They Passed through the Red Sea by Faith

Reformation Baptist Church

By faith, Israel passed through the Red Sea, but we know from chapter 3 of Hebrews that they did not have saving faith. When they were told that God would give them victory in the promised land, they did not trust the promises of God, so they would not go in. Earlier, Abraham was used as an example of faith when it was before he was accounted righteous by God, but obviously the faith he had grew to be saving faith. Here Hebrews is saying that 'they' who are the people of Israel went through the Red Sea by faith, but that faith never matured into saving faith in most of them. There is a collective faith that a people can have that is not salvific, but is a real faith in God. They really trusted that God would deliver them. They really believed that the visible was made by things that are not seen, while the Egyptians couldn't believe that this phenomenon would stop before they made it across. They didn't have collective faith to say God has defended the Israelites the last seven plagues, He will defend them here. Instead, they went "we can make it" and they all died. We should recognize that this collective faith is important. A society has underlying beliefs that it acts on even when they are not held personally to the point of salvation and it really effects the society. That type of faith in God is what America has lost over the last sixty years with dire results.