Fear That Sings and Dances

Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.

Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the Lord, saying,

“I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously;
     the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.” (Exodus 14:30–15:1)

A few professing Christians seem only to see their God as fearsome. Meanwhile, and far more tragically, countless unbelievers seem not to fear the living God at all.

This is a tragic reversal in our fallen age: that a few who could feel safe do not — while many who should be genuinely frightened are not.

Another concern, though, is so many Christians today who don’t ignore God (like unbelievers), nor do they fear him (like those few tender souls). They acknowledge a God who is frankly small in their estimation. He is more like a pond than the Pacific Ocean, more like a trickle than Niagara Falls, more like a hill than the Himalayas. They do not have a vision of God in his greatness — and so their joy in him is small.

God of Majesty

When Christians talk about the attributes of God, we often speak of his love, his mercy, his holiness, his justice, his omnipotence and omniscience and omnipresence. An overlooked attribute today is his majesty. And I suspect that the recovery of the majesty of God could greatly help most Christians today, as well as unsettle sinners and freshly settle true saints.

The song of Exodus 15 celebrates the majesty of God. And the song confirms that Exodus 14 isn’t mainly about liberating humans from slavery, but about showing small, powerless humans the very majesty of God their souls were made to be thrilled with.

God’s majesty brings together both his greatness and his goodness, both his strength and his beauty. Majesty is not only a fitting term for mountain majesties but a particularly appropriate descriptor of God, who is “the Majestic One” (Isaiah 10:34).

The word majesty is emotive or affective. It indicates greatness (in sight or sound) that is also wonderful — bigness that is beautiful, imposing size that is viewed with delight, imposing power received as attractive. Majesty calls attention to the greatness of God’s glory and the glory of his greatness.

• For God’s enemies, his greatness brings terror.
• But his friends declare his majesty.

The book of Genesis does not use the language of God’s glory or majesty. Exodus 14–15 are the first uses. Earlier in Exodus, one of the most foreboding statements in the book is Exodus 5:2. Moses has approached Pharaoh for the first time. He announces, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Let my people go’” (verse 1). To which Pharaoh responds: “Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and moreover, I will not let Israel go” (verse 2).

Mark that. Pharaoh asks, “Who is the Lord? I do not know the Lord.” And knowing how the story goes, we pause here and say, Oh, Pharaoh, you prideful fool. You will know. You will find out who he is soon enough. You will see him act in judgment on you, and you will know that he is the Lord.

Then, no more will Pharaoh be able to say, “Who is the Lord? I do not know him.” Pharaoh will know God — but not as friend. Pharaoh and the Egyptians will know him as a vanquishing foe, as we see twice in Exodus 14:

• Verse 4: “I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord.”
• Verses 17–18: “I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they shall go in after them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, his chariots, and his horsemen. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.”

Pharaoh thinks he has majesty. But at the Red Sea, God will show his people and their oppressors his own majesty. The reason this event goes down like it does, with all its strange and unexpected details, is that God is making himself known as majestic. The point isn’t simply to free captives from slavery. God could have done that very simply, in a snap. The point isn’t human liberation but divine majesty and glory.

So, then, how does God “get glory” over his enemies? How does he show the world and all history and us his majesty?

1. God shows his people his great power.

• Verse 30: “Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand [that is, power] of the Egyptians.”
• Verse 31: “Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians.”

You might say God seems to make this more dramatic than he has to, does he not? Exodus 14:1–9 set the scene: Essentially, God backs his people into a corner. He moves the enemy to come after them; he hardens Pharaoh’s heart and changes his mind. In the moment, this seems awful to God’s people — how could God have done this? It’s a setup. The story’s not over yet: The enemy does not know yet or fear God, nor does Israel. But Israel fears the enemy greatly (verse 10). And they’re about to see who they should really fear. So, Moses says,

Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent. (Exodus 14:13–14)

All you have to do is watch and keep quiet. You need not lift a finger. You dare not. You dare not raise your swords or even raise your voice. Not even a war cry is called for here, as God will call for later at Jericho.

God shows us something about himself when he saves through the agency of his obedient people. And he shows us another aspect of who he is when he saves while his people do not work but “have only to be silent.”

So, this salvation that God works at the Red Sea is a see-only salvation. It’s a faith-alone rescue. God does not instruct them to take up their weapons. There will be other times for that. God does indeed extend his grace in the world in ways that involve his people’s participation. But before he calls his people to the battle that he will fight through them (coming in Exodus 17, against the Amalekites), he first fights for them in chapter 14, without them doing anything but watching. He puts on a show of his great power.

“Joy transforms fear, and fear transforms joy. Joy makes fear pleasant, and fear makes joy intense.”

Don’t miss the nature of this divine rescue for the kind of rescues you need — for a marriage you think is done, or for a child or friend you fear you will always be estranged from. It feels like you are backed up against the Red Sea. There seem to be no other options, no other possibilities — no way, no how. The chariots are bearing down, and it’s only a matter of time.

And what’s he doing in your life when he’s backing you up into that impossible place? When he’s hemming you in from all sides? He means to show you his majesty.

And so, on the other side of rescue, the song of Exodus 15 makes clear who the hero is. Here’s a taste:

Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the Lord, saying,

“I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously [is highly exalted];
     the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.
The Lord is my strength and my song,
     and he has become my salvation;
this is my God, and I will praise him,
     my father’s God, and I will exalt him.
The Lord is a man of war;
     the Lord is his name.

“Pharaoh’s chariots and his host he cast into the sea,
     and his chosen officers were sunk in the Red Sea.
The floods covered them;
     they went down into the depths like a stone.” (Exodus 15:1–5)

2. He shakes off his enemies.

This is not a fair fight between Egypt and the living God. God flexes over them, so to speak. First, he looks down on them and throws them into a panic.

Then the angel of God who was going before the host of Israel moved and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them, coming between the host of Egypt and the host of Israel. And there was the cloud and the darkness. And it lit up the night without one coming near the other all night.

Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. The Egyptians pursued and went in after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. And in the morning watch the Lord in the pillar of fire and of cloud looked down on the Egyptian forces and threw the Egyptian forces into a panic, clogging their chariot wheels so that they drove heavily. And the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from before Israel, for the Lord fights for them against the Egyptians.” (Exodus 14:19–25)

So, he looks down on them. Like Genesis 11:5 at the Tower of Babel: “The Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built.” I’m sorry, what’s that down there? Is that a tower? What’s that, Pharaoh, an army?

Somehow God, in the pillar of fire, looks down on them, which throws them into a panic. They realize at that moment, all too late, they’re in trouble. But God doesn’t just look down on them, but Exodus 14:27 (LSV) says he “shakes [them] off,” like they’re nothing. They are very small and weak. Look at verses 26–29:

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen.” So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal course when the morning appeared. And as the Egyptians fled into it, the Lord threw [shook off] the Egyptians into the midst of the sea. The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen; of all the host of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea, not one of them remained. But the people of Israel walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.

So, as promised, Pharaoh and the Egyptians do come to know God (Exodus 5:2). They come to know him in his great power (against them) as he looks down on them, makes them panic, and shakes them off to their death in the sea. So, the song of praise celebrates in 15:6–10:

Your right hand, O Lord, glorious [majestic] in power,
     your right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemy.
In the greatness of your majesty you overthrow your adversaries;
     you send out your fury; it consumes them like stubble.
At the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up;
     the floods stood up in a heap;
     the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea.
The enemy said, “I will pursue, I will overtake,
     I will divide the spoil, my desire shall have its fill of them.
     I will draw my sword; my hand shall destroy them.”
You blew with your wind; the sea covered them;
     they sank like lead in the mighty waters.

So, how does he show his majesty? He acts to show his people his great power. And he shakes off their enemies.

3. He thrills his people with fear that sings.

The Red Sea crossing is a story about fear: Israel’s and Egypt’s. Egypt goes from fearless pursuit to panic, just before they’re wiped out. And so, you might think Israel goes from great fear in Exodus 14:10 to being fearless. But that’s not what happens. Look how this ends, in verse 31:

Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.

They have seen the power of God on display in plague after plague. But now, in this dramatic demonstration of his “great power,” they see how God’s power far surpasses Egypt’s. All along the people should not have been fearing Egypt; they should have feared the Lord. And now they do. Verse 31: “The people feared the Lord.”

But this is a different kind of fear. This is the right kind of fear. This is healthy fear — the kind of fear that every rescued human should have before God Almighty. It’s not the kind of fear that brings panic and terror. It’s the kind of fear that elicits praise.

That’s why the next thing recorded is that Moses and the people sang:

Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the Lord, saying,

“I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously [highly exalted himself];
     the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.
The Lord is my strength and my song,
     and he has become my salvation;
this is my God, and I will praise him,
     my father’s God, and I will exalt him.” (Exodus 15:1–2)

And as his people delight in him and praise him, God “gets glory.” God’s people see his great power and feel a delighted fear, a fearsome joy, that he is their God, and he is strong. And they not only say it but sing it. This is not a fear that panics, but a fear that sings.

This mingling of fear with delight doesn’t ruin the joy of salvation; it intensifies it. This is not a small, mild joy they experience. It is a fearsome joy. It is utterly thrilling, an exquisite delight to be so rescued by a God of such wisdom and power.

And when God’s people respond with such intensity of joy, with fear that sings, he is greatly glorified. He looks really good when his people see his majesty and fear him like that.

• God “gets glory” when his enemies cower and are defeated. And he gets even more glory when they panic, and he shakes them off.
• And God “gets glory” when his people enjoy him and thank him. And he gets even more glory when his people’s hearts thrill at his great power and love, when they move from great fear of the world to the greater fear of him that sings.

This is what we’re doing on Sunday mornings, let’s hope. We don’t gather here to just enjoy each other, enjoy some coffee, enjoy some God. We gather on the banks of the Red Sea to be thrilled together at his majesty with the fear called faith, the fear that sings.

So, joy transforms fear, and fear transforms joy. Joy makes fear pleasant, and fear makes joy intense.

God made you to be thrilled at his majesty. And his majesty is highly exalted in you when you are thrilled with the God of majesty.

Listen to fear that sings:

Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods?
     Who is like you, majestic in holiness,
     awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?
You stretched out your right hand;
     the earth swallowed them.

You have led in your steadfast love [first mention of love in Exodus] the people whom you have redeemed;
     you have guided them by your strength to your holy abode. (Exodus 15:11–13)

And not just sings but dances. Verse 20:

Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women went out after her with tambourines and dancing.

4. He invites others to join in.

In Exodus 14, it’s too late for Pharaoh and the Egyptians. They’ve had plague after plague to repent; their time is up. But now other nations will hear of this event, and they will tremble. The question is whether this will be the trembling of terror or of worship. Exodus 15:14–16:

The peoples have heard; they tremble;
     pangs have seized the inhabitants of Philistia.
Now are the chiefs of Edom dismayed;
     trembling seizes the leaders of Moab;
     all the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away.
Terror and dread fall upon them;
     because of the greatness of your arm, they are still as a stone.

But the climactic show of great power and divine majesty, for inviting the nations to bow, is not the crossing of the Red Sea. That’s not God’s fullest and final demonstration for which the nations will see and be stunned and either bow and join in praise or flee to their destruction.

Believe in the Mediator

Did you notice, in Exodus 14:31, that the people not only believed in God but in Moses?

The people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.

So, Moses is with God in verse 31 as the object of the people’s faith. And then, in the next verse, Moses appears again, but now he’s with the people: “Moses and the people of Israel sang . . .”

Moses is the covenant mediator. Moses stands with the people as they sing praise to the God of majesty, and he stands with God as a recipient of the people’s faith.

And so too, in the new covenant, we have a far greater mediator who stands with us as human and experiences our thrills and fearsome delight in his Father, and who stands with his Father, as fully God himself, as the focus of our faith.

And this mediator didn’t stay safely on the shore, stretching out his hand over the sea. Jesus went into the sea for us, because we deserved to be dead at the bottom. Jesus gave himself to be shaken off into the depths that we might be spared the death we deserve. This is the great majesty moment Exodus 14–15 anticipates. This is why there is an invitation to come into utter safety and have a holy, happy fear that sings.

Fear and Joy Together

So, as we close, let’s come back to unbelievers who do not fear God, and tenderhearted Christians who seem to only fear God, and to the rest of us who need a greater sense of his majesty.

To unbelievers: The unbelieving Egyptians didn’t exhibit any fear until, all of a sudden, in an instant, the pillar of fire pivoted on them. Then they panicked. So will it be one day soon with all who set themselves against the majestic God. Then they will fear.

On that day, you don’t want to be against this God when he looks down on you. At that moment, it will be too late. But right now, you have a moment with the nations that heard. Now’s your time to repent. Now’s your time to experience with God’s people the fear that sings rather than with his enemies the fear that panics and is in terror.

To those this morning who claim the name of Christ yet find yourself dogged by intractable fear rather than fearsome joy and awe, I have such good news for you. The holy awe of worshiping his majesty is not at odds with a holy fear of his greatness. You’re not far from where he wants you. God doesn’t mean to chase away all your fears. He means for you to fear him, and he wants to add joy to your holy fears. Yes, he wants you to stand in awe of his great power, and in Jesus Christ, know yourself utterly safe — to let joy make your fear pleasant.

And to the rest of us: Let holy fear make your joy intense, that you would not have thin joy in a small God, but that you would have great joy in the God of majesty.

The word majesty is especially fit for worship, for the fear that sings. You’ll notice how often it pops up in our songs. And rightfully so, going back to Exodus 15.

The choice of the word majesty says something about the speaker. Majesty attributes not only greatness, power, and glory to some object, but also signals awe and wonder in the one who chooses the word. God’s friends, not his foes, declare his majesty.

In Egyptian eyes, God was not majestic at the Red Sea but horrific. But in the eyes of Israel, in the sight of his people, their God was indeed majestic in his greatness and power, and worthy of praise for wiping out their enemies.

Brothers and sisters, when we gather to worship our majestic God, we are not playing games. This is not another social event. We gather to share together in the fear that sings (and dances in daily life from Monday to Saturday). We come to have our hearts thrilled with the one who puts all our cheap imitation “thrills” into their place.

We worship his majesty.