Jan 27 - Redeemed By Him, For Him - Exod 13-15; Matt 19

In the last act of the drama, Pharaoh repeatedly went back on his promise to release the people. When they had actually begun their march, he changed his mind again and sent his chariots storming after them. The war chariots of ancient Egypt were the great mobile striking force of their day, feared by the armies of the ancient world. They saw the escaping slaves without arms and burdened with children, cattle and cartloads of household goods. Escape was impossible, for the Egyptians army hemmed them in against the shores of the Red Sea.

The people again attacked Moses bitterly, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? Is not this what we said to you in Egypt: ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” (Ex 14:11-12)

And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. 14 The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.” (14:13-14)

God Himself drove by the Egyptians and held them at bay for the night in the pillar of fire. And we know the great redemption of the Red Sea, "I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously;
    "the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my song,
    and he has become my salvation;" (15:1-2)

The theme of salvation is of the Lord is the great theme of the bible being repeated in the psalms and in Isaiah to describe the future salvation of the people of God (Isa 12:2). Nowhere is more portrayed graphically than in God's great act in rescuing Israel from Egypt.

We should bear in mind that God's purpose however was not simply to deliver Israel from Pharoah's yoke. It was to bring them under His yoke. God demanded that Pharaoh let the people go that they might serve Him. That they might be gathered at His feet, that He might claim them as His holy people, the treasure of His grace. The same for us.

Refences:
Edmund Clowney, The Unfolding Mystery