Exodus 15:9-10 The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my lust shall be satisfied on them; I will draw my sword… Israel was a type of the Church, Pharaoh a type of the Church's enemies in all ages of the world, both of the spiritual enemy Satan, and of the temporal, his instruments. The deliverance was a type of the deliverance that Christ wrought upon the cross by His blood; also of that Christ works upon His throne, the one from the reign of sin, the other from the empire of antichrist. The text is a part of Moses' song; a song after victory, a panegyric; the praise of God, attended with dancing, at the sight of the Egyptian wrecks (ver. 20). 1. It was then real; the Israelites then sang it. 2. It is typical; the conquerors of antichrist shall again triumph in the same manner (Revelation 15:3). 3. It was an earnest of future deliverance to the Israelites.General observations. 1. The greatest idolaters are the fiercest enemies against the Church of God. It is the Egyptian is the enemy. No nation had more and more sordid idols. 2. The Church's enemies are not for her correction, but her destruction: "I will pursue; my hand shall destroy them." 3. How desperate are sometimes the straits of God's Israel in the eye of man! How low their spirits before deliverance. 4. God orders the lusts of men for His own praise. 5. The nearer the deliverance of the Church is, the fiercer are God's judgments on the enemies of it, and the higher the enemies' rage. 6. All creatures are absolutely under the sovereignty of God, and are acted by His power in all their services. 7. By the same means God saves His people, whereby He destroys His enemies: the one sank, the other passed through. That which makes one balance sink makes the other rise the higher. 8. The strength and glory of a people is more wasted by opposing the interests of the Church than in conflicts with any other enemy. 9. We may take notice of the folly of the Church's enemies. Former plagues might have warned them of the power of God, they had but burned their own fingers by pinching her, yet they would set their force against almighty power, that so often had worsted them; it is as if men would pull down a steeple with a string.But the observations I shall treat of are — 1. When the enemies of the Church are in the highest fury and resolution, and the Church in the greatest extremity and dejection, then is the fittest time for God to work her deliverance fully and perfectly. When the enemy said, "I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil," etc., then "God blowed with His wind," then "they sank." 2. God is the author of all the deliverances of the Church, whosoever are the instruments. "Thou didst blow with Thy wind; who is like unto the Lord among the gods." Uses: How dear is the Church to God! 2. Remember former deliverances in time of straits. 3. Thankfully remember former deliverances. (S. Charnock, B. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my lust shall be satisfied upon them; I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them. |
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