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Israel in Egypt
A Sermon Delivered on Sabbath Morning, June 14, 1857, by the
REV. C.H. SPURGEON
At the Music Hall, Royal Surrey Gardens
"And they sang the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints."—Revelation 15:3.
At the outset, let us remark the carefulness of the
Holy Spirit in guarding the honor of our blessed Lord. This verse is often quoted as if it
runs thus—"They sang the song of Moses and the Lamb." This mistake has led
many weak minds to wonder at the expression, for they have imagined that it divided the
honor of the song of heaven between Moses and the Redeemer. The clause—"the
servant of God"—is doubtless inserted by the Holy Spirit to prevent any error
upon this point, and therefore it should be carefully included in the quotation. I take it
that the song of Moses is here united with the song of the Lamb, because the one was a
type and picture of the other. The glorious overthrow of Pharaoh in the Red Sea shadowed
forth the total destruction of Satan and all his host in the day of the great battle of
the Lord; and there was in the song of Moses the expression of the same feelings of
triumph which will pervade the breasts of the redeemed when they shall triumph with their
Captain. May God the Holy Spirit enable me to exhibit
the parallel which exists between the condition of Israel when passing through the sea,
and the position of the church of Christ at the present day. Next, we shall compare
the triumph of the Lord at the Red Sea with the victory of the Lamb in the great and
terrible day of the Lord. And lastly, I shall point out certain prominent features
of the song of Moses, which will doubtless be as prominent in the song of the Lamb. I. First, it is our business to regard
THE POSITION OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL AS EMBLEMATICAL OF OUR OWN. And here we observe
that, like the church of God, the vast host of Israel had been delivered from bondage. We,
my brethren, who constitute a part of the Israel of God, were once the slaves of sin and
Satan; we served with hard bondage and rigor while in our natural state; no bondage was
ever more terrible than ours; we indeed made bricks without straw, and labored in the very
fire; but by the strong hand of God we have been delivered. We have come forth from the
prison-house; with joy we beheld ourselves emancipated—the Lord's free men. The iron
yoke is taken from our necks; we no longer serve our lusts, and pay obedience to the
tyrant sin. With a high hand and an outstretched arm, our God has led us forth from the
place of our captivity, and joyfully we pursue our way through the wilderness. But with the children of Israel it was
not all joy; they were free, but their master was at their heels. Pharaoh was loth to lose
so valuable a nation of servants; and therefore with his chosen captains, his horsemen,
and his chariots, he pursued them in angry haste. Affrighted Israel beheld her infuriated
oppressor close at her rear, and trembled for the issue—the hearts of the people
failed them while they saw their hopes blighted and their joys ended by the approach of
the oppressor; even so it is with some of you; you think you must be driven back again
like dumb cattle, into Egypt, and once more become what you were. "Surely," you
say, "I can not hold on my way with such a host seeking to drive me back; I must
again become the slave of my iniquities." And thus dreading apostacy, and feeling
that you would rather die than become what you were, you this morning are filled with
trepidation. You are saying, "Alas for me! Better that I had died in Egypt than that
I should have come out into this wilderness to be again captured." You have tasted
for a moment the joys of holiness and the sweets of liberty; and now again to go back to
endure the bondage of a spiritual Egypt, would be worse than before. This is the position
of the sacramental host of God's elect; they have come out of Egypt, and they are pursuing
their way to Canaan. But the world is against them; the kings of the earth stand up, and
the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his people, saying,
"Let us scatter them; let us utterly destroy them." From the fiery days of the
stakes of Smithfield even until now, the world's black heart has hated the church, and the
world's cruel hand and laughing lip have been for ever against us. The host of the mighty
are pursuing us, and are thirsty for our blood, and anxious to cut us off from the earth.
Such is our position unto this hour, and such must it be until we are landed on the other
side of Jordan, and until our Maker comes to reign on the earth. But once more: the children of Israel
were in a position more wonderful than this. They came to the edge of the Red Sea; they
feared their enemies behind; they could not fly on either hand, for they were flanked by
mountains and stupendous rocks; one course only was open to them, and that course was
through the sea. God commands them to go forward. The rod of Moses is outstretched, and
the affrighted waters divide; a channel is left while the floods stand up right, and the
waters are congealed in the heart of the sea. The priests, bearing the ark, march forward;
the whole host of Israel follow. And now behold the wondrous pilgrimage. A wall of
alabaster is on either side, and myriads are in the pebbly depths. Like a wall of glass
the sea stands on either side of them, frowning with beetling cliffs of foam; but still on
they march; and until the last of God's Israel is safe the water stands still and firm,
frozen by the lips of God. Such, my hearers, is the position of God's church now. You and
I are marching through a sea, the floods of which are kept upright only by the sovereign
power of God. This world is a world which is suddenly to be destroyed; and our position in
it is just the position of the children of Israel, for whose sake the floods refused to
meet until they were safely landed. O church of God! thou art the salt of the earth: when
thou art removed this earth must putrify and decay. O living army of the living God! ye,
like Israel, keep the floods of providence still standing fast; but when the last of you
shall be gone from this stage of action, God's fiery wrath and tremendous anger shall dash
down upon the ground whereon you now are standing, and your enemies shall be overwhelmed
in the place through which you now walk safely. Let me put my thoughts as plainly as I
can. Naturally, according to the common order, the Red Sea should have flowed on in a
level and even manner, constant in its waves, and unbroken in its surface. By the might of
God the Red Sea was divided into two parts, and the floods stood back. Now mark.
Naturally, according to the common course of justice, this world, which groaneth and
travaileth until now, ought, if we only consider the wicked, to be utterly destroyed. The
only reason why the Red Sea afforded a safe passage for the host was this—that Israel
marched through it; and the only reason why this world stands, and the only reason why it
is not destroyed by fire, as it is to be at the last great day, is because God's Israel
are in it; but when once they shall have passed through, the parted floods shall meet
their hands, and embrace with eager joy to clasp the adverse host within their arms. The
day is coming when this world shall reel to and fro and stagger like a drunken man. Every
Christian may say, with due reverence to God, "The earth is dissolved; I bear up the
pillars thereof." Let all the Christians that are in the world die, and the pillars
of the earth would fall, and like a wreck and a vision all this universe of ours would
pass away, never to be seen again. We are to-day, I say, passing through the floods, with
enemies behind, pursuing us who are going out of Egypt up to Canaan. III. And now the TRIUMPH OF MOSES was a
picture of the ultimate triumph of the Lamb. Moses sang a song unto the Lord by the sea of
Egypt. If you will turn to holy Scripture you will find that my text was sung by the holy
spirits who had been preserved from sin and from the contamination of the beast; and it is
said that they sung this song upon "a sea of glass mingled with fire." Now the
song of Moses was sung by the side of a sea, which was glassy, and still; for a little
season the floods had been disturbed, divided, separated, congealed, but in a few moments
afterward, when Israel had safely passed the flood, they became as glassy as ever, for the
enemy had sunken to the bottom like a stone, and the sea re. turned to its strength when
the morning appeared. Is there ever a time, then, when this great sea of Providence, which
now stands parted to give a passage to God's saints shall become a level surface? Is there
a day when the now divided dispensations of God, which are kept from following out their
legitimate tendency to do justice upon sin—when the two seas of justice shall
commingle, and the one sea of God's providence shall be "a sea of glass mingled with
fire?" Yes, the day is drawing nigh when God's enemies shall no longer make it
necessary for God's providence to be apparently disturbed to save his people, when the
great designs of God shall be accomplished, and therefore when the walls of water shall
roll together, while in their inmost depths the everlasting burning fire shall still
consume the wicked. O, the sea shall be calm upon the surface; the sea upon which God's
people shall walk shall seem to be a sea that is clear, without a weed, with-out an
impurity; while down in its hollow bosom, far beyond all mortal ken, shall be the horrid
depths where the wicked must for ever dwell in the fire which is mingled with the glass. Well, I now want to show you why it was
that Moses triumphed, and why it is that by-and-by we shall triumph. One reason why Moses
sung his song was because all Israel were safe. They were all safely across the
sea. Not a drop of spray fell from that solid wall until the last of God's Israel had
safely planted his foot on the other side of the flood. That done, immediately the floods
dissolved into their proper place again, but not till then. Part of that song was,
"Thou hast led thy people like a flock through the wilderness." Now, in the last
time, when Christ shall come upon earth, the great song will be—"Lord, thou hast
saved thy people; thou hast led them all safely through the paths of providence, and not
one of them has fallen into the hands of the enemy." O, it is my strong belief, that
in heaven there shall not be a vacant throne. I rejoice that all who love the Lord below,
must at last attain to heaven. I do not believe with some that men may start on the road
to heaven, and be saved, and yet fall by the hand of the enemy. God forbid, my friends!
"All the chosen race Part of the triumph of heaven will be, that there is
not one throne that is unoccupied. As many as God hath chosen, as many as Christ hath
redeemed, as many as the Spirit hath called, as many as believe, shall arrive safe across
the stream. We are not all safely landed yet:
"Part of the host have crossed
the flood, The vanguard of the army have already
reached the shore. I see them yonder;
"I greet the blood-besprinkled
bands And you and I, my brethren, are
marching through the depths. We are at this day following hard after Christ, and walking
through the wilderness. Let us be of good cheer: the rearguard shall soon be where the
vanguard already is; the last of the chosen shall soon have landed; the last of God's
elect shall have crossed the sea, and then shall be heard the song of triumph, when all
are secure. But O! if one were absent—oh! if one of his chosen family should be cast
away—it would make an everlasting discord in the song of the redeemed, and cut the
strings of the harps of Paradise, so that music could never be distilled from them again. But, perhaps, the major part of the joy
of Moses lay in the destruction of all the enemies of God. He looked upon his people the
day before.
"He looked upon his people, And now to-day he looks upon his
people, and he says, "Blessed art thou, O Israel, safely landed on the shore;"
and he looks not upon the foeman, but upon the foeman's tomb; he looks where the living
were protected by the shield of God from all their enemies; and he sees—what? A
mighty sepulcher of water; a mighty tomb in which were engulfed princes, monarchs,
potentates. "The horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea." Pharaoh's
chariots also are drowned therein. And soon, my hearers, you and I shall do the same. I
say that now we have to look abroad on hosts of enemies. What with the wild beasts of
Rome, what with the antichrist of Mohammed, what with the thousands of idolatries and
false gods, what with infidelity in all its myriad shapes, many are the enemies of God,
and mighty are the hosts of hell. Lo, you see them gathered together this day; horseman
upon horseman, chariot upon chariot, gathered together against the Most High. I see the
trembling church, fearing to be over-thrown; I mark her leaders bending their knees in
solemn prayer, and crying, "Lord, save thy people, and bless thy heritage." But
mine eye looks through the future with telescopic glance, and I see the happy period of
the latter days, when Christ shall reign triumphant. I shall ask them where is Babel?
where is Rome? where is Mohammed? and the answer shall come—where? Why they have sunk
into the depths; they have sunk to the bottom as a stone. Down there the horrid fire
devours them, for the sea of glass is mingled with the fire of judgment. To-day I see a
battle-field; the whole earth is torn by the hoofs of horses; there is the rumble of
cannon and the roll of drum. "To arms! to arms!" both hosts are shouting. But
you wait awhile, and you shall walk across this plain of battle, and say, "Seest thou
that colossal system of error dead? There lies another, all frozen, in ghastly death, in
motionless stupor. There lieth infidelity; there sleepeth secularism and the secularist;
there lie those who defied God. I see all this vast host of rebels lying scattered upon
the earth. "Sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously; Jehovah has gotten
unto himself the victory, and the last of his enemies are destroyed." Then shall be
the time when shall be sung "the song of Moses and of the Lamb." III. Now, turning to the song of Moses, I
shall conclude my address to you by noticing some interesting particulars in the song
which will doubtless have a place in the everlasting orchestra of the redeemed, when they
shall praise the Most High. O! my brethren, I could but wish that I had stood by the Red
Sea, to have heard that mighty shout, and that tremendous roar of acclamation! Methinks
one might well have borne a servitude in Egypt, to have stood in that mighty host who sung
such mighty praise. Music hath charms; but never had it such charms as it had that day
when fair Miriam led the women, and Moses led the men, like some mighty leader, beating
time with his hand. "Sing unto the Lord, for he hath done gloriously." Methinks
I see the scene; and I anticipate the greater day, when the song shall be sung again,
"as the song of Moses and of the Lamb." Now, just notice this song. In the 15th
chapter of Exodus you find it, and in divers of the Psalms you will see it amplified. The
first thing I would have you notice in it is, that from beginning to end it is a praise
of God, and of nobody else but God. Moses, thou hast said nothing of thyself. O great
lawgiver, mightiest of men, did not thine hand grasp the mighty rod that split the
sea—that burned its fair breast, and left a sear for awhile upon its bosom? Didst not
thou lead the hosts of Israel? Didst not thou marshal their thousands for battle, and like
a mighty commander led them through the depths? Is there not a word for thee? Not one. The
whole strain of the song is, "I will sing unto the Lord," from beginning to end.
It is all praise of Jehovah; there is not one word about Moses, nor a single word in
praise of the children of Israel. Dear friends, the last song in this world, the song of
triumph, shall be full of God, and of no one else. Here you praise the instrument; to-day
you look on this man and on that, and you say, "Thank God for this minister, and for
this man?" To-day you say, "Blessed be God for Luther, who shook the Vatican,
and thank God for Whitefield, who stirred up a slumbering church;" but in that day
you shall not sing of Luther, nor of Whitefield, nor of any of the mighty ones of God's
hosts; forgotten shall their names be for a season, even as the stars refuse to shine when
the sun himself appeareth. The song shall be unto Jehovah, and Jehovah only; we shall not
have a word to say for preachers nor bishops, not a syllable to say for good men and true;
but the whole song from first to last shall be, "unto him that loved us and hath
washed us from our sins in his own blood, unto him be glory for ever and ever. Amen." And next will you please to note, that
this song celebrated something of the fierceness of the enemy! Do you observe how,
when the songster describes the attack of Pharaoh, he says, "The enemy said, I will
pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my lust shall be satisfied upon them; I
will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them." A song is made out of the wrath of
Pharaoh. And it shall be so at the last. 'The wrath of man shall praise God. I believe the
last song of the redeemed, when they shall ultimately triumph, will celebrate in heavenly
stanzas the wrath of man overcome by God. Sometimes after great battles, monuments are
raised to the memory of the fight; and of what are they composed? They are composed of
weapons of death and of instruments of war which have been taken from the enemy. Now, to
use that illustration as I think it may be properly used, the day is coming when fury, and
wrath, and hatred, and strife, shall all be woven into a song; and the weapons of our
enemies, when taken from them, shall serve to make monuments to the praise of God. Rail
on, rail on, blasphemer! Smite on, smite on, tyrant! Lift thy heavy hand, O despot; crush
the truth, which yet thou canst not crush; knock from his head the crown—the crown
that is far above thy reach—poor puny impotent mortal as thou art! Go on, go on! But
all thou doest shall but increase his glories. For aught we care, we bid you still proceed
with all your wrath and malice. Though it shall be worse for you, it shall be more
glorious for our Master; the greater your preparations for war, the more splendid shall be
his triumphal chariot, when he shall ride through the streets of heaven in pompous array.
The more mighty your preparations for battle, the more rich the spoil which he shall
divide with the strong. O! Christian, fear not the foe! Remember the harder his blows, the
sweeter thy song; the greater his wrath, the more splendid thy triumph; the more he rages,
the more shall Christ be honored in the day of his appearing. They sung the song of 'Moses
and the Lamb. And then will ye note, in the next place,
how they sang the total overthrow of the enemy. There is one expression in this
song, which ought to be and I believe is, when set to music, very frequently repeated. It
is that part of the song, as recorded in the Psalms, where it is declared that the whole
host of Pharaoh were utterly destroyed, and there was not one of them left. When that
great song was sung by the side of the Red Sea, there was, no doubt, a special emphasis
laid upon that expression, "not one." I think I hear the hosts of Israel. When
the words were known by them, they began and they proceeded thus—"There is not
one of them left;" and then in various parts the words were repeated, "Not one,
not one." And then the women with their sweet voices sang, "Not one, not
one." I believe that at the last, a part of our triumph will be the fact, that there
is not one left. We shall look abroad throughout the earth, and see it all a level sea;
and not one foeman pursuing us—"not one, not one!" Raise thyself never so
high, O thou deceiver, thou canst not live; for not one shall escape. Lift thy head never
so proudly, O despot, thou canst not live; for not one shall escape. O heir of heaven, not
one sin shall cross the Jordan after thee; not one shall pass the Red Sea to overtake
thee; but this shall be the summit of thy triumph—"Not one, not one! not one of
them is left." Just let us note again, and I will not
detain you too long, lest I weary you. One part of the song of Moses consisted in praising
the ease with which God destroyed his enemies. "Thou didst blow with thy wind, the
sea covered them; they sank as lead in the mighty waters." If we had gone to work to
destroy the hosts of Pharaoh, what a multitude of engines of death should we have
required. If the work had been committed to us, to cut off the hosts, what marvelous
preparations, what thunder, what noise, what great activity there would have been. But
mark the grandeur of the expression. God did not even lift himself from his throne to do
it: he saw Pharaoh coming; he seemed to look upon him with a placid smile; he did just
blow with his lips, and the sea covered them. You and I will marvel at the last how easy
it has been to over-throw the enemies of the Lord.. We have been tugging and toiling all
our life-time to be the means of overthrowing systems of error; it will astonish the
church, when her Master shall come, to see how, as the ice dissolveth before the fire, all
error and sin shall be utterly destroyed in the coming of the Most High. We must have our
societies and our machinery, our preachings and our gatherings, and rightly too; but God
will not require them at the last. The destruction of his enemies shall be as easy to him
as the making of a world. In passive silence unmoved he sat; and he did but break the
silence with "Let there be light; and light was." So shall he at the last, when
his enemies are raging furiously, blow with his winds, and they shall be scattered; they
shall melt even as wax, and shall be burned like tow; they shall be as the fat of rams;
into smoke shall they consume, yea, into smoke shall they consume away. Furthermore, in this song of Moses, you
will notice there is one peculiar beauty. Moses not only rejoiced for what had been done,
but for the future consequences of it. He says—"The people of Canaan, whom we
are about to attack, will now be seized with sudden fear; by the greatness of thy arm they
shall be as still as a stone." O! I think I hear them singing that too, sweetly and
softly—"as still as a stone." How would the words come full, like gentle
thunder heard in the distance—"as still as a stone!" And when we shall get
on the other side the flood, see the triumph over our enemies, and behold our Master
reigning, this will form a part of our song, that they must henceforth be "as still
as a stone." There will be a hell, but it will not be a hell of roaring devils, as it
now is. They shall be "as still as a stone." There will be legions of fallen
angels, but they shall no longer have courage to attack us or defy God: they shall be
"as still as a stone." O how grand will that sound, when the hosts of God's
redeemed, looking down on the demons chained, bound, silenced, struck dumb with terror,
shall sing exultingly over them! They must be "as still as a stone;" and there
they must lie, and bite their iron bands. The fierce despiser of Christ can no more spit
in his face; the proud tyrant can no more lift his hands to oppress the saints; even Satan
can no more attempt to destroy. They shall be "as still as a stone." And last of all, the song concludes by
noticing the eternity of God's reign; and this will always make a part of the
triumphant song. They sang, "The Lord shall reign for ever and ever." Then I can
suppose the whole band broke out into their loudest strain of music. "The Lord shall
reign for ever and ever." Part of the melody of heaven will be—"The Lord
shall reign for ever and ever." That song has cheered us here—"The Lord
reigneth; blessed be my Rock!" And that song shall be oar exultation there. "The
Lord reigneth for ever and ever." When we shall see the placid sea of providence,
when we shall behold the world all fair and lovely, when we shall mark our enemies
destroyed, and God Almighty triumphant, then we shall shout the song—
"Hallelujah! for the Lord I have one remark to make, and I have
done. You know, my friends, that as there is something in the song of Moses which is
typical of the song of the Lamb, there was another song sung by the waters of the Red Sea
which is typical of the song of hell. "What mean you, sir, by that dread
thought?" O! shall I use the word music? Shall I profane the heavenly word so much as
to say, It was doleful music which came from the lips of Pharaoh and his host? Boldly and
pompously, with roll of drum and blast of trumpet they had entered into the sea. On a
sudden their martial music ceased ; and ah! ye heavens and ye floods what was it? The sea
was coming down upon them, utterly to devour them. O! may we never hear that shriek, that
awful yell of hideous agony, that seemed to rend the sky, and then was hushed again, when
Pharaoh and his mighty men were swallowed up, and went down quick into hell! Ah! stars, if
ye had heard it, if the black pall of waters had not shut out the sound from you, ye might
have continued trembling unto this hour, and mayhap ye are trembling now; mayhap your
twinklings by night are on account of that terrible shriek ye heard; for sure it were
enough to make you tremble on for ever. That dreadful shriek, that hideous moan, that
horrible howl, when a whole army sank into hell at once when the waters swallowed them up! Take heed, my friends, take heed, lest
you should have to join in that terrible miserere; take heed, less that horrible
howl should be yours, instead of the song of the redeemed. And remember, so must it be,
unless ye be born again, unless ye believe in Christ, unless ye repent of sin and renounce
it wholly, and with trembling hearts put your confidence in the man of sorrows, who is
soon to be crowned the King of kings and Lord of lords. May God bless you, and give you
all to taste of his salvation, that you may stand upon the sea of glass, and not have to
feel the terrors of the mingled fire in the lower depths thereof! God Almighty bless this
vast assembly, for Jesus' sake.
Shall meet around the throne,
Shall bless the conduct of his grace,
And make his glories known."
And part are crossing now."
Upon th' eternal shore."
And the tear was in his eye;
He looked upon the foeman
And his glance was stern and high."
God Omnipotent shall reign;
Hallelujah! let the word
Echo round the earth and main."
O! may we be there to sing it!
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