Servants of God
By Terance Clark February 8, 2025 5 Minute Read
Week 16
This Weeks Passage: Exodus 13:17 – 17:16
Everyone loves the story of God splitting the sea open so Israel could walk right through it on dry ground. Amazing! But, is there more to story? Yes, I believe there is. Let’s journey through some historical and legal details to discover a twist to our walk with God.
It starts with covenant cutting, a term used to describe the process when God makes (literally the word is cut) a covenant with man. He would have him cut the sacrifice in two and separate the halves and stand or walk between the two halves. There are numerous examples, but lets use Genesis 15:9-18 when God initiates an covenant with Abram. He appears to him in a dream telling him that his descendants will be enslaved and mistreated, but will come out with great possessions. He then passes between the cut pieces of the sacrifice.
Servant or Slave
Fast forward to Israel crossing the Reed Sea as God had split it in two as they were ratifying the covenant he had made with Abram. It means that they were passing from one domain into another, from being slaves into being servants. Interestingly, the word in Hebrew is exactly the same for slave and servant. The word is avadim. They were moving from being avadim to Pharaoh to avadim to God. Crossing the Reed Sea was an act of transferring of possession. Israel was now the possession of God rather than the possession of Pharaoh. It’s important to know that slaves of humans lack freedom, but a servant of God is called to freedom. We have been freed from all the things that control and possess us and we are free to honor and respect the freedoms of others.
“We have been Freed from all the things
that control and possess us“
Crossing the sea meant that Israel was now living a different life much like those of us who have chosen to follow Christ. We have left the rule of the devil and now have a new life in Christ. But what does that mean? Let’s look back at the story. Prior to crossing the sea, Moses told the people sit back and watch what God will do for you, but after crossing the sea the bible says for the first time the people believed in God and in Moses. They had a conversion, but three days later after they had stopped believing due to lack of water, out of the blue the Amalekites show up. This time God does not say sit back and watch what I will do, He says you must now fight them yourselves.
Look Up and Win, Look Down and Lose
There is an interesting battle where as long as Moses has his hands up the people prevail, but when they are lowered they begin losing. Aaron and Hur held his hands in the air until they won the battle. What does all this mean? The Hebrew once again helps us understand what was happening. It tells us it wasn’t just his hands in the air, but that he was pointing towards heaven. As long as the people kept their thoughts and beliefs focused on God they won, but when they focused on the battle they lost.
“Stop waiting for God to do what
He has empowered you to accomplish“
In closing, when we come into relationship with God we shift into a new existence and like crossing through the sea, baptism is our process to ratify the covenant not that baptism does the work it’s when we believe just like they did. At this point we must understand that as we face battles we now are free to stand against any force that comes against us, but God works through us to defeat the enemy. As long as you are looking to God you have victory, but if you are looking at yourself or the battle, watch out! Stop waiting for God to do what He has empowered you to accomplish! You and I are now servants of God. Go live like it!