The Grammar of Glory: When God Fights for His People Text: Exodus 14:15-18
Introduction: The Divine Checkmate
We come now to a moment of high drama, a point where all human options have been exhausted. Israel is trapped. Behind them is the most sophisticated and ruthless military machine on the planet, enraged and bent on vengeance. Before them is an impassable body of water. On either side, the wilderness hems them in. From a purely human standpoint, this is not a strategic problem; it is a coffin. And it is a coffin that God Himself has designed. He is the one who led them there, seemingly into a dead end. He is the one who told them to camp by the sea, a place of no escape.
And this is a fundamental lesson we must grasp. God frequently leads His people into situations where the only possible deliverance is a divine one. He writes us into corners so that He is the only one who can turn the page. He does this to strip away our self-reliance, to expose the utter bankruptcy of our own strength and ingenuity, and to display His glory. The world believes in contingency plans, in multiple outs, in diversified portfolios of trust. The Christian faith, when it is robust and biblical, teaches us to trust the God who specializes in impossible situations. The Red Sea is not an obstacle to God's plan; it is the stage upon which His glory will be displayed most brilliantly.
The people, as is their custom, are panicking. They are crying out, not in faith, but in fear. They have just seen ten plagues dismantle the gods of Egypt, and yet their first response to trouble is to wish they were back in slavery. Their fear is a form of blasphemy. It assumes that the God who could humble the Nile and darken the sun is somehow stumped by a large puddle and a squadron of chariots. Moses has just told them to stand still and see the salvation of Yahweh. But even Moses, it appears, is crying out to God in a way that needs correction. And God's response to him is startling. It is a summons to cease praying and to start acting, a command that reveals the intricate and glorious relationship between divine sovereignty and human responsibility.
In these four verses, God lays out His battle plan. It is a plan that involves a man, a stick, a sea, and a hard heart. And the stated goal of this entire enterprise is not simply the rescue of Israel, but the glory of God. God is going to get honor for Himself over Pharaoh and his armies. This is not divine egotism; it is the central purpose of all history. The universe was created for the display of God's glory, and here, on the shores of the Red Sea, we are about to see that glory shine in a way that will be remembered for all time.
The Text
Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to Me? Speak to the sons of Israel so that they go forward. As for you, raise up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and split it, and the sons of Israel shall go through the midst of the sea on dry land. As for Me, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians with strength so that they will go in after them; and I will be glorified through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen. Then the Egyptians will know that I am Yahweh, when I am glorified through Pharaoh, through his chariots and his horsemen.”
(Exodus 14:15-18 LSB)
The Time for Action (v. 15)
We begin with God's sharp word to Moses.
"Then Yahweh said to Moses, 'Why are you crying out to Me? Speak to the sons of Israel so that they go forward.'" (Exodus 14:15)
This is a fascinating rebuke. We are not told what Moses was praying, but the nature of God's response tells us something important about it. It was the wrong kind of prayer for the moment. There is a time to be on your knees, and there is a time to get up and march. This was a time to march. Moses' prayer, whatever it was, was characterized by a kind of hand-wringing paralysis. It was the cry of a man who was looking for a way out, when God had already provided the way through.
God's response is not anti-prayer. It is a correction against prayer that becomes a substitute for obedience. God had already given His promise of deliverance. The time for petition was over; the time for trust and action had arrived. God says, in effect, "Stop asking Me what I am going to do. I have already told you. Now, do what I told you to do." The instruction is twofold. First, "Speak to the sons of Israel so that they go forward." This is a command for the whole nation. They are to stop looking backward at the approaching army and start moving forward toward the sea. This is faith in motion. Faith is not static contemplation; it is obedient movement. They are to march toward the very thing that appears to be their doom, trusting that God will act.
This is a picture of the Christian life. We are often confronted by what looks like an impassable obstacle. Our temptation is to stop, to panic, to cry out in unbelief. And God's word to us is the same: "Go forward." Trust My promise and take the next step of obedience, even if you cannot see the whole path. Do not let your prayers become a pious excuse for inaction.
The Instrument of Power (v. 16)
Next, God gives a specific command to Moses, the covenant head of the people.
"As for you, raise up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and split it, and the sons of Israel shall go through the midst of the sea on dry land." (Exodus 14:16 LSB)
Notice the glorious interplay here. God tells Moses to split the sea. "You... split it." But of course, Moses has no power to split a sea. His staff is just a piece of wood. His hand is just flesh and bone. God is not assigning Moses a task he can accomplish in his own strength. He is commanding Moses to be the instrument through which divine power will flow. This is the principle of delegated authority. God delights in using weak, mundane things to accomplish His mighty purposes, so that no one can mistake where the power truly lies.
The staff has been a recurring symbol. It was the staff that turned into a serpent, the staff that struck the Nile and turned it to blood. It is a symbol of God's authority vested in His chosen servant. When Moses raises that staff, he is not performing a magic trick. He is acting in faith, obeying a direct command, and demonstrating that he is the authorized representative of Yahweh. God is the one who will split the sea, but He has ordained that He will do it through the obedient gesture of His servant. This is how God's kingdom works. God saves sinners, but He does it through the foolishness of preached words. God builds His church, but He does it through the faithful labor of ordinary men and women.
And the result is promised with absolute certainty: "the sons of Israel shall go through the midst of the sea on dry land." It will not be a muddy trek. It will be dry ground. God's deliverance is not partial or sloppy. It is thorough and complete. He does not just solve our problems; He does so with a flair and a perfection that leaves us in awe.
The Divine Author of Judgment (v. 17)
Now God reveals the other side of His plan. Deliverance for Israel means judgment for Egypt, and God is sovereign over both.
"As for Me, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians with strength so that they will go in after them; and I will be glorified through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen." (Exodus 14:17 LSB)
This is one of those verses that makes modern, sentimental Christians very nervous. "As for Me... I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians." This is not a passive permission. This is an active, divine decree. God is not simply allowing Pharaoh to be stubborn; He is ensuring it. He is strengthening Pharaoh's heart in its rebellion for His own sovereign purposes. Pharaoh has already hardened his own heart multiple times, and now God is giving him over to that hardness. This is a judicial hardening. God is using Pharaoh's own sin as the instrument of Pharaoh's own destruction.
This is a hard truth, but it is a biblical one. God is sovereign over the sinful choices of men. He does not cause them to sin in the sense of being the author of evil, but He ordains that their sin will occur and He weaves it into His perfect plan, all without violating their responsibility as creatures. Joseph told his brothers, "You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good" (Genesis 50:20). The cross itself is the ultimate example: wicked men, by their own free and sinful choice, crucified the Lord of glory, yet it was all according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God (Acts 2:23).
And why does God do this? He tells us plainly: "and I will be glorified through Pharaoh." God's glory is the ultimate end. He will be glorified in the salvation of His people, and He will be glorified in the just destruction of His enemies. The same sun that melts the wax hardens the clay. The same grace that saves the elect hardens the reprobate. And in both, God's glory and justice are put on display for all the world to see.
The Great Object Lesson (v. 18)
The final verse of our text reiterates the purpose of this grand, divine drama.
"Then the Egyptians will know that I am Yahweh, when I am glorified through Pharaoh, through his chariots and his horsemen." (Exodus 14:18 LSB)
The goal is a revelation. "Then the Egyptians will know that I am Yahweh." This is not a knowledge that leads to their salvation. It is the knowledge of the damned. It is the terrified, last-second realization that the God they have mocked and defied is, in fact, the one true God who holds their lives in His hands. It is the knowledge that every knee will have on the day of judgment, when they bow and confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:10-11).
Pharaoh's great sin throughout the plagues was his defiant question, "Who is Yahweh, that I should obey His voice?" (Exodus 5:2). God is now going to answer that question definitively. He is going to provide Pharaoh and his entire army with an undeniable demonstration of His identity. They will know He is Yahweh when His glory is displayed in their utter destruction. He will be glorified "through Pharaoh, through his chariots, and through his horsemen." The very instruments of Egypt's pride, their military might, their technological superiority, will become the props in the theater of God's judgment.
God's glory is the point. It is the reason for creation, the reason for redemption, and the reason for judgment. We must align our thinking with this reality. Our salvation is not ultimately about us. It is about Him. Our lives are not our own story; they are a subplot in His grand narrative. And when we understand this, it brings a profound sense of peace and purpose. Our goal is not to make a name for ourselves, but to see His name glorified in everything, whether in our deliverance or, if He so wills, in our trials.
Conclusion: The Gospel at the Water's Edge
This entire event is a magnificent portrait of the gospel. Like Israel, we were slaves to a cruel tyrant, sin. We were trapped, with no hope of escape. The penalty of the law stood behind us, ready to condemn us, and before us was the impassable sea of God's righteous judgment.
In our helpless state, God did not tell us to figure out a solution. He commanded us to "go forward," to come to Him. And He sent a mediator, one greater than Moses, the Lord Jesus Christ. On the cross, Jesus raised up not a staff, but His own body. He stretched out His hands, and the sea of God's wrath was split. He absorbed the full force of that judgment Himself, creating a path of dry land through death itself for us to walk on.
And just as God hardened Pharaoh's heart to complete the victory, so too God has ordained that the enemies of Christ, sin, death, and the devil, would overplay their hand at the cross. They thought they had won when they crucified the Son of God, but in that very act, their own destruction was sealed. Through the death and resurrection of Jesus, God was glorified, and the powers of darkness were disarmed and made a public spectacle (Colossians 2:15).
The Egyptians knew God as Yahweh in their destruction. But we, through the gospel, are invited to know Him as Yahweh in our salvation. We are called to walk through the waters of baptism, identifying with Christ's death and resurrection, and to emerge on the other side, singing His praises. The choice before every person is this: will you know God as your Savior, as you walk the path of faith He has made? Or will you know Him as your Judge, when the waters of His justice inevitably close over the heads of all who defy Him? There is no third option. Therefore, hear His command today: stop crying in your unbelief, and go forward in faith.