CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE DAILY DEVOTIONAL ON YOUTUBE
1 Corinthians 10:1-5
As we begin 1 Corinthians 10, we begin part one of what will be a three-part Bible study that in whole will be 1 Corinthians 10:1-13. In Part one (1 Corinthians 10:1-5) the Apostle Paul brings into light God’s great plan of salvation for all humanity. He reminds his hearers/readers of this letter that as God chose His people Israel through their earthly father Abraham (Genesis 17:1-8), and then led them into captivity to save them from going extinct because of the great famine (Genesis 42:1-2), He also led them out of captivity from the Egyptians. It was during this time that God led His people Israel through the desert by a cloud at day and a pillar of fire at night (Exodus 13:21).
The Israelites were symbolically baptized “through the water” when they passed through the Red Sea as this served as a symbol of their being saved from the Egyptians (Exodus 14); all of this being a reflection of Noah and his immediate family (the only God-fearing people on the earth at the time) being saved from eternal damnation through the water/flood because of their faith and obedience to God (Genesis 6-8). Paul states in 1 Corinthians 10:3-4 (NKJV), “all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.” So is Paul saying that Jesus was present with the Israelites in the desert? Yes, He was with them spiritually as He has always been with God and all things were created through Him (John 1:1-5). This is a perfect reflection of the Israelites of the Old Testament in the desert. John 1:4-5 states, “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” Paul goes on the say in 1 Corinthians 10:5, “But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.” This is because as God gave them miracles of food and water in the desert – their shoes did not wear out (Deuteronomy 29:5), but they refused to put their faith completely in God – they continually fell to the sinful nature in disobedience to God. We learn in Deuteronomy 29:4, “Yet the LORD has not given you a heart to perceive and eyes to see and ears to hear, to this very day.”
This is a promise that the Israelites – the chosen people of God – were chosen to be an example to the world so that the world would see that the one true God of Israel is the only God who saves all who will believe in Him.
This is a promise that the baptism and spiritual food and drink that God led the Israelites through the desert with is an example of and prelude to the spiritual baptism, food, and drink that we receive through our faith in Jesus today.
After so many years of the Israelites following God and then falling away from Him; after so many years of God forgiving the Israelites and raising them up over and over again, the LORD spoke through the Prophet Jeremiah in Jeremiah 24:6-7, “For I will set My eyes on them for good, and I will bring them back to this land; I will build them and not pull them down, and I will plant them and not pluck them up. Then I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the LORD; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God, for they shall return to Me with their whole heart.” A heart to know God is a heart that has received His Holy Spirit through His gift to all humanity through His One and only Son Jesus. We now live in a time when God’s presence dwells within us through His Holy Spirit as He has promised to be with us always (John 14:15-18). The Israelites were the example that individually we are not able to please God because we are prone to sin, and no matter how hard we try to please God, we cannot. God gave us the example of the Israelites and all their mistakes and fallings away from God so that we could learn from them and not make the same mistakes. God gave us the example of His chosen people Israel to be an example for everyone who would come after them throughout history so that we would see the need for God in our lives to lead us and be our guide throughout life. He has given us that very guide through His Holy Spirit to live within us – God’s presence within us forever as we can be His children through our Savior Jesus who opened the door to eternal life and forgiveness. We are the recipients of the gift that God gives unto salvation and eternal life.
Dear LORD,
Let us not be as the Israelites described by Paul in 1 Corinthians 10:5 as he states, “But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.” But let us be recipients of Your Holy Spirit in new life as described by the Apostle Peter in Acts 15:8-9, “So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us, and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.” We love You Lord, and we need You to live within us and lead us through our lives on earth so that we can live eternal with You in heaven. Please let it be so LORD. In Jesus name I pray, amen.