Zechariah 10:11

"And he will pass through the sea of affliction, and will smite the waves of the sea, and all the depths of the Nile shall dry up; and the pride of Assyria shall be brought down, and the scepter of Egypt shall depart."

Egypt and Assyria are mentioned here in the reverse order from that of their mention in Zechariah 10:10, another indication that a figurative use of the terms is to be understood. McFadyen quite accurately observed that, when taken in connection with other scriptural passages (Exodus 14; Isaiah 11:15,16), there are two promises here: "Ancient miracles would be repeated to facilitate their journey home"; and "They would cross the Red Sea, the sea of affliction, in safety."[23] Amen! And when were the ancient miracles of Moses repeated? When that Prophet like unto Moses, even Christ, appeared and did even more astounding wonders than those of Moses. And how do God's people cross the Red Sea in safety on the way home? 1 Corinthians 10 reveals that this occurs when people are baptized "into Christ." The great analogy of the experience of Israel in coming out of Egypt, being baptized in the Red Sea (1 Corinthians 10), struggling through their wilderness probation, and finally entering Canaan, as a divinely appointed figure of how Christians forsake the slavery of sin (Egypt), cross the Red Sea by being baptized into Christ, endure the tribulation of their earthly probation (Israel's wilderness), and finally enter heaven (Canaan)-that grand analogy is one of the greatest in the Bible; and it shines in this passage. See full discussion of this in 1 Corinthians 1:1-10, where the apostle Paul outlined it. (Comment is made at length on this subject in my commentary on 1,2Corinthians, pp. 145-155.)

"Sea of affliction ..." What an appropriate designation of the sea (our baptism) that separates the Christian from the slavery of sin and launches him upon the period of his probation, a period of tribulation (Acts 14:22)!