Death and Deliverance
By Pastor Hal Mayer
Dear Friends,
Welcome to Keep the Faith Ministry once again. Today, we’re going to examine the prophetic parallels between the deliverance of Israel to the deliverance of God’s people at the end of time. There are many parallels and symbols to the Christian experience that we must have if we are going to be saved. They are rich and worth studying. But today we’re going to look at the type and antitype of Bible prophecy in the experience of Israel compared to the end times.
Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, we are in need of Your Holy Spirit to come to us as we study Your word. Please help us to see and understand the depths of love that You have for Your people and the great deliverance that is coming to end this world of sin and deliver Your people from it and take Your saints home. So please enlighten us today and be our teacher. And we thank You in Jesus name, amen.
Turn with me in your Bibles to Exodus 4:22, 23. When Moses first came to pharaoh and demanded the release of Israel, a warning of the final plague was given.
“And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, Israel is my son, even my firstborn: And I say unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me: and if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn.”
But God did not execute this judgment first. He is great in mercy and long-suffering and wanted to give Pharaoh opportunity to repent. If the economic destruction of Egypt by the previous nine plagues would turn them to repentance, then God would not execute this judgment. Now Pharaoh was warned one last time.
Exodus 11:4-7, “Thus saith the LORD, About midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt: And all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the firstborn of the maidservant that is behind the mill; and all the firstborn of beasts. And there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there was none like it, nor shall be like it any more. But against any of the children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue, against man or beast: that ye may know how that the LORD doth put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel.”
The Israelites were given special directions to prepare for deliverance and to protect them from the destroying angel. They were to show their faith in God by obedience. They were to slay a lamb without blemish, the great symbol of Jesus and the deliverance from the bondage of sin, and with hyssop, a symbol of purification, they were to paint it on the doorposts of their homes. Then they were to eat the lamb, roasted whole, and leave nothing left for later. They were to also eat it with their clothing on and ready to go. They were not to think about tomorrow. The God, who led them out of bondage, would feed them.
Exodus 12:13, “And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.”
Listen to this from Patriarchs and Prophets, page 279. “The Israelites obeyed the directions that God had given. Swiftly and secretly they made their preparations for departure. Their families were gathered, the paschal lamb slain, the flesh roasted with fire, the unleavened bread and bitter herbs prepared. The father and priest of the household sprinkled the blood upon the doorpost, and joined his family within the dwelling. In haste and silence the paschal lamb was eaten. In awe the people prayed and watched, the heart of the eldest born, from the strong man down to the little child, throbbing with indefinable dread. Fathers and mothers clasped in their arms their loved first-born as they thought of the fearful stroke that was to fall that night. But no dwelling of Israel was visited by the death-dealing angel. The sign of blood—the sign of a Saviour’s protection—was on their doors, and the destroyer entered not.”
This experience was a great prophetic illustration about the people of God at the end of time, showing their faith in God and His promised deliverance. The mark of distinction between the people of God and the world is the Sabbath. The remnant have purified themselves and overcome the enemy at every turn by the power of God. During the great time of trouble, they will flee from their enemies. They will be greatly troubled and distressed. But God will provide them with food to eat. And though the wicked despised them and are bent on their destruction, they are protected by God. They are also protected from the seven last plagues. These bring them into special notice of the wicked.
Listen to this from Great Controversy, page 629. “The people of God will not be free from suffering; but while persecuted and distressed, while they endure privation and suffer for want of food they will not be left to perish. That God who cared for Elijah will not pass by one of His self-sacrificing children. He who numbers the hairs of their head will care for them, and in time of famine they shall be satisfied. While the wicked are dying from hunger and pestilence, angels will shield the righteous and supply their wants. To him that ‘walketh righteously’ is the promise: “Bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure.” “When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the Lord will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them.” Isaiah 33:15, 16; 41:17.”
Many of the Egyptians had been led to acknowledge the God of the Hebrews as the only true God. And they sought refuge from the Egyptians and pledged themselves to worship the God of heaven. They were gladly welcomed into the homes of the Israelites.
During the latter reign, many of the world will seek to join God’s remnant people and pursue an understanding and knowledge of God from them, and will join them.
Listen to this from Great Controversy, page 612. “The message will be carried not so much by argument as by the deep conviction of the Spirit of God. The arguments have been presented. The seed has been sown, and now it will spring up and bear fruit. The publications distributed by missionary workers have exerted their influence, yet many whose minds were impressed have been prevented from fully comprehending the truth or from yielding obedience. Now the rays of light penetrate everywhere, the truth is seen in its clearness, and the honest children of God sever the bands which have held them. Family connections, church relations, are powerless to stay them now. Truth is more precious than all besides. Notwithstanding the agencies combined against the truth, a large number take their stand upon the Lord’s side.”
The wrath of God will be poured out upon wicked Babylon because of her idolatry and because she tried to compel everyone to worship the beast and his image, and doubly so for her persecution of the righteous who keep the Sabbath and are loyal to God. Revelation 18:6-8 puts it this way.
“Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double. How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.”
In Egypt, the plagues were poured out just before the deliverance of Israel. So, it will be at the end of time. The plagues will fall upon the world just before the deliverance of God’s people.
From Great Controversy, pages 627 and 628 we read the following. “The plagues upon Egypt when God was about to deliver Israel were similar in character to those more terrible and extensive judgments which are to fall upon the world just before the final deliverance of God’s people.”
The plagues of Egypt were of a short duration, probably all of them within a year. But they were increasingly devastating, wiping out the economy of Egypt. The final plagues will be equally devastating, but on the whole world not just one country. They also will be of short duration.
Revelation 18:8 tells us this. “Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.”
And Matthew 24:22 tells us. “And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.”
The plagues on Rome will affect her especially because of her apostasy and idolatry, but they will also be much more widespread because Rome has caused the nations of the whole world to worship the beast and his image. No doubt, they will strike some of the most important locations to the control of Rome over the religious world. It will bring economic devastation, especially on the big cities, and rip societies apart.
Listen to this from Adventist Home, page 136. “The time is near when large cities will be swept away, and all should be warned of these coming judgments.”
And this from Great Controversy pages 628and 629. “These plagues are not universal, or the inhabitants of the earth would be wholly cut off. Yet they will be the most awful scourges that have ever been known to mortals. All the judgments upon men, prior to the close of probation, have been mingled with mercy. The pleading blood of Christ has shielded the sinner from receiving the full measure of his guilt; but in the final judgment, wrath is poured out unmixed with mercy.”
The large cities will be swept away. This means that probably multiple millions of people will die. And the proud works of man in the large cities will be destroyed. The plagues of Egypt were mixed with mercy. But the plagues at the end of time will be even more devastating on a wider scale. God is going to show His power and His authority by these plagues against the wicked because they persistently break His law and defy him.
The plagues of Egypt convinced many of the Egyptians that Pharaoh, who was worshipped as a representative of their god, was opposing himself to the One who made all the powers of nature the ministers of His will (see Patriarchs and Prophets pages 271 and 272). And they also proved to Pharaoh that the Egyptian gods were false, and that Jehovah was the only true God.
The seven last plagues will convince the wicked that the God of the remnant is the only true God and that His law is sacred and must be kept. Ezekiel gives us a picture of what God intends to do to show that He is the only true God.
Ezekiel 38:16, 18-23, 39:1-8, “And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes.”
God’s people will be faced with an overwhelming force.
“And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord GOD, that my fury shall come up in my face. For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel; so that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground. And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord GOD: every man’s sword shall be against his brother. And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone. Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the LORD.”
So, God is going to cause great plagues to fall upon the wicked that will shake them terribly and draw attention to the people of God and their worship. God will magnify Himself and show His true worship. It will be seen that Sunday worship is creature worship. He will strike the enemies of God’s people and smite them, leaving only a 6th part of them.
“Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal: And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts, and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel: And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.”
Friends, this is talking about Rome. Rome uses the wicked to come against the small remnant of God’s people with a great array of devices and resources, including oppressive laws, pervasive surveillance, military hardware, confusing psyops, torture, forced labor, etc., an overwhelming force that persecutes them. But God amazingly intervenes and magnifies His name. The purpose of the seven last plagues, like those of Egypt, is to expose the sin of creature worship and prove to all that the Creator is the only true God. The plagues cause every knee to bow and every tongue to confess the true God whom the persecuted saints have worshipped ‘even unto death.’ They will confess their guilt, as Pharaoh did to Moses and Aaron in Exodus 9:27. “And Pharaoh sent, and called for Moses and Aaron, and said unto them, I have sinned this time: the LORD is righteous, and I and my people are wicked.”
He also confessed his wicked course in Exodus 10:16 and 17. “Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron in haste; and he said, I have sinned against the LORD your God, and against you. Now therefore forgive, I pray thee, my sin only this once, and intreat the LORD your God, that he may take away from me this death only.”
Even the magicians acknowledged that “This is the finger of God.” (Ex 8:19) The seven last plagues will humble the wicked and cause them to confess their guilt and acknowledge that God is with the despised remnant.
Isaiah 60:14 and 15 say the following. “The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee; and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet; and they shall call thee, The city of the LORD, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel. Whereas thou hast been forsaken and hated, so that no man went through thee, I will make thee an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations.”
Philippians 2:10 and 11 also tells us this. “That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Great Controversy gives us more detail. On page 655 it says, “Men whom the world has worshiped for their talents and eloquence now see these things in their true light. They realize what they have forfeited by transgression, and they fall at the feet of those whose fidelity they have despised and derided, and confess that God has loved them.”
Early Writings gives still more detail too on page 124. “I saw that the priests who are leading on their flock to death are soon to be arrested in their dreadful career. The plagues of God are coming, but it will not be sufficient for the false shepherds to be tormented with one or two of these plagues. God’s hand at that time will be stretched out still in wrath and justice and will not be brought to Himself again until His purposes are fully accomplished, and the hireling priests are led to worship at the feet of the saints, and to acknowledge that God has loved them because they held fast the truth and kept God’s commandments, and until all the unrighteous ones are destroyed from the earth.”
Ancient Israel escaped the seven last of the 10 plagues. God’s true people at the end of time, who are faithful to Him and keep all the commandments, will also escape the seven last plagues as they fall on modern Babylon and her allies in the whole world.
In Psalm 91:10 God makes a promise that He intends to keep. “There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.”
The term “seven last plagues” explicitly implies that there are other plagues before these seven. While we don’t know how many there will be, they are of a more universal character. God’s people may be subject to them too. For instance, the COVID-19 virus was a world-wide plague. The war in Ukraine may also be classed with these plagues. Some of God’s faithful people, no doubt, have been affected by them. But the seven last plagues will only fall on the wicked.
The blood sprinkled on the doorposts of the Israelites in Egypt was the seal or mark of allegiance and obedience to God. For the last generation, the seal is the Sabbath and is a sign of their loyalty and obedience to the creator, or the true God. It is also a sign of redemption and sanctification. The keeping of the Sabbath is the outward sign of a character that has been cleansed from all sin by the blood of Christ. While it is not a physical mark, it is nevertheless the seal or mark that secures the faithful from the weapons of the slaughtering angels that represent the wrath of God and secures their safety.
In the Ezekiel 9:4-6 the Bible gives us some detail about the sequence. “And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof. And to the others he said in mine hearing, Go ye after him through the city, and smite: let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity: Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient men which were before the house.”
This is a terrible time for God’s church. I do not want these plagues to fall on me. So, I must redeem the time, and plead with God to bring my life into harmony with heaven. You don’t want this either. To some it may seem so extreme that they can’t believe it. But I believe it because the Bible says so. The Bible is prophetically accurate. While we often don’t want to think about the evil that is coming upon the world, we must because we must also prepare. So be sure your life is under the blood. Be sure that the blood is on your doorpost and that Jesus reigns in your heart, so you can truly keep His Sabbath.
The marking angel in Ezekiel’s vision is followed by the angels of death, who will pass over those who have the protecting mark, but they will not pass over those who don’t, in fact, they will destroy many of the wicked. Just going to church on Sabbath is not enough. You have to keep it as Inspiration tells you to in order to receive the mark of God and avoid the death penalty that God will inflict upon the wicked.
Listen to Revelation 7:1-3. “And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.”
Ezekiel 20:12 and 20 confirms the seal or mark of God. “Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD that sanctify them… And hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the LORD your God.”
The deliverance of ancient Israel from Egypt was at midnight.
In Exodus 11:4 Moses tells us that, “Thus saith the LORD, About midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt: And all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the firstborn of the maidservant that is behind the mill; and all the firstborn of beasts.”
The necessary preparation was to have the blood sprinkled on the doorposts and to have everything packed up and ready to move. They were to be dressed with their sandals on their feet and their staves in their hands. The angel of death to the Egyptians was the angel of deliverance to the Israelites. When he passed through the land at midnight there arose a wail of distress from the Egyptians and a shout of deliverance from the people of God. And the march to freedom began.
There are two phases to the deliverance of Israel. Israel’s deliverance from Egypt was not complete until they passed through the Red Sea and out of the dominion of Egypt. At the Red Sea they were delivered from the sentence of death which was the final act in the drama of their Egyptian pilgrimage. Pharaoh’s decree was that they be brought back into bondage or destroyed.
Let’s read Exodus 15:9. “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.”
Israel was in a trap with no apparent possibility of escape. The outlook from their viewpoint seemed hopeless. They must either return to Egypt to a crueler bondage or face the sentence of death. It was a test of faith and trust in God. And the deliverance was sudden and unexpected.
Some have estimated that the time it took for the Israelites to pass through the Red Sea and for the Egyptians to follow them with a large army of soldiers and 600 Chariots, who were in the midst of the passage during the morning watch, that the Red Sea opened about midnight. So, the second phase of Israel’s deliverance was also apparently at midnight.
God’s precious people, who have been faithful through thick and thin, also go through a two-phase deliverance from the power and wrath of modern Babylon and of Satan. The first deliverance is from the sentence of death. Angels of God protect them.
Listen to this from Early Writings, page 282. “I saw the saints leaving the cities and villages, and associating together in companies, and living in the most solitary places. Angels provided them food and water, while the wicked were suffering from hunger and thirst. Then I saw the leading men of the earth consulting together, and Satan and his angels busy around them. I saw a writing, copies of which were scattered in different parts of the land, giving orders that unless the saints should yield their peculiar faith, give up the Sabbath, and observe the first day of the week, the people were at liberty after a certain time to put them to death. But in this hour of trial the saints were calm and composed, trusting in God and leaning upon His promise that a way of escape would be made for them. In some places, before the time for the decree to be executed, the wicked rushed upon the saints to slay them; but angels in the form of men of war fought for them. Satan wished to have the privilege of destroying the saints of the Most High; but Jesus bade His angels watch over them. God would be honored by making a covenant with those who had kept His law, in the sight of the heathen round about them; and Jesus would be honored by translating, without their seeing death, the faithful, waiting ones who had so long expected Him.”
God will magnify His law and His holy name through noticeably protecting His saints in the sight of all their enemies. It will become so obvious that He is protecting them that there can be no doubt about who His faithful people are.
The second phase of their deliverance will be from the terribly corrupted and destroyed world itself at the second coming of Christ. The advanced global systems, especially in developed countries will fall into dysfunction. Road and streets will become unusable. Communications will become very difficult as modern technology collapses. Medical attention will be limited because deadly pestilences shall rage. Supply chains will be disrupted again and again. All the infrastructure upon which a society is built will be greatly challenged by the plagues. The things humanity has relied on will no longer serve their needs. The wicked will really struggle from day-to-day, getting food, pure water, and basic necessities. When people who have been used to being self-indulgent are hungry and even starving, they will become violent, as in old Jerusalem during its siege and destruction.
The righteous will be stressed too, but in a different way. Though God’s people will be stressed, they will have food and water. When the wicked are dying all around them, they will have their needs met. The Bible promise in Isaiah 33:16 gives us assurance that the righteous during this time of trouble will be fed.
“He shall dwell on high: his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure.”
The death penalty will be imposed upon the righteous for their loyalty to God. They’re loyalty will be seen as treason to human governments. There will be misinformation and disinformation spread about them. Like Israel of old, the last generation will be apparently trapped, and will see no way of escape from the death penalty. It will seem to them that they either have to compromise their faith and their loyalty to God and return to Babylon, as it were, or be killed.
Notice this statement from Early Writings, page 283. “It was an hour of fearful, terrible agony to the saints. Day and night they cried unto God for deliverance. To outward appearance, there was no possibility of their escape.”
Think about this from Great Controversy, page 635. “When the protection of human laws shall be withdrawn from those who honor the law of God, there will be, in different lands, a simultaneous movement for their destruction. As the time appointed in the decree draws near, the people will conspire to root out the hated sect. It will be determined to strike in one night a decisive blow, which shall utterly silence the voice of dissent and reproof.”
The Israelites were protected by a company of mighty angels that stood guard between them and the Egyptians all through the night of their trial and deliverance. The last generation of faithful souls while under the sentence of death will be protected by powerful angelic messengers.
Listen to this amazing passage from Isaiah 4:4-6. “When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning. And the LORD will create upon every dwelling place of mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night: for upon all the glory shall be a defence. And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain.”
God is going to protect His people from the storm of trouble that will come upon the world and upon them. He will create, as it were, a cloud and smoke by day, and a pillar of fire by night just as ancient Israel experienced. God’s people may not be able to see this, but it will hold the wicked in check from their destructive and wicked purposes. God will supernaturally attend His precious people just as He did for ancient Israel.
This makes Great Controversy, pages 630 and 631 come alive. “Could men see with heavenly vision, they would behold companies of angels that excel in strength stationed about those who have kept the word of Christ’s patience. With sympathizing tenderness, angels have witnessed their distress and have heard their prayers. They are waiting the word of their Commander to snatch them from their peril. But they must wait yet a little longer. The people of God must drink of the cup and be baptized with the baptism. The very delay, so painful to them, is the best answer to their petitions. As they endeavor to wait trustingly for the Lord to work they are led to exercise faith, hope, and patience, which have been too little exercised during their religious experience. Yet for the elect’s sake the time of trouble will be shortened. “Shall not God avenge His own elect, which cry day and night unto Him? … I tell you that He will avenge them speedily.” Luke 18:7, 8. The end will come more quickly than men expect. The wheat will be gathered and bound in sheaves for the garner of God; the tares will be bound as fagots for the fires of destruction.”
All laws go into effect at midnight. The death penalty will also be imposed at midnight. Therefore, the deliverance of God’s people from the wrath and power of modern Babylon and Satan will take place at midnight.
Great Controversy, page 636, “It is at midnight that God manifests His power for the deliverance of His people.”
And deliverance of God’s faithful people will be just as dramatic and supernatural as was the deliverance of ancient Israel from Egypt. Listen to it.
“The sun appears, shining in its strength. Signs and wonders follow in quick succession. The wicked look with terror and amazement upon the scene, while the righteous behold with solemn joy the tokens of their deliverance. Everything in nature seems turned out of its course. The streams cease to flow. Dark, heavy clouds come up and clash against each other. In the midst of the angry heavens is one clear space of indescribable glory, whence comes the voice of God like the sound of many waters, saying: ‘It is done.’ Revelation 16:17.
“That voice shakes the heavens and the earth. There is a mighty earthquake, “such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great.” Verses 17, 18. The firmament appears to open and shut. The glory from the throne of God seems flashing through. The mountains shake like a reed in the wind, and ragged rocks are scattered on every side. There is a roar as of a coming tempest. The sea is lashed into fury. There is heard the shriek of a hurricane like the voice of demons upon a mission of destruction. The whole earth heaves and swells like the waves of the sea. Its surface is breaking up. Its very foundations seem to be giving way. Mountain chains are sinking. Inhabited islands disappear. The seaports that have become like Sodom for wickedness are swallowed up by the angry waters… The proudest cities of the earth are laid low. The lordly palaces, upon which the world’s great men have lavished their wealth in order to glorify themselves, are crumbling to ruin before their eyes. Prison walls are rent asunder, and God’s people, who have been held in bondage for their faith, are set free.”
The death sentence upon God’s people will be reversed. The wicked will never be permitted to execute their sentence of death. But instead, God will execute His sentence of death on the wicked.
Revelation 18:8 is speaking of Babylon and of her dominion. “Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.”
Like the ancient Israelites who watched the destruction of their enemies in the Red Sea, the last generation of earth, God’s faithful saints, will be able to witness the vengeance of God upon their persecutors and see them rewarded with the very sentence of death that they had expected to execute upon the righteous.
I would like to review what happened at the Red Sea after the Israelites passed through it.
Let’s read from Exodus 14:23 and 24. “The Egyptians pursued, and went in after them to the midst of the sea, even all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. And it came to pass, that in the morning watch the Lord looked unto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians.”
What does the scripture mean by “troubled the host of the Egyptians?” The Egyptians followed them and as they did suddenly there was a change. It’s found in the scriptures but there is a summary in Patriarchs and Prophets that is very descriptive. Let us read from page 287. “The mysterious cloud changed to a pillar of fire before their astonished eyes. The thunders pealed and the lightnings flashed. ‘The clouds poured out water; the skies sent out a sound: Thine arrows also went abroad. The voice of Thy thunder was in the whirlwind; the lightning lightened the world: the earth trembled and shook.’ Psalm 77:17 and 18, R.V.”
“The Egyptians were seized with confusion and dismay. Amid the wrath of the elements, in which they heard the voice of an angry God, they endeavored to retrace their steps and flee to the shore they had quitted. But Moses stretched out his rod, and the piled-up waters, hissing, roaring, and eager for their prey, rushed together and swallowed the Egyptian army in their black depths.”
No doubt the surprised looks on their faces revealed their terror. Likewise, at the end of time there will be an unbelievable storm which is way beyond what people have seen in modern times. It will surprise billions of people. It will be a great rainstorm with hail stones, thunder, lightning, and a great earthquake.
Let’s read that passage from Great Controversy, pages 637 and 638 again. “There is a mighty earthquake… The mountains shake like a reed in the wind, and ragged rocks are scattered on every side. There is a roar as of a coming tempest. The sea is lashed into fury. There is heard the shriek of a hurricane like the voice of demons upon a mission of destruction. The whole earth heaves and swells like the waves of the sea. Its surface is breaking up. Its very foundations seem to be giving way. Mountain chains are sinking. Inhabited islands disappear. The seaports that have become like Sodom for wickedness are swallowed up by the angry waters. Babylon the great has come in remembrance before God, “to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath.” Great hailstones, every one “about the weight of a talent,” are doing their work of destruction. Verses 19 and 21. The proudest cities of the earth are laid low… Fierce lightnings leap from the heavens, enveloping the earth in a sheet of flame. Above the terrific roar of thunder, voices, mysterious and awful, declare the doom of the wicked.”
Let us put it together with Jeremiah 4:24-27. “I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly. I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled. I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the LORD, and by his fierce anger. For thus hath the LORD said, The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end”.
Triumphant Israel, on the shores of the Red Sea celebrated their deliverance in song. God’s people, after the deliverance of the last generation will sing the same song because they have passed through the same experience. It’s called the song of Moses and the Lamb.
Essentially, the same terms are used to describe Israel’s deliverance and the deliverance of the last generation. Miriam, the prophetess, led the song for ancient Israel. Could it be that the prophetess of the Advent Movement will lead the song of the redeemed?
The song of triumph is the song of the Lamb. Jesus, the Lamb of God, won His victory in the garden of Gethsemane about midnight. His midnight victory made possible our midnight deliverance.
It is impossible that Israel knew the depth of experience they would go through in their deliverance from Egypt. Likewise, the people of God in the last generation will find it impossible to understand the depth of the trial they will experience during the time of trouble at the end of time.
Listen to this from Great Controversy, page 622. “The “time of trouble, such as never was,” is soon to open upon us; and we shall need an experience which we do not now possess and which many are too indolent to obtain. It is often the case that trouble is greater in anticipation than in reality; but this is not true of the crisis before us. The most vivid presentation cannot reach the magnitude of the ordeal. In that time of trial, every soul must stand for himself before God.”
I hope you long to be on the Lord’s side in this great controversy. And as it comes to an end, we must have an experience that far exceeds our past or even present experience. I hope you are faithful to the end.
Let us pray. Our dear Father in heaven, the deliverance of Your people will be so amazing that it’s hard to imagine what it will be like. We have descriptions available to us, but it seems that they pale into insignificance when we really see these things. Your power is great. But Your love is also great. Please, help us to be loyal to Christ. Please make us pure and holy, and let us experience true victory in Christ over the enemy. And we will sing the song of Moses and the Lamb in the new earth. In Jesus name, amen.