The Miracle at the Red Sea, the Miracle at Dunkirk, and You!

You know, brethren, it's inevitable that we as Christians are going to face battles throughout our lifetime. We're going to face battles where the odds seem overwhelmingly against us.

Part of that's due to the fact of who we are in this world. As a true Christian in this world, you're one of only 50,000 people, roughly speaking. We face a multitude of situations in which the worldly mathematical odds are definitely against you and I. And this can be discouraging. Over the course of years, I've seen with some people who try to improve the odds by compromising our beliefs. They've lowered their standards, they've rationalized to make themselves an exception to God's laws, and some of them have walked out and no longer fellowship with us to this day. But, brethren, don't ever be intimidated by the odds.

Don't ever be intimidated by the odds. Be strong. Be of good courage. And don't be afraid to put up the good battle because the odds are against you. You know, the people who predict odds, they predict an outcome. And those who do that are people. People predicting an outcome. They don't determine the outcome. God determines the outcome. Even in worldly circumstances, we find examples of tremendous battles being waged against overwhelming odds. We're going to talk about one of those things, one of those epic stories of history in just a few moments.

When you've got God on your side, you don't need to have the odds on your side. When you've got God on your side, you don't need to have the odds on your side. For example, Gideon had 300 men. He went up against thousands of warriors, but he prevailed with God's help. Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, when he was there in Jerusalem, an army that some scholars think were maybe a million men, came knocking on his door wanting to subjugate his kingdom.

Jehoshaphat turned to God, the whole city turned to God, asked for God's intervention, and God intervened. The odds were certainly against Jehoshaphat. Who could forget the story of Elisha? When he was surrounded by the Syrian army, Elisha told his servant, do not fear for those who are with us are more than those who are with them. And with that, God allowed Elisha's servant to see the fiery chariots all around that were there to protect him. So, by the way, let's not look, you and I, at physical odds, let's look to the great God, the one who determines situations.

You and I live in an adventure that's different from the people of the world. We live in a dimension of faith. On Passover evening, we came together to express our faith in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. But we did more than that on Passover evening. On Passover evening, we came to renew our dedication to God. We came to renew our faith in our walk with the great God, and that we were going to walk in a new and a different dimension in which the world walks.

Now, today, as I was thinking about the message I wanted to give to you today, I was thinking about what typically we think about during these days of Unleavened Bread. And it just occurred to me there was a very interesting story that happened, you know, a number of decades ago that the two stories are so similar. And the more I studied into it, the more similarities I found and the more inspired I became as I saw what God was going to do in a situation that took place for some of you in your lifetime.

Not for most of us by any stretch, but in some of you, you lived through this epoch of history. So today, if you want to take notes, you want to put something across the top of your paper, write this. The miracle at the Red Sea, the miracle at Dunkirk, and you. The miracle at the Red Sea, the miracle at Dunkirk, and you. Now, let's look back to begin with into a relatively recent history. This is in 1940. Some of you were alive back then. You lived through this time in history. I want to quote from a pastor whose name is David Gardner. The article I'm quoting from is part of a trilogy entitled The Trumpet Sounds for Britain, written by Pastor David E.

Gardner, talking a little bit about Pastor Gardner's while serving in the Royal Navy during World War II. An emergency in a submarine caused him recognized the miraculous deliverance of God. In what is still called the miracle of Dunkirk, the story is told of how over 300,000 British troops were snatched from the beaches of France in an operation that was so fraught with danger that success can only be attributed to by the miraculous combination of circumstances.

May 1940. It was a very difficult time for the British Empire. It was a very difficult time for the world. On May 10, Hitler had launched his blitzkrieg against the Low Countries in France. By the end of the second week in May, the French defenses had been broken. German Panzer forces led by Rommel in the 7th Panzer Division burst through and with lightning speed began a rapid advance across France and Belgium. Soon Rommel's armored pincer movement was threatening the British Army with encirclement and obliteration. Back in Britain, Mr. Churchill feared it would be his hard lot to announce the greatest military disaster in Britain's long history.

And you know, when you look at the odds back then, that's exactly the way it looked. On May 27, the German High Command went so far as the boats that the British Army is encircled and our troops are proceeding to its annihilation.

And once again, brother, that's exactly the way it looked. From Britain's point of view, they looked like they were going to have their worst beating in its long history. From the German point of view, we've got the British and the French right where we want them and we're going to annihilate them. And we're not talking about just a portion of Britain's Army. We're talking about the great bulk of Britain's Army on the beaches there of Dunkirk. We're talking about some of the best that was left of the French Army that was there on the beach at Dunkirk. They had their backs to the sea. Now, does that begin to ring a bell in anybody's mind about something in biblical history about people having their backs to the sea? We're going to get into that as we go through the story. With the entire front collapsing rapidly, the decision was reached by the British to evacuate Allied forces from the continent. But the only port from which they could evacuate the British Expeditionary Force was Dunkirk, and that was already being seriously threatened by the Germans. Taking stock of the predicament, Churchill said, and I'm quoting now from Winston Churchill. This was prior to the events that took place, I thought, and some good judges agreed with me, that we might be able, perhaps, to get 20 to 30,000 men off of those beaches. 20 to 30,000 men. The whole root and the core and the brain of the British Army seemed to be about to perish on the field or to be led into starving captivity.

And that's exactly the way the odds looked back in May, mid-May of 1940.

But Britain had a king who looked to God. A number of you probably have seen the movie The King's Speech, King George VI. King George VI, when he first became king, had a horrible stuttering problem. He had to hire somebody to help him to overcome that. And he did overcome that. He was known as a great war king for Britain during that time. But seeing the situation developing, King George requested that Sunday, May 26th, be observed as a national day of prayer. In a stirring broadcast, he called the people of Britain and the Empire to commit their cause to God. Together with members of the Cabinet, the king attended Westminster Abbey, while millions of his subjects in all parts of the Commonwealth and the Empire flocked to the churches to join in prayer.

Britain was given inspiring leadership in those days, and her people responded immediately when this kind of initiative was taken. The whole nation was at prayer on that Sunday. The scene at Westminster Abbey was remarkable. Photographs show long lines of people who couldn't even get into the Abbey. Such was the crowd. So much so that the following morning, the daily sketch, which is a British-then national tabloid, exclaimed, Nothing like this has ever happened before.

Let's turn to Exodus 3. I want to pause in the story at this point, and we want to take a look at what happened back in antiquity to another group of people who had their backs up against the sea. Exodus 3. You know, we've already seen how King George VI asked the whole of the nation to go to God in prayer. Fasting. They did that. Of course, the same was true back with ancient Israel as a slave nation. They, too, had a leader. His name was Moses. They, too, asked God to intervene in their situation. They, too, were praying about the situation. Exodus 3.

Exodus 3. And Lord said, I have surely seen the oppression of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. For I know their sorrows, so I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and a large land, to a land flowing of milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, to the Hittites, the Amorites, and so forth. Verse 9. Now therefore, behold the cry that children of Israel has come up to me, and have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians have oppressed them. Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh, talking to Moses, I will send you to Pharaoh, that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt. So here we've got the king, King George VI. We've got Moses, both national leaders, both coming before God, both asking for intervention, and God hears.

Are the odds in your life against you? What odds are you facing right now in your life? Let's take a look at Isaiah chapter 43.

Isaiah chapter 43 verse 1. And he who formed you, O Israel, fear not, for I have redeemed you.

I have redeemed you. What were we talking about just a couple of evenings ago at Passover, that you are the redeemed of God. For I have redeemed you. I have called you by your name. You are mine. You are mine. You are mine. You are mine. You are mine. You are mine. For I have redeemed you. I have called you by your name. You are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flames scorch you. For the letting quote verse 2 in a New Living Translation. Because the New Living Translation, I think, brings us out a little more in depth, a little more emphasis here. This is Isaiah chapter 43 verse 2 in a New Living, where it says, When you go through the deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through the rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned. The flames will not consume you. So here we see where the Israelites, back in the day, here we see where the British Army, the French Army there at Dunkirk, when they all had their backs to the wall, God heard the prayers. God doesn't care about odds. God lives above odds, and God delivered these people.

Now, let's go back to the story of Dunkirk. As was mentioned, there were a number of miracles that took place that allowed that tremendous salvation for the British and the French on a nine-day period back in May of 1940. The first miracle at Dunkirk. For some strange reason which historians have puzzled over ever since, Hitler overruled his generals and halted the advance of his armored columns at a very point when they could have proceeded to the British Army's ineliation. Hitler's Panzer divisions were only 10 miles away from the British. Hitler orders an unexpected halt to all of that. Later, Winston Churchill assessed in his memoirs that this was because Hitler undoubtedly believed that his air superiority would be sufficient to prevent a large-scale evacuation by sea. Now, brethren, permit me for a moment to have a speculation. Adolf Hitler was known as a man that there were times when some of his greatest generals, men who took a backseat to nobody, men who didn't stand aside for anybody, some of Hitler's most ruthless, some of his greatest generals, when they were in meetings with Adolf Hitler, and they perhaps had a walk into the meeting, they had a different frame of mind than Adolf's, they came out of those meetings almost whimpering. Something had happened to those men, and many people over the years have wondered, especially people who have a religious background, they've wondered, was Adolf Hitler demon-possessed? Was Adolf Hitler even Satan-possessed?

As a speculation, why did Hitler stop his ground forces, his mechanized forces, only ten miles away from where he could have annihilated the British army? He could have won World War II almost right at that point. Why did he stop? Could it be, could it be that the same power that was inspiring Pharaoh, when Pharaoh saw the children of Israel about to escape, Pharaoh said, let's send those mechanized chariots, let's send them into the Red Sea, and then those chariots, the wheels came off, they got mired into the ground, and you know the story, God allowed the sea to come up on them and to kill them all. Could it be that in Hitler's mind he said, you know, I saw this happen thousands of years ago to those Israelites, I'm not going to send my forces in, because the ground where the panzer forces were, the tanks, was very marshy ground. And Hitler was really concerned that his tanks would get stuck in that marshy ground. So he halted the advance, and perhaps there was some thinking there, you know, you don't want to have your, just like those chariots were torn apart, we don't want your tanks to be torn apart. And of course, now, and again, my speculation, what is what is Satan called? The Prince of the Power of the Air. So Hitler wants to send in his Luftwaffe. Yeah, Gering and his special flyboys, the Prince of the Power of the Air. So that stops right there. That's the first miracle it took place at Dunkirk. People, to this day, historians are confused as to why that took place. You and I don't have to be confused as to why that took place. Let's take a look back at Exodus 12.

Exodus 12. Let's see a parallel.

Because there's not only a miracle at Dunkirk, there's a miracle at the Red Sea. And these miracles have something to say to you. Exodus 12. And in verse 29.

And it came to pass at midnight that the Lord struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, for the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on his throne, to the firstborn of the captive, who was in the Dajim, and all the firstborn of the livestock. So Pharaoh rose in the night, he and all of his servants and all the Egyptians, and there was a great cry in Egypt. For there was not a house where there was not one dead. Then he called from Moses and Aaron by night and said, Rise, go out from among my people, both you and the children of Israel, go and serve the Lord as you have said. Take your flocks, your herds, as you have said, and be gone, and bless me also. And the Egyptians urged the people they might send them out of the land in haste, for they said, We shall all be dead. Brethren, what are we seeing here? We are seeing a door opening. Against all the odds, we are seeing a door opening. God doesn't care about odds. The door is opening. Just as the door opened when Hitler halted the advance of his tanks that could have annihilated the British Army and the best of what was left of the French Army. Here in Exodus, there's an open door. At Dunkirk, there was an open door. Is there an open door for you? What are you facing?

2 Corinthians 1, verse 8.

You know, so many times I think people think that when we come into the church, it's all going to be rosy. If you've been in the church longer than six months, you know better than that. Right? Oh, I'm going to get baptized, and everything's going to be great. I'm on my way to the kingdom, and everything's just going to be wonderful. Well, getting into the kingdom is wonderful, and we truly are a blessed people, but there are some trials along the way. 2 Corinthians 1, verse 8. For we don't want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our troubles which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened beyond measure. Some of you in this room right now are burdened beyond measure. You understand these words. Burdened above strength, so that we despise even of life, disparity, even of life. Can you be a Christian and be so down so blue because of circumstances that you just want to die? I've been there. I've been there. I never wanted to hurt myself, but yeah, there were times when I was going through my divorce and other times where, you know, God, if you want to take me, boy, that's okay by me. Of course, I realized later on, looking at it, I was being selfish. I had two kids to raise and so forth, but they had been times in my life where, you know, it just seemed to get... you just want to let go of that last little string of the rope. Say, you know, it's enough. I've had it. Paul is saying the same thing, so that we despaired even of life. Verse 9. Yes, we had a sentence of death in ourselves that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead. But Paul says, you know, he comes to look at this a little closer. He says, you know, I've got to look to God, who delivered us from so great a death and does deliver us in whom we trust that He still deliver us.

So you and I, we don't want to just take a look at the odds that are there, which may be very, very much against us. We want to look at the great God who determines outcomes. The great God who works miracles. He worked a miracle for the people of His people when their backs were at the Red Sea. He worked a miracle for the people whose backs were at the English Channel. He'll do the same for you. Going back now to the story of Dunkirk, I want to give you the second and third miracles back to back, because they are tied together. When everything looked hopeless, again, the first miracle, Hitler stops his pans or divisions, stops his tanks. Now, the British and the French at this time were not even on the beaches of Dunkirk. They were still 8 to 10, maybe 12 miles away from where they were going to be evacuated. They still had a ways to go on foot before they can even get to the beach of Dunkirk. I want to quote now from that story I was reading earlier. It was as a storm of unprecedented fury broke over Flanders on Tuesday, May 28, grounding the German Luthwaffe and enabling the British armed formations now 8 to 12 miles from Dunkirk to move up on foot to the coast in the darkness of the storm and in the violence of the rain, with scarcely any interruption from the aircraft which were unable to operate in such turbulent conditions. The fury had obviously not taken the weather into his reckoning nor the one who controls the weather. So, over where the Germans are, you've got this tremendous storm that breaks out. Obviously, the tanks don't want to move. They're already afraid of the marshy conditions and getting stuck and perhaps having the Royal Air Force pick them off so they don't want to move. And now, when it was supposed to be the German's air division, the Luthwaffe, they can't get off the ground because the weather is so terrible. Third miracle. Despite the storm and flanders, a great calm such as had been rarely experienced settled over the English Channel. The waters became, and this is the accounts I studied, this phrase was used over and over again. The waters became as still as a mill pond.

It was quite extraordinary calm which enabled a vast armada of little ships, big ships, warships, privately owned motor cruisers from the British rivers and estuaries. In fact, almost anything that could float to ply back and forth in a desperate bid to rescue as many of them in as possible. So here you have a situation where the Germans are being socked in by horrible weather, they can't move, and yet a great calm happens on the other side where the British are, where the French are, that the English Channel becomes like glass. What a read a little further in this story.

This is a great calm settled over the usually restless waters of the English Channel. It was accompanied by a cotton-like fog to again shield British troops from the Luftwaffe, rescue boats, carted them back to their island safe haven. According to an article written at a time, this is from the Daily Telegraph, July 8, 1940, it says, those who are accustomed to the Channel testify to the strangeness of this calm. They are deeply impressed by the phenomenon of nature which made possible for the tiny craft to go back and forth in safety. Who did all that? Who did all that? And so it was, the Daily Telegraph went on to say, two miracles made possible what seemed impossible. Two miracles made possible what seemed impossible. Let's go back to Exodus chapter 14.

Exodus chapter 14 verse 9. So the Egyptians pursued them, and the horses and the chariots of Pharaoh. Pharaoh had his tanks, they were called chariots. Horses and chariots of Pharaoh, his horsemen and his army, and overtook them and camping by the sea by Piah Hyrith before Beel Ziphon. So here we've got the Israelites at their English Channel, so to speak, to mix historical situations. We drop down to verse 13. And Moses said to the people, do not be afraid, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord.

Forget about the odds. Forget about what people are telling you. God is in the picture. When God's in the picture, you've got a really big picture. When God is in the dimension you're living in, you've got a tremendously big dimension. See the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians, whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever. The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.

You know, brethren, there are things when we are, when our backs are against the wall, there are things God wants us to do. He wants us to be, you know, praying people, fasting people, studying people. He wants us to be close to Him. But there are things we just simply can't do. It's impossible for us to do. And it's a situation like this, like we were talking about on Passover evening, where we, because we have rededicated ourselves by living by faith, living by faith, walking in faith, we turn that portion over to God. We do everything we can do, but there are things only God can do.

So at that point, we stand still and we see the salvation of God. We see the Lord fighting for us. Verse 15, then the Lord said to Moses, Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward. We'll talk more about this on the last Holy Day. But lift up your rod and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, and the children of Israel shall go forth on dry ground through the midst of the sea. Isn't it interesting how the children of Israel were able to walk through that red scene again? We'll talk more about this on the last Holy Day.

You know, normally that should have been mucky. You know, they'd be able to walk through the sea and you should have put your foot down and you probably would have sank to your knees because the water that had been standing there for who knows how long.

But God made it so it was dry. You know, it wasn't muddy. It wasn't a problem. They simply walked through there. And think about this, brother. This took place over the course of one night.

Think about what this looked like, where you have between two and three million people who, in the course of one night, two or three million people, they had to go through this channel. You know, you've got these walls on either side. And I'm sure God allowed them to see the water on either side, standing in a heap. Are you talking about walking by faith?

You're talking about walking by faith? Two walls of water? You're walking along?

You better believe that's walking by faith. So here they are. They're going through, just like the British and the French, they've gotten these little boats and they're going back and forth. It wasn't that it wasn't, though. There were problems with, you know, the British as they were doing that. It wasn't that it was all a piece of cake.

We'll get to that in a few moments. Let's get back to the story here next to this 14. Verse 17, and I indeed will harden the heart of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them. So I'll again honor or refer over all of his army, his chariots, and all of his forcemen. I can't, I'm wondering again, my speculation. Did Hitler, if he was inspired by demons or Satan himself, did he think about verse 17 and say, I don't want to send my tanks in that area? I've done this in the past and it didn't work out so good?

Verse 18, then the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, but I have gained honor for myself over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his forcemen. Now notice verse 19, and the angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud. There was a cloud where the Luftwaffe was based, and they couldn't get off the ground. Notice here, there's a pillar of cloud.

The one from before them, and stood behind them. They came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel. So it was a cloud and darkness to the one, but it gave light by night to the other, so that the one did not come near the other all that night. Wasn't that very much like what took place at the Red Sea? Do we see the miracle working power of God there?

But we've got to walk by faith. Forget the odds. Maybe the odds are tremendously against you. Let's take a look at somebody else who defied the odds. Keep this in our minds. Matthew chapter 14. Matthew chapter 14.

Matthew 14 here, the earlier portion of the chapter is talking about the people being fed and so forth. You know, 5,000 being fed. We break into the story here in verse 22.

Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side while he sent the multitudes away. When he had sent the multitudes away, he went up to the mountain by himself to pray. When he even came, he was there alone. But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary. Now, on the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went to them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a ghost! And they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, Be of good cheer, it is I, do not be afraid. And Peter answered him, said, Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water. Ever the impetuous one, ever the one who is, you know, bold. Verse 29. And he said, Come. And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. What was the last time you just started walking across the water? Now, we're not talking about water that's frozen. We're not talking about water that has rocks just below the surface. What was the last time you walked across Lake Michigan? Lake Huron. Lake St. Clair, that's only about 12 feet deep on average. What was the last time you walked on a pond near your house or something like that? Peter did. Why was Peter able to do that? Because Peter says there in verse 29, Peter had his eyes on Jesus Christ. He didn't have his eyes on the odds. He didn't have his eyes on what was happening around him. He had his eyes on God. But notice verse 30. But when he saw, he took his eyes off of God. But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid and began to sink. Brother, how true for us. If we keep our eyes on God, if we keep our eyes on Jesus the Christ, we will be okay. We will weather the storms. We could do what Peter was doing here, but we've got to keep our eyes on God, as opposed to the eyes on all the various things that are happening all around us. As human beings, it's so easy for us to have our eyes on what's happening around us. Satan wants us to have our eyes on what's happening around us. He wants to whisper in our ear, oh, don't you know you've got this, your fight, you've got that, your fight. You can't possibly win. You can't possibly win. What were the odds of Peter walking on the water? I think you and I probably say about zero, just on his own. But looking at Jesus Christ, his odds were really good. Matter of fact, he was 100% successful until he began to be affected by the around. Let's go back now to the story of Dunkirk.

I want to talk about the little ships. We've seen there have been three miracles. The miracle number one of Hitler stopping his Panzer Division, his tanks. The miracles number two and three, the storm coming over where the German Air Force was, and number three, the lull, the quiet over the English Channel allowed the British troops and the French troops to escape. But how did they escape? I think you'll find it interesting to go back and look at the history. Go to Wikipedia, wherever you want to go to do your research.

There was a problem with Dunkirk. When God helps us, it's not that everything just opens up and everything is just smooth sailing. This was a real chore because Dunkirk, the place where it was best area for them to evacuate these 338,000 men, it was a long-sloping, shallow beach. You couldn't bring a navy ship of any size close to the beach. You had to be fairly far offshore and then send smaller craft in that can actually get ashore, pick up men, go back out, and shuttle men back and forth to England. And of course, as you read the story, as I made a point, read several accounts, there were people who were just out there and amounted to rowboats. But other people were taking their troops in smaller boats and they were embarking them on larger, like, destroyers, larger ships. And the destroyer would go back with a large number of men to England and come back. But as those destroyers made their way, there were other little boats that, you know, they're getting almost swamped by the larger boats in the waves that are being made. So there are times, even when God's opening the door for us, there's still some challenges to be faced. It's not like as old God opens the door, we just walk in, it's like, oh, we got air conditioning, we've got steak dinner here, everything's ready to go. No, there were some difficulties there.

Douglas Bader was a Spitfire pilot at the Royal Air Force. He was very, very famous as a air ace. He was famous not only because of the number of German craft he had shot down, he was also famous because he had no legs. This is his account of what he saw as he was flying back and forth over the area. It says, quote, The sea from Dunkirk to Dover during those days of the evacuation looked like any coastal road in England on a bank holiday. It was solid shipping. One felt one could walk across without getting one's feet wet, or that's what it looked like from the air. There were naval escort vessels, sailing dinghies, rowboats, paddle steamers. It had every floating device known in this country. They were all taking British soldiers from Dunkirk back home. You get identified Dunkirk from the Thames estuary by the huge pall of black smoke arising straight up into a windless sky from the oil tanks which were ablaze just inside its harbor.

And then that's the end of the quote. The German Air Force, they were able to get some of their planes off of the ground. They were able to shoot up some of the troops, but even then, there are accounts, I read on several of the accounts, where one group of 400 men were being strafed on the beach, and one chaplain was down, faced down into the sand, and he thought for sure he was dead because his position was being strafed by the Luftwaffe, and yet when he got up, he saw that just where he had been laying, there was a pattern of bullets all around where he had been laying. He was not scratched. Let's turn to Exodus chapter 14.

Exodus chapter 14.

Exodus chapter 14 and verse 13. And Moses said to the people, Do not be afraid, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord.

Do not be afraid, stand still, because God is about to intervene in your life.

I want to continue on with just a fragment of a story. I just overlooked for a moment. I want to get back to it regarding Dunkirk. It says, To a large extent, the German air squadrons were unable to intervene, certainly not in any force, not the way Hitler had anticipated, for so many of the old squadrons were still grounded. So much so that General Haider, chief of the German general staff, three days after the High Command had so proudly boasted that the British army was about to be annihilated. This man, who was the chief of the German general staff, said this, and I quote, Bad weather has grounded the Luftwaffe, and now we must stand by and watch countless thousands of the enemy getting away to England right under our noses.

Much like Pharaoh standing on the shores of the Red Sea, he probably felt that same way. Here I've got my vast army. I want to destroy these people. And they're marching through that Red Sea right under my nose. And what am I going to do about it? Let's take a go back now to the story. Another story. It's not connected to the Exodus, but a story that teaches an important lesson along these lines. 1 Kings chapter 19. 1 Kings chapter 19.

Interesting story.

The background, prior to this point in Kings, you see where Elijah has a match with 850 of the prophets of Baal. And he goes up against tremendous odds. He against 850 prophets of Baal. I forget the 450 were of one type of Baal, 400 of the other. I didn't do enough research to get into all that, but it was 850. One against 850. And he was victorious. God gave him a great victory and had all those prophets killed where they wanted to kill him. Now, that is background. We go to 1 Kings chapter 19 verse 1. And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done and how he executed all the prophets with the sword. All 850 of them. Then Jezebel sent a message to Elijah saying, so let the gods do to me and more also, if I don't make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.

Jezebel had her, you know, she had her hackles up. She was angry.

She was a woman you didn't, you know, she was somebody that you needed to watch her real carefully. She basically is telling Elijah, Elijah, you are a dead man. You're going to be dead this time tomorrow. Verse 3, and when he saw that, he arose, ran for his life.

So here's a man who beat the odds with God's help. This shows you, brethren, that we always have to be aware. We can't just have a victory today and think that somehow we're going to glide in from then on out. Here's a man who had a tremendous victory, but he forgot. He forgot. He ran for his life. He was discouraged and depressed. He went to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left to serve it there. But he went himself a day's journey into the wilderness and came and sat under a broom tree, and he prayed that he might die. Back to his brilliant success, now he's praying that he might die. Why? Because he was letting the odds get to him. He was letting circumstances get to him. And of course, brethren, you've been in circumstances and so have I. We've allowed that to happen to us. It's a human failing. You know, it's a human failing. He was very human here.

He prayed that he might die and said, it is enough. Like I thought once upon a time, hey, this is enough. I'll be happy to await the first resurrection in the grave. I've had it. Now, Lord, take my life for I'm no better than my father's. Now, let's drop down to verse 9. And he went into a cave and spent the night in that place. And behold, the word of the Lord came to him and said to him, Elijah, what are you doing here?

What are you doing here? So he said, I've been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts, for the children of Israel forsaken your covenant, torn down your altars, killed your prophets with a sword. I alone am left. No, he's having a pity party. You ever had a pity party? He's having a pity party. He didn't want to even invite anybody. No little party hats and little things you blow on, party streamers and stuff. He's having a pity party. Verse 11. He said, Go out and stand in a mountain before the Lord. Behold, the Lord passed by in a grape and a strong wind tore the mountain and broke the rocks and pieces. You know, a hurricane, a tornado-type force comes through, showing the tremendous power of God. But the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind and earthquake, you ever been in an earthquake? I've been in several of them. It literally shakes you up.

But the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake of fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire, a still small voice. A still small voice. Much like the little ships, the little robots. God doesn't always need something big. He can take whatever is at His disposal and use those to save us. Something like 338,000 troops were evacuated. The heart and core of the soul of the British Army and the best of what was left of the French Army. Over the course of, I think, 9 or 10 days, they were evacuated. They made it safely back to England so they could fight another day. So grateful was the nation for this mighty deliverance that on Sunday, June 9th, a day of national thanksgiving was appointed.

C. B. Mortlock stated in an article on the Daily Telegraph, and I quote, The prayers of the nation were answered. God, the God of hosts Himself, supported the valiant men of the British Expeditionary Force. Two great wonders stand forth, he said. Of them have turned the fortune of our troops. I have talked to officers and men who have gotten safely back to England, and all of them tell these two phenomena. The first was the great storm which broke over Flanders on Tuesday, May 28th. The second was the great storm which settled on the English Channel during the day's following.

Officers of high rank do not hesitate to put down the deliverance of the British Expeditionary Force to the fact of the national prayer that began on Sunday, May 26th, two days before the great storm in Flanders and the great calm over the Channel.

In services, they turn to Psalm 124.

Let's turn there. So many of the churches in England, as we do, you take a look at our hymnal, and so many of our hymns that we sing, our Psalms put the music. I don't know whether they had a song in their hymn books that went through Psalm 124, but this was, I'm told as I go through it, I look at the history of the time and the different accounts, that in church after church in England, this was read or sung. Psalm 124, verse 1.

If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, Israel would now say, if it had not been the Lord who was on our side when men rose up against us, then they would have swallowed us alive when their wrath was kindled against us, when the waters would have overwhelmed us, the stream would have gone over our soul, then the swollen waters would have gone over our soul. Blessed be the Lord who has not given us his prey to their teeth. Our soul has escaped as a bird from a snare of the fowlers. The snare has broken and we have escaped. Our help is in the name of the Lord, who has made heaven and earth. As I was finishing up my research on the sermon for today, I came across a couple of things that I felt would be good as two post scripts to the story. Two different post scripts to the story. The day after the evacuation, when all the troops were off the beaches in Dunkirk, they were all safely back to England. The day after the evacuation ended, the English Channel was monstrous. The weather came back in full force. Nothing could have moved off those beaches the way the English Channel became right after the evacuation had ended. Let's turn now to Exodus 14.

Exodus 14, starting here in verse 21.

The Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night and made the sea into dry land, and the waters were divided.

So the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. Yeah, and we'll talk more about this on the last Holy Day. And the Egyptians pursued and went after them into the midst of the sea, and all the Pharaohs' horses, his chariots, all of his horsemen, and they came to pass in a morning watch that the Lord looked down from the army of the... looked down upon the army of the Egyptians through the pillar of the cloud, and he troubled the army of the Egyptians, and he took off their chariot wheels, so they drove them with difficulty. And the Egyptians said, Let us flee the face of Israel for the Lord fights for them against the Egyptians.

Brother, we saw this at Dunkirk as well. We saw God moving in this same way. God knows how to hold up the weather the way he wants it, and God knows how to put the weather back the way he wants. Verse 26. Then the Lord said, The moza stretched out her hand over the sea, and that the waters may come back upon the Egyptians on their chariots, on their horsemen. And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the morning appeared to see return to its full depth, while the Egyptians were fleeing into it. So the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. The water returned and covered the chariots, the horsemen, and all the army of Pharaohs. They came into the sea after them. Not so much as one of them remained. Not so much as one. But the children of Israel had walked on dry land in the midst of the sea, and the waters were a wall to them on the right hand and on the left. So the Lord saved Israel, and they had the hand of the Egyptians. And Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the shore.

So there you see the fact that God knows when to stop a storm, when to bring a storm, all for the benefit of his people. All for the benefit of his people. Another postscript that I thought was interesting is, as Britain had their national day of thanksgiving, right after the evacuations were ended, what do we have in Exodus chapter 15?

I gave a sermon two or three years ago on Exodus chapter 15. It's called the Song of Moses. It's the first song recorded in all the Bible. It's a song of God's victory. It was probably put to verse. It was probably sung by the people of that day. But just as the people of Moses' day sang a great song in celebration of national victory over the enemy, they did the same thing in England in June of 1940. One last postscript for you and all. One last postscript.

It is well known that Hitler relied heavily upon horoscopes, relied heavily upon spiritism.

But what did that get him? What did it ever get? Pharaoh. Exodus chapter 8. As you're well aware, during the time when Moses and Aaron were there and they were performing mighty miracles, the Pharaoh many times had his magicians try to duplicate what Moses and Aaron were doing. Take a look here now at Exodus chapter 8 verse 18.

Now the magicians so worked with their enchantments to bring forth lice, but they could not.

So there were lice on man and beast, and the magicians said to Pharaoh, This is the finger of God. So just as Hitler's spirits, spirit men, were not able to really help him, neither were Pharaoh's. I thought that was an interesting postscript to the whole story. Brother, one final scripture for today is found over here in Mark chapter 10.

Final scripture for today, Mark chapter 10. Mark chapter 10 verse 27. Mark 10, 27. But Jesus looked at them and said, With men it is impossible, but not with God. For with God all things are possible.

Brethren, if God is for us, who cares about the odds that are against us?