Exodus 14:21-31

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TALKS FOR GROWING CHRISTIANS

The Parting of the Red Sea

BACKGROUND NOTES



DOCTRINAL POINT(S)

  1. Divine miracles may sometimes involve unusual events of nature.

  2. Divine miracles will always involve the supernatural power of God.

PRACTICAL APPLICATION

  1. Let God open up the way.

QUESTIONS

  1. How do skeptics try to lessen the great miracle of the parting of the Red Sea?

  2. Cite some facts from the passage that would refute the idea that the Israelites only crossed a shallow lake or marshy area.

  3. Define a divine miracle.

  4. Give other examples in the Bible where God used natural events to accomplish His divine purposes.

  5. Give a few examples of miracles in the Bible that can only be explained by God’s supernatural power.

ANSWERS

  1. They say the Children of Israel only crossed some shallow lake or marshy area, because the Hebrew term “Red Sea” could be translated “Reed Sea.”

  2. 1) The water was like a wall on either side of the Israelites (verses 22 and 29). 2) The water rushed back and covered the Egyptians and their chariots (verse 28). 3) Dead bodies don’t wash up on the seashore of a swamp (verse 30). 4) Although the Hebrew term “Red Sea” could be translated “Reed Sea,” this term is used wherever the Red Sea is referenced in the Old Testament. See 1 Kings 9:26.

  3. A divine miracle is “a deviation from God’s normal way of operation in which God temporarily interrupts or changes the ordinary course of events.”

  4. When God brought down the walls of Jericho, He may have used an earthquake. When the children of Israel crossed the Jordan River before conquering Jericho, the Lord probably used a landslide to cut off the water of the Jordan.

  5. 1) The ninth plague of darkness in Exodus 10, in which thick darkness covered Egypt for three days, but the Israelites had light in Goshen. 2) Joshua’s longest day in Joshua 10 3) Daniel’s three friends preserved in the fiery furnace 4) The feeding of the five thousand 5) Peter walking on water 6) The list could go on and on!

DISCUSS/CONSIDER

  1. Discuss what you have learned about miracles from this lesson. While the parting of the Red Sea may or may not have involved an unusual event of nature, it certainly involved the supernatural power of God. Can you accept this miracle as it is?

CHALLENGE

  1. God opened up a way for the Children of Israel to cross the Red Sea. In our walk of faith, the Lord will always open up the way for us to do His will. No obstacle can stand between us and Gods will if we let God open up the way.

KEY VERSES

  • “So the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea on the dry ground.” Exodus 14:22

  • “So the LORD saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore.” Exodus 14:30

Exodus, Old Testament, TalksRon ReidEXODUS 14:21-31