In Exodus, we see how God wanted to deliver His people from Egypt and bring them to the good land where they could serve Him and build up His habitation, His dwelling place. First, God called Moses and sent him to deliver His people from Egypt and, after displaying His mighty works and exposing the true nature of Egypt, God delivered the people of Israel from Egypt.
The people of Israel at the passover with the unleavened bread and the bitter herbs, having the blood of the lamb sprinkled on the doorposts and the lintel of the house, and God passed over them in His judgement over Egypt. That night all the male firstborn in Egypt died, and the next day the people of Israel had an exodus from Egypt; they marched out as God’s armies, and they plundered the Egyptians on their way out.
In His sovereignty, God led His people by the way of the Red Sea. Pharaoh, however, followed them with his armies, desiring to bring them back under his slavery. God spoke a word, the people of Israel had faith, and Moses did as commanded, and God parted the sea so that the people would cross on the other side on dry ground.
When the Egyptians tried to follow them, the waters came back upon them and they were swallowed up. Hallelujah, God fully saved His people from Pharaoh and Egypt through the passover, the exodus, and the crossing of the Red Sea!
In His complete salvation of His people, God first gives us Christ to be our Passover lamb; Christ was “roasted” by the fire of God’s judgement to be the edible Lamb of God who shed His perfect blood to cover us from God’s judgement.
As we Christ as eat the Lamb of God we are strengthened to have a clear exodus from the world, and we break away from the world to serve God in the wilderness. Satan, however, tries to follow us and bring us back under his usurpation, but when we hear God’s word, faith rises in us, we enter the waters of baptism, and Satan with his armies are buried there!
Hallelujah for God’s complete salvation with the Passover, the exodus from Egypt, and the crossing of the Red Sea, that is, eating Christ and applying His blood, breaking away from the world, and entering the waters of baptism so that we may serve God and build up the church as His dwelling place!
Being Released from Satan’s Usurpation through Baptism, a Declaration of our Faith
When the people of Israel crossed the Red Sea, they were fully saved from Egypt and absolutely released from under the usurpation and tyranny of Pharaoh! When they got on the other side of the Red Sea and the Egyptians were swallowed by the sea, the people of Israel sang for joy! Hallelujah, what a salvation!
The crossing of the Red Sea is a type of our baptism; when we are baptized we need to be full of faith in God’s salvation, having the realization that Satan and the world follow us in the water, and they are judged and buried in the waters of baptism (see Exo. 14:28; Rom. 6:3-2; John 12:31; Heb. 2:14).
Just as the people of Israel had to cross the Red Sea in order to be fully saved from Pharaoh and Egypt, so we as believers in Christ have to be baptized so that we may be full saved from Satan and the world with their usurpation (1 Cor. 10:1-2). The waters of the Red Sea were used by God to save His people and separate them from Pharaoh and Egypt (Exo. 14:30).
Furthermore, the children of Israel were not only saved from Pharaoh and Egypt, but they entered into the wilderness, a realm of resurrection and separation, where they were free from all bondage and slavery to fulfill God’s purpose by building the tabernacle as God’s dwelling place on earth (Exo. 15:22).
In a similar manner, we as New Testament believers are saved from Satan and the world through baptism so that we may enter into a realm of resurrection and separation in which we are free to accomplish God’s purpose by building up the church as the dwelling place of God (see Rom. 6:3-5; Acts 2:40-41; Eph. 2:21-22).
Satan and the power of the world are buried in the waters of baptism, and we get out as a new creation in resurrection to build up the church!
When we are baptized or when we baptize someone we need to have this realization in faith that God is saving us from the world and from Satan’s usurpation through the waters of baptism.
Daily we need to live in the reality of the baptism, having a “baptism living”, a living in the spirit to be one with the Lord and freed from Satan with his usurpation. We need to daily live in the Triune God, in Christ, and in the death of Christ so that we may be in union with the Lord for His purpose and build up the church as God’s testimony on the earth.
Every morning we need to enjoy the Lord as our Passover, apply His precious blood, have an exodus from the world, and live in the reality of the baptism: we are dead to the world and the world is dead to us, and we live to God for His purpose.
All this is by faith; baptism is not merely an outward sign but a declaration of our deep faith in the Lord’s salvation: He has saved us inwardly from God’s judgement, and He is saving us outwardly from Satan’s usurpation in the world!
Lord Jesus, we want to live a life in the reality of the baptism, being one with the Lord to live in spirit as dead to the world and living to God for His purpose. Hallelujah, the world is dead to us and we are dead to the world, but we are living to God for the building up of the church, God’s habitation! Praise the Lord, we are baptized into Christ, into the Triune God, and into the death of Christ. Lord, keep us one spirit with You to have a daily life in the reality of the baptism for the fulfillment of Your purpose!
God’s Complete Salvation includes the Passover, the Exodus, and the Baptism
The first stage of God’s complete salvation of His people Israel included the passover, the exodus from Egypt, and the crossing of the Red Sea.
First, the passover saved God’s people from God’s judgement; the people of Israel sprinkled the blood on the house and ate the passover lamb, and God’s judgement passed over them. In a similar way, we as believers in Christ need to apply the blood of Christ and eat Him as the Lamb of God, and God’s judgement passes over us.
Then, in order for the people of Israel to be absolutely saved from the tyranny of Pharaoh and the enslavement in Egypt, they had to make an exodus from Egypt and finally cross the Red Sea! After we as God’s spiritual people enjoy Christ’s redemption to be saved from God’s judgement, we need to leave the world and be baptized!
In Mark 16:16 the Lord says that he who believes and is baptized shall be saved. It is adequate to believe and be saved from God’s judgement, but we need to be baptized to be saved from Satan’s usurpation. Our belief into the Lord is personal and inward, and our baptism is outward as a testimony of the inward reality that we are NOT for this world but we are ONE with the Lord for His building, the church.
We need to live such a life day by day by enjoying the Lord as our passover, breaking away from the world, and living in the reality of our baptism one with the Lord, caring for the building up of the church.
We were all baptized in one Body in one Spirit, and we were all given to drink one Spirit (1 Cor. 12:13); we should drink the Spirit and be filled in spirit day by day.
May we never graduate from this ongoing process of God’s salvation so that the Lord would bring us fully into Himself as the good land to enjoy Him unceasingly in all His riches for the building up of the house of God, the Body of Christ, consummating in the New Jerusalem, the ultimate goal of God’s salvation.
Lord Jesus, keep us in the process of Your salvation daily by eating You as the passover lamb, breaking away from the world, and living in the reality of our baptism. Lord, we believe into You inwardly and we declare to the whole universe that we are NOT here for the world but for Christ and the church, the Body of Christ! Keep us in the process of Your salvation until we fully enter into Yourself as the good land to enjoy You unceasingly in all Your riches for the building up of the church to consummate the New Jerusalem!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Dick Taylor’s sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Exodus (pp. 334-339), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Exodus (1), week 6 / msg 6, The Exodus from Egypt and the Crossing of the Red Sea.
- Hymns on this topic:
# My choice is made forevermore, / I want no other Savior; / I ask no purer happiness / Than His sweet love and favor; / My heart is fixed on Jesus Christ, / No more the world shall blind me; / I’ve crossed the Red Sea of His death, / And left the world behind me. (Hymns #438)
# Lord, when by baptism we confess / Our oneness in Thy death, / Oh, by Thy mercy and Thy grace, / May Thou reveal its worth. / By baptism in Thy death we’re one / And buried too with Thee: / Thus we’re forever dead to sin / And from its bondage free. (Hymns #937)
# Born into Adam, we— / But transferred now to Christ; / Made one with Christ, as baptized ones, / Growing togeth’r with Him. / In likeness of His death, / That is, newness of life— / Ourselves be reckoned dead to sin, / But live to God, in Christ. (Song on Baptism)
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