Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud [Exodus 13:17-22], all passed through the sea [Exodus 14], all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; all ate the same spiritual food [Exodus 16], and all drank the same spiritual drink [Exodus 17:1-7]. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ. But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. (I Corinthians 10:1-5)
What a miraculous existence! God had promised Abraham, Isaac and Israel (a.k.a. Jacob) that He would bless their descendants, "blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies." (Genesis 22:7) And He fulfilled that promise and prophecy just as He said. He also brought them out with silver and gold, And there was none feeble among His tribes. Egypt was glad when they departed, For the fear of them had fallen upon them. He spread a cloud for a covering, And fire to give light in the night. The people asked, and He brought quail, And satisfied them with the bread of heaven. He opened the rock, and water gushed out; It ran in the dry places like a river. For He remembered His holy promise, And Abraham His servant. He brought out His people with joy, His chosen ones with gladness. He gave them the lands of the Gentiles, And they inherited the labor of the nations, That they might observe His statutes And keep His laws. Praise the Lord! (Psalm 105:37-45)
God did all of this for the children of Israel, mainly for two reasons: 1. because He promised their forefathers He would; “God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?" (Numbers 23:19) And 2. because He had chosen them to demonstrate His existence and power through, as an example to ALL people; “For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth. The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; but because the Lord loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt." (Deuteronomy 7:6-8)
All the children of Israel had to do to remain in peace and harmony with God was to obey Him. “Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments; and He repays those who hate Him to their face, to destroy them. He will not be slack with him who hates Him; He will repay him to his face. Therefore you shall keep the commandment, the statutes, and the judgments which I command you today, to observe them. [Deuteronomy 7:12-26; 8; 10:12-22]" (Deuteronomy 7:9-11) God even had His Son, Lord God with them the whole time they were traveling through the wilderness, that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ. From the very beginning, Christ was, and just as He told the woman at the well, "...whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” (John 4:14)
But how did the children of Israel treat the blessings and commandments of God? Moses recounted, “Remember! Do not forget how you provoked the Lord your God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day that you departed from the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the Lord. Also in Horeb you provoked the Lord to wrath, so that the Lord was angry enough with you to have destroyed you. Furthermore the Lord spoke to me, saying, ‘I have seen this people, and indeed they are a stiff-necked people. Let Me alone, that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven; and I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.’(Deuteronomy 9:7-8, 13-14)
“Thus I prostrated myself before the Lord; forty days and forty nights I kept prostrating myself, because the Lord had said He would destroy you. Therefore I prayed to the Lord, and said: ‘O Lord God, do not destroy Your people and Your inheritance whom You have redeemed through Your greatness, whom You have brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand. Remember Your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; do not look on the stubbornness of this people, or on their wickedness or their sin, lest the land from which You brought us should say, “Because the Lord was not able to bring them to the land which He promised them, and because He hated them, He has brought them out to kill them in the wilderness.” Yet they are Your people and Your inheritance, whom You brought out by Your mighty power and by Your outstretched arm.’ (Deuteronomy 9:15-29)
God spared the nation of Israel, But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. And do not become idolaters as were some of them. As it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.”[Exodus 32] Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell [Numbers 25]; nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents [Numbers 21:1-9]; nor complain, as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer. [Numbers 16] (I Corinthians 10:6-10)
Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. (I Corinthians 10:11) ...knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. (Romans 13:11) We would be wise to learn from Israel's example, and obey God now why we can. God will not be slack with him who hates Him; He will repay him to his face. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. (II Peter 3:9)
That's why Paul spent so much time in the previous lessons instructing the church in Corinth, and all of us who profess to be Christians, that you abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. (Acts 15:29) Just as He did for the children of Israel, God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure. Therefore you shall keep the commandment, the statutes, and the judgments which He command you, and observe them.
Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. I speak as to wise men; judge for yourselves what I say. (I Corinthians 10:12-15) With the help of God's Holy Spirit inside of us, we can learn from Israel's example and overcome the temptations of this world! AMEN!
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