Since the water of the Red Sea drowned the army of the Egyptians and terminated them, it delivered the children of Israel from the hand of the Egyptians, thus drawing a clear line of separation between the children of Israel and the Egyptians. Likewise, since in baptism the power of the world is terminated, baptism saves the believers from the power of the world. Hence, the Red Sea delivering the children of Israel out of the hand of the Egyptians typifies that baptism saves the believers from the power of the world.
When God delivered the children of Israel from the hand of the Egyptians (Exo. 3:8), that was His deliverance of His chosen people from the usurpation and tyranny of Pharaoh and Egypt. Pharaoh was the ruler of Egypt, and Satan is the ruler of this world (John 12:31). Pharaoh is a type of Satan, and Egypt is a type of the world. God’s causing the children of Israel to be severed from Egypt is a type of God’s causing the believers to be separated from the world. Every aspect of the world today, such as the pressure on the job, the danger of losing a job, and the competition for entrance into college, is a form of usurpation and tyranny. God has separated us from the world and delivered us from Satan and his world so that we are no longer under their bondage.
In Exodus 3:18 God told Moses to say to Pharaoh, “Now let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to Jehovah our God.” The term wilderness is used here in a positive sense; it signifies the realm of separation. A three days’ journey signifies a journey in resurrection. After their crossing of the Red Sea and their exodus from Egypt, the children of Israel were separated from Egypt and they entered into the wilderness by a three days’ journey that they might sacrifice to God. This typifies that after our breaking away from the world through baptism, we enter into a new realm that we may be able to follow the Lord to worship God (John 12:26).