Isaiah 63:12-14 Who caused his glorious arm to go at the right hand of Moses, who divided the waters before them to make for himself an everlasting name, 13 who led them through the depths? Like a horse in the desert, they did not stumble. 14 Like livestock that go down into the valley, the Spirit of the LORD gave them rest. So you led your people, to make for yourself a glorious name.
Isaiah recalls the Exodus as the supreme display of God’s Z’roah, His Arm of glory. Though the people saw Moses raise his staff over the Red Sea, it was not Moses’ power that split the waters. Behind the prophet’s hand was the Arm of the LORD — majestic, glorious, and unstoppable. The sea parted not to honor Moses, but to exalt the Name of the God who sent him. The Red Sea became a stage for God to reveal His glory, so that His Name would echo through generations as the Deliverer of His people.
The text emphasizes that this act of deliverance was for a greater purpose: “to make Himself an everlasting name.” The miracles of the Exodus were not random interventions; they were deliberate revelations of God’s character and covenant faithfulness. By cutting a highway through the sea, the Arm of the LORD was inscribing His Name into Israel’s memory and broadcasting His power to the nations. Pharaoh’s pride was crushed, Israel’s hope was restored, and God’s reputation as Redeemer was forever secured.
This same truth is repeated throughout Scripture. Every act of salvation magnifies His Name. When Abraham’s barren household was given Isaac, when David stood before Goliath, when Elijah called down fire on Mount Carmel — it was the LORD Himself making His Name known through human weakness. The Z’roah moves not to glorify men but to reveal the God who rules history.
In Messiah Yeshua, this reaches its climax. John’s Gospel declares that Yeshua’s (Jesus’) greatest hour of glory was the cross. There, the Arm was revealed in ultimate weakness and ultimate strength — suffering to redeem, dying to conquer, rising to reign. Philippians 2 tells us that because of this, “God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the Name above every name.” The parting of the sea pointed forward to the tearing of the veil and the breaking of death’s power, all for the glory of the everlasting Name.
For us today, Isaiah’s words remind us that the miracles in our lives are never just about us — they are about Him. When God makes a way where there is no way, when He divides the seas of impossibility before us, it is so His Name might be glorified in us and through us. Our deliverance is His testimony. Our freedom is His witness. Every act of salvation is the Arm of the LORD writing His Name upon our story.
The glorious Arm that split the sea is the same Arm stretched wide at the cross. He still leads, He still delivers, and He still makes His Name known through His people. Lift your eyes from your own strength to the One whose Name is everlasting. The waters before you will part, not for your glory, but for His — and in your deliverance, the nations will know that He alone is God.
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[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]Is that a trend or something? I don’t know what it is but I’ve heard that phrase said quite a bit. We were even walking down the Wal-Mart isle to pick up a few things and my wife showed me a T-shirt with “I have issues” written across the front! I guess the world is coming to the sad reality that we really do have some issues.
It never ceases to amaze me, the way the devil uses our offenses and our “offendedness” to divide and conquer marriages, relationships, churches — even entire nations!
There’s an old adage, “Have the heart of a lion!” Hearing it, we think, “courage”. This recalls a quote I once heard; “Courage is contagious. When a brave man takes a stand, the spines of others are often stiffened”. I doubt there’s a single hero story in which the fearless leader fails to inspire the righteous determination of his army or people. The voice of the captain resounds through the ranks evoking the fierce cry of every warrior ready to face death or worse, for the cause. Courage truly is contagious.
The Hebrew word for “face” is “panim”, (the Hebrew letters, peh-nun-yud-mem), literally “faces”, a plural word. Normally, when we think about God, we focus only upon one of His “faces” at a time. God is “love” – or He is “holy”– or He is “just”— or He’s a God of “wrath”. Yet, of course, ALL these “faces” are His at once; and so the word “panim” accurately reflects the truth of God’s multifaceted being. As we get to know Him better we begin to appreciate the complexity of His nature and the fact that our focus on one “face” is a very limited view, since there’s so much more going on in His amazing “Personality”.
Patience is one of those things… so hard to learn it… so hard to practice it faithfully in our daily walk. It’s one of of those things I truly wish we didn’t have to learn — but God requires it of us! As I was reading through this passage again in Exodus, it dawned on me that Moses sat on the mountain for six entire days before the Lord spoke to him. He had to patiently wait for the Lord for six days!
The book of Isaiah, often called the Old Testament Gospel, reveals that a child was to be born and his name called “The Mighty God, and the Everlasting Father”. We know that this Child was Yeshua (Jesus) of Nazareth, that He is the unique Son of God, the express image of the invisible God. The throne of David was to be given to Him and He now holds its “key”, a symbol of the right and authority of His reign, which will be consummated when He returns to this world and restores the Kingdom to Israel [Acts 1:6-7].
When I studied Isaiah 53 earnestly in the ancient Hebrew, I was taken back by the Hebrew word for “afflicted” (me-u-neh). In modern Hebrew this word means “tortured”. When I was young, and first learned what torture actually involved, my soul was shocked that this could happen to people; in fact that it was happening to people. That a person could be kept alive for the purpose of intentionally causing him intense agonizing pain was an astounding enigma for my young soul. It really frightened me; and I think that fear of torture is probably the greatest fear that humans can experience. We read about people who have been tortured, with a kind of horrified awe. And quietly we wonder inside, “How can this be?” And, “Could this ever happen to me?”