory.

Standing still and going forward belong together. Fear and unbelieving thoughts about the work to be taken up must cease, all murmuring and questioning doubt must cease, and complaint must be turned into prayer. Believing, waiting, working, hoping and praying must go on with still greater self-sacrifice and clinging to God, doing all that can be done in humility under the Holy Spirit. To stand still is to stop hurrying to deliver self, to commit the way to the Lord and rest in Him, to bend the whole soul to His will in quietness and confidence as strength, to refuse any rash or unlawful or doubtful step for relief, to hold faith without trusting feeling and keep following without wrestling out of His hands. Then, when He says go forward, His people are to move forward even into the waters, trusting Him to cut through every apparent obstruction and make a passage, and believing He will recognize consecrated effort and consecrated ability, including medical evangelistic labor in great cities, and accomplish a precious good work. The same rule holds when debt presses on a meetinghouse dedicated to God, which is not to be sold but to be lifted by willing united effort until help comes, for every foot of room will yet be needed and truth will prevail.

Seeing salvation requires trusting fully because He is good and His wisdom and grace and love never fail. It is holding fast His promises that His everlasting arm is around His people and that He cares for them every hour, and expecting Him to bring salvation through Jesus Christ as a living Saviour in His fullness and mercy and love to fallen people. It means ceasing to fear and to talk of wrath, turning the mind to His compassion and abundant mercy, taking courage, praying and praising Him with thanksgiving while waiting to see His salvation. Even when placed in a very hot furnace of trial, living faith looks up and believes, while Jesus refines as silver until the believer comes forth as gold seven times purified, reflecting His image.

Seeing Salvation in Life

When the advance of the work is held back for lack of means, duty is to go just as far and as fast as possible with what is available and then stand still to see God bring salvation and carry the work forward. For schools burdened with indebtedness this means putting away lack of faith and disunity, ceasing discouraging talk, talking faith, praying in faith, and working in the faith and love of Christ. It means putting away selfish interests woven into the work, seeking the first place, refusing counsel and advice, and pulling in different directions to carry out personal ideas and plans, and instead pulling together in united, decided effort. When debt rests on a meetinghouse built for God, murmurings and questioning doubts must cease, complaints must turn to prayer, and believers must believe, wait, work, hope, pray and do all that can be done with still greater self-sacrifice and clinging to God, for He works with such efforts, parts the way and brings freedom from embarrassment. What has been dedicated to God must not be sold, but the burden must be lifted willingly until help comes, because every foot of room will yet be needed for missionary work and truth will prevail.

God shows His saving power when His people wake up and lay hold of work that looks impossible, laboring in difficult places and large cities where precious souls remain and He has not left them. Fear and unbelieving thoughts about the work to be taken up must cease, and His people must move forward in His order in humility under the Holy Spirit, trusting Him to recognize consecrated effort and accomplish precious good through consecrated ability, including medical evangelistic labor. Workers in the South are to pray, believe the Lord will guide step by step, and go forward in obedience to His teaching even when human authorities or customary procedures hinder, expecting to see His salvation, victory and success. Doing their best while praying, believing and trusting is required, and lack of faith that leaves hard fields unworked is rebuked by the call to go and get hold of the people.

In personal distress deliverance and triumph in Jesus' name come to those who take courage, look up, and believe with living faith. Salvation includes bodily healing from lameness and sickness, given by God as Mighty Healer in answer to earnest urging, restoring health and strength for needed work. That confidence was applied to prayer for Mary White that God would provide help in her case, and believing in God and looking to Jesus bring hope for complete restoration and overcoming of weakness. A poor suffering believer is called to be of good courage and wait patiently a little longer, with Jesus present strengthening and supporting by His all-powerful arm, His compassionate eye upon the afflicted, touched with infirmities, loving and pitying beyond human pity. Petitions pressed to the throne through God's Son receive blessed assurance and sweet evidence that God hears and sets His love on the sufferer, received by knowing in whom belief is placed and not running uncertainly, with confidence all will come out right in rejoicing in God the Deliverer, and the R. family would yet see that salvation in home and church if faith remained unwavering.

Trying to carry heavy burdens and weighty responsibilities alone crushes, while only believing lets a person see salvation. Jesus knows the heavy responsibilities and will not leave alone those who do not leave Him, He is honored when keeping of the soul is committed to Him as unto a faithful Creator, and He bids hope in His mercy, believing He does not desire weighty responsibilities to be carried in human strength alone. Those who trust God and go forward without letting anything divert them from His work will see His salvation, with God blessing, sustaining, and giving wisdom and strength as they give themselves unreservedly to fitting themselves as laborers to preach the Word. Looking to Him for life, remaining at the post of duty, and trusting Him to work through severe trial brings through danger to see His salvation, for His people are to remain at duty and rely on God rather than be driven away by difficulty.

Seeing salvation comes to frail instruments who can do nothing of themselves when they draw near to God, refuse weakness in faith, walk humbly, yield rather than dictate how He must work, expect great things, and let the Lord direct through people He provides. It requires receiving His light and blessing in order to have something to impart to others, with hearts softened and refreshed by heaven overflowing in prayer and songs of praise, while dwelling on God's love in giving Jesus and speaking words that show those in darkness how to find the Saviour precious. Clearing the King's highway and keeping genuine faith and trust belong with seeing salvation, and standing still without fear until salvation is seen while taking God at His word brings it into view. At Nimes giving up personal plans for the Lord's plans and moving according to His will brings greater victories and sight of salvation when the work reaches the point where working in wisdom is required, without relaxing effort or letting loose with one hand. Fluctuating prospects and present appearances must not govern judgment, but efforts must be repeated with greater interest, presenting the same arguments without losing vital interest because minds are better prepared than at first. Carrying forward the work in His way, being willing to be taught, wrestling in prayer, and receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit which is needed and may be had now leads to going forth with a message so truth shines as a burning lamp to all parts of the world, and walking humbly brings God to walk with His people so they see His salvation.

Those who make God their trust see His salvation because His power alone is help and strength. A wandering sheep away from the Good Shepherd, seeking rest and peace without finding it and doubting Christ's love, sees salvation by believing only, believing God's promise and Christ's power to save, bringing freedom indeed, peace and rest, and deliverance so Satan has no dominion, because Christ gave His life and died as full evidence of love. Steadfast persevering faith that trusts God rather than human wisdom and moves forward expects to see His salvation, and trusting His guidance in the work He gives brings the grace, strength, courage and fortitude needed to carry it out. Seeing the salvation of the Lord means God working in power, and reaching people happens only through God, while courage and trust in His help mark those who expect to see it.