Word that He led the children of Israel through the Red Sea by parting the waters. Once they were on the other side, He drowned their pursuers, the Egyptian army, by returning the waters upon them. Every excuse imaginable has been offered to annul any authenticity in this account, primarily that they actually went a different route that took them through a shallow area, perhaps ankle to knee deep.
We find this documentation of
God in Exodus 15, but let’s read what God said through the prophet Nehemiah.
“And thou didst divide the sea before them,
so that they went through the midst of the sea on the dry land; and their
persecutors thou threwest into the deeps, as a stone into the mighty waters.”
(Nehemiah 9:11)
If that isn’t clear enough,
and it certainly should be, let’s read the same passage in another very easy to
understand, and accurate translation.
“You divided the sea for your people so they
could walk through on dry land! And then you hurled their enemies into the
depths of the sea. They sank like stones beneath the mighty waters.” (Nehemiah
9:11 NLT)
·
How can anyone
deduce from that that Israel walked across via a shallow area?
·
What would be the
point in “dividing the sea” if it were shallow?
·
How do you hurl
your enemies in the shallows? Maybe you trip them. They were thrown or hurled
into the deeps or depths of the sea. That ain’t shallow folks.
·
How do you drown
an army in shallow water? It says they sank like a stone in mighty water.
That’s a heck of a lot of water. No shallows here.
·
To top it off,
God also blew the ground dry with a wind in order that they could cross on dry
ground and not get stuck in the mud.
There are thousands of
instances like this in the Bible that many people just cannot get to the point
of believing.
Here’s the way I see it. If
there is one instance in the Bible that is not true, why should I trust any of
it? Also, should it not be true that God can do anything He chooses? Think
about this now, it might slip by you. Doesn’t the fact that He is God make Him
much greater than we could ever comprehend? You and I could never perform this
feat mentioned in Nehemiah 9:11, but we are not God. We are mere humans. So,
why do so many put our human limitations upon God?
It is understandable that
those who do not know God are blind to the Truth. What isn’t understandable is
that many of those who say they do know God are blind to the Truth. How can one
who says they know God not believe His Word in its entirety, such as Nehemiah
9:11?
We have been in the last days
for nearly 2,000 years, and are now in the last of the last days. We are, in
these final days of the Church age, certainly blessed with religious people who
are just as blind as the scribes and Pharisees of the first century. The
Laodicean church is in full swing, and Jesus said to them, in part,
“Because thou sayest, I am rich, and
increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art
wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind
[emphasis mine], and naked:”
(Revelation 3:17)
Jesus healed the sick, caused
the blind to see, raised the dead, etc. He closed the mouths of lions against
Daniel. He caused a flood that destroyed all people except Noah and his family.
He died on the cross and rose from the dead. He says He is returning for His
Church. He has given us signs, that abound by the way, to usher in the
Tribulation. He has told us of Heaven, hell, the lake of fire, judgment,
rewards, and much more. He has told us about sin and its consequences. How can
it be that religious people, leaders no less, do not believe? They are blind.
Why do they pick and choose what they will accept? They are blind. Are they
truly saved?
Notice that I called them
religious people. Religion and Christianity are not the same. Religion is the
act of man doing it his way. Christianity is the act of man doing it God’s way.
Religion seeks its own god, usually man himself. Christianity accepts God as
God, and accepts all that He is and says. Religion is man’s way to satisfy man.
Christianity is a relationship with
Almighty God through the Lord Jesus Christ.
It can be most irritating
when we think of the religious leaders of our day who are leading others away
from Christ instead of toward Him. As I type, I see the faces of those I am
familiar with in my mind. One part of me would like to smack some sense into
them, but another, wiser part, says they are lost and need our prayers. That is
the part we all need to listen to. Some of us who rant and rave over the lunacy
of today’s false teachers should certainly continue to do so, but they still
need our prayers. Jesus said,
“Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the
blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.”
(Matthew 15:14)
One person teaching
falsehoods can lead many away from Christ. They instill doubts in innocent
minds that trust them for the Truth, but instead are led toward the broad road
of destruction. Perhaps if just one of these false teachers could be led to the
Truth by prayer, the innocent victims who they would have led to destruction will
instead be led to Jesus Christ.
If just one Truth-filled
Christian, who has not spoken out before, would do so now, perhaps hundreds or
thousands could be saved from the false teachings of false prophets.
Satan wants to place just the
slightest doubt in our minds concerning God. Read the account of Elijah and the
450 prophets of Baal beginning at 1 Kings 18:20. The doubters will say that
Elijah actually poured four gallons of gasoline or some other ignitable fluid
on the altar instead of water. Which do you believe? Elijah told the people in
verse 21,
“And Elijah came unto all the people, and
said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him:
but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.”
Do you believe it or not? Is
God really God, or is it all a lie? There is no middle ground. I will go so far
to say that if we cannot believe these accounts that God has placed in His
Word, I cannot see how we can possibly claim to be a child of God, saved by
grace through Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
If we cannot believe that
Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead for example, how can we believe anything God
has said? We cannot. The only conclusion must be that no faith exists, but it
is through faith in Him that we are saved by His grace.
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and
that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not
of works, lest any man should boast.”
(Ephesians 2:8-9)
If we cannot accept every
Word that proceeds from the mouth of God, but instead pick and choose what we
will believe, we are not of God. If we cannot believe the Bible’s condemnation
concerning homosexuality, abortion, evolution, etc. we are not of God. Believe
it or not, the Bible is that which proceeds from the mouth of God for us to
accept as Truth. To do otherwise is to call God a liar.
“God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every
man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings,
and mightest overcome when thou art judged.” (Romans 3:4)
“He that believeth on the Son of God hath the
witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he
believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.” (1 John 5:10)
Grant Phillips
grantphillips@windstream.net
My articles are posted at
“Pre-Rapture Commentary” http://grant-phillips.blogspot.com
and many are also posted at “Rapture Ready” http://www.raptureready.com/featured/phillips/phillips.html.
