JESUS’ ASCENSION MEANS TOTAL VICTORY
Exodus 14:10-31
Pastor Jeremy Mattek – May 5, 2016 (Joint Ascension Service)
I would like you to stretch out your hand and make a fist. Your fist is probably in one of three positions. Either your thumb is on the outside of your fingers pointing up; your thumb is on the outside of your fingers but laying across your fingers, or your thumb is covered up with your fingers. According to an article I recently read on the internet(which means it is most certainly entirely accurate), the way you make a fist reveals something about your personality.
If your thumb is on the outside of your fingers pointing up, then you are strong, driven, and protective. You are a natural-born leader who feels really good helping others, looking out for their best interests, and protecting the people in your life with whom you have meaningful relationships.
If your thumb is on the outside of your fingers laying across your fingers, then you are out-going, self-assured, and honest. You aren’t afraid to be yourself. You’re also not afraid to be extremely, and sometimes brutally, honest, which is your way of saying you have nothing to hide. You believe in yourself. And you want others to believe in you too.
If your thumb is covered up by your fingers, then you are kind, emotional, and introspective. You might come across as shy, but really you just don’t think everyone needs to know what’s going on in your heart and mind. You are very thoughtful when dealing with others, which makes you a pleasure to be around. You can get along with anyone, but you prefer to spend your time either alone or with just a handful of really good friends.
There you go. Everything you ever needed to know about yourself and the people around you just from holding out your hand and making a fist. Next time you go on a first date, just tell them to do that, and that’ll apparently tell you right there if they’re worth marrying.
Don’t you wish it were that easy? Don’t you wish you could just hold out your hand get the answers to all your important questions? You would instantly know who you should marry, or how you’re going to get everything done, or how long before your teaching vacancies are filled, or how your church is going to pay all the bills, or how long before the cancer goes away, or how long before you overcome the addiction, or whether or not the people you love are always going to be safe.
There are a lot of important things on our minds these days; things that often have a significant impact on our emotions. And how do you think the important things on our minds today compare to the very important things on the minds of Moses and the Israelites the day they left Egypt? In Exodus chapter 14, after 450 years of slavery, Israel wasn’t far at all from the land God had promised them. But coming after them were a whole lot of fists attached to Egyptian soldiers eager to show them exactly how they felt about Pharoah’s momentary lapse of judgment when he let them go. And right in front of them was a big body of water blocking the way to their freedom. In other words, they felt trapped, just as we often do when we don’t have all the answers to our questions.
And do you know what Moses did in the middle of that suffocating situation? He stretched out his hand; not because he wanted everyone to know what kind of personality he had, but because he wanted all of Israel and all of us to see who their hope was in. Before God parted the waters of the Red Sea, God told Moses to stretch out his hand. And he did; as a show of faith in the same God we honor on the day of the Ascension. On the day of Jesus’ ascension, Jesus promised his disciples that they were never going to be alone and they were always going to be ok. And tonight, at the Red Sea, we get to see how true that is, no matter what trouble surrounds us, no matter what enemies or challenges are standing in the way.
10 As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the Lord.11 They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt?12 Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!”13 Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again.14 The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”
15 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on.16 Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground.17 I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them. And I will gain glory through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen.18 The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I gain glory through Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen.”
19 Then the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel’s army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them,20 coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long.21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the Lord drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided,22 and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left.
23 The Egyptians pursued them, and all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots and horsemen followed them into the sea.24 During the last watch of the night the Lord looked down from the pillar of fire and cloud at the Egyptian army and threw it into confusion.25 He made the wheels of their chariots come off so that they had difficulty driving. And the Egyptians said, “Let’s get away from the Israelites! The Lord is fighting for them against Egypt.”26 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters may flow back over the Egyptians and their chariots and horsemen.”27 Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea went back to its place. The Egyptians were fleeing toward it, and the Lord swept them into the sea.28 The water flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen—the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived.
29 But the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left.30 That day the Lord saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore.31 And when the Israelites saw the great power the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant.
The Ascension is the day that Jesus left. But if he left, it means that first he came. And he came to be with us. And this section highlights one of the very important reasons that he did. Before God parted the sea or took down a single Egyptian, he promised Moses. “I will gain glory,” he said. Basically, ‘By the end of the day, I will look more glorious than Pharoah and his army.’ But there’s only one way that could happen. Just think about how it is that anyone gains more glory than anyone else around them.
A few years back, a 9-year-old boy named James Barney was swimming in Kissimmee, Florida, when he felt a sharp pain on his backside. He had been bit by a 9-foot-long, 500 pound alligator. James started hitting the alligator with his fist and then grabbed the reptile by its jaws and pried them open far enough that he could escape, and then frantically swam to shore with the alligator chasing him. He ended up with 30 bite marks, numerous scratches, and one alligator tooth imbedded in his skin. But he escaped and turned out to be just fine. He overcame the attack of a 500 pound alligator. His story was all over the Florida news.
Now, I also once ran into an alligator in Florida. I was golfing. I hit my golf ball, and it landed about three feet from an alligator. Do you know why that alligator interaction wasn’t on the news that week? Because I left my golf ball there and walked away in the other direction. I didn’t gain any glory or recognition because I did what any normal person would have done. God only looks more glorious than anyone when he overcomes something no one else either has or can. In other words, in order for God to gain glory, he has to put himself in situations that in the past have devoured others who have tried to conquer the same thing.
Have you ever thought that one of the reasons God allows you to go through certain trials, trouble, pain, or to be in a situation where you and everyone else just can’t see any reason to believe anything good could ever happen ever again, is because he wants to use your life the same way he used Israel’s that day - to preach a sermon that we have a God who can get us through anything?
Would you rather show the world an average God or an awesome God? In order to show the world an awesome God, the world has to see us extending our hands in faith while we are in situations that have in the past devoured others going through the same thing. When you’re sick, or in trouble or pain; when you’re lost, confused, or feeling guilty about something, the Ascension reminds us that God came. He came to join our battle to show the world exactly what kind of God he is. He is a God who can overcome anything, no matter how bad the odds are looking. And I think you already believe that. Whether or not God canovercome isn’t the question that keeps you up at night. It’s usually something different.
Shana Dees also lives in Florida. She was shopping one day when she accidentally locked her 10-month-old son Jack in her car along with her keys and phone. She begged a stranger for his phone so she could call 911. “My infant son is locked in the car,” she said. “It’s so hot outside … I don’t think I have enough time to call AAA before he would suffer heat exhaustion. Can somebody come?” “Ma’am,” the dispatcher said, “[We won’t send anyone] unless the child is in some kind of distress.” And then the dispatcher hung up. A stranger came by and eventually broke the window for her and got her son out before anything bad happened. Shana knew that 911 could help her. She just wasn’t expecting that they wouldn’t be willing.
That wasn’t exactly the case for Israel, though. Israel didn’t doubt that God could save them. They had just seen the plagues in Egypt. They witnessed God make the noon sun pitch dark, turn the Nile to blood, and kill every Egyptian’s firstborn son without having to check anyone’s birth certificate before he came in. They knew God can do anything. The reason they were afraid was because they doubted that he actually would in this situation.
Do you ever doubt the same thing? Do you ever find yourself wondering if the God who can actually will step in and answer your prayer and deliver you when you call on him? For God, it was easy to see whether or not Israel did. Moses wasn’t the only one who was told to do something to show he trusted in God’s promise. “Tell the Israelites to move on,” God told Moses in verse 15 (before he separated the water for them). In other words, tell them to confidently step toward their fear as if they already know it won’t touch them. If you were on the shore that day, do you think you would have been the first one?
Where do you step when you can’t see anything good happening? When you’re about to get devoured by a large alligator of trouble, loss, or pain, do you confidently take it on, or do you get discouraged or complain? Do you step toward your fears anticipating a win, or do you shut down or try to run away? Israel couldn’t run away. They wanted to back away from the sea, but then they’d run right into the army. They wanted to run away from the army, but the only place to go was into the deep sea with their cattle and little children. No matter the direction, they were afraid of something. There really was nowhere to run. Do you know that feeling?
Some time ago, I saw a story about a 6-year-old boy in Hong Kong who was playing with LEGO’s in the street near his family’s driveway when an SUV came speeding down the street and ran over him. It happened so quickly, the boy didn’t have time to even react to it. A camera at the nearby intersection caught the whole thing. The boy playing with his LEGOs. The SUV speeding in and running right over him. And then, the little boy getting up and walking away as if the SUV never even touched him. Amazingly, the boy was fine. He went through an incident that every parent fears and walked away as if there was no reason to be afraid of anything.
Just like Israel. They were afraid of the army. They were afraid of the water. But in the end, the army was all dead and verse 22 says that “the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground.” Dry ground. The dirt under their sandals wasn’t even moist or muddy or wet. In other words, not one drop of water was ever on them. As they stood safely on the other shore, they must have realized that nothing they feared ever touched them.
And maybe you wish that you would have just one moment like that. But don’t we already know that it’s coming. In just a minute we’ll confess in the Nicene Creed, “We look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.” In other words, we’re looking forward to a day when we will be standing on the other shore of heaven, after we’ve died, yet fully alive as if the one thing people fear the most down here never even happened. We’re looking forward to our life in the world to come when there will be no impression whatsoever of the tears that so easily flowed down our cheeks, and the feelings in our gut will be nothing but peace. We are looking forward to the day when everything we fear now, well, it will be as if they never touched us. And they will ever again.
And the reason we’re looking forward to those things is because God didn’t run away when he didn’t see anything good happening. Jesus stepped right into the whip and thorns, stretched out his hand for the nails and the agonizing pain of a crucifixion but, unlike the little boy in Hong Kong, was run over completely, not by an SUV, but by our sins; by all the times we have doubted that the God who can will stick by our side through anything.
I know we don’t like to be afraid. We want to be the superhero who never doubts God at any time for any reason. But do you know who you would be in this story if that’s who you were? Who never doubted God in this section? Who was it that stepped between the separated waters of sea without any hesitation?
The Egyptians. They didn’t doubt God. In order to doubt God, in order to believe that he may not come through for you, you also have to believe that he might or that he can. But the Egyptians didn’t believe that about God because they didn’t even believe in him at all. They believed they could walk through life without God’s help. And they found out they were wrong. They didn’t doubt God. They rejected him.