Timothy Keller: What Are We Really Saved From? The Hidden Bondage Behind the Exodus

"The sources analyze the Red Sea Crossing narrative from Exodus 14, presenting it as the climax and epitome of the Exodus and a foundational paradigm for understanding Christ's salvation. The analysis focuses on three main aspects of salvation as revealed through this event: what we are saved out of, how we are saved, and why our salvation is possible.
1. What We Are Saved Out Of: Bondage with Layers
Salvation, or redemption, fundamentally means being released from bondage. The Israelites were freed from objective slavery, but the sources emphasize that this bondage has multiple layers, which parallel the Christian experience.
The layers of bondage include:
• Objective Bondage to the Law (Condemnation): Before Christ, humanity is under God’s wrath and objective guilt because they fail to obey the law perfectly. Through Jesus, Christians are freed from this objective guilt and condemnation, moving from being ""under law"" to being ""under grace"".
• Subjective Bondage to the Law (Works Righteousness): Despite objective freedom, the human heart defaults back to the subjective belief that perfection is necessary, leading to a tendency toward works righteousness—the need to prove oneself. This is a form of internal slavery, similar to how the Israelites looked back fondly on Egypt despite their earlier misery.
• Bondage to the Sin Nature: Sinful habits and actions are described as a ""suicidal action of the human will against itself"" that destroys the ability to resist future sin. Though objectively freed from the penalty of sin, believers remain prone to this subjective slavery to the power of sin.
• Bondage to Idols: Anything loved more than God, or anything that acts as a source of significance or security, functions as an idol or ""covenant Master"". These idols continue to demand service, similar to how Pharaoh returned to demand the Israelites’ service, causing feelings of paralyzing fear, melting sadness, or vehement anger when threatened.
2. How We Get Out: Crossing Over by Grace
The Red Sea Crossing illustrates that salvation is accomplished by crossing over by grace. The core principle of grace is demonstrated when Moses tells the terrified Israelites, ""Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the Salvation the Lord will bring you today... The Lord will fight for you; you need only be still"".
This ""stand still"" command shows that deliverance is entirely God’s work; humans cannot perform it or contribute to it. The image of crossing over signifies an immediate and complete change of status—a switch from ""Death to life"".
• Status Change vs. Process: Unlike religions that are likened to building a bridge (a gradual process), Christianity involves an instant transfer: you are either in the Kingdom of darkness or transferred into the Kingdom of the Son; you are either justified or you are not.
• Object of Faith: The Israelites were equally saved regardless of their emotional state or the quality of their faith (whether they walked through confidently or terrified). This is because salvation is based not on the quality of a person's faith, but on the object of that faith—the Redeemer who fights for them.
3. Why We Can Get Out: The Mediator
The survival of the Israelites through the waters—while the Egyptians were destroyed—is possible because of their mediator, Moses.
• The Floodwaters as Judgment: The waters of the sea are related to the flood in Noah’s time, which represented chaos, disintegration, and judgment—a reversal, or ""decreation,"" of creation. The waters rightly should have come down on the Israelites, as they were no better than the Egyptians.
• The Ultimate Mediator: Moses served as a man in the middle, identified with both God's power and the people’s sin, but he was imperfect. This role points to Jesus Christ, the greater Moses and ultimate mediator, who is fully God and fully man.
• Receiving Decreation: Jesus, like Jonah thrown into the sea, was thrown into the ""ocean of God’s Wrath"" on the cross. He received the reality of the judgment and decreation that the flood waters symbolize, ensuring that believers can be recreated.
• The Wellspring of Holiness: This completed work of free grace is the ultimate reason why the layers of subjective bondage can be overcome. God saves believers by grace first (""I brought you out of Egypt"") and then gives them the law and the call to holiness (""therefore be holy""). Meditating on what Christ has accomplished is what drives genuine holiness, proving that true faith is never alone but produces works."