HEB 11:29 By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but
when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned.
===
This evening's message was again very moving, and for the first time since I
started co-working with Dr Tong in 1997, I got stuck for a while in
translation... ha ha.

I came in later than usual this evening, and when I arrived, Tong was
resting against some boxes that he put together in the room - much like a
construction worker taking whatever he could find to have a make-shift bed.
I suggested to Rev Koh that we get him a proper foldable resting chair...Rev
Koh mumbled something like Newton Life Church may not like us to put in our
own furniture. I think I will just go out there and get the chair, hide it
somewhere. Always seem strange to me that the Asian church does not think
much about taking better care of God's servant. Western churches however do
it the other way around, where televangelists have their own private jets!

Tong started the session by asking the people to commit to three things: 1.
Sit in front when they come 2. Bring their own Bibles 3. Bring others to
share in the goodness of the Word. He spoke about how in the beginning,
people must have thought that we are crazy, using 1 to 2 weeks just to teach
1 verse from the Bible. Now that we have done this for the past 2.5 years,
and have reached chapter 11, the faithful die-hards are still with us, and
they would have appreciated that what we are doing is the right way to learn
from the inexhaustible wisdom of God in His Word. The 'negative' impact in a
sense, is that the regulars now have problem listening to shallow messages,
often preached in their own churches. As a preacher myself, I must say that
I have found it difficult now to preach a block of text and still keep to
the allocated time-line. Now I know why CH Spurgeon would preach on 1 verse
most of the time. Tong has preached in this manner in his own church for a
long time. They spent 2.5 years on John, 3 over years on Romans; preaching 1
verse (at most 2) at a time.

Tong did a quick review of the earlier lesson, emphasizing that the
Israelites were asked to be ready to travel upon completion of the Passover,
emphasizing once again that we are not to be comfortable in our salvation
without moving on. He illustrated the point by saying that a young person
who enrolled in the seminary could preach with great insight after only a
few years, while an Elder in a church for decades probably could not muster
up anything worth preaching about. The differences between the two would
simply be that the young person would have actively engaged his faith in the
seminary, while the older Elder probably was passive.

After 2 million of the Israelites traveled out of Egypt, they were to go to
Canaan, which was just next to Egypt, and would have taken just 2 days by
foot. Yet they took 40 years circling into he wilderness. Tong said the
first
obvious reason was because of their unbelief. This is much like the state of
spirituality for many people. Rather than reaching the promised land, they
circle around forever in their lives.

The second reason was that God wanted to try them (Ex 13:17). They were not
ready for Canaan yet, and the LORD wanted to subject them to trials. The
promised land was not to be had by simply waltzing in, but they needed to
win the land over through battles. Tong then launched into one of his
favorite theme, the idea that true blessings can only come through suffering
and trials. He gave the illustration of 2 rich millionaires and how a young
man wanted to learn the secret of success from them. The first simply said
that he did nothing but inherited money, the second spoke at length about
his struggles in life and all the difficulties that he had encountered and
overcame. Clearly the second story was more attractive and appealing to us,
affirming the fact that there is value in suffering. But the problem is that
we don't want that value to be upon us; our sinful nature tells us that it
is true that suffering brings blessings, but better for others to receive
that type of blessings than us.

Tong's insisted that there is no way one can expect to receive God's
blessings without having gone through some trials or suffering, as this is
the way the LORD had designed the world. As the greatest educationist ever,
the LORD wanted the Israelites to learn their lesson the hard way. The
interesting thing was the reaction of Moses in obedience, because as a
person who had lived in the wilderness for decades, and a great military
strategist, Moses would have known that the way the LORD directed him to go
was the 'wrong' way. But instead of debating and arguing, he was obedient.
This, said Tong, was the mark of his greatness.

The secret of ministry said Tong, is not for one to think that he has done
his best for the LORD, or that he has much to contribute to the church, or
that he is helping God in doing whatever. The fact is that it is the LORD
who has given us the opportunity to participate in ministry, and observe how
He works. Moses understood that, and all Christians should understand that
we should never have the attitude that we are there to help God, but always
be thankful for the LORD's provision in allowing us to observe Him at work
through His people.

The next thing that happened was a strange twist of event. After the exodus,
the Bible says that God hardened the heart of Pharaoh, so that he would give
chase with 600 war chariots. Tong said that Moses must have been completely
baffled by what God was doing, and his people cursed at him. It was a
strange scene, the people being led by the presence of the guidance of God
in a pillar, and yet God allowed the enemies to appear at the same time.
Tong said this is how God sometimes choose to work; with both His guidance,
and the enemies appearing together.

The worse thing for Moses happened next, as the sign of God's guidance went
off, the pillar of cloud moving from the front to the back of the people, in
between them and the chariots. This meant that Moses was alone, stuck
between his people and the Red Sea. At the same time, darkness descended. As
a leader, Moses was at the most challenging state of his life. The guidance
of God has moved off, he is stuck in the middle of nowhere without knowing
where to go, the people were all cursing and swearing at him. What was he to
do?

Herein lies the greatness of Moses. He was completely obedient to the LORD.
He did not follow his people and grumbled or cursed at God, but was
completely reliant on God's provision. Again, we should understand that God
is always at work, and we are but His servants and have been allowed to
observe Him at work. When Jesus Christ told Peter that he would deny him 3
times before the rooster crows 3 times, Peter denied it strongly. Instead
of debating with him, Christ simply prayed for him. God's purpose can never
be changed by us, and we are to be submissive.

The funny thing about the Peter illustration was that for the first time
since translating for Tong, I got stuck on stage. Tong said comically that
Christ told Peter that before the rooster crows 2 times, he will crow 3
times. I was caught off guard by the comment for a few reasons. Firstly, it
was unexpectedly funny to refer to Peter as crowing. Secondly, I thought he
made a mistake because all I remembered was that Jesus said before the
rooster crows (not 2 times). Actually he was right, only the gospel of Mark
recorded the number of times of crowing. Thirdly, I was having a debate with
another person just the day before, on whether 'talking cock' (as in the
coming movie 'talkingcock the movie') is a vulgar expression. That person
insisted that it is not, since 'cock' is the same as 'rooster'. So in a
flash of my mind, I wondered if I should say rooster or cock. And lastly,
the word crow as a verb means calling out, but as a noun, refers to the ugly
black bird. So all these things came together, and I got stuck! Happily, I
got stuck on a joke, so people thought it funny and they kept laughing at my
hesitation... Now you know how difficult it is to have lightning fast
reflexes in translation... one mis-thought and you can get embarrassingly
stuck.

Tong said that every he was faced with such great difficulties, what he
did was to simply kneel down to pray, and wait for the LORD to act. He
challenged the people to come up with an answer for Moses, when the
Israelites demanded that Moses gave them an answer as to why they were
brought to the wilderness to face death. What would Moses say? Tong said the
answer Moses gave moved him greatly, for there can be no greater answer than
what Moses said. In Exodus 14:13, Moses said, "The Egyptians you see today
you will never see again. The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be
still."

Tong said that Moses linked the temporal difficulties he faced, with the
eternity and LORDship of God. Therefore, he was convinced that the
Israelites will NEVER see their problems again after the LORD intervened.
Such was his faith, that he considered his sufferings as so temporal and it
will never come back. This is possible only if we truly realise that God is
eternal, and so everything else when compared to Him is insignificant. Tong
said that the church today needs leaders who have this sort of conviction
and understanding, for this is where the power of our faith lies. The
parting of the Sea was done with a simple staff, and this contrasted greatly
with the great military power of Pharaoh, again testifying to the manner in
which our God operates.

Tong then expressed great puzzlement as to the behaviour pattern of Pharaoh,
who sent his chariots into the sea. This, said Tong, shows that Pharaoh did
not think much of such a miracle. After witnessing so many miracles in the
plagues, he had come to think of such things as common, and so did not
hesitate to send the troops into the sea. When we have witnessed many
wonders and enjoyed the grace of God for too long, we often think lightly of
them, and take it all for granted (I thought that Tong was reflecting on his
own ministry in that people take his seminars quite for granted without
realising the great significance of some of his insights). He cited the
examples of Handel and JS Bach, great musicians who were very productive, so
much so that people of their generation did not think much of them. The fact
is that centuries after these great musical geniuses had died, the world had
not produced anyone close to their abilities.

Tong claimed that the civilization of Egypt was destroyed in the Red Sea,
and that this great civilization was so great that the Great Pyramid stood
as the tallest building in the world for some 4000 years till the Eiffel
Tower of Paris was erected in the 19th century. Each pyramid has a stone
tablet covering the grave of the Pharaoh, weighing some 500 to 600 tonnes.
Such was their achievement. Yet, they were completely destroyed. The
Egyptians today are just Arabs living in the land of Egypt; the original
Egyptians have all been wiped out. Against such human achievement that was
grand, but could not last, the laws of Moses endured for generations and
continue to influence all of the world today.

Tong ended the session with a great challenge for all NOT to react to
difficulties with anxiety, anger and fear; but to wait upon the LORD in
peace, because as Moses said, He will fight the battle for us.

END

Disclaimer: This summary does NOT represent the official position of STEMI (Stephen Tong Evangelistic Ministry International), and is the personal opinion of the author, expressed without prejudice. Expressed opinions are meant for academic discussions only.