Announcements
1. Don’t forget that we are starting our Advent Bible study today at noon in the green room.
2. Men’s breakfast will be Saturday at 8:00am in the fellowship hall. Come and bring a friend.
3. We need all the churches children and youth to meet in the sanctuary Sunday at 9:30am for Christmas play practice.
Scripture for Sunday
Exodus 15:1-21 (ESV)
[1] Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the Lord, saying, "I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.
[2] The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father's God, and I will exalt him.
[3] The Lord is a man of war; the Lord is his name.
[4] "Pharaoh's chariots and his host he cast into the sea, and his chosen officers were sunk in the Red Sea.
[5] The floods covered them; they went down into the depths like a stone.
[6] Your right hand, O LORD, glorious in power, your right hand, O LORD, shatters the enemy.
[7] In the greatness of your majesty you overthrow your adversaries; you send out your fury; it consumes them like stubble.
[8] At the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up; the floods stood up in a heap; the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea.
[9] The enemy said, 'I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil, my desire shall have its fill of them. I will draw my sword; my hand shall destroy them.'
[10] You blew with your wind; the sea covered them; they sank like lead in the mighty waters.
[11] "Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?
[12] You stretched out your right hand; the earth swallowed them.
[13] "You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed; you have guided them by your strength to your holy abode.
[14] The peoples have heard; they tremble; pangs have seized the inhabitants of Philistia.
[15] Now are the chiefs of Edom dismayed; trembling seizes the leaders of Moab; all the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away.
[16] Terror and dread fall upon them; because of the greatness of your arm, they are still as a stone, till your people, O Lord, pass by, till the people pass by whom you have purchased.
[17] You will bring them in and plant them on your own mountain, the place, O Lord, which you have made for your abode, the sanctuary, O Lord, which your hands have established.
[18] The Lord will reign forever and ever."
[19] For when the horses of Pharaoh with his chariots and his horsemen went into the sea, the Lord brought back the waters of the sea upon them, but the people of Israel walked on dry ground in the midst of the sea. [20] Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women went out after her with tambourines and dancing.
[21] And Miriam sang to them: "Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea."
For Reflection
Exodus 15 is the first full song recorded on the pages of Scripture and became one of the songs of God's people for many generations. David quotes parts of it in the Psalms, and Isaiah includes portions of it too.
Exodus 15 was a "congregational song." Verse 1 says that Moses and the Israelites sang it so we should immediately see a huge congregation for we're told that Israel numbered 600,000 men plus women and children! (See Exodus 12:37.) Verses 20-21 tell us that Moses' sister Miriam and "all the women" joined in with tambourines and dancing. This presence of women with tambourines and dancing points to a jubilant celebration.
Two themes occur in this song. The first theme is glory to God for his mighty work (see verses 1-12). The second theme is hope as they look forward in anticipation to God's future acts (see verses 13-18). Our remembrance of God's past acts stirs our expectation of his future acts. Remembering becomes eschatological!
The same is true of our songs in Advent: God's past actions give us hope for his future actions. What we experience stirs us to expect! God's acts of deliverance in the Old Testament are preparation for anticipating his mightiest acts through the incarnation, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Exodus is a picture of salvation. And standing on the other bank is a picture of finally experiencing the full redemption that will appear at Christ's return.
es•cha•tol•o•gy
n.
1. The branch of theology that is concerned with the end of the world or of humankind.
2. A belief or a doctrine concerning the ultimate or final things, such as death, the destiny of humanity, the Second Coming, or the Last Judgment.
Questions
1. How has God performed amazing “Red Sea” miracles in your life?
2. Why do we do our best singing on the "other bank" when we see and remember how we have been delivered?
3. Why do we find it so easy to slip from stirring praise to grumbling again?
4. When we are grumbling how can we remind ourselves of God's faithfulness and his future, ultimate deliverance?
