The Intersection of the Red Sea and Calvary

For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food,  and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.  1 Corinthians 10:1-4

The New Testament is the best tool for reading and understanding the Old Testament.  From Jesus’ words in the Gospels to Paul’s epistles to the letter to the Hebrews, we find from the New Testament writers great insights into the Law and Prophets and see how they consistently point to the fulfillment in Christ.

The Exodus is the great salvation event in the Old Testament.  From the plagues through the Passover, from the Red Sea to the Promised Land, God demonstrates His faithfulness to an adulterous people, keeping His promises and delivering them to the land of their fathers.  However, complex and convoluted the Exodus is, Christians learn that it is pointing also to Jesus as one being greater than Moses.  He is the rock from which they drank, the cloud and sea in which they were baptized, the food and drink on which they lived.  The Exodus is a story of great times of deliverance and sad times of disobedience.  But ultimately, it points the readers of the Old Testament forward to the One who rescues from the slavery of sin and delivers to the Promised Land of Paradise.

The clearest demonstration of seeing the Exodus pointing to Christ can be found in Jesus’ words to Nicodemus, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” (John 3:14-15)  Jesus would say to the Jews, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me.” (John 5:39).  The key then for reading the Old Testament in general or the events of the Exodus in particular, is to be guided by the New Testament in your study and to see how these events points to Christ and the events of His Passion.

Prayer – O God, You once delivered Your people Israel from bondage under Pharaoh and led them by a pillar of cloud and fire through the sea to safety.  Grant that we may follow Christ through the waters of Baptism, that we may daily die and rise with Him, and that we may walk in safety through the wilderness of this life until we see Your salvation; through Jesus Christ, our Lord.  Amen.

Fraternally in Christ,
President Lee Hagan