When You Walk through the Waters and Fire

Moses had a lot to think about. The task God was entrusting him was too hard and emotionally impossible. How could he face his enemy of forty years ago due to unresolved issue of the past? Moses, however had been chosen for this even before he was born. All circumstances surround him pointed to the fact that he was a very special child. Privileged for a while as the son of a princess, Moses enjoyed his life in the palace, but his heart was with his people. He refused to be called the son of a princess. In an opportunity he had, he struck an Egyptian dead as retaliation for enslaving one of his brothers. That action was a prelude of what he was to do in the future. Moses, when tried to pursue God’s call to free his people, was met with many challenges. But in all, God was magnified to be the only true God. It all happened to prove Pharaoh the veracity of God in the midst of all Pharaoh’s God. Pharaoh’s heart remained hardened to the point of having all the first- born sons killed in the land of Egypt. Amidst the mourning of the Egyptians, Pharaoh finally let Israel go. Israel, now numbering more than a million people, left on a hurry according to the command of the Lord. But before then, they were told to kill the Passover lamb and take of the blood and put it on the two side posts and on the lintel of the houses in which they shall eat. They were to eat the Passover meat on that night. They were to eat it in haste, for that night the Lord was going to smite all the Egyptians’ firstborn. The blood put upon the doorposts of the houses of the Israelites according to the command of the Lord, was for them a sign that when He saw the blood, He will pass over them, and no plague shall be upon them to destroy them when He smite the land of Egypt (Exo.12). So, it was that Israel was let go from the land of Egypt. Their journey started at the first Passover they celebrated. God’s promise to Abraham was finally being fulfilled. It was a day to be remembered from that day on. The manifestation of God’s power then was just the beginning of what He was going to do for the people in their pilgrimage to the Promised Land. At the beginning of their journey to the Promised Land, they faced the Red Sea in front and behind the Egyptian army pursuing them Their cry started rising up complaining to Moses. They were surrendered by trouble, with no way out of it. But Moses, the servant of God, called on Him for help and He instructed Him on what to do. The Creator of the sea stood in His strength and power and commanded it to open up for His people to travel it on foot. That was an amazing introduction to God’s faithfulness toward Israel. “When you pass through the waters, they will not overwhelm you.” The reality of God’s presence was demonstrated then. The promise stood firm in the heavens and God was magnified in the midst of His people. The Egyptians, well, they perish when God closed the sea on them after Israel finished crossing.  The wasters of adversities are just a way to show us God’s power, when we call on Him for help. Passing through the waters, God’s presence will be with us, is the promise. This promise is in the future tense. A promise that served God’s people then and serves us, God’s people, today- Jews and Gentiles. “When you pass through the rivers, they will not overwhelm you.” Israel experienced the Jordan River when God again opened the river for them to pass through. That was the end of their forty years journey through the desert. Once again, God showed His glory to the people. He divided the Red Sea for them to pass through at the beginning of their journey and the Jordan River for them to cross over to the Promised Land at the end of their pilgrimage.

Israel sojourned the wilderness under God’s direction and protection, when He provided a cloud during the day to protect them from the heat of the sun and a pillar of fire at night to serve as light. So, Israel did not suffer the effect of the sun’s heat during the day, for God was with them, going before them. “When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned or scorched, nor will the flame kindle upon you.” This promise was for Israel in their days of pilgrimage, and it is for us His people today. God’s faithfulness continues from generation to generation. Many years later, Daniel’s friends- Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were thrown into the burning fiery furnace, because they refused to worship the image of Nebuchadnezzar. They refused the King by saying, If our God Whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, He will deliver us out of your hand, O King. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image which you have set up! (Daniel 3). God’s promise was fulfilled to these three faithful servants of God. They were not burned; neither were their clothes. Instead, an angel came into the furnace and stood there with them. “When you walk through the fire you will not be burned nor will the flame kindle upon you, for I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior…” (Isaiah 43:2-3a).  Fire symbolizes transformation, renewal, purification. Allegorically speaking, the Lord will bring the third part (Israel) through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined and will test them as gold is tested… (Zech.13:9a). So, Israel will be the nation that God intended them to be. The bride of Christ is now being refined through fires of trials and tribulation. A necessary process of sanctification. The promise is that they will not burn us, but it will make us better, as Paul testified of his sufferings saying, We are hedged in on every side, but not cramped or crushed; we suffer embarrassments and are perplexed and unable to find a way out, but not driven to despair; we are pursued, but not deserted; we are struck down to the ground, but never struck out and destroyed; always carrying about in the body the liability and exposure to the same purring to death that the Lord YAHSHUA suffered, so that the life of YAHSHUA also may be shown (II Cor. 4:8-10).

Moses was a very special chosen man. After his birth, he was kept concealed for three months by his parents, because they saw how comely the child was; and they were not overawed and terrified by the king’s decree. The letter to the Hebrews says this about him: By faith Moses, when he had grown to maturity and become great, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, because he preferred to share the oppression and bear the shame of the people of God rather than to have the fleeting enjoyment of a sinful life…  By faith he left Egypt behind him, being unawed and undismayed by the wrath of the king; for he never flinched but held staunchly to his purpose and endured steadfastly as one who gazed on Him Who is invisible (Heb. 11: 23-29). Moses acted by faith going through the waters and fire, and God was pleased with him.