Why God Led Israel the Long Way: The Red Sea & The Pillar of Fire

Hello and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick. An Oklahoma rancher and farmer, Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. And again, good afternoon. It's good to have everybody with us, and we want you to turn to Exodus chapter 12. Once again, we'll pick up where we left off. For those of you on television, we want you to just be part and parcel. I know there are a lot of people constantly writing to us that they have just now begun to watch our program. And so, for those of you who have missed everything from Genesis 1 all the way up until the present time, all these programs are on VCR tapes. We've put 12 programs on a tape, and we now have seven of them complete. And if you're interested in it, and the tapes are creating a lot of interest, you write to us, you call us, and we'll be glad to get them in your hands. Now, for those of you, again, in the studio audience, and for those of you who are studying with us out on television, turn with me to Exodus chapter 12. And remember when we closed in our last program, we were explaining how that the blood was to be applied to the doorposts, and then as they were preparing to leave, they were to ask the Egyptians for whatever they would give them for their journey. And of course, God had this all set up sovereignly, because you want to remember, they have been slaves now for many, many years, and God's going to see to it they get their wages, back wages, and He's going to cause the Egyptians to just literally give everything they've got to these parting Israelites with good wishes, get out from our midst, you're nothing but a bunch of trouble, and so they spoil Egypt. But before that happens, I'd like to take you now into chapter 12, verse 22, and again, it's an important verse, I think, because here are the explicit instructions of how to apply the blood. They weren't just supposed to do it any old which way, but it had to be done in a particular way. And verse 22 of Exodus 12 says that they were to take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two sideposts with the blood that is in the basin, and none of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning. Now, hyssop, of course, was a little bush or a little weed that grew everywhere in Goshen. I always like to liken it to the ragweed here in our part of the world. I mean, every place you look, there's ragweed unless they have been rooted out. And they were to take this little weed and, of course, dip it into the basin of the lamb's blood and then apply the blood to those three places on the doors and on the lintel. Now, I like to liken the hyssop here to the work of the Holy Spirit. Now, I may be wrong, but I think we've got a good application that as hyssop was everywhere, not a single Israelite could say, well, now, I didn't have a chance to find a little bush of hyssop. I couldn't do it that way. Neither can anyone ever say, well, the Holy Spirit never worked in my life. The Holy Spirit is omnipresent. He works on every human being, and I am firmly convinced that every person that has ever lived, the Holy Spirit has given them opportunity to accept or reject God's salvation. And so hyssop was common. No Israelite could ever say, I didn't have a chance. Now, I know when I say some things, somebody is bound to say, well, where do you get that? So keep your hand in Exodus, we'll be right back. Go with me to the book of Titus. Way back in your New Testament, Titus chapter 2, because I always like to have folk understand that when I make a statement, I hopefully can back it up with Scripture. If I can't, then it's just so much hot air, and it means nothing. But here in Titus chapter 2, drop down to verse 11. Now, Titus is back with all the Ts. They're all bunched together, the Thessalonians and the Timothys and Titus. Chapter 2, verse 11, where Paul writes to Titus for the grace of God, the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath, past tense, it's already been done, hath appeared unto how many? All. All men. Now, the Scripture doesn't lie. The Scripture does not lie. The grace of God, through the working of the Holy Spirit, has appeared unto, I think, every human being in one way or another. Now Romans, of course, chapter 1 tells us that one way God does speak, even to pagans and those who have never heard the literal Word of God, is through the effect of nature. They should be able to look into the very starry expanse and realize that there's a Creator to deal with. That's what the Scripture says. But the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men. And all of Scripture is constantly referring to that fact that even though all have sinned, and we're going to be looking at that more in depth in not this program, maybe the next one, that even though all have sinned, the way back to God has been made available for every human being. In fact, go back with me now to the New Testament, stop at John's Gospel, thought just comes to mind, of John's Gospel, chapter 10, the great new shepherd chapter, the good shepherd chapter, John's Gospel, chapter 10, where Jesus is speaking, of course, during His earthly ministry, and He makes such a perfect application of what I'm just speaking that no one has been shut out from God's great plan of salvation. And He uses it here in the area of a sheepfold and the sheep. Verse 1, Jesus speaking, says, Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. In other words, He's saying you can't just pick and choose. There's only one way. Now read on. Verse 2, But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter, or the doorkeeper, openeth, and the sheep hear his voice. He calleth his own sheep by name, and he leadeth them out. Then drop down to verse 5, just for sake of time, and a stranger they will not follow, but will flee from him, for they know not the voice of strangers. And then verse down, or come down to verse 9, where Jesus says, I am the door. By me, if any man enter in, he shall be what? Saved, see? He's the door. Now over the last 20 years of teaching, I've asked this question over and over. Where is the door to the sheepfold? Now even though you've never been to the Middle East, and maybe not even an area of the world where you have any knowledge of sheep, but I think anybody can pretty well picture, if you've got a place of safety for the sheep at night, which they called the fold, where was the door to the sheepfold? On ground level. It wasn't 100 feet up in the air, it wasn't down in some cave, it wasn't across some raging river. The door to the sheepfold was ground level. Now what's the analogy? So is our salvation. Salvation is always right at ground level. We don't have to climb a high mountain, we don't have to pay a million dollars, we don't have to shape up, and any of these things that so many people have associated with God's salvation, it's at ground level. And the Holy Spirit has been doing His work, is doing His work, in order to bring us to the place that we walk through that door by faith. All right, now then, come back quickly with me then to Exodus chapter 12 again. And so after they have applied the blood, of course, the death angel passed through Egypt, and all the firstborn of beast and man are now lying dead, even in the house of Pharaoh himself. And so there is great weeping and wailing. And now if you'll come down to verse 35, after this last plague now, the stage is set, and the people, the children of Israel, verse 35, did according to the word of Moses. They asked of the Egyptians. Now the King James, I know, uses the word borrowed, and it's unfortunate, because when you borrow something, what do you expect it to do? Give it back. And God never intended that. So it's a mistranslation, I think, in our King James. It should be they were to ask, they were merely to ask the Egyptians, do you have anything with which to send us on our journey? And they asked of the Egyptians jewels of silver and jewels of gold and raiment, and the Lord—now see, God was instrumental here—the Lord gave the people, that is of Israel, favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they—and again the word should be they gave unto them such things as they required, and by doing it they—what?—they spoiled Egypt. Now, don't lose sight of the fact that by the time we get to Exodus chapter 25, God is going to give instructions to Moses and Aaron to now build what? The tabernacle. And where are they going to get all the gold and the silver and the precious stones to build that tabernacle? Well, from the Israelites, who have received it from the Egyptians. So you see, God isn't just spoiling Egypt to pad the pocket of the Israelis. He is looking for something that He's going to use Himself in the building of the tabernacle. So now keep all that in mind until we get there. All right, now then in chapter 12, continue on in verse 37, And the children of Israel journeyed from Ramesses—that's up there in the delta area of Egypt, up there in Goshen—and they journeyed from Ramesses to Succoth, six hundred thousand on foot that were men, besides the children and the women, of course. And then on top of all that, unfortunately—you remember I—in our last taping, I used the figure that I was sure there were from three to seven million in this Exodus. Boy, you know, the Lord always gives me comfort. Shortly after that, I was reading an article in the Jerusalem Post, and the rabbi used almost the identical figures, only I think he used three to five. And then the other day, some good lady sent me a National Geographic, clear back from 1976, that was dealing with Moses and Exodus, and the same figure was in there. I think it was two and a half million, all based on this six hundred thousand of foot men. But not only were there six hundred thousand young Jewish men, but in the very next verse, verse 38, what also went out with them? A mixed multitude. Now, I'll bet most of you have often wondered, well, who are mixed multitudes? Well, they were the hangers-on, probably a lot of Egyptians and maybe foreigners who had been laboring in Egypt as well as the Jews, but whatever they were, they were not Jews themselves. The mixed multitude were hangers-on who saw a good thing, perhaps, and they decided to go along with them. They are not so much in the spiritual realm, but as—what shall I say? I think they become something that is just like a parasite. And as you get out into the wilderness experience and they begin to murmur, you know who the first ones are to always start murmuring? This mixed multitude. And so, I was telling someone sometime who was decrying that so many of the churches today have got problems, and so many are splitting, and so many are having one problem or sort. And I couldn't help it. I said, well, I said, you know, that really all goes back to the mixed multitude of Exodus. And they said, mixed multitude, what are you talking about? Well, I said, the mixed multitude were not true Israelis. And I said, I think most of our problems in our churches today, the murmurers and the complainers are usually—not always, but are usually—the unsaved element in the church. They have no real spiritual concern. They have no real spiritual knowledge. But you see, they can pick and they can destroy simply because the very good of the local body is not so much in their heart as maybe a little finer furniture, a little more beautiful music, a bigger organ. And you know, it's amazing how many churches have been literally broken over these secular things that really don't count that much. I remember years ago, a lady from a different denomination than ours was complaining to my wife at work one day that they were having church problems and they were about to split. And you know what it was over? The color of the upholstery of their pews. They couldn't decide whether they wanted gold or blue or whatever the case may be. But you see, that's mixed multitude working, the murmurers and the complainers. All right, now then, verse 39, they had baked unleavened cakes of dough. Now I think most of you are aware that leaven in Scripture always speaks of what? Evil, sin. But I like to use the word evil. Leaven always denotes sin. And you know, leaven is yeast. I think you all know that. And whenever you put yeast in bread dough, it is going to affect the whole lump. And of course, that's the teaching of Scripture, that whenever leaven comes in, evil, unless it is rooted out, it's going to sooner or later affect the whole. So now, leaven here, speaking of evil, was to be left out of their bread dough as they make this exodus out of Egypt. They were to take unleavened bread, because the picture in type, of course, is that they are to be now a separated people, separated unto God, no longer wrapped up in the paganism of their Egyptian masters. All right, now then, verse 40 and 41, we alluded to this a couple weeks ago, that the sojourning of the children of Israel who dwelled in Egypt was 430 years. Now, remember that 430 years, as we taught it way back several weeks ago, was from the time that Abram, and his name was still Abram, had left Haran. After having come up the Euphrates Valley, maybe I better get my map up here again, and as he came down then into the land of Canaan and sojourned up and down the land, from that point until Jacob goes over to Egypt from Beersheba, from that period of time until Jacob goes, is 215 years. And from the time that Jacob comes over here to Goshen, with Joseph, Jacob comes in, with Joseph over here in Goshen, is the next 215 years. And again, after the last taping, I read the Jerusalem Post, and one of the rabbis' articles used again the same year's number, 215 years, from the time that Jacob came in until—now look at the next verse, verse 41—and it came to pass at the end of the 430 years. In other words, from the time that Abram came down into Canaan with a promise that this would one day be his, or at least for his posterity, until Jacob is told to go on into Egypt, is 215. From Jacob's coming into Egypt until the Exodus is another 215. Within a matter of six months? No. Look what verse 41 says. Even the—what?—self, same day. Now, all I'm saying this for you so you understand that the Word of God is so true, it is so accurate, God is in such complete control of time and events, that He doesn't miss 430 years by 24 hours. But the exact day of the 430 years ending, Israel moves out of Egypt. All right, now then I want to come on as quickly as we can all the way over to chapter 13, where God now institutes the setting aside of the firstborn, and that was always indicative, of course, of a family relationship throughout the tribes of Israel. And after He establishes that, verse 18—well, let's look at verse 17. It came to pass when Pharaoh had let the people go—that is, after the night of the Passover—that God led them not through the way of the Philistines, which, of course, would be up here in the short route. Here were the Philistines, right about in here. And so God didn't let them take that route, and that's why I know they didn't cross the Red Sea up here at the high point. But they come out of Goshen, and now I guess I'm getting too low to get the picture. But let's put the Sinai Peninsula out here somewhere, and the Red Sea comes up on both sides, and now over here is the Mediterranean coast, and here's Goshen. Now, they come down the shore of the Red Sea and somewhere along at the very deeper part of this body of water—now over here will be Mount Sinai, remember, approximately, we know for sure—but somewhere in this area of the Red Sea, they're going to be locked in with mountains over here. There are going to be populated areas along the Nile here, and coming in from the rear will be Pharaoh's army, his chariots. Now, I want you to get that pictured in your mind. The Red Sea is in front of them, forbidding mountains to the right, population to the left, and the armies are coming in behind. Verse 20. Well, now let's see, I skipped a couple of verses. Verse 18, but God led the people about through the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea. Now, the top end of this body of water where it's 18 inches deep, the reeds, that is not wilderness. That's populated. The wilderness doesn't approach until you get further down along the Red Sea, and so I'm convinced they had to have crossed down here at the deeper portion, and of course it wouldn't be much of a miracle to go through 18 inches of water, would it? But He led them out through the wilderness of the Red Sea, and the children of Israel went up harnessed. Now, what do you suppose that word's in there for? Harnessed. Well, stop and think. For three to seven million people to move completely out of one area of the nation, and to be encamped clear down here on the Red Sea, and ready to go through as the waters part, do you think that was a common experience? For years this has bothered me. How in the world did that many people move that far in such a short period of time? Have you ever thought about it that way? And how did they get through that Red Sea in such a short period of time? That many, plus all their livestock. Len, you know how slow herds of cattle and sheep move. Well, the only conclusion I've come to, and of course I can't prove it from Scripture except there are some verses that indicate it, and maybe I can take you over and let you look at it right now. It would be in Exodus chapter 19. Exodus 19, verse 4. Because I want to impress upon anybody I teach that the God of Israel is a God who is constantly performing the miraculous. Now, not the miraculous as we think of miracles today, but I mean real miraculous events. This had to be one. This had to be a miraculous thing, and look what he says in verse 4. You have seen what I did unto the Egyptians. In other words, drowned them in the Red Sea. And how I bear you, that is the Israelites, on eagles' wings and brought you unto myself. Now, we know they didn't fly. They didn't sprout wings and fly. They walked. But I have to think that somehow or other how I wouldn't have the foggiest idea, but somehow God moved that whole group of people somehow speedily without their even realizing it. It was just a miraculous move. And again, I think during the Tribulation, the 144,000 are going to experience that same kind of travel. They're going to be able to go from place to place with utmost speed and not even realize they're doing it. And I have to think that something transpired here that hastened their move out of Egypt. All right, now if you'll come back again to where we just left off. In chapter 12, they were to eat the Passover. Everyone must have been circumcised, whether they were Jews or whether they were servants or whatever. And they, of course, were obedient to all that. And then in chapter 13, that's where we were, I guess, before we came in here, is that the firstborn of Israel are set apart. And now then verse 20 of chapter 13. No, I skipped verse 19. I'm sorry. God'll take that one. And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for he had straightly sworn the children of God, God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones away hence with you. Now, all of this should tell us something. And again, so many of the writers and the historians comment on this. They always leave the miraculous and the supernatural out of it, don't they? And they wonder how all of this came to be. But listen, some of these people, not all, but some of these people had known by faith that these things would happen to God's covenant people. Joseph knew that the time was coming when God would take him back up to Palestine. We know that Moses' parents, when they saw that he was a proper child, they knew by faith that God was still in their midst. And so even now, as Moses and Aaron are preparing to move the children of Israel out of Egypt, where do they know they're going? Palestine, see? And so they take the bones of Joseph with them. Now, in our closing moments, they took their—verse 20—they took their journey from Succoth and encamped in Etham on the edge of the wilderness. And the Lord—verse 21—went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud to lead them the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light day and night. Now again, this same article I read by this historian was making the conjecture that there was probably a volcano at the time, and that the dust provided that cloud during the day, and the volcanic fire was the fire by night. Ridiculous! This was a supernatural cloud, which was the very presence of Jehovah, a cloud by day that gave them shade from that Mideast sun, and then it became a pillar of fire by night, which gave them light to carry on their activities. And so it was a supernatural cloud. But the Scripture makes it so plain, who was that cloud? It was Christ, it was Jehovah, it was God the Son in His Old Testament personality. And don't ever take anything away from that, because later on in the book when the tabernacle is completed, what happens to the cloud? Well, it sets right over the Holy of Holies, and it becomes the guiding light of Israel. Whenever it's time for them to move and camp someplace else, what happens? The cloud lifts up and moves. When it stops, they were to set the tabernacle so that the Holy of Holies was under the cloud. The cloud was not an accident. It was the absolute presence of God. And you know, this is what amazes me. How could those Jews, seeing that cloud every day and that fire as they went to bed at night, how could they still be so disobedient and still so prone to sin as they were? Well, again, let's bring it up into our own present time. Are we any different? We're no different. We've got just as much evidence of the power of God. We've got just as much evidence of His holiness, just as much evidence of His hatred for sin. But does it scare us? Not really, not really. So we have become just about as blasé about a lot of these things as the Israelites were in spite of everything that God was doing in their very midst. And never lose sight of that. These things you believe literally, and you'll never get in trouble. Don't try to explain them away. Don't try to rationalize them. You just read it and you say, this is the way it was. And because after all, what does God say? Without faith, it is impossible to what? Please end. Thank you and be sure to tune in next time.