This Sunday, we start a study of the book of Exodus. It’s the thrilling story of how God rescued the Israelites from slavery in Egypt and took them miraculously across the Red Sea toward the Promised Land. This is a story God really wants us to understand. Almost 30 times in the Bible, he says, “Hey, you remember how I brought my children out of Egypt and across the Red Sea? Yeah, that’s what I want to do for you!”
And over the years, many people have resonated with that. The composer Handel wrote an oratorio about crossing the Red Sea. Carlton Heston made a movie about it. Stephen Spielberg made a cartoon about it. Bob Marley sang about it: “Send us another brother Moses! From across the Red Sea . . . wipe away transgression, set the captives free.”
It’s a story we’re all drawn to, because all of us have a sea to cross. Some of us have bad habits we want to get rid of. Others have emotions and attitudes we want to overcome. Some of us have pain from the past that we want to put behind us. Or we have challenges and trials we’re going through right now that we want to get through and get done with. Some of us have bland, boring, predictable lives, and we want to find something more exciting to live for.
Or many of us don’t know exactly what we want. We just know we want something different than what life is like right now. We know there’s a sea to cross, we’re just not sure what it is.
Before we tackle any of those seas, though, it’s important to understand that Jesus already crossed the Great Sea in our place. Because the biggest sea for us to cross is the one standing between us and God. It’s a vast distance between his glory and our fallenness. His holiness and our sinfulness.
When Jesus was about to be crucified, he said he was getting ready to lead an exodus. And that’s exactly he did. He died on the cross to take the punishment we deserve from God for our sin, and he rose from the dead three days later to prove that it was accomplished. He took us across the Red Sea with him, so he could give us a new life, a new heart, and a new purpose.
Out of the redemption he brought us by crossing that Great Sea, he now gives us the power to cross many more little seas along the way.
What kind of sea is God calling you to cross? Join us this Sunday to find out.