Misfits Crossing the Red Sea

There are a number of directions I could go with Pastor John Han’s sermon on the crossing of the Red Sea. Did it really happen or not? Is the story meant to be taken literally or symbolically?

I was struck by the fact that John was told by a six-year-old boy, of all people, “I don’t believe it ever happened.” This prompted John to seek out extra-Biblical historic and/or scientific evidence for the crossing of the Red Sea. I, for one, was surprised to discover that no such evidence is out there; surprised because of how much evidence exists to support other claims made in the Bible, including the fact that God once made the sun stand still for an hour. I don’t understand how, but it has been reported that scientists have discovered this actually happened. And the scientists who made the discovery, so far as I know, had no awareness of that story in the Bible. They just knew that, at some point in time, an hour of time has been lost (or gained? I’m not sure which way it works).

But apart from the Biblical account, no such evidence seems to exist for the crossing of the Red Sea. So did it happen or not? Furthermore, does it matter whether it happened or not?

Without trying to fully answer these questions, I will say that if such evidence could be found, then it would perhaps prove that the crossing of the Red Sea did happen as it is described in Exodus 14. However,, the lack of such evidence does not prove that it didn’t happen.

To me, it is only fitting that if we are going to accept this story as something that actually happened, then we must accept it by faith. The Bible is full of such stories, including the all-important Resurrection of Jesus Christ. And this is by design. The Bible is a book of faith, and God’s people are to be people of faith. “Without faith, it is impossible to please Him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him” (Heb. 11:6) (Italics added).

But our faith is not blind faith. As I said, history and science have proven many of the Bible’s truth claims to indeed be true. Of course, there is always debate over whether a passage should be interpreted literally or figuratively. But I don’t know of anything in the Bible that has been proven false. And I don’t believe that will ever happen.

For one thing skeptics don’t realize, and that believers sometimes forget, is that God is true. God cannot lie. God always speaks the truth. God is truth (cf. John 14:6). As Christians, we believe the Bible is the Word of God. Yes, it was written down by men. But the Holy Spirit inspired them, telling them what to write, in a way that did not compromise their individuality or their unique writing styles. But this work of the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of truth (Jn. 14:17; 15: 26; 16:13; I Jn. 4:6), guarantees that everything they wrote is true.

Within our postmodern society, we are taught to question everything. More and more often, people have an attitude that says, “If you can’t prove it, I won’t believe it.” Such a mindset causes many to say that it no longer is good enough to say, “I believe it simply because the Bible says it. That’s good enough for me.”
But as naïve as that sounds, it should be true. If any portion of the Bible is not true, then we are open to debating which portions of it are true and which are not. Furthermore, if any portion of the Bible is not true, then at least within that portion, God has lied to us. And who wants to believe in a lying God, even if He lied only one time? I certainly don’t.

Having said all that, I do wholeheartedly agree with Pastor Han’s main point. Where are you in the story? How are you to apply it to your life?

Among other things, the Bible is a book of history. But it is not like other history books. It is not to be read and studied simply so we can recite who did what where and when. The history of the Bible is the history of how God has interacted with His people in the past. As someone once said, “[Biblical] history is His story.” In addition, it is the story of how people from the past have related to God.

Hence, Biblical history should be read with the intent of how God worked in the lives of the people we’re reading about. Then, knowing that God does not change, seek to learn how His is working in our own lives. And as we see how various people in the Bible responded to God, we should seek to learn how we ought to respond to God in our own lives.


QUESTIONS FOR STUDY AND APPLICATION

1. Romans 6:16 tells us that “if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness”. What sin(s) have you become enslaved to in your own life?

2. Romans 6:17-18 goes on to tell us that God has set us free from slavery to sin and has made us slaves of righteousness. How can this be true if you still have certain sins controlling you? What kind of freedom from sin is Paul talking about in these verses? And what does it mean to be a slave of righteousness, particularly in a society that values individual liberty above all else?

3. Finally, where are you in the story of the crossing of the Red Sea? Are you still in Egypt, wondering if you’ll ever get out? Are you on the other side, celebrating your new freedom? Are you in the midst of the dry ground, hoping and praying the waters don’t come crashing down on top of you before you make it to the other side? Are there situations in which you might actually be like Pharaoh, saying, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey Him?”