1Cor 10:1-2 | KingComments | STEP | Paul directly connects of this chapter to the end of the previous chapter. There it is about someone who preaches, a person who does a certain service for God. What now follows is about people who outwardly belong to God’s people, but who inwardly are not partakers of it. The history of the people of Israel serves as an illustration. There you see people who partook in many privileges that God had given to His people. Yet they did not enter the promised land, but were laid down and died in the wilderness. That says a lot to us as Christians. Many call themselves Christians. They are baptized and they even partake of the Lord’s Supper, but still will perish eternally. Why? Because they lack the new life inwardly. They were never truly converted and have never really repented of their sins before God. Those people think that God is satisfied with them keeping certain statutes, like baptism and the Lord’s Supper. In professing Christianity they are called sacraments. In the protestant churches they have two sacraments: baptism and the Lord’s Supper; in the roman-catholic church they have five more sacraments. These so-called sacraments have in common that they are only outward signs. Just take a look at baptism and the Lord’s Supper. What do they consist of? With baptism common water is used. The Lord’s Supper is celebrated with common bread and common wine. But just look at what these outward matters, as baptism and the Lord’s Supper, mean to a greater part of professing Christianity. People sometimes say that you receive new life through baptism or that by partaking of the Lord’s Supper you become a partaker of eternal life. It is said that an inward renewal appears through participation of these outward signs. Many people in professing Christianity believe this and base the assurance of their salvation on that. That is a gross error that will lead many of these people into destruction. . To stop this error, Paul refers to the history of Israel. He starts with “I do not want you to be unaware”. This phrase makes you see that he finds it important that the Corinthians should know this. Then he summarizes the privileges of Israel. First, there is “the cloud”. In Exodus 13 you read that the Lord dwelled in this cloud and in that way showed His people the way, after they departed from Egypt ( ). In Exodus 14 the cloud stands in between the Egyptians and Israelites in such a way that the Egyptians couldn’t come near the Israelites ( ). The cloud, as a symbol of the Lord Himself, presents guidance and protection. Next they “all passed through the sea”. . How that happened you read in Exodus 14 ( ). The going through the sea resembles baptism, like what is said here that “all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea”. To be baptized means ‘to be added to’. Moses was their leader. He was appointed by the Lord. They had to listen to him; otherwise they couldn’t stay with the people. . The following privileges mentioned, concern food and drink. After all, they needed food for life and strength for their journey through the wilderness. In Exodus 16 and 17 God provides His people with manna from heaven to eat and water from the rock to drink ( ). But do you notice how this food is referred to in our chapter? There is mention of spiritual food and spiritual drink. Wasn’t that plain manna that they ate and wasn’t it literal water that came from the rock? Yes, it was, but what Paul means to say is that the literal manna and the literal water have a spiritual meaning. The Israelites weren’t aware of that then and that’s why it isn’t mentioned in that sense in the book of Exodus. We can be aware now that these things have a spiritual meaning because we have the whole Bible. In the Gospel according to John, in chapters 6 and 7, the Lord Jesus also speaks about the manna and the water. He says, after He has spoken about the manna: “I am the living bread that came down out of heaven” ( ). In chapter 7 of that Gospel the Lord Jesus speaks about “rivers of living water” ( ). The following verse gives the explanation: “But this He spoke of the Spirit” ( ). Now you may ask: ‘If the Israelites didn’t know that, why is it written like that here?’ This is because they were not to take it for granted that they were so well taken care of. It was the care of God that was apparent again and again when the manna was there each morning for the taking. The same applies to the “spiritual rock”. Of course it was literally a rock to the Israelites. The fact that they always had water to drink was due to God’s care for them. God could give them that care because He was anticipating the coming of His Son, Jesus Christ. Therefore here it is said: “The rock was Christ.” Whatever blessing God gave to His people, it was only because Christ would become the Redeemer of the people. The same applies to us, who live in the time after the coming of Christ. We too owe each blessing to Christ and to the work that He has accomplished. . After Paul had summarized various privileges, to which all partook – the word ‘all’ is mentioned at least five times in –, it is shocking to read in : “Nevertheless, with most of them God was not well-pleased; for they were laid low in the wilderness.” How could that have happened: so many privileges and still die? It cannot be otherwise than that the people dealt with those privileges in a wrong way. And that can happen to us as well! We are no better at all. . Therefore we should be willing to learn from the things that happened to Israel. These things are examples that should impress us because God uses them to warn us. Do you know how the people started to have troubles, which caused them to be laid down in the wilderness? This is how: they started to hate the manna. That made them “crave evil things”. They started to long back for Egypt and reminded themselves, ‘how well they were doing there’ ( ). Out of convenience sake they forgot how they groaned under the yoke of slavery. Why is this history our example now? Only when the Lord Jesus – He is the real manna, as you know – remains everything for our heart and life, we shall not long again for the things from the world. You have been freed from the world through the work of the Lord Jesus. You owe Him everything. However, if you start to get bored with reading the Bible to know Him better, if you get bored to pray and to testify to Him, briefly, when your taste changes, then you will surely think back about the time when you were living in the world. What a fun you had back then! You did everything you liked to do. You conveniently forget how miserable you were then. Then, before you know it, whether you are aware of it or not, you will do things again that belong to your former life. Really, this is how it works. Therefore we ought to take these examples seriously. Stay close to the Lord Jesus. He really is sufficient. You don’t need more than Him. Now read 1 Corinthians 10:1-6 again. Reflection: Think about how you may apply this section in your own life.

‏ 1 Corinthians 10:1-2

Things That Happened As Examples for Us

Paul directly connects 1Cor 10:1-13 of this chapter to the end of the previous chapter. There it is about someone who preaches, a person who does a certain service for God. What now follows is about people who outwardly belong to God’s people, but who inwardly are not partakers of it. The history of the people of Israel serves as an illustration. There you see people who partook in many privileges that God had given to His people. Yet they did not enter the promised land, but were laid down and died in the wilderness.

That says a lot to us as Christians. Many call themselves Christians. They are baptized and they even partake of the Lord’s Supper, but still will perish eternally. Why? Because they lack the new life inwardly. They were never truly converted and have never really repented of their sins before God.

Those people think that God is satisfied with them keeping certain statutes, like baptism and the Lord’s Supper. In professing Christianity they are called sacraments. In the protestant churches they have two sacraments: baptism and the Lord’s Supper; in the roman-catholic church they have five more sacraments. These so-called sacraments have in common that they are only outward signs.

Just take a look at baptism and the Lord’s Supper. What do they consist of? With baptism common water is used. The Lord’s Supper is celebrated with common bread and common wine. But just look at what these outward matters, as baptism and the Lord’s Supper, mean to a greater part of professing Christianity. People sometimes say that you receive new life through baptism or that by partaking of the Lord’s Supper you become a partaker of eternal life. It is said that an inward renewal appears through participation of these outward signs. Many people in professing Christianity believe this and base the assurance of their salvation on that. That is a gross error that will lead many of these people into destruction.

1Cor 10:1. To stop this error, Paul refers to the history of Israel. He starts with “I do not want you to be unaware”. This phrase makes you see that he finds it important that the Corinthians should know this. Then he summarizes the privileges of Israel. First, there is “the cloud”. In Exodus 13 you read that the Lord dwelled in this cloud and in that way showed His people the way, after they departed from Egypt (Exo 13:21-22). In Exodus 14 the cloud stands in between the Egyptians and Israelites in such a way that the Egyptians couldn’t come near the Israelites (Exo 14:19-20). The cloud, as a symbol of the Lord Himself, presents guidance and protection. Next they “all passed through the sea”.

1Cor 10:2. How that happened you read in Exodus 14 (Exo 14:21-22). The going through the sea resembles baptism, like what is said here that “all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea”. To be baptized means ‘to be added to’. Moses was their leader. He was appointed by the Lord. They had to listen to him; otherwise they couldn’t stay with the people.

1Cor 10:3-4. The following privileges mentioned, concern food and drink. After all, they needed food for life and strength for their journey through the wilderness. In Exodus 16 and 17 God provides His people with manna from heaven to eat and water from the rock to drink (Exo 16:13-15 ; Exo 17:6).

But do you notice how this food is referred to in our chapter? There is mention of spiritual food and spiritual drink. Wasn’t that plain manna that they ate and wasn’t it literal water that came from the rock? Yes, it was, but what Paul means to say is that the literal manna and the literal water have a spiritual meaning. The Israelites weren’t aware of that then and that’s why it isn’t mentioned in that sense in the book of Exodus. We can be aware now that these things have a spiritual meaning because we have the whole Bible.

In the Gospel according to John, in chapters 6 and 7, the Lord Jesus also speaks about the manna and the water. He says, after He has spoken about the manna: “I am the living bread that came down out of heaven” (Jn 6:49-51 ; 31-35). In chapter 7 of that Gospel the Lord Jesus speaks about “rivers of living water” (Jn 7:38). The following verse gives the explanation: “But this He spoke of the Spirit” (Jn 7:39).

Now you may ask: ‘If the Israelites didn’t know that, why is it written like that here?’ This is because they were not to take it for granted that they were so well taken care of. It was the care of God that was apparent again and again when the manna was there each morning for the taking.

The same applies to the “spiritual rock”. Of course it was literally a rock to the Israelites. The fact that they always had water to drink was due to God’s care for them. God could give them that care because He was anticipating the coming of His Son, Jesus Christ. Therefore here it is said: “The rock was Christ.” Whatever blessing God gave to His people, it was only because Christ would become the Redeemer of the people. The same applies to us, who live in the time after the coming of Christ. We too owe each blessing to Christ and to the work that He has accomplished.

1Cor 10:5. After Paul had summarized various privileges, to which all partook – the word ‘all’ is mentioned at least five times in 1Cor 10:1-4 –, it is shocking to read in 1Cor 10:5: “Nevertheless, with most of them God was not well-pleased; for they were laid low in the wilderness.” How could that have happened: so many privileges and still die? It cannot be otherwise than that the people dealt with those privileges in a wrong way. And that can happen to us as well! We are no better at all.

1Cor 10:6. Therefore we should be willing to learn from the things that happened to Israel. These things are examples that should impress us because God uses them to warn us.

Do you know how the people started to have troubles, which caused them to be laid down in the wilderness? This is how: they started to hate the manna. That made them “crave evil things”. They started to long back for Egypt and reminded themselves, ‘how well they were doing there’ (Num 11:4-7). Out of convenience sake they forgot how they groaned under the yoke of slavery.

Why is this history our example now? Only when the Lord Jesus – He is the real manna, as you know – remains everything for our heart and life, we shall not long again for the things from the world. You have been freed from the world through the work of the Lord Jesus. You owe Him everything.

However, if you start to get bored with reading the Bible to know Him better, if you get bored to pray and to testify to Him, briefly, when your taste changes, then you will surely think back about the time when you were living in the world. What a fun you had back then! You did everything you liked to do. You conveniently forget how miserable you were then. Then, before you know it, whether you are aware of it or not, you will do things again that belong to your former life. Really, this is how it works.

Therefore we ought to take these examples seriously. Stay close to the Lord Jesus. He really is sufficient. You don’t need more than Him.

Now read 1 Corinthians 10:1-6 again.

Reflection: Think about how you may apply this section in your own life.