1 Corinthians 10:1-6 ~ 20140427 ~ Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org
04/27 1 Corinthians 10:1-6 God was not Pleased; Audio available at: http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20140427_1cor10_1-6.mp3
1 Οὐ θέλω γὰρ ὑμᾶς ἀγνοεῖν, ἀδελφοί, ὅτι οἱ πατέρες ἡμῶν πάντες ὑπὸ τὴν νεφέλην ἦσαν καὶ πάντες διὰ τῆς θαλάσσης διῆλθον, 2 καὶ πάντες εἰς τὸν Μωϋσῆν ἐβαπτίσαντο ἐν τῇ νεφέλῃ καὶ ἐν τῇ θαλάσσῃ, 3 καὶ πάντες τὸ αὐτὸ πνευματικὸν βρῶμα ἔφαγον 4 καὶ πάντες τὸ αὐτὸ πνευματικὸν ἔπιον πόμα, ἔπινον γὰρ ἐκ πνευματικῆς ἀκολουθούσης πέτρας, ἡ πέτρα δὲ ἦν ὁ Χριστός· 5 ἀλλ’ οὐκ ἐν τοῖς πλείοσιν αὐτῶν ηὐδόκησεν ὁ θεός, κατεστρώθησαν γὰρ ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ. 6 Ταῦτα δὲ τύποι ἡμῶν ἐγενήθησαν, εἰς τὸ μὴ εἶναι ἡμᾶς ἐπιθυμητὰς κακῶν, καθὼς κἀκεῖνοι ἐπεθύμησαν. 7 μηδὲ εἰδωλολάτραι γίνεσθε, καθώς τινες αὐτῶν· ὥσπερ γέγραπται· Ἐκάθισεν ὁ λαὸς φαγεῖν καὶ πεῖν, καὶ ἀνέστησαν παίζειν. 8 μηδὲ πορνεύωμεν, καθώς τινες αὐτῶν ἐπόρνευσαν, καὶ ἔπεσαν μιᾷ ἡμέρᾳ εἴκοσι τρεῖς χιλιάδες. 9 μηδὲ ἐκπειράζωμεν τὸν Χριστόν, καθώς τινες αὐτῶν ἐπείρασαν, καὶ ὑπὸ τῶν ὄφεων ἀπώλλυντο. 10 μηδὲ γογγύζετε, καθάπερ τινὲς αὐτῶν ἐγόγγυσαν, καὶ ἀπώλοντο ὑπὸ τοῦ ὀλοθρευτοῦ. 11 ταῦτα δὲ τυπικῶς συνέβαινεν ἐκείνοις, ἐγράφη δὲ πρὸς νουθεσίαν ἡμῶν, εἰς οὓς τὰ τέλη τῶν αἰώνων κατήντηκεν. 12 ὥστε ὁ δοκῶν ἑστάναι βλεπέτω μὴ πέσῃ, 13 πειρασμὸς ὑμᾶς οὐκ εἴληφεν εἰ μὴ ἀνθρώπινος· πιστὸς δὲ ὁ θεός, ὃς οὐκ ἐάσει ὑμᾶς πειρασθῆναι ὑπὲρ ὃ δύνασθε, ἀλλὰ ποιήσει σὺν τῷ πειρασμῷ καὶ τὴν ἔκβασιν τοῦ δύνασθαι ὑπενεγκεῖν.
1 Corinthians 9-10 [ESV2011]
24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. 25 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 26 So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. 27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.
1 For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 and all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. 5 Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. 6 Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. 7 Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” 8 We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. 9 We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, 10 nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. 11 Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. 12 Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. 13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
Paul has been talking to the Corinthians about the possibility of disqualification. He gently introduced the idea, using himself as an example. At the end of chapter 9, he tells them that he disciplines his own body so that he will not be disqualified after preaching to others. The word 'disqualified' means tested and proven false. Is it possible for one who has proclaimed the gospel to others to miss out on sharing with them in the rescue of the gospel?
It seems the Corinthians felt it was within their rights and liberties to attend pagan temples and participate in the celebrations there. In chapter 8 Paul began by warning them of the danger of destroying a brother by leading him to violate his conscience, a brother for whom Christ died. Then, in chapter 9, he holds himself up as an example of someone with undeniable rights, who voluntarily forgoes those rights for the sake of the gospel, in order to win as many as possible. Now, in chapter 10, he moves into the biblical text to demonstrate that their flirtation with idolatry was not only dangerous to those with weak consciences, but potentially lethal for those who thought of themselves as able to withstand any temptation.
He links chapter 10 with what he has said before with the little connecting word 'for'. He has said that he himself, the apostle, would be in danger of disqualification, of being proven false, if he did not discipline his body and keep it under control. In chapter 10, he gives the biblical basis for this danger.
He does not want his readers to be ignorant of their Old Testament heritage. The wise Corinthians were in grave danger because they were ignorant of something. Paul, the Jew, writing to Gentile followers of Jesus, refers to the Israelites as 'our fathers'. Because of Jesus, the dividing wall of hostility between Jew and Gentile has been torn down, and God has made one new man out of the two (Eph.2). We, who were Gentiles, now share a heritage with our believing Jewish brothers. This is how we should read the Old Testament. These are 'our fathers'. This is our heritage.
Paul points back to our fathers, and links them to us through the two ordinances of baptism and the Lord's supper. He points back to the Israelites who were delivered from Egypt, and says that they were baptized and they participated in communion.
All Were Under the Cloud
All our fathers were under the cloud. As the children of Israel left Egypt, we are told:
Exodus 13:21 And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night. 22 The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people.
When the Egyptian army pursued the people and they were trapped, with no way of escape, we are told:
Exodus 14:19 Then the angel of God who was going before the host of Israel moved and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them, 20 coming between the host of Egypt and the host of Israel. And there was the cloud and the darkness. And it lit up the night without one coming near the other all night.
Psalm 105, retelling the story of the Exodus, puts it this way:
Psalm 105:39 He spread a cloud for a covering, and fire to give light by night.
The cloud was a divine covering, protecting God's people. They were under the cloud, under God's supernatural protection.
All Passed Through the Sea
Paul points out that all of our fathers passed through the sea. Exodus 14 says:
Exodus 14:21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the LORD drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. 22 And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. 23 The Egyptians pursued and went in after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. 24 And in the morning watch the LORD in the pillar of fire and of cloud looked down on the Egyptian forces and threw the Egyptian forces into a panic,
All the Israelites marched through the middle of the sea on dry ground, with walls of water on either side. Paul says that this passing through the midst of the sea covered by God's protection was their baptism into Moses.
1 Corinthians 10:1 For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea,
They were all baptized into Moses, connected to Moses, identified with him as their leader. We might think it a stretch to refer to the Red Sea crossing and cloud covering as a baptism, but if we look over to 1 Peter, he says that Christian baptism corresponds to the salvation of Noah and his family, who were brought safely through the water in the ark (1 Peter 3:20-21). They had experienced deliverance, salvation, the Lord had rescued them. In a sense they passed through the waters. Waters that brought the Lord's judgment and death, they emerged from alive. They were now immersed into the leadership of Moses. The sea closed behind them. There was no going back. This was a decisive close to their days of slavery in Egypt, and the beginning of a new life as followers of YHWH. Every one of them that passed through the sea had been publicly identified with the people of God.
All Ate the Same Spiritual Food
Paul goes on:
1 Corinthians 10:3 and all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.
Paul is linking the Lord's supper, which he will talk about explicitly in verses 14-22, with the spiritual food that was given to sustain the Israelites in the wilderness. They ate the same spiritual food.
Exodus 16:4 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not.
This was bread from heaven, God's supernatural provision for his people to sustain them while they were in the wilderness. All of the Israelites ate this supernatural bread.
Exodus 16:14 And when the dew had gone up, there was on the face of the wilderness a fine, flake-like thing, fine as frost on the ground. 15 When the people of Israel saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, “It is the bread that the LORD has given you to eat.
...31 Now the house of Israel called its name manna. It was like coriander seed, white, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey.
God provided for his people's needs. The people said to Jesus:
John 6:30 So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? 31 Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” 32 Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
Jesus is the one who came down from heaven and gives life to the world.
John 6:35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
Jesus is the true spiritual food. Jesus is the bread that came down from heaven. Jesus, when he commanded his followers to remember him with broken bread,
Luke 22:19 And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
All Drank the Same Spiritual Drink
1 Corinthians 10:3 and all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.
Exodus 17 was the beginning of their time in the desert.
Exodus 17:1 All the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of Sin by stages, according to the commandment of the LORD, and camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2 Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the LORD?” 3 But the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” 4 So Moses cried to the LORD, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.” 5 And the LORD said to Moses, “Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6 Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.” And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel.
Then, in Numbers 20, just before the people entered the promised land, we are told again:
Numbers 20:2 Now there was no water for the congregation. And they assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron. 3 And the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Would that we had perished when our brothers perished before the LORD! 4 Why have you brought the assembly of the LORD into this wilderness, that we should die here, both we and our cattle? 5 And why have you made us come up out of Egypt to bring us to this evil place? It is no place for grain or figs or vines or pomegranates, and there is no water to drink.” 6 Then Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the entrance of the tent of meeting and fell on their faces. And the glory of the LORD appeared to them, 7 and the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 8 “Take the staff, and assemble the congregation, you and Aaron your brother, and tell the rock before their eyes to yield its water. So you shall bring water out of the rock for them and give drink to the congregation and their cattle.” 9 And Moses took the staff from before the LORD, as he commanded him. 10 Then Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, “Hear now, you rebels: shall we bring water for you out of this rock?” 11 And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice, and water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their livestock. 12 And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.” 13 These are the waters of Meribah, where the people of Israel quarreled with the LORD, and through them he showed himself holy.
Because of these two passages, one at the beginning, and the other at the end of the 40 years in the wilderness, that both point to a rock as the source of water for the people, and the assumption that God must have provided water throughout their time in the wilderness, a Jewish tradition developed that said that this rock followed them and continued to provide for their needs. Paul picks up on this tradition, but says it was not a physical rock that followed them, but the Rock was Christ.
When we look at how Deuteronomy describes YHWH as the Rock, we get an idea of what Paul is saying.
Deuteronomy 32:4 “The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he.
Deuteronomy 32:15 ... then he forsook God who made him and scoffed at the Rock of his salvation. 16 They stirred him to jealousy with strange gods; with abominations they provoked him to anger. 17 They sacrificed to demons that were no gods, to gods they had never known, to new gods that had come recently, whom your fathers had never dreaded. 18 You were unmindful of the Rock that bore you, and you forgot the God who gave you birth.
Deuteronomy 32:30 How could one have chased a thousand, and two have put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, and the LORD had given them up? 31 For their rock is not as our Rock; our enemies are by themselves.
YHWH is the Rock of salvation. Paul identifies Jesus as YHWH, the Rock. It was Jesus who satisfied their thirst in the wilderness.
John 7:37 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”
Jesus claimed to be the satisfaction for our deepest thirst. He invited his followers to remember him in communion.
Luke 22:20 And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.
God Was Not Pleased
Paul has made his case that just like the Corinthians, their fathers had been publicly identified with the people of God, had been protected by God, had been nurtured and sustained by God, had experienced unmistakable blessings of God, and yet he says:
1 Corinthians 10:5 Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. 6 Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did.
This is a huge understatement. Paul has said 'all' 5 times. All of them were under the cloud; all of them passed through the sea; all of them were baptized; all of them at the spiritual food; all of them drank the spiritual drink; yet with most of them God was not pleased. According to Numbers 1:46, there were 603,550 Israelite males 20 years or older, not counting any from the tribe of Levi. Of them, only 2 men would enter the land. With most of them, God was not pleased.
Numbers 14:28 Say to them, ‘As I live, declares the LORD, what you have said in my hearing I will do to you: 29 your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness, and of all your number, listed in the census from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against me, 30 not one shall come into the land where I swore that I would make you dwell, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. 31 But your little ones, who you said would become a prey, I will bring in, and they shall know the land that you have rejected. 32 But as for you, your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness. 33 And your children shall be shepherds in the wilderness forty years and shall suffer for your faithlessness, until the last of your dead bodies lies in the wilderness. 34 According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, a year for each day, you shall bear your iniquity forty years, and you shall know my displeasure.’ 35 I, the LORD, have spoken. Surely this will I do to all this wicked congregation who are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall come to a full end, and there they shall die.”
These, our fathers, who, like us, had experienced so many of God's blessings, God's protection, God's provision, had participated as it were in baptism and communion, were identified as the people of God, it was these whose corpses littered the desert. And Paul says that these things happened as examples for us. We too are in danger, having experienced so many of God's blessings, we who participate in the ordinances, we who are identified with God's church, we are in danger of being disqualified, of being proven false if we do not continue to love Jesus above all else.
The author of Hebrews in chapter 3 points back to this same thing and warns his readers of the danger of not listening to Jesus, not following him, not believing him.
Hebrews 3:7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you hear his voice, 8 do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness, 9 where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for forty years. 10 Therefore I was provoked with that generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart; they have not known my ways.’ 11 As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest.’” 12 Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. 13 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. 15 As it is said, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” 16 For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? 17 And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? 19 So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.
There is a real danger of going astray in our hearts. Sin is deceitful. It tells us lies. Sin tries to persuade us that we should not believe God, that he is not telling us the truth, that true fulfillment, true joy is found outside of him, found in things that he is keeping from us. Our hearts are not to be trusted. They often seek to lead us away from the true God. Sin lies to us and causes us to become callous toward God. We become discontent with the supernatural food that he rains down on us from heaven, and our hearts long for the meat pots of Egypt. We begin to distrust him, to doubt him, to question his goodness. We are in danger of being proven false, after preaching to others being ourselves disqualified. We must follow the example of Paul, who landed well placed gospel punches right under the eye of his own fleshly desires, who preached the gospel to himself, who disciplined his body and forced it to surrender and embrace the good news, who reminded himself daily of the greatness of the good news, who trained his heart to love this God who would leave his throne and lay down his life to rescue a rebel, trained himself to cling to this God who spoke into the darkness and created light.
This is the good fight of faith, this is the battle to believe. Christian, take up the full armor of God so that you can stand. Cling to Christ so that you will not be proven false. Brothers and sisters, plant your feet in the gospel and stand firm.