The Spurgeon Series 1857 & 1858. Charles H. Spurgeon

I. First, it is our business to regard THE POSITION OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL AS EMBLEMATIC OF OUR OWN. And here we observe, that like the church of God the vast host of Israel had been delivered from bondage. We, my brethren, who constitute a part of the Israel of God, were once the slaves of sin and Satan; we served with hard bondage and rigour while in our natural state; no bondage was ever more terrible than ours; we indeed made bricks without straw, and laboured in the very fire; but by the strong hand of God we have been delivered. We have come forth from the prison house; with joy we behold ourselves emancipated — the Lord’s free men. The iron yoke is taken from our necks; we no longer serve our lusts, and pay obedience to the tyrant’s sin. With a high hand and an outstretched arm, our God has led us forth from the place of our captivity, and joyfully we pursue our way through the wilderness.

      4. But with the children of Israel it was not all joy; they were free, but their master was at their heels. Pharaoh was loathe to lose so valuable a nation of servants; and therefore with his chosen captains, his horsemen, and his chariots, he pursued them in angry haste. Frightened Israel beheld her infuriated oppressor close at her rear, and trembled for the issue — the hearts of the people failed them while they saw their hopes blighted and their joys ended by the approach of the oppressor; even so it is with some of you; you think you must be driven back again like dumb cattle, into Egypt, and once more become what you were. “Surely,” you say, “I cannot hold on my way with such a host seeking to drive me back; I must again become the slave of my iniquities.” And thus dreading apostasy, and feeling that you would rather die than become what you were; you this morning are filled with trepidation. You are saying, “Alas! for me! Better that I had died in Egypt than that I should have come out into this wilderness to be captured again.” You have tasted for a moment the joys of holiness and the sweets of liberty; and now again to go back to endure the bondage of a spiritual Egypt, would be worse than before. This is the position of the sacramental host of God’s elect; they have come out of Egypt, and they are pursuing their way to Canaan. But the world is against them; the kings of the earth stand up, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his people, saying, “Let us scatter them; let us utterly destroy them.” From the fiery days of the stakes of Smithfield {a} even until now, the world’s black heart has hated the church, and the world’s cruel hand and laughing lip have been for ever against us. The host of the mighty are pursuing us, and are thirsty for our blood, and anxious to cut us off from the earth. Such is our position to this hour, and such must it be until we are landed on the other side of Jordan, and until our Maker comes to reign on the earth.

      5. But once more: the children of Israel were in a position more terrible than this. They came to the edge of the Red Sea; they feared their enemies behind; they could not flee on either hand, for they were flanked by mountains and stupendous rocks; one course only was open to them, and that course was through the sea. God commands them to go forward. The rod of Moses is outstretched, and the frightened waters divide; a channel is left while the floods stand upright, and the waters are congealed in the heart of the sea. The priests, bearing the ark, march forward; the whole host of Israel follow. And now behold the wondrous pilgrimage. A wall of alabaster is on either side, and myriads are in the pebbly depths. Like a wall of glass the sea stands on either side of them, frowning with overhanging cliffs of foam; but still on they march; and until the last of God’s Israel is safe the water stands still and firm, frozen by the lips of God. Such, my hearers, is the position of God’s church now. You and I are marching through a sea, the floods of which are kept upright only by the sovereign power of God. This world is a world which is suddenly to be destroyed; and our position in it is just the position of the children of Israel, for whose sake the floods refused to meet until they were safely landed. Oh church of God! you are the salt of the earth: when you are removed this earth must putrify and decay. Oh living army of the living God! you, like Israel, keep the floods of providence still standing fast; but when the last of you shall be gone from this stage of action, God’s fiery wrath and tremendous anger shall dash down upon the ground in which you now are standing, and your enemies shall be overwhelmed in the place through which you now walk safely. Let me put my thoughts as plainly as I can. Naturally, according to the common order, the Red Sea should have flowed on in a level and even manner, constant in its waves and unbroken in its surface. By the might of God the Red Sea was divided into two parts, and the floods stood back. Now notice. Naturally, according to the common course of justice, this world, which groans and travails until now, ought, if we only consider the wicked, to be utterly destroyed. The only reason why the Red Sea afforded a safe passage for the host was this — that Israel marched through it; and the only reason why this world stands, and the only reason why it is not destroyed by fire, as it is to be at the last great day, is because God’s Israel are in it; but when once they shall have passed through, the parted floods shall meet their hands, and embrace with eager joy to clasp the adverse host within their hands. The day is coming when this world shall reel to and fro and stagger like a drunken man. Every Christian may say, with due reverence to God, “The earth is dissolved; I bear up its pillars.” Let all the Christians that are in this world die, and the pillars of the earth would fall, and like a wreck and a vision all this universe of ours would pass away, never to be seen again. We are today, I say, passing through the floods, with enemies behind, pursuing us who are going out of Egypt up to Canaan.

      6. II. And now the TRIUMPH OF MOSES was a picture of the ultimate triumph of the Lamb. Moses sang a song to the Lord by the sea of Egypt. If you will turn to Holy Scripture you will find that my text was sung by the holy spirits who had been preserved from sin and from the contamination of the beast; and it is said that they sung this song upon “a sea of glass mingled with fire.” Now the song of Moses was sung by the side of a sea, which was glassy, and still; for a little season the floods had been disturbed, divided, separated, congealed, but in a few moments afterwards when Israel had safely passed the flood, they became as glassy as ever, for the enemy had sunken to the bottom like a stone, and the sea returned to its strength when the morning appeared. Is there ever a time, then, when this great sea of Providence, which now stands parted to give a passage to God’s saints shall become a level surface? Is there a day when the now divided dispensations of God, which are kept from following out their legitimate tendency to do justice upon sin — when the two seas of justice shall commingle, and the one sea of God’s providence shall be “a sea of glass mingled with fire?” Yes, the day is drawing near when God’s enemies shall no longer make it necessary for God’s providence to be apparently disturbed to save his people, when the great designs of God shall be accomplished, and therefore when the walls of water shall roll together, while in their innermost depths the everlasting burning fire shall still consume the wicked. Oh! the sea shall be calm upon the surface; the sea upon which God’s people shall walk shall seem to be a sea that is clear, without a weed, without an impurity; while down in its hollow bosom, far beyond all mortal sight, shall be the horrid depths where the wicked must for ever dwell in the fire which is mingled with the glass.

      7. Well, I now want to show you why it was that Moses triumphed, and why it is that by and by, we shall triumph. One reason why Moses sung his song was because all Israel were safe. They were all safely across the sea. Not a drop of spray fell from that solid wall until the last of God’s Israel had safely planted his foot on the other side of the flood. That done, immediately the floods dissolved into their proper place again, but not until then. Part of that song was, “You have led your people like a flock through the wilderness.” Now, in the last time, when Christ shall come upon earth, the great song will be — “Lord, you have saved your people; you have led them all safely through the paths of providence, and not one of them has fallen into the hands of the enemy.” Oh! it is my strong belief, that in heaven there shall not be a vacant throne. I rejoice that all who love the Lord below must at last attain to heaven. I do not believe with some that men may start on the road to heaven, and be saved, and yet fall by the hand of the enemy. God forbid, my friends!

      All the chosen race

      Shall meet around the throne,

      Shall bless the conduct of his grace,

      And make his glories known.

      Part of the triumph of heaven will be, that there is not one throne that is unoccupied.