(Shemot 13:17-17:16, Haftara Judg. 4:4-5-31, Brit Chadashah Jn.16:7-33)

(Please take the time to read the portion completely as this "reflection" is designed to be a practical life application of some selected parts of the Torah portion, Haftara and Brit Chadashah and is not an in depth commentary, but rather a way to see ourselves in the text.)

Exo 14:13-14 But Moses said to the people, "Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of YHVH which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever. "YHVH will fight for you while you keep silent."

I reciently had a discussion with local pastor in which I asked "What is the biblical defenition of Salvation?" He responded with the tried and true answer "Yeshua!" While it sounds good it is not the answer to the question "What" is salvation but rather "Who" has provided it. I venture to say that for many of us we have only the who answer and not the what answer. Now don't get me wrong I am not trying to minimize in any way the purpose of Yeshua and the work of the wood for our salvation, it's just that most people don't have a clue what salvation is all about and so they are missing out on a great deal of power to overcome the enemy.

In the above passage we have what amounts to a dictionary entry to catch our attention "see the salvation of YHVH." How much clearer can our Heavenly Teacher make it? The scene? The Israelites are between Pharaoh's army and the Red Sea. No way to go forward and no way to retreat. They are in effect dead. They only get to choose how, sword or drowning. But wait YHVH Himself intervenes and places a column of cloud and fire between the Egyptians and Israel. Great! the choice is made for them, drowning. Yet YHVH has another plan, He parts the sea and they pass through. The Egyptians try to follow and are swallowed up in the crashing waves. Here in the beginning of the nation of Israel we have a clear picture of salvation. Deliverance from certain death AND the destruction of our enemies. In this simple illustration we can see the awsome work of Messiah as He delivered us from certain death, the wages of sin, and destroyed our enemy, which is sin itself on the wood.

Wait a minute Bill you say, Sin is alive and well and living all around us. Just look at any news report and you have to admitt it's true. Yes, the final victory over sin will not come about until our adversary is thrown to his final resting place after the millenium. Untill then we must constantly be on guard so as not to slip back into the old man.

Rom 6:1-7 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Messiah Yeshua have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Messiah was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin.

Passing through the Red Sea was a baptism or Mikvah, ritual cleansing from impurities, and that is how we are identified with the death of Messiah. We are new creations and therefore cannot sin in our new, regenerated spirit nature. If we sin it is because we choose to walk in our old fleshly nature. This is our non-regenerated state and we are to avoid it at all costs. Even in Pauls time the miss-use of grace, favor or empowerment, was prevelent as we see from the above passage, "do we continue to sin? NO! we are to live a life free of sin. That is the part that is often miss taught and miss understood. The phrase "be holy because I am holy" is often rendered "be perfect as I am perfect." Well we know we can't be perfect so we just accept that we will just keep on living in sin that's what Yeshua is for right?

Heb 10:26 For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,

The key word is willfully. I was taught in Church school that all sins are the same. The scriptures teach that there are some that lead to death, intentional sins and some that don't, unintentional ones. We are to keep ourselves separate from intentional sin.

Let's look at the scripture in Leviticus;

Lev 20:26 'Thus you are to be holy to Me, for I YHVH am holy; and I have set you apart from the peoples to be Mine.

Set apart, yes that is the definition of "holy." We can be set apart just as the children of Israel were set apart for use by YHVH. Peter quoting Exodus 19:6 said it best;

1Pe 2:9 But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God's OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;

As the children of Israel passed through the bowls of the Red Sea it was a time of darkness, the darkness of fear, as they immerged on the other side alive and witness to the destruction of their enemy, they sang a new song of freedom. As we who passed through the death and resurrection of Yeshua live on the other side as new creations we should not walk in fear of sin but in surety that we can live by the grace given to us to obey His commandments. For sin is disobedience to the commandments of God. (1Jn 3:4)

Exo 15:2-6 "YHVH is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation; This is my God, and I will praise Him; My father's God, and I will extol Him. "YHVH is a warrior; YHVH is His name. "Pharaoh's chariots and his army He has cast into the sea; And the choicest of his officers are drowned in the Red Sea. "The deeps cover them; They went down into the depths like a stone. "Your right hand, O YHVH, is majestic in power, Your right hand, O YHVH, shatters the enemy.

Shalom B'Shem Yeshua
Bill