Proper 12 (Ps) July 29th

Exodus 15:1b-18

“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.”

I do not think people recall this song enough in their own life. Moses and the people of Israel sang this song in celebration for YHWH leading them across the Red Sea. God delivered his people out of the land of Slavery and bondage in the land of Egypt. He delivered them out of the hands of Pharaoh and his army. God may not have yet brought his people into the promise land but the power of the arm of God was revealed.

There is no-one like the LORD. There is nothing that can compare to his strength and power. There is nothing greater or more glorious than a God who would take slaves and deliver them even through the depths of the Sea. God has delivered his people.

We were slaves to sins. We are slaves to many different temptations in the world. We are tormented by our own misfortunes and the destruction that God may have in store for each of us. But be certain that God's mighty arm can deliver you. Jesus Christ was the powerful arm of God to remove your sins. Christ Jesus was the one greater than Moses appointed to deliver his people out of slavery and bondage to sin.

But Jesus Christ has not yet delivered us into the promise land. He has not yet ushered us into everlasting life. But Christ going to return and take us to the promise land. He is going to raise all of us out of our graves and make the dead to come to life. He is going to bring us out of the depths of the grave and then deliver us once and for all into the eternal promise land.