December 28, 2025 - Be Still (Exodus 14:1-14)

Be Still (Exodus 14:1-14)

Rev. Myung-Sin Choi

1 Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 2 “Speak to the children of Israel, that they turn and camp before Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, opposite Baal Zephon; you shall camp before it by the sea. 3 For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, ‘They are bewildered by the land; the wilderness has closed them in.’ 4 Then I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, so that he will pursue them; and I will gain honor over Pharaoh and over all his army, that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord.” And they did so. 5 Now it was told the king of Egypt that the people had fled, and the heart of Pharaoh and his servants was turned against the people; and they said, “Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us?” 6 So he made ready his chariot and took his people with him. 7 Also, he took six hundred choice chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt with captains over every one of them. 8 And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued the children of Israel; and the children of Israel went out with boldness. 9 So the Egyptians pursued them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, his horsemen and his army, and overtook them camping by the sea beside Pi Hahiroth, before Baal Zephon. 10 And when Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel lifted their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them. So they were very afraid, and the children of Israel cried out to the Lord. 11 Then they said to Moses, “Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you so dealt with us, to bring us up out of Egypt? 12 Is this not the word that we told you in Egypt, saying, ‘Let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness.” 13 And Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever. 14 The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.”

Introduction

Today’s sermon is very important. As we have read the Bible, the Israelites crossed the Red Sea but it was not determined on how they crossed the Red Sea. Also, it has not been determined as well if they crossed through the mountains or what landscape to get to the land of Canaan. But there was a new discovery regarding the Israelites crossing the Red Sea. We will watch this video that shows this possible discovery. It was thought that the Israelites walked from Succoth to the Red Sea in a southern direction. But if you look at this map, there is a small distance between Rameses and Succoth, that is where they crossed the Red Sea. And the distance from Egypt and Rameses was not far but we saw in the scriptures that they travelled a long distance. This means that this does not add up that they travelled from Egypt to Rameses. This means that they went from Egypt to the Sinai Peninsula, and then crossed the Red Sea to get to Succoth instead of going through Rameses directly to Succoth. It is really important to know all of this in accurate description. If we hold onto this as we know from the Bible then we can provide accurate evidence. When we share the event of the Exodus from the Bible to other people, we can share this evidence with them. I am telling you this because God surely did split the Red Sea and allowed the Israelites to cross safely across the sea. As the Bible tells us, there is historical evidence regarding these events. Then, these historical events, what spiritual meanings do they hold? These are past events but they possess meanings to us now. From the word of God, we must hold onto it. 

1. God's Guidance

(1) God chose the Red Sea

Verses 1-4 - As we spoke about earlier, they didn’t go up North from Egypt to Rameses but they went south from Egypt to get to Succoth. The Israelites had to go through the wilderness to get to the land of Canaan. 

What was the reason for this? The reason is written in verse 3 - As we saw in the map, there was a huge piece of land of wilderness. This land of wilderness, it was vast enough for 2.5 million Israelites to survive in. Pharaoh thought that if the Israelites went through the land of wilderness so they could be surrounded by the Egyptians. But why did God allow the Israelites to go through the land of the wilderness to get to the land of Canaan? There is something important here. God bought all of the army to go through the wilderness so that they could see that God was the True Almighty God, the God of Israel. When the Israelites came out of Egypt, God didn’t just save them from Egypt but God’s greatest concern was to destroy Pharaoh and Egypt. God made it so that Egypt couldn’t take hold of Israel again. This has an important meaning. When we accept Jesus Christ, it doesn’t just end there. All of the powers of Satan that tormented us before salvation, God makes to break that power down. 

God fulfilled the promise of Genesis 3:15 when we accepted Jesus Christ. God promised us that He will crush the head of the serpent. When Jesus Christ died on the cross, He broke the powers of Satan. This shows when we accept Jesus Christ, this shows complete and perfect salvation. Our salvation that we receive once, we become saved eternally. 

(2) Pharaoh's stubbornness

God said that He will harden Pharaoh’s heart which makes Pharaoh pitiful and in an unfortunate situation. But this is not the situation at all. We can see that God continuously gave Pharaoh multiple chances and God gave him free will. 

Romans 1:24-28 “Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, 25 who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. 26 For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. 27 Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due. 28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting.” - People who are evil, God just let them be. God leaves them alone. Those who are evil, God does not force them to stop or intervene. God gave mankind free will. Free will is the power for mankind to make a choice. Free will was given to Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve had the choice to eat or not to eat the forbidden fruit. Adam and Eve were given the choice to sin before God or not to sin but they chose to sin against God. This ended up causing the separation from God. This caused mankind to fall into becoming slaves of Satan. This all happened because mankind was given free will. But mankind, we forget the fact that we have free will. All man, no one can stand righteously before God. 

Romans 3:10-12 “As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one; 11 There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. 12 They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.” - Those who don’t know God, they are not righteous. Even those who are corrupted and in sin, they have the power to make a choice. The free will that Adam and Eve had, nonbelievers also possess free will as well. Of course, this free will for nonbelievers is different from the free will that was given to Adam and Eve. The free will that nonbelievers possess, their free will is under control of Satan. Their free will that they possess, even though they look like they are making their own choices, all of their choices and life is within the control and surveillance of Satan. The free will that nonbelievers possess is corrupted and has no correlation with God whatsoever. In theology, they call this loss of tree freedom. The free will of nonbelievers leads to destruction. Every decision that nonbelievers make under free will leads them to destruction. How can we solve this? We must have recreation with God then we can come out of this. People who do and are addicted to drugs, we cannot tell them to just stop cold turkey or with their own will. We cannot do this or they cannot do this. People must have recreation and have a new life to be able to do this. This is why it is so important to educate our young children. Many parents think it is okay to let their children do whatever they want. But if we let children do whatever they want, then they will go in the wrong paths. That is why it is important to teach our children the right paths, what is wrong and what is right. We must help our children hold onto the word of God. 

2. God's Providence

(1) The people's fear and anxiety

Verses 10-12 - The Egyptian army came after the Israelites after the event of the Exodus. When the Israelites heard the Egyptian army coming after them, they became fearful. They forgot immediately that God was with them. They forgot completely how God killed the Egyptians during the passover. They completely forgot about God’s grace of the pillar of fire and cloud that was protecting them. But despite all of this, they completely forgot about what God had done for them. 

Verse 11 - Through the blood of the young lamb, they received God’s salvation. And, they also experienced the pillar of fire and clouds to protect them during the wilderness but the Israelites kept complaining. We can’t just see this as just the Israelites, we must use this to inspect our walk of faith. We face problems every single day but we keep asking God why God keeps giving you problems if God is truly alive. You keep complaining to God and resenting God. 

Verse 12 - When people of God fall into unbelief, they have no choice but to resent God. When people fall into free will without the guidance of faith, it will lead them to destruction. Adam and Eve failed in the end because they did not choose in faith. We who are children of God, we must make choices and decisions in faith. If we don’t then we will be led towards destruction.

Always hold onto John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’ ” - Always hold onto the word of God and be imprinted in the word to be victorious. If we hold onto God’s word, then the choices that we make will not lead us towards destruction. If we lose hold onto the word of God and make decisions then we will be led towards destruction. As we live our walk of faith, we must do something. 

We must examine a person who knows God’s providence. Let us look at Moses. God has an absolute plan for us and even before we were born, God had an absolute plan for us. God always leads us towards His absolute plan and for His glory. We are living our lives within God’s absolute plan. We are moving according to God’s time schedule. As time passes, we can see God’s providence. If we stay in God’s word then God will be glorified eventually. God’s plan will absolutely be fulfilled. Moses knew of this. In front of him, there was the Red Sea and the Egyptian army behind him but Moses was not afraid at all. This was because Moses knew that there was God’s plan. 

(2) God's healing

Verses 13-14 - Moses was telling the Israelites to stay still and watch God’s plan being fulfilled. Even though pharaoh was disobeying God’s word, God let Pharaoh be. God continued to watch even when the Israelites were complaining and resenting God. God was still and watched His plan unfold. God allowed Pharaoh to fall into unbelief and allowed the Israelites to continue complaining. The difference between this is whether we are in God’s covenant or not. Did they have the blood of the door post or not? That is the difference. Are you children of God? Is that an Amen? If you are a child of God, then there is nothing for you to worry about. You just need to stay still and see what God does for you. 

Verse 14 - Be still, God says. This means that God will be the one to take care of our problems. As we have to do is just believe and have faith. Then, God said that He will fight for us. This was what Moses said. Our problems, God said that He will solve them. Also, God said that He will be glorified in the process. Be victorious. Have faith. If we just have faith, then our life will be healed. Be victorious. What is faith? It is God’s absolute gift for us. Through faith, we can solve our past problems. 

3. Faith is a Gift From God

(1) Solving past problems 

Exodus 12:13 “Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.” - If God sees the blood of the young lamb in your life, God will pass His judgment over you. Every problem that came to Egypt, it didn’t occur or come to the Israelites at all. 

(2) Solving present problems

Verse 13 - Do you have a problem? See how God works in your life. You will never see that problem again. God will solve that problem completely, once and for all. Have faith and see how God solves that problem. God wants to solve all of your problems. Do you believe in this? The problems that you have, there is no need for you to worry. 

(3) Solving future problems

Verse 4 - God’s plan is to be glorified while in the process of destroying your enemies. Are there severe problems in your life and family? But through those problems, God will be glorified. God will show you that He is the Jehovah God. “And they did so…”, this means that they believed and had faith. When we have faith, then all problems will be solved. There are no problems. 

Conclusion

Verse 14 - This scripture is full of grace. God will fight for you. Truly believe in this. Just stay still. Believe and enter into prayer. Then, God will be tremendously glorified.