Audio Teaching

Notes

The Waters of Baptism: Ex. 14:9-25 CJB

I. A New Way of Life

Go Forward

“The splitting of the Sea of Reeds is generally viewed as the archetype of a miraculous and supernatural event. Yet even in this case, there had to be a natural action to catalyze the miracle: God instructed the people to journey forward and Moses to lift his staff over the water. God always demands some human act first and only then does He perform miracles.

Simply stated, this is because events that occur without our involvement do not truly affect us; we may adjust to the changes, but we are not internally affected. Only when we expend some effort do we truly appreciate and assimilate the miracle.

The same applies in all areas of life. Asking for God’s blessings is not sufficient; we must do something that can serve as a conduit for the blessing.”

Kehot Chumash, Ex. 14:15 Note.

• Going through the Sea of Reeds was a physical and spiritual/metaphorical cleansing.
•  We can relate this to the Christian act of baptism; you may be familiar with the following phrase: “Upon the profession of your faith, I baptize you in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Buried with Him in baptism and raised to walk in newness of life.”

II. The Act of Immersion

• Mt. 3:13-15
• With the crossing of the sea as our foundation for the “doctrine of baptism,” the idea of an outward sign of an inward work does not give us a complete picture.
• “everything righteousness requires” – The Torah is not a document of negatives alone but is full of positive commands that draw us closer to God.
• Yeshua’s life and teaching were not just about abstaining from sin but fulfilling righteousness.
  • Mt. 5:17 – Yeshua came to show us how to walk in the Law.
• In Judaism, there are immersions throughout your life:
  • Women mikvah after their period and after giving birth 
  • You mikvah before giving certain offerings
  • Before the day of Atonement, you go into the mikvah
  • You mikvah before marriage

III The Washing Away

• Ex. 14:26-31
• The wiping out of the enemy is an illusion of the power of sin being defeated.

Tests of Obedience

Ex. 15:22-27

I. Trust in God’s faithfulness 

• Laws: H#2706: appointment, command custom
• Rules: H#4941: judgments
• Listen intently to the voice of Adonai – this is the Written Torah.
• Do, pay attention, observe
• He said, “If you diligently heed the voice of God, your God, by agreeing to do what He says, and you not only commit yourselves but in fact do what is upright in His eyes—carefully listening to the details of all His commandments and fulfilling them precisely and observing even all His rules, i.e., the commandments whose rationale is beyond human understanding—then I will bring none of the sicknesses that I brought on Egypt upon you. And even if for some other reason I do bring any of these sicknesses upon you, it will not matter, for I am God who heals you; I can be relied upon to heal you of them. But in general, if you accept My authority and follow My commands, that itself will heal you a priori of all diseases.” – Ex. 15:26 Kehot Chumash

II. Honor Shabbat – Ex. 16:4-5 [context: 16:1-36]

• Gen. 2:1-3; Ex. 20:8-11; Lev. 23:1-4; Isa. 56:1-4; Isa. 65-66 (notice the context of Isaiah is also speaking of those in the nations).

III. Defeat the Enemy – Ex. 17:8-15

• Overcome the enemy on the path of sanctification.

A Closing Thought from John Wesley

“And they who make the glory of God their end, the Word of God their rule, the Spirit of God the guide of their affairs, may be confident that the Lord goes before them, as truly as He went with Israel in the wilderness, though not as sensibly. They had sensible effects of God’s going before them in this pillar.”

Wesley’s Notes on the Old Testament, Ex. 13:21