The Terrible Baptism Text: Exodus 14:26-29
Introduction: Two Ways to Go Through the Water
We have come to the climax of the great deliverance. The event that will define Israel for the rest of her history, the event that will be sung about for generations, the event that serves as the bedrock paradigm for all of God's subsequent acts of salvation. But we must understand that this event is not a sentimental story for a flannelgraph board. This is not a gentle wading pool. This is a battlefield. It is a courtroom. It is a grave, and it is a womb.
The modern mind, which is a thoroughly sentimental mind, wants to isolate the salvation of Israel from the damnation of Egypt. We want the rescue without the judgment. We want the dry ground for 'us' without the watery grave for 'them'. But God does not deal in such abstractions. In the economy of God, salvation for His people is always and everywhere damnation for their enemies. The light that guides the Israelites is the same pillar of fire that brings darkness and confusion to the Egyptians. The path of life for the redeemed is the very same path of destruction for the reprobate. The waters of the Red Sea are the instrument of both.
This is what the apostle Paul would later call the aroma of Christ. To one, we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other, the aroma of life leading to life. The gospel itself, the good news of Jesus Christ, is a declaration of war. It saves and it hardens. It delivers and it condemns. The cross is a stumbling block and foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. The Red Sea is a type, a magnificent picture, of this terrible, glorious reality. There are two ways to go through the water, and only one way to come out alive. And the difference is not found in the cleverness of the swimmer, but in the sovereign decree of God.
Here, at the edge of the sea, God is not just rescuing His people from a political inconvenience. He is crushing the head of the serpent. Pharaoh is a type of Satan, a type of the god of this world who holds men in bondage. Egypt is a type of the world system, with its bricks and its whips and its false gods. And the Red Sea is a type of baptism, a watery passage from death to life. What we are about to witness is the final, decisive blow in this stage of the conflict. It is a picture of our salvation, but it is also a picture of the final judgment. And we must not flinch from either aspect of it.
The Text
Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters may come back over the Egyptians, over their chariots and their horsemen.”
So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal state at daybreak while the Egyptians were fleeing right into it; then Yahweh overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea.
And the waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen, even Pharaoh’s entire army that had gone into the sea after them; not even one of them remained.
But the sons of Israel walked on dry land through the midst of the sea, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.
(Exodus 14:26-29 LSB)
The Collapsing Walls (v. 26-27)
The command comes from God, and the execution is immediate. The same hand that parted the waters now brings them crashing down.
"Then Yahweh said to Moses, 'Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters may come back over the Egyptians, over their chariots and their horsemen.' So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal state at daybreak while the Egyptians were fleeing right into it; then Yahweh overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea." (Exodus 14:26-27)
Notice the structure of authority. It is Yahweh who speaks. He is the general, the king, the sovereign. Moses is His appointed instrument. The rod in Moses' hand is not a magic wand; it is a symbol of delegated authority. All the power resides in God. This is crucial. Israel is not saved by Moses' cleverness or by their own military might. They are saved by a divine act, executed through a human agent. This is the pattern of salvation. God saves, but He uses means. He uses preachers, He uses sacraments, He uses the church.
God's command is specific: "so that the waters may come back over the Egyptians." This is not an accident. This is purposeful, directed, targeted judgment. God has lured Pharaoh into this trap. He hardened Pharaoh's heart, drew him into the sea, and now He is going to drown him there. This is God's war, and He is fighting it on His own terms. This should be a profound comfort to the believer and a terrifying thought for the unbeliever. God is not a passive observer in history; He is the author, director, and final actor.
Moses obeys. He stretches out his hand, and the sea begins its return "at daybreak." The timing is significant. The long night of terror for Israel is ending, and the dawn of their new life as a redeemed people is breaking. But for the Egyptians, the dawn brings not light and hope, but watery destruction. The light that saves Israel reveals the judgment that is falling on Egypt. The Egyptians are "fleeing right into it." In their panic, with their chariot wheels clogged with mud, they turn to escape the way they came, only to find the other wall of water collapsing upon them. Their path of arrogant pursuit has become a watery tomb, and their flight is futile. They are running from one wall of death into another.
And then we have that potent phrase: "then Yahweh overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea." The Hebrew word for "overthrew" is the same word used for shaking a rider from a horse. God violently shakes off the Egyptians. He throws them down. This is not a gentle, passive event. This is the active, violent, and righteous wrath of God poured out on those who defied Him and oppressed His people. God is not a cosmic pacifist. He is a warrior, and here He is fighting for His people.
No Survivors (v. 28)
The text emphasizes the totality of the destruction. There is no ambiguity, no partial victory. The judgment is complete.
"And the waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen, even Pharaoh’s entire army that had gone into the sea after them; not even one of them remained." (Exodus 14:28 LSB)
The language is emphatic. The waters returned. The order of creation, temporarily suspended for the purpose of redemption, is now restored for the purpose of judgment. The very thing that served as a fortress for Israel becomes a grave for Egypt. The pride of Egypt, its military technology, the "chariots and the horsemen," are utterly useless against the God of the puddle. Their technology, their strength, their confidence, all of it is swallowed by the sea.
The text specifies "Pharaoh's entire army." There are no stragglers, no lucky few who make it back to shore to tell the tale. The conclusion is stark and absolute: "not even one of them remained." This is the nature of final judgment. There is no middle ground. There is no purgatory. There is no second chance. When God's judgment falls, it is total and it is final. The enemies of God are not wounded; they are annihilated. This is a terrifying doctrine, but it is a biblical one. And it serves to magnify the glory of the salvation that God provides. The completeness of the damnation highlights the completeness of the deliverance.
This is why the Israelites will sing on the other side. Their song is not just about their own safety; it is about the righteous judgment of God upon His enemies. "The horse and his rider He has thrown into the sea." This is not bloodlust. It is a celebration of justice. It is the recognition that God has vindicated His name and His people against a tyrannical and idolatrous foe.
The Great Distinction (v. 29)
The chapter concludes by drawing the sharpest possible contrast between the fate of Egypt and the state of Israel.
"But the sons of Israel walked on dry land through the midst of the sea, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left." (Exodus 14:29 LSB)
That first word, "But," is one of the most important words in the Bible. It is the hinge upon which salvation turns. "But God..." The Egyptians were overthrown, drowned, annihilated. "But the sons of Israel..." The same place, the same water, the same event, but two entirely different outcomes. What made the difference? Not their intrinsic goodness. Not their moral superiority. Not their swimming ability. The difference was God's covenant love. The difference was the blood of the lamb on their doorposts back in Egypt. The difference was grace.
They "walked on dry land." God did not just make a muddy path for them. He made it dry. This is a picture of a complete and perfect salvation. He takes us through the place of death and judgment, and He does it without us even getting our feet wet. The path is secure. The ground is solid. This is what it means to be in Christ. We have passed through judgment in Him, and we are safe on the other side.
And the instrument of judgment for Egypt was the instrument of protection for Israel. "The waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left." The very thing that would destroy their enemies was their fortress. This is a profound picture of the cross. The cross is the place of God's most fearsome judgment against sin. It is where the wrath of God was poured out. And for the unbeliever, the cross is a sign of condemnation. But for the believer, that same cross, that same act of judgment, is our wall, our fortress, our only safety. The wrath of God that should have fallen on us was absorbed by Christ, and now that very justice of God is what guarantees our salvation. God's justice is the wall that protects us, because it was fully satisfied at the cross.
Baptized Into Moses
As I said at the beginning, this event is a type, a prefigurement, of Christian baptism. The Apostle Paul makes this explicit in 1 Corinthians 10. He says that our fathers "were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea."
What does this mean? It means that just as Israel was corporately identified with their covenant head, Moses, and passed through the waters of judgment into a new life of covenant relationship with God, so too are we identified with our covenant head, Jesus Christ, and pass through the waters of baptism. Baptism is our Red Sea. It is the place where our old life, our slavery to sin, our "Egypt," is symbolically drowned and left behind. It is where we are formally and publicly united to Christ and brought into His new covenant community, the church.
For the Egyptians, the water was a grave. For the Israelites, it was a passage. For the unbeliever, baptism is just getting wet, a meaningless ritual that, if trusted in apart from faith, brings judgment. But for the believer, it is a sign and seal of God's promise. It is the place where God publicly declares that you belong to Him, that your sins are washed away, and that you have been brought safely through judgment into new life.
The great distinction we see here at the Red Sea is the same distinction that runs through all of history and will be made manifest on the last day. There are only two camps: those in Adam and those in Christ. Those who are with Egypt, and those who are with Israel. Those for whom the water is a crushing judgment, and those for whom it is a protecting wall. There is no third way. You either pass through the waters in Christ, safe and secure on the dry ground of His finished work, or you are overthrown by those same waters, crushed by the righteous judgment of God. The question this text places before every one of us is simple: who are you walking with? Are you with Pharaoh, or are you baptized into Christ?