Freedom and Guardedness – 1 Corinthians 10:1-13

It seems really strange to us for Paul to make the statement that the rock in the wilderness that God used to produce water for the Israelites (Exodus 17 and Numbers 20), both followed them and was Christ.  But think about it.  Can water really come from a normal rock?  No.  So this rock was not normal.  And it seems that the rock Moses first struck and then later was told to speak to was the same rock, the same not-normal rock that could produce sufficient water to meet the needs of the whole nation.  It makes sense that it was Christ who was appearing as that rock and creating water for His people.  But that is not the most important thing to understand about this exodus event.  Rather it is the warning we should get from the fact that the Israelites experienced this miracle and many others and yet ended up in unbelief.

For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.

Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. 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.” We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. 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. Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. 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.  (1 Corinthians 10:1-13 ESV)

Paul disciplines his body in order to maintain a pure relationship with Christ and a solid ministry in the gospel.  The Corinthians and we cannot fail to do the same.  We have the example of the Israelites who as a nation all experienced the same spiritual benefits of seeing God manifest to them in a cloud by day and fire by night to lead them through the wilderness on the way from Egypt to Canaan.  In a sense, they were all baptized in that cloud and in the Red Sea when they passed through it.  And they all ate God’s provision of manna and drank water from the Rock that followed them, who therefore must have been the pre-incarnate Christ. Despite all this many of them perished in the wilderness through unbelief having rejected God’s leadership.

This should serve as a warning to us that we cannot expect that just because we all experience God’s blessings in the church that we are therefore exempt from falling away like they did, into idolatry, immorality, and grumbling against God and His leader.  In fact, the Corinthians are guilty of all of these and should not arrogantly think they are able on their own to stand against sin because that is the precursor to stumbling into it.  Everyone experiences temptation and God always has a provided way to escape from falling into it.  Paul has been showing them God’s way of escape from their own temptations in this letter.