Because God had made a covenant with Abraham, He would not forget His people, even in their darkest hour. He was behind the scenes preparing a man, Moses, who with his brother Aaron, was going to be the long-awaited deliverer.
God judged Pharaoh in a series of devastating plagues culminating in the death of the firstborn in every family. During this time the people of God were waiting safely inside. They had applied the blood of a lamb to each of their homes, so that the angel of death passed over them. They had marked the occasion by taking a special meal all dressed and ready to move. This was the “Passover”. It was a reminder that the people were delivered by the blood of the lamb. These events are all described in Exodus chapters 12-15.
They left quickly, taking with them the spoils of Egypt. Pharaoh pursued them in haste. The children of Israel were trapped in the desert with the Red Sea ahead of them and the Egyptian army behind them.
God spoke to Moses and told him to advance stretching out his rod in front of him. Remarkably the cloud that had been over them came behind them blotting out the view of the following army. At that moment there was a strong wind and the sea divided making a path right through it. All the children of God safely passed over, may be 1-2 million of them. Then Moses raised his rod again and the sea returned to its normal state with walls of water on each side cascading down drowning the chasing army out of sight. The New Testament tells us that this was God baptising the people in the cloud and in the sea and into Moses.
“For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, all passed though the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea… 1 Corinthians 10:1,2” ESV.
This is an amazing illustration of the great act of God in the Exodus – the coming out – of Egypt. They had been saved by the blood of the lamb and had seen all their enemies destroyed in the sea. This was a true baptism into Moses, a picture here of course of Christ; freed from our enemies by the blood that saves and by baptism into our Head, our Deliverer.
Are we still thinking about the Gospel of God?
What do we learn from these historical accounts?
Are we still thinking about the problem of sin?