Moses stretches out his staff and the waters return

Exodus 14:23-31;   7/19/2026; BCBC/IOUC; Rev. Paul Wang

Introduction

The Israelites had crossed the Red Sea. But what about the Egyptians?  What about Pharaoh?  Would they simply give up, return home, and move on with their lives? The answer is no. Every person has an appointed destiny.  As Scripture says, it is appointed for everyone to die once, and after that comes judgment.  Now let’s look at our first point.

A hardened heart pursues into the sea

Pharaoh’s hardened heart is one of the major themes throughout the book of Exodus.  It runs through the entire story and ultimately becomes a matter of life and death.  Even after the ten plagues, Pharaoh’s heart was still not at peace.  He refused to stop and reflect, and he missed his final opportunity to choose life.  First, a hardened heart leads to confusion.  There are many reasons why a person’s heart becomes hardened.  Two of the biggest are our values and our emotions.  Pharaoh was driven by greed.  He wanted to possess more and more.  To him, over two million Israelites were nothing more than a source of labor and wealth.  Why would he ever let them go?  In Pharaoh’s mind, “You Israelites have lived in Egypt and enjoyed the produce of Goshen. Shouldn’t you be grateful?  If we Egyptians had not taken you in four hundred and thirty years ago, the seventy people who came with Jacob would have died of famine.”  Then came the ten plagues. Instead of humbling Pharaoh and the Egyptians, they only stirred up more anger and frustration.  On top of that, the Lord placed the pillar of cloud between the Egyptians and the Israelites.  They couldn’t catch up, and they couldn’t see clearly.  All they could do was press on in growing desperation.

 

Second, a hardened heart leads to spiritual confusion.  In their confusion, the Egyptians followed the Israelites right into the sea.  At that moment, the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire were still there, and it was already the morning watch.  What did the Egyptians want most? Of course, they wanted to catch up with the Israelites, who had already reached the other side.  Wouldn’t you agree?  But they couldn’t.  God had prepared the dry ground on the seabed for His chosen people, but for the Egyptians, it became muddy and impassable.  It was easy to get in—but impossible to get out.  The Bible tells us that the Lord caused the wheels of their chariots to come off, making them difficult to drive.  Even without chariots or horses, they still had their feet.  Why didn’t they just run?  The truth is, they wanted to run.  By then they already knew that it was the Lord who was fighting against them.  But by that point, wasn’t it already too late?

 

Finally, a hardened heart cannot break free.  The result of a hardened heart is not merely a feeling.  It pulls a person into a downward spiral from which it is difficult to escape.  The scene is not hard to imagine.  It’s like someone sinking into a swamp. The harder you struggle, the deeper you sink.  But the Egyptians’ real problem was not how they struggled.  The problem was that they already knew, “The Lord is fighting for the Israelites against us,”  yet they still refused to repent. There was no remorse in their hearts.  I often wonder why.  The truth seemed so obvious. How could a man as intelligent as Pharaoh fail to see it?  The only explanation is pride—pride built up over generations.  The Egyptians had every reason to be proud. They took pride in their wealth, their achievements, and their identity as a great nation.  Pharaoh must have thought, “Based on all my past experience, what do I have to fear from a nation of Israelite slaves?”  Now let’s move on to our second point.

 

Moses stretched out his staff, and the waters returned

Moses stretching out his staff over the sea is the central focus of this chapter.  The first time, God commanded Moses, “Lift up your hand and stretch out your staff over the sea.” Moses heard and obeyed.  The second time was before the Israelites crossed the Red Sea.  Moses followed the Lord’s command and stretched out his staff over the sea. The waters were divided, the Israelites walked on dry ground through the sea, and they crossed over safely.  This is the third time: “Moses stretched out his staff over the sea, and when the morning appeared, the waters returned to their place.”  First, God determines the opening and closing of the Red Sea.  In order to save the Israelites, God made the Red Sea part so that His people could walk through on dry ground.  But after the Israelites had crossed over, the waters came back together.  The dividing of the waters was for salvation; the closing of the waters was for judgment.  Our journey of faith is the same.  The believer and the unbeliever cannot be unequally yoked together.  Faith and unbelief respond differently to God’s grace, just as the opening and closing of the sea revealed two different outcomes.  When storms, floods, or tsunamis come, where can you hide from the presence of the Lord?  When the Egyptians were trapped in the seabed, they were already struggling to move forward.  The Bible says: “Then the LORD said to Moses, ‘Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters may flow back over the Egyptians and their chariots and horsemen.'”

 

Second, the fate of the entire army is in God’s hands.  The night before, Moses was standing on the southern shore of the Red Sea.  “Moses stretched out his staff over the sea, and the LORD drove the sea back with a strong east wind all night long. The waters were divided, and the sea became dry ground.”  Two and a half million people, including families with children and possessions, were not able to move quickly.  Behind them were the pursuing Egyptian army, and their fear was unimaginable.  But God used the pillar of cloud to stand between the Egyptians and the Israelites, preventing the Egyptians from reaching them.  The Israelites continued forward until every one of them had crossed the Red Sea. By then, morning had come.  When the Egyptians looked and saw what had happened, they realized, “The Israelites crossed the Red Sea by walking on dry ground.”  “Come on! We can do it too! If they can cross, why can’t we? Why should the Israelites be able to pass through while we Egyptians cannot?”  But what was waiting for the Egyptians was this: Moses stretched out his staff over the sea once again.  This time, the entire Egyptian army was destroyed in the midst of the sea.

 

Finally, walk in the fear of the Lord and never turn back.  When the Bible describes the destruction of Pharaoh and the Egyptian army, it does so very briefly, as if there is not much more to explain.  But this scene left an unforgettable mark in the eyes and hearts of Moses and the Israelites.  The Israelites saw that Moses followed the command of the LORD and stretched out his staff over the sea once again.  Moses described the scene very clearly: “The waters returned and covered the chariots, the horsemen, and the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived.”  The Egyptian army was completely destroyed.  It was as if God was saying to the Israelites: “Do not take the Lord lightly.”  Do you think you can take chances with God’s holiness and righteousness?  Can we say one thing with our lips while our hearts say something completely different?  Do you think you can remain double-minded before God?  The journey to heaven is a one-way journey. Do you understand that?  Now let’s look at the third point.

 

Finally, fear the Lord and trust in Him

As this magnificent historical drama came to this point, the Israelites “feared the LORD and believed in Him and in His servant Moses.”  What about you? What is happening in your heart?  Are you also living with a heart that fears the Lord and trusts in Him?  First, at the crossroads of life and death, we look to God.  After crossing the Red Sea, the Israelites looked back and realized that they had truly been delivered from the hand of the Egyptians.  Could this really be true?  After four hundred and thirty years of slavery, how easy was it for them to break free from a slave mentality?  When Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, even after legal freedom was given, some former slaves in Tennessee still ran across the road and knelt down, allowing their former masters to step on their backs and mount their horses.  That is why God allowed the Israelites to “see the Egyptians dead on the seashore.”  The enemy who oppressed us yesterday—the devil and all who follow him, including our old self—has already been defeated and put to death.  Now it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.

 

Second, when we see great things, we must not delay.  Compared with Jesus Christ, what the Israelites saw back then—”the great work that the LORD did against the Egyptians”—was only a small thing.  Although the historical drama of the Exodus was already powerful enough to shake anyone who witnessed it, they saw not only salvation, but also death, judgment, and righteousness.  Today, people face the greatest event in all of history: Jesus Christ coming in the flesh, giving His life on the cross, and rising from the dead.  Yet many remain unmoved, unaware, and without a heart of gratitude toward God.  Even after God allowed the Israelites to “see the Egyptians dead on the seashore,”   they still continued to complain, continued in pride, continued in greed, continued in deceit, and continued in rebellion.  So we must ask: What is the value of seeing great things if our hearts are not changed?

 

Finally, walk the journey of faith through trust and obedience.  Praise the Lord! The Bible records a bright moment in the spiritual journey of the Israelites: “When Israel saw the great power that the LORD had displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD and believed in Him and in His servant Moses.”  For the Israelites to acknowledge the fear of the LORD was not difficult.  The difficult part was to believe in Him and also trust His servant Moses.  Why?  Because God is invisible. When you say you fear God, who can see it?  But once they entered the wilderness and had to wait for Moses to come down from Mount Sinai, their true condition was revealed.  While Moses was still on the mountain, the Israelites were already at the foot of the mountain worshiping the golden calf.  When the pastor, representing the church, exercises discipline, brings correction, or gives a rebuke according to God’s Word, are you willing to submit?  It is difficult, isn’t it?  Let us pray.

 

Conclusion

Praise the Lord!  Moses stretching out his staff, Pharaoh’s hardened heart, and the dividing and returning of the waters—all these were scenes of God’s mighty works.  The confusion of the Egyptians and the seeing of the Israelites reveal that each person has his own appointed destiny before God.  What about you?  In today’s waves of the end times, are you walking with God, or are you lost in the pursuit of worldly fame and success, or being swept into the dust and desires of this world?

 

Let us pray……

²³ The Egyptians pursued and went in after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen.

²⁴ And in the morning watch the Lord in the pillar of fire and of cloud looked down on the Egyptian forces and threw the Egyptian forces into a panic,

²⁵ clogging their chariot wheels so that they drove heavily. And the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from before Israel, for the Lord fights for them against the Egyptians.”

²⁶ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen.”

²⁷ So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal course when the morning appeared. And as the Egyptians fled into it, the Lord threw the Egyptians into the midst of the sea.

²⁸ The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen; of all the host of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea, not one of them remained.

²⁹ But the people of Israel walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.

³⁰ Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore.

³¹ Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.