[The first part of this article can be found here in the previous issue of the Reformed Herald, Vol. 81, No. 5, for September/October, 2025, pp.12-14 – ed.]
The second thing we see from Exodus 15:1-3 is that those who are delivered by the Lord sing to the Lord, and the Lord is the object of their song. It’s important to hear this in the sappy, sentimental, self-absorbed age in which we live because the church seems all too desirous of staring into a mirror to admire her beauty like a teenage girl going on her first date. It’s important to hear that the object of our praise is the Lord and not man. We also see that the content of Moses’ song focuses on God’s character, work, and attributes. It is the calling of the church to be enraptured with the beauty of the Lord. Therefore, the church must be continually fixing her gaze upon Christ (Heb. 12:3) as she longs for his return to consummate his kingdom.
Singing to God is an act of worship, praise, and humility. You realize that humility corresponds with obedience to the Lord (Deut. 6:13; Matt. 4:10). The prideful man will not bow his neck to the yoke of Jesus Christ or listen to the words of Christ. The prideful man sticks his fingers in his ears and rushes at the Lord with fury and hatred (Luke 4:28-29). Prideful men spurn and mock the words of Christ (John 8:47; Matt. 20:18-19), but the believer hears the word of Christ (1 John 4:6) and sings out the glory of his name (Ps. 96:2). The believer sings, “for he has triumphed gloriously!” Notice it is not we, but “he has triumphed gloriously!” He led the Israelites through the Red Sea and provided the dry ground that they might walk through it (Ex. 14:16). The Lord is the One who provides salvation, rescue, and deliverance, and Moses and the children of Israel sing to him, the One who has redeemed them from the tyranny of Pharaoh. How marvelous when the children of Israel are between Migdol and the Red Sea and there’s no place to go. When the Angel of the Lord intervenes, he comes and stands between his people and the Egyptians. Notice that God makes a distinction between his people and those who are not his people. Do you remember when the Lord brought darkness into the land of Egypt? The text says, “But all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings” (Ex. 10:23). So, the Lord is the One who triumphed. The Lord said to Moses, “But lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it” (Ex. 14:16). This was an act of faith by Moses. What’s his rod going to do? How’s the rod going to save them from the Egyptians who are closing in on them? But the Lord said, “Raise your rod, Moses,” and he raised the rod and the Lord parted the Red Sea. It’s an act of faith by Moses to simply hear and obey the word of God, no matter how it seemed to him.
Now, beloved, when you go through the difficult days, do you remember the word of God? The whole lesson we see in Exodus 15 is that “If God be for us, who could be against us?” (Rom. 8:31). If God stands with us, who can truly be opposed to us? You say, well, the whole world is opposed to believers! But what is that standing against the Lord, the One who holds the breath of every creature in His hands? The Lord who says, “Let there be light, and there is light” (Gen. 1:3). The Lord who takes man’s breath, and he returns to the dust from whence he came. “If God be for you, who can stand against you?” (Rom. 8:31). It’s God who gathers, defends, and preserves Hhs people against all their enemies. Not some, not most, but against all their enemies. This is the song we sing, beloved. God has triumphed gloriously! Every believer knows God’s deliverance. We know he has regenerated our souls and made us new creations in Christ by the word of his power (2 Cor. 5:17). “He has triumphed gloriously!”
And so, he leads the people, and they sing out the honor and the glory of the name of the Lord because “the horse and its rider, he has thrown into the sea.” How often do you read this in the old covenant that God fights the battle for his people? How glorious is this? It’s the Lord who goes before us and prepares the way for his people. It’s the Lord who chased out the inhabitants of the Promised Land with hornets so that the people might go in and enjoy the fruit and blessing of the land (Ex. 23:28). Think about Jericho. How did Jericho fall? Not with an army besieging it, but the Israelites simply walking around the city seven times in the day with trumpets blowing and the Lord caused the walls of Jericho to fall (Josh. 6:4-5). Think about Elisha and his servant Gehazi. The king of Syria is angry and says there’s a spy in his camp. How is it that the Israelites know my plans? Somebody’s spying. One of his servants says, “No, my lord, O king; but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedroom” (2 Kin. 6:12). Well, says the king, let’s go and take care of this problem. So, they marched down and encircled Elisha and his servant, Gehazi. Gehazi comes out of the tent, and he looks up and he sees all these chariots surrounding them and he is in a panic. “And Elisha prayed, and said, ‘LORD, I pray, open his eyes that he may see’” (2 Kin. 6:17). And his eyes were opened and surrounding all the chariots of the Syrian army were the chariots of the Lord ready to descend upon them. And then in 2 Kings 19:35, we read that the Angel of the Lord slew 185,000 Assyrian soldiers, and when the Israelites awoke, they saw them slain out in the fields. Beloved, the Lord goes before and fights the battle for his people! As we read in 1 Samuel 17:47, “Then all this assembly shall know that the LORD does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the LORD’s, and he will give you into our hands.” And again, “And he said ’Listen, all you of Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you, King Jehoshaphat! Thus says the LORD to you: Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s’” (2 Chr. 20:15).
Moses also declares in his song, “The Lord is my strength.” The Apostle Paul said, “When I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor. 12:9). When we are strong, beloved, we tend to get puffed up and become prideful in thinking we accomplished it. The Heidelberg Catechism, Q&A 28, speaks in this way regarding the providence of God: “What does it profit us to know that God created, and by His providence upholds all things? That we may be patient in adversity, thankful in prosperity, and for what is future have good confidence in our faithful God and Father, that no creature shall separate us from his love, since all creatures are so in his hand, that without his will they cannot so much as move.” Now, what do you think? Is it easier to be thankful in prosperity or to be patient in adversity? I think it’s easier to be patient in adversity because in adversity we tend to really cry out to the Lord. In prosperity, however, we tend to really puff up our chest and say, “Look what I have done.” And this is exactly what the Lord told the Israelites before they went into the Promised Land. Remember who gave you the strength to get wealth (Deut. 8:18). Remember who caused you to prosper! Remember who gave you this Promised Land, who gives you the breath to breathe, and who enables you! The Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 4:7, “For who makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?” Whether you can think beyond many in your family or your friends, whether you’re eloquent in speech, whether you’re prosperous in your business, it’s the Lord who gives all these things! And it’s right, it’s fitting, it’s proper, it’s biblical to give the LORD praise and to sing out to him. James also addresses this when he wrote, “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit’; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.’ But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin” (James 4:13-17). Beloved, we must always have a mind towards the providence of God. God is the One who gives, who delivers, who provides, and who strengthens. We must keep this truth always before our face. We must be people of remembrance. Remember the work of the Lord Jesus Christ! We must remember, recount, and maintain the truth of Scripture in our mind. That’s what the church must always do!
The Apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 3:1, “Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. For me to write the same things to you is not tedious, but for you it is safe.” And the Apostle Peter declared, “Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle (in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder), that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior…” (2 Pet. 3:1-2). Rehearsing the truth of God’s word continually establishes and strengthens us so that we will always remember that our strength is in the LORD. So let us remember that LORD has sustained the Reformed Church in the United States for the past 300 years. Let us remember not to eclipse the glory of the LORD in all the celebrations and festivities. Let us remember not to eclipse the glory of LORD and what he has done in fighting all the battles for his people! Let us sing with Moses and the children of Israel the song of salvation, “For he has triumphed gloriously!”
Rev. Scott Henry
Hope Reformed Church
Sutton, NE