THE GOD WHO SEPARATES
I am going to come out from the onset and confess that the title and even this piece do not do enough justice to this topic. But, let’s give it a shot.
The names of God:
Throughout my present journey of knowing the Lord, I have come across some names more often than others, you know - Jehovah Rafah; Jireh, Nissi... This one name, I have not encountered often.
He is called Jehovah Mekadesh - and that is the God who separates. Contextually, this reference is used in relation to worship Him as the God who sanctifies or sets us apart as holy - I imagine through His Spirit. He does this by separating us from a life lived outside of Him. Just for today, I’d like to take this name a little further than this kind of separation (just as He is equally infinite.)
I have for a long time been intrigued by the Great Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt, which at least every Sunday school has at the fore front of their timetable. We are familiar with the passage. What I did not realise then was that this story depicts such a strong pattern of the Lord revealing Himself as The God who separates us. In this case, from our enemies and our past).
Here's what I have learnt recently.
A. The Backdrop
Before crossing the Red Sea, the Lord performed some of the most amazing miracles in the lives of the Israelites. More particularly, He separated then from their slave masters and the plagues that afflicted them.
While in Egypt, the Israelites lived in a land known as Goshen (which literally means abundance btw). The entire time the Egyptians were afflicted by all manner of plagues as we know them, the Israelites went unharmed. Untouched. Literally. The Bible tells us that at one point, there was tangible darkness all over Egypt; but there was light in Goshen. In his final act of supernatural intervention, the Lord does one final act of separation. He struck to death all the first born children of the Egyptians. Not the first borns of the Israelites though. They slept peacefully through the night.
This pattern of separation manifests even through the wilderness as the Lord’s people journey to the promised land.
B. The event: Exodus 14.
In this scene, the Israelites have left Egypt and are journeying through the wilderness to Canaan. The Angel of the Lord moves ahead of them. They are also led by a pillar of cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night (which btw, wow).
At the instruction of the Lord, they back track for a bit and encamp somewhere between a tower and the Red Sea. The Pharaoh and his strongest chariots decide that this is the best time to reclaim their former slaves, so they pursue them.
In this moment, the Lord reveals Himself as the God who separates.
a) First, the angel of the Lord who was previously going ahead of the Israelites moves behind them - separating them from the Egyptians. [Because the Lord of Hosts knows which direction to send reinforcements that are best suited for our protection].
b) Second, the pillar of cloud that was previously moving (or rather floating) ahead of the Israelites, moves behind them - separating them from the Egyptians. But that is not all. The cloud provides light to the camp of the Israelites, but the camp of the Egyptians is shrouded in darkness.
[If I were an Egyptian who had not learnt my lesson from the death of my first born child, this would have been my sign to immediately head back to my house. But then again, God gives us a million warnings and we still do not pay attention all the time).
c) Third, (and wow) He separates the Red Sea. Let’s face it- the Lord is God enough to simply split this sea into half in one second. But no - the Word says that "He drove the sea back by a strong east wind ALL NIGHT". The Lord gives the people a 12 hours-long movie of the Red Sea bowing to the will of its Creator - and splitting into half. The waters become a wall to the Israelites on their right and left.
(I cannot believe the Egyptians still stayed. Even as an Israelite, I might struggle to stay).
d) Fourth, the Lord dries the sea bed so that His people walk on dry land. The same sea bed however clogs the chariots of the Egyptians in the mud, and they struggle to advance.
How? It was dry land one second ago?
In a final act of separation, the same Sea that was a wall around the Israelites engulfs the Egyptians - not one of them remained alive.
-insert dramatic pause-
Anyway, to borrow from the Word, “Thus, the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore.”
WOW.
Lucky for us, we serve the same God and He is still in the business of separating us from our enemies (Psalm 91), the consequences of our past (Psalm 139:5 TPT version), the snares ahead of us (Psalm 91:3), our sin (Psalm 103:12), and literally anything that would stand against us (Deuteronomy 9:3).
No wonder this story makes it to Bible Study every year.
