Water

Tim Chester on the Israelite's rescue through the Red Sea (Exodus 14)

from a Cross perspective:

Water is the symbol of judgment. The cross is the reality. At Calvary, the waters of judgment engulfed Jesus. And the land was covered in darkness. God pulled apart creation around Jesus, and Jesus sank into the tomb.

But on the third day Jesus rose again. God brings life out of death, salvation out of judgment, light out of darkness. All the stories of rescue from water have been building up to this moment. They have been preparing us to understand the cross and resurrection. God brings his people through the waters of death in the person of his Son. God unravels his creation in order to recreate his people.

Imagine the walls of waters collapsing in on one another, with people and horses being tossed about and dragged down into the depths. This is what Jesus stepped into at the cross. Jesus plunged into the chaos of the waters of judgment so that we can walk through on dry ground. Imagine the people of God standing, safe on the shore, watching God’s judgment unfold before their eyes. This is what we are doing as we watch, with the eyes of faith, God’s Son hanging on the cross.

When the Israelites saw God deliver them, they “put their trust in him and in Moses his servant”(Exodus 14: 30-31). How much more should we, when we see our deliverance in the cross and resurrection, put our trust in God, by putting our trust in Jesus his servant.