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    Moses returned to Egypt and told the leaders of Israel that the I AM God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had sent him to liberate them, but it took a host of surprises from Moses’ staff and miracles straight from the hand of God before the people had confidence in Moses and before the king agreed to release them. Finally, just as God had said, they were free to leave — to go home. God’s mobile nation was born. It was an incredible day, a day God wanted the Israelites to remember forever, a day he would anchor in their memories by the Passover Feast.

Now this is what the LORD says. He created you, people of Jacob; He formed you, people of Israel. He says, “Don’t be afraid, because I have saved you. I have called you by name, and you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. When you cross rivers, you will not drown. When you walk through fire, you will not be burned, nor will the flames hurt you. This is because I, the LORD, am your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.” ISAIAH 43:1-5

    More than a million freed Hebrew slaves eagerly followed Moses eastward out of Egypt, while the locals gave them gifts and hurried them on their way. God watched over their journey and led them with a perpetual cloud during the day and fire in the sky at night. The God they had prayed to for generations, the God who had seemed distant and silent, was now present and powerful and prominent. After their 450 years in Egypt, he was taking his people home, and with them they carried Joseph’s bones.

    Staff in hand, Moses led his new nation to the Red Sea. In the meantime, the Egyptian king had changed his mind and had sent his chariots after them. When the Israelites found themselves trapped between shores of the Red Sea and the thundering Egyptian chariots in the distance, they panicked, but Moses stood strong. He stretched out his staff, and God split the sea from one side to the other, all the way to the bottom, so the Israelites could cross the sea on dry land. When the Egyptians tried to follow them across the sea bottom, God collapsed the walls of water, and the Egyptian forces were totally destroyed. With mighty demonstrations of power and preeminence, the I AM God rescued his people just as he had promised.

Reflection: For generations God’s people had suffered and cried for relief. When God was ready, he did much more than relieve their suffering, however; he won their freedom. God’s people must have been filled with joyful emotions that had been buried for a lifetime. In a sense they were new people.. Anytime God rescues a person, his life is changed. The old is gone, and the new is filled with joy.

    God’s people were the objects of the most sensational, miraculous rescue in the history of the world. And the exodus was just the beginning.