A story of rescue
Through the Sea
Thousands of years ago, a people trapped between an army and deep water watched God make a way where there was none. The Exodus is still telling us something about our own stories.
swipe or press01 Where the story picks up
A promise, and then a chain
God called Abraham out of a pagan nation and promised him land, descendants, and a blessing that would reach the whole world — grace given before Abraham had done anything to earn it.
The promise passed to Isaac, then to Jacob, then to Jacob's twelve sons. Joseph, sold into slavery by his brothers, rose to become Pharaoh's right hand and saved the whole region from famine. The family settled in Egypt, grew, and flourished.
Then a new king came to power, to whom Joseph meant nothing. The people who had been welcomed were now enslaved.
"The Israelites were exceedingly fruitful… so numerous that the land was filled with them. Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt."
Exodus 1:7–802 The tension
The nation is growing — but it isn't free
In one sense the promise to Abraham is coming true: his descendants are becoming numerous. In another sense it isn't. They have no land of their own, and they are severely oppressed, day after day.
This is the question at the centre of Exodus:
How will God save these people? How will he keep the promises he made back in Genesis?
The question Exodus sets out to answer03 How God saves · one
God hears the cry, and sends a savior
God is not deaf. He hears the people groaning under slavery — and though they don't know it yet, he has already been preparing someone: a child raised in Egypt, called to lead them out. His name is Moses.
"I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt… So I have come down to rescue them… and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey."
Exodus 3:7–8Generations later the pattern repeats. A people under foreign rule — this time Rome. A special child, protected, raised in Egypt, called to save. This time his name is Jesus.
04 How God saves · two
A way opened through sacrifice
Pharaoh refused to let the people go — through plague after plague. So God sent one final sign, and made a way of escape marked in blood.
"He will see the blood on the top and the sides of the door frame, and he will pass over that doorway, and he will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses."
Exodus 12:23Those covered by the blood were saved. Wrath and grace on full display at once — and a picture, Nick says, of a greater Lamb of God whose own death would open the way for people to escape death.
05 How God saves · three
From slavery to freedom
Now the pivot of the whole book — the Red Sea crossing. Five things happen here, Nick says, that keep happening in our own stories too.
"By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud… and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night."
Exodus 13:21i At the crossing
God leads to a difficult place
Sometimes, when God is actually leading, things get worse before they get better. When Moses first asked for freedom, the people's workload got heavier, not lighter. Now they're pinned — an angry army behind, deep water ahead.
Is it possible the difficulty you're facing right now is God allowing things to get harder — so he can show up in an even more amazing way?
"Might you be right on the precipice of grace? In the middle of trial, don't lose heart — you may be on the eve of rescue."
ii At the crossing
God shows up in a surprising way
The same pillar stood between the two armies all night. From one side, it was only darkness and fog. From the other, it was light.
Sometimes when God shows up for one person, he's hidden from another. Might he be showing up in your story even if others can't yet see it?
iii At the crossing
God does an amazing miracle
"The Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left."
Exodus 14:22Picture it — at least six miles of water standing on either side, held open by the hand of God. Awe-inspiring and terrifying at once.
Nick imagines the crossing: some Israelites strutting through, hyped; others inching across with their eyes shut, taking baby steps. All of them made it. It wasn't the quality of their faith that saved them — it was the object of it. God did the work; they only had to walk.
iv · v At the crossing
God defeats what you couldn't
The sea closed over the army. This was an enemy the Israelites had known their whole lives — one they could never have beaten themselves. "The Lord will fight for you; you need only be still." (Exodus 14:14)
Have you had an enemy you couldn't defeat? Tap each one Nick named:
And when the people saw what God had done, they responded the only way that fit — in faith and worship. "The Lord is my strength and my defence; he has become my salvation." (Exodus 15:2)
The one thing to take home
Tell someone about the sea you walked through
Nick's single challenge: find someone this week and tell them about a time God showed up in your story and defeated an enemy you couldn't beat. Parents, tell your kids. Friends, tell each other on the way home.
And if you're not yet a follower of Jesus — ask someone to tell you theirs.
What's the sea God brought you through?
Every believer's story is an echo of the Exodus: heard, rescued, carried from slavery to freedom on dry ground.