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Okay, we left off last week with Paul building a case for the COI being a type or model for believers in Paul’s day and for believers today.
In so doing we read how that even though they were led out of Egyptian bondage, were baptized unto Moses, ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink, that MANY fell in the wilderness (which is a type for believers in that day walking from their faith and falling in the coming destruction of Jerusalem) and how many will walk from faith in this present age and fall outside the gates of the New Jerusalem.
Speaking of the Nation of Israel Paul says:
1st Corinthians 10.5-11
July 15th 2018
Milk
5 But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness.
I may have mentioned this last week but where Paul says, “but with many of them” a better way to read that would be to read, “but with most of them.”
And then verse six where Paul adds a passage
6 Now these things (all the stories I have since recited) were our examples, to the intent we
READY
NUMBER ONE “should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.”
TWO “Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.”
THREE “Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand.”
FOUR “Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents.”
FIVE “Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.
And then verse 11 reads
11 Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
Jump back with me to verse six where, speaking to the believers at Corinth and referring to the COI back in the day, he gives the first of five reasons that they were castaway.
Now, remember – the Goal for them was to enter the promised land and be saved from death in the wilderness.
The Goal for Paul and the bride in His day was to enter into the salvation of the Lord from the coming destruction by entering into relationship with Him here and paradise thereafter, and
The Goal for us today, who take the Bible narrative as a whole, is to enter into the New Jerusalem here through the Spirit, where God dwells in us, and to in the hereafter enter into the same forever escaping being castoff to the realms outside the city gates.
So, Paul gives us some warnings based on what caused the COI to miss their mark, and says (Verse 6)
Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.
These things that we read and covered last week “were our examples,” Paul says to them. The Greek word here is tupoi and is best translated, “Types and/or figures that foreshadowed for them what to avoid.
I mean let’s be real here – the same God that directed the COI, and those in the Apostolic church, and us is the same through and through – and His ambitions and desires for humans is going to be the same, right?
So if we do as they did in good things we will overcome as they did and receive good things, and if we fail as they did, we will fail in like manner and receive a commensurate reward or castoff.
So the first thing that was a problem for them was they “Lusted after evil things.”
Let’s put this in the context of the scripture. Paul is citing from the Old Testament record of their very actions while in the wilderness.
What were those actions and attitudes?
Turn to Numbers 11 verse four where it says:
Numbers 11:4 And the mixt multitude that was among them fell a lusting: and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat?
5 We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick:
6 But now our soul is dried away: there is nothing at all, beside this manna, before our eyes.
In other words, their lusting was their carnal longing for what they once had when they were of the world and in bondage both to their Egyptian captives AND the things associated with it – which in this case was savory food products – something the Manna didn’t provide.
There is an interesting unity of thought presented to us in scripture that begins to unfold here which I want to touch on by going to the board.
Matthew 4:2-11
The Temptation of Christ in the Wilderness
Temptation of Eve and the embodiment of all that was in the world of the fruit.
Genesis 3:6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
John’s warning to those in His day
1st John 2:16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
Paul appealing to the COI as examples
Don’t lust
Idolatry
Fornication
Tempt Christ
Murmur
3 And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food
The lust of the flesh
Don’t lust – taken from Numbers where they longed for the food from their bondgage.
Commit Fornication
5 Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple,
6 And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. 7 Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
“and that it was pleasant to the eyes”
. . . the Lust of the Eyes
Make yourself an idol that will entice the eyes and tempt the Lord God.
Tempt Christ
8 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;
9 And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.
10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
“and a tree to be desired to make one wise”
“the Pride of Life”
Murmur
And the Devil left Him
She did eat
Is of this world
The fell in the wilderness
We will fill this last column in as we progress through this teaching of Paul’s and in his first point we have a direct correlation to the format given us with Eve, Jesus in the wilderness and John the Beloved.
We are not creatures meant to live by bread alone. We are children meant to live by every word that come from the Mouth of God – and Paul warns about the allure of the things of this world that so easily call to us with their appeals to our appetites.
Then at verse 7 he says:
7 Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.
In Corinth there was certainly a draw to participate in idolatry – and typically one of the first things that gets human beings into idolatrous practices is the allure of spectacle – it is something we see, something we like, like a fish looking at a lure.
We observe the enameled tin God, the colorful picture of some demi-god, the attractiveness of union with something popular and potentially powerful – and so we join, drawn in by these allurements.
This caution is evidently given in view of the danger to which they would be exposed if they partook of the feasts that were celebrated in honor of idols in their temples.
The reference Paul makes in the annuls of the COI and their history can be found in Exodus 32:1-6 where we read
“And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.
2 And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me.
3 And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron.
4 And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
5 And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To morrow is a feast to the LORD.
6 And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.
7 And the LORD said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves:
It’s hard to make a straight across parallel here but without question the idol that Aaron made (of Gold) was attractive to the eyes of the people, but the real application is that in the lust of our eyes, and our going after idols, we are tempting the Lord God, and bringing in competitive god’s to challenge him.
For Eve the fruit was pleasant to the eyes, to the Nation of Israel the Golden calf was pleasant to the eyes, and to the Lord in the wilderness, Satan was telling Him to dazzle with the eyes through His casting himself down and performing a miraculous feat of jumping from a high place and saving himself – an act which, being done by this request would have been self-serving and making Jesus an idol over God. Jesus reply was perfect – don’t tempt the Lord God.
Remember, the parallel to the COI (who sat down to eat and drink and play) and the believers at Corinth (who, doing the same with the idol worshippers around them) is to us similar as we live in an age full of alluring subjects which constantly call to us to give them adoration and allegiances that usurp our devotions to God.
It’s really interesting that with either the worship of Diana or in the idol worship found amidst the COI, they were both accompanied with songs and dances.
This is particularly expressed in the COI worshipping the golden calf.
Similar worship is at the ready in our modern culture in one sense or another. Then to verse 8
8 Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand.
The case referred to here by Paul was that of the licentious intercourse with the daughters of Moab, referred to in Numbers 25:1-9.
As I read it listen for the order of these crimes that Paul gives here in 1st Corinthians 10 that is also present in Numbers 25.
Numbers 25:1 And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab.
2 And they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods: and the people did eat, (lust of the flesh) and bowed down to their gods. (lust of the eyes)
3 And Israel joined himself unto Baalpeor: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel.
4 And the LORD said unto Moses, Take all the heads of the people, and hang them up before the LORD against the sun, that the fierce anger of the LORD may be turned away from Israel.
5 And Moses said unto the judges of Israel, Slay ye every one his men that were joined unto Baalpeor.
6 And, behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought unto his brethren a Midianitish woman in the sight of Moses, (pride of life) and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, who were weeping before the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
7 And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from among the congregation, and took a javelin in his hand;
8 And he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her belly. So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel.
9 And those that died in the plague were twenty and four thousand.
We note that the Hebrew text of Numbers 25:9 says twenty-four thousand but here Paul says, three and twenty-thousand.
As a means to reconcile these statements, there are a number of approaches that have been made.
Perhaps twenty-three thousand fell directly by the plague, and one thousand were slain by Phinehas and his companions OR
maybe that the number was between twenty-three and twenty-four thousand and either Paul or Moses were rounding off.
Whatever it was, when it comes to scrutiny and issues in the Bible, numbers and figures are the greatest culprits.
Verse 9
9 Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents.
(add number 4 to chart here)
The word “tempt,” when applied to man, means to present motives/inducements to sin: when used with reference to God, it means, “to try his patience, to provoke his anger, or to act in such a way as to see how much he will bear, and how long he will endure the wickedness and perverseness of men.”
In the Old Testament, the COI tried the patience and forbearance of God by and through rebellion, murmuring, idolatry, and their apparent dissatisfaction with his dealings.
If the Corinthians were in danger of tempting Christ we don’t how.
Perhaps all of these things Paul pulls from the history of the Nation of Israel are related. Perhaps even chronologically. What I mean by this is the believers, surrounded by worshippers of Diana, first
We attracted to the Diana worship (Lust)
Which drew some to Idolatry
Which drew some to Fornication
Which was a means of tempting Christ
And ultimately lead to them murmuring.
In any case, Paul says:
9 Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents.
Of course, this reference is pointing to the epic story out of Numbers 21 where we read, beginning at verse 4:
4 And they (the COI) journeyed from mount Hor by the way of the Red sea, to compass the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way.
5 And the people spake against God, and against Moses, (that’s called murmuring, by the way) “Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread.”
6 And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died.
7 Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD, and against thee; pray unto the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people.
8 And the LORD said unto Moses, “Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.”
9 And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.
This tempting of God or Christ as Paul writes here, is in direct relation to human suffering and not appreciating God’s means of pacifying us.
In this story the Nation of Israel were provided for but it was not enough, and they spake against both God and Moses.
This tempted God or drew or encouraged him to correct them – in this case with fiery serpents.
This is a classic example of tempting God. But we might wonder why Paul wrote tempt Christ instead of tempt God.
Perhaps his liberty in exchanging them tells is they are one and the same?
I’ not so sure that Paul was trying to say that the COI were actually tempting Christ Jesus – but he could have been using Christ here as we would savior; in other words the COI were tempting God their deliverer (Messheach) and Not Jesus the Christ.
Anyway, the result of their tempting their deliverer? 23 to 24 thousand died of serpent bites.
Finally, Paul says:
10 Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.
What is the basis of murmuring. In Hebrew the term is Loon and it means to stay overnight.
In the negative sense, it is used for obstinance – especially overnight. It’s that attitude some get when there is some sort of disagreement and someone steams obstinately all night long over the problem, refusing to be moved.
The Greeks took the term and translated it to GONG-GOOD-ZO, which means complaining.
Somewhere between these two definitions we obtain a working understanding of “murmur” – obstinate complaining.
God is not a big fan.
And while the basis of it is disgruntled complaints with the circumstances God allows in our lives, I would suggest that at the end of the day the real source of murmuring is arrogance, entitlement and pride – when someone, instead of being grateful for manna and living water in a barren desert, believe that they deserve “mo betta.”
Because of this I place murmuring under the auspices of the pride of life. (WRITE IT ON BOARD)
In Numbers 13 we read the beginning of the Old Testament tale at verse 36. Spies from the COI went into the promised land. (verse 26)
26 And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word unto them, and unto all the congregation, and shewed them the fruit of the land.
27 And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it.
28 Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there.
29 The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south: and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan.
30 And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.
31 But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we.
32 And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature.
33 And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.
So two reports came back from the spies who entered the promised land:
One, from Caleb alone, said, “Let’s go at it! Now! We are able to possess it!”
And the other said:
“We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we (in fact) there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.”
So God, who has been with them as a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, who parted the Red Sea and made it dry ground, who fed them with miracle manna and quail, who gave them water out of a rock, has promised to go with them into the Land of milk and honey and promised that He would be on their right hand and their left – but the scouts came back with differing views – and how did the COI respond.
Go to the next chapter – 14 – where we read:
Numbers 14:1 And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night.
2 And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness!
3 And wherefore hath the LORD brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt?
4 And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt.
This response caused Moses and Aaron to fall on their faces and Caleb to rent his clothes.
It was a literal over-night verbal rebellion based in fear of Man over fear of God, in faithlessness, and an ensuing arrogance that they knew better than God.
Moses and others tried to encourage the COI to be faithful but that led them to want to stone them – but God stepping in and stopped it and then said to Moses:
How long will this people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have shewed among them?
12 I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of thee a greater nation and mightier than they.
After some long conversation with Moses convincing God to not do that thing, God says (at verse 22)
22 Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice;
23 Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it:
24 But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it.
And then God redirects the COI to travel back toward the Red Sea, saying again:
27 How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, which murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against me.
And then he tells them your children will enter into the promised land (verse 32)
32 But as for you, your carcases, they shall fall in this wilderness.
33 And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness.
Paul’s message to the believers at Corinth is clear. Looking at the COI and their decisions in the wilderness, Paul summarizes to the believers in His day:
Don’t lust after evil things.
Flee from idolatry
Avoid fornication
Don’t tempt Christ
Stop murmuring.
All in the context set up by Paul in chapter 9 about running the Christian race as a means to receive “a better resurrection” and to avoid being cast off.
At this point we enter into a passage of extreme import to Christianity today.
After having said all of this Paul adds the following about his reason for writing what he has written. Ready? He says:
11 Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
The Greek word for examples (as translated here in the King James) is (tupoi or types).
The same word which is used in verse 6 as we have already discussed.
This verse is a repetition of the admonition contained in that verse and I think Paul repeats it here to emphasize the importance of why all these things happened to the COI.
This fact is often forgotten by critics (and sometimes even believers) of and in the faith.
In fact, its really popular for people to criticize the contents of the Old Testament but they fail to see what God was doing through that Nation as he laid out types and shadows through them for the redemption of the world and to help explain how things are and will be.
The sense of this is that not that these things took place simply because it was life to them, but that in their occurrence God illustrated great principles of human nature and of His Divine government.
In them we see the weakness of Man, our tendency to lean into sin, and our need of the Divine protection and guidance.
In their brutality we often see the righteousness of God manifested and illustrating the absolute need for a mediatorial Messiah to usher in a permanent dispensation of Grace where mercy triumphs over justice.
Paul says that all those things were types and adds that they “are written for our admonition.”
In some ways this is obvious because Paul is writing and citing these types to the believers in that day.
The 20 million dollar question is do these examples continue to serve as types and admonitions for us today – in this new age and permanent dispensation of God’s grace and kingdom.
Some say no, they do not. I contend and maintain that they absolutely do – and that is why we study the word, to extract the spiritual application of these types to our walk and faith.
But at this point Paul adds the line that I say is one of the most important eschatological phrases in all of the New Testament which is:
“Upon whom the ends of the world are come.” Again, the full verse:
“Now all these things happened unto them (The Children of Israel) for ensamples: and they are written for our (the Believers at Corinth) admonition, upon whom (the believers of that day) the ends of the world are come.”
First, to the Greek:
Those three words, translated in the King James as
The Ends of the world have come
Really means
Upon whom the end of this age have come, or as the Literal Greek Translation reads:
“Upon whom the end of the ages has come.”
I want to teach you a term – a couplet if you will – “THEM-THEN”, meaning
Paul wrote this to “them-then.” He wrote to “them/then” and admitted that to THEMTHEN the END of the AGES had come.
It was the end of the age of the Law and the prophets, of temples, of priests, and spiritual death, and hell, and Satan, and everything associated with that age – leaving us in the age of the New Jerusalem, the age of the Spirit, of Faith and of Love, an age where Christ reigns over the Kingdom given Him of His father, which entered into play once everything of that former age was shaken to the dust.
That age was to end WITH the Second coming of Christ. Paul could NOT say that it was upon them UNLESS Jesus was to return at that time – because the end (of that age) is directly connected to His return for His bride.
If this was not the case, then we are missing the boat big time here at CAMPUS – but were not alone – every religion on earth that I can think of (except maybe the orthodox Amish) are missing the boat.
But were not. That ship has sailed. And where the end of the age fell on them, we are in the new awaited age.
Praise God.
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