"And I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God.
And they shall know from personal experience that I am the Lord
their God, Who brought them forth out of the land of Egypt,
that I might dwell among them; I am the Lord their God."
(Exodus 29:45-46)
"For you shall go out from the spiritual exile caused by sin and evil
into the homeland with joy and be led forth by your Leader, the Lord Himself,
and His word with peace; the mountains and the hills shall break forth before
you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress tree, and instead of the
brier shall come up the myrtle tree; and it shall be to the Lord for a name
of renown, for an everlasting sign of jubilant exaltation and memorial
to His praise which shall not be cut off."
(Isaiah 55:12-13)
PSALM 114
A Poem of The Exodus
When Israel came forth out of Egypt,
the house of Jacob,
from a people of strange language,
Judah became God's sanctuary,
the Holy Place of His habitation,
and Israel His dominion.
The Red Sea looked and fled;
the Jordan River was turned back.
The mountains skipped like rams,
the little hills like lambs.
What ails you, O Red Sea, that you flee?
O Jordan, that you turn back?
You mountains, that you skip like rams,
and you little hills, like lambs?
Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord,
at the presence of the God of Jacob.
Who turned the rock into a pool of water,
the flint into a fountain of waters.
"Let us acknowledge God's power and goodness in what He did for Israel,
applying it to that much greater work of wonder, our redemption by Christ;
and encourage ourselves and others to trust in God in the greatest straits.
When Christ comes for the salvation of His people, He redeems them from the
power of sin and Satan, separates them from an ungodly world, forms them
to be His people, and becomes their King. There is no sea, no Jordan, so deep,
so broad, but, when God's time is come, it shall be divided and driven back.
Apply this to the planting of the Christian church in the world. What ailed
Satan and his idolatries, that they trembled as they did? But especially apply
it to the work of grace in the heart. What turns the stream in a regenerate soul?
What affects the lusts and corruptions, that they fly back; that prejudices are
removed, and the whole man becomes new?
It is the presence of God's Spirit.
At the presence of the Lord, not only mountains, but the earth itself
may well tremble, since it has lain under a curse for man's sins.
As the Israelites were protected, so they were provided for by miracles,
such was that fountain of waters into which the flinty rock was turned...
and that Rock was Christ.
The Son of God, the Rock of Ages, gave Himself to death, to open a
fountain to wash away sins, and to supply believers with waters of
life and consolation; and they need not fear that any blessing
is too great to expect from His love.
But let sinners fear before their just and holy Judge.
Let us now prepare to meet our God, that we may have
boldness before Him at His coming."
Matthew Henry's Commentary
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