Exodus Part 3 begins MONDAY! Part 3 of our Exodus plan will look at the Ten Commandments and will run for six weeks: from April 1 to Friday, May 10. (It will cover chapters 15-20.) Here’s how to get your copy:

• Pick up a book at one of our Easter services this Sunday at Asbury;

• Email Sandie Tomlinson, and she’ll mail you a copy;

• If you live in Dallas, email Sandie and she’ll tell you how you can pick yours up for yourself there in town.

Don’t forget about our All-Church Bible study this coming Wednesday, 6:30-8:00 PM. “Are Christians supposed to follow Old Testament Laws?”

Exodus 15:19-21

19 For when the horses of Pharaoh with his chariots and his horsemen went into the sea, the Lord brought back the waters of the sea upon them, but the people of Israel walked on dry ground in the midst of the sea. 20 Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women went out after her with tambourines and dancing. 21 And Miriam sang to them:

“Sing to the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.”

Today is Good Friday, the day we mark the crucifixion of the Son of God.

On the one hand, Good Friday looks like a victory for evil.

But on the other hand, what looks like a victory for evil is actually its decisive defeat.

This is the logic of Good Friday:

The Lord allows evil to overreach and thereby destroy itself.

The Cross is a sign of the victory of God because the Lord won through losing. This is the way of Jesus, the taking up of the Cross.

What happened with Pharaoh at the Red Sea is a sign of things to come. All along, the Lord has been allowing Pharaoh to choose his own destruction, and that choice culminates in the destruction of the Egyptian army in the Red Sea.

The reason this encourages me is because it means that the reason the Lord is still permitting evil because He is working it into His plan.

It’s Friday, but Sunday’s coming.