“Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did.”
(1 Corinthians 10:6)
Read: 1 Corinthians 10:1-14
Devotion: Toward the end of 1 Corinthians 9, Paul uses himself as an example in order to provide an implicit warning: “But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified” (9:27). He is in the middle of correcting the Corinthians’ thinking and actions regarding food that had been sacrificed to idols. Some of the Corinthians were eating food they knew had been sacrificed to idols. They were also going to the temples and eating meals there while pressuring other believers to join them.
Although they claimed to be acting according to knowledge and under the guise of their Christian liberty (8:1-6), they were not exercising self-control, and they were harming their brothers’ consciences and sinning against Christ in the process (8:10-12). As Paul will later say in chapter 10, by knowingly consuming meat sacrificed to idols, they were joining themselves to the worship and fellowship of demons (10:18-22). They needed a lesson on self-control and endurance—hence Paul’s example at the end of chapter 9. As a runner trains to win, so Paul disciplines his body to reach the eternal prize of Christ. He diligently practices self-control because he knows that self-control is needed to reach the end. How does Paul know this?
Enter chapter 10 where Paul gives the Corinthians the example of Israel in the wilderness.
The Need to Finish Well (Not Just Begin Well)
As the apostle explains in vv. 1-4, Israelites of the exodus generation started well. Much like how every New Covenant believer starts well with baptism, every Israelite coming out of Egypt was “baptized into Moses” in the pillar of cloud that led them and the Red Sea that was parted before them. As baptism marks the public beginning of the New Covenant member’s life with Christ, so too did the pillar and sea mark the public beginning of Israel’s life with God in the Old Covenant.
Likewise, as all New Covenant members participate in the fellowship of the Lord’s Supper, being nourished by the body and blood of Christ, so too did the Israelites in the wilderness have a proto-Lord’s Supper as they were nourished by Christ through the manna and the water from the Rock. Before we take things too far by thinking about all the ways that those Old Testament events correspond to their New Testament realities, we have to understand that Paul is making this simple point: Every single Israelite started their life with God well, just as every single New Covenant member starts their life with God well. However, and here is the warning from the Israelite’s in the wilderness, “with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness” (v. 5).
Out of all the adults of the generation that left Egypt in the exodus, only two made it into the promised rest of God (Num. 14:30). Paul is again making a simple point: Though all the Israelites started well, most of them did not finish their race well because they did not exercise self-control, particularly in the realm of idolatry. Then Paul gives four specific examples of Israel’s wanderings where they participated in idolatry through various sins and were subsequently laid low in the wilderness.
Warnings for Our Perseverance
It is in this way they serve as an example, or a type, for the Christian. We all start well, with baptism and the regular observation of the Lord’s Supper, but if we are prideful and begin to think like the Israelites in the wilderness who became entitled toward God in their covenant membership, we better watch out. If we become lax in our running, and stop taking sin seriously in our lives, we are putting Christ to the test, daring Him to judge us. And if we persistently put Christ to the test, we shouldn’t be surprised if at the end of the age Christ judges us. Like the Israelites in the wilderness before us, we will fall without reaching God’s promised rest (v. 12).
Thankfully, a true believer cannot lose their salvation because Christ’s death and resurrection paid for every single one of our sins. But that doesn’t make the warning any less real, and it doesn’t make the example of the Israelites in the Old Testament any less important. We need the Old Testament because it reveals to us important truths necessary for our perseverance. The Old Testament gives us an objective account of the consequences of unchecked licentiousness on those who are counted among the people of God. Their example, and the judgment that they fell under in the wilderness, are vital for our perseverance as people of God in the New Covenant. And this is all just one point in the myriad of other ways in which the Old Testament is vitally important for the Christian. To neglect the Old Testament would be to our great spiritual detriment and the height of folly.
Ponder and Pray: Consider the danger of neglecting the Old Testament for the Christian life. Finish by praising God for the Old Testament.
