LEARNING FROM THE PAST

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.

Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things 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 got up to indulge in revelry.” We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did—and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. Exodus 32:6

We should not test Christ, as some of them did—and were killed by snakes. Numbers 21

And do not grumble, as some of them did—and were killed by the destroying angel.

These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come.

1 Corinthians 10:1-11

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

There are any number of quotes that have stuck around for the ages that generally say this:

“If you don’t learn from the past, you are doomed to repeat its mistakes.”

History can be a great teacher if we give it credence. Wise people learn this in life.

Well, it shouldn’t surprise you that the Bible, the greatest book of wisdom ever, shares the same viewpoint regarding the past being a great educator, especially in regard to replicating past errors. As chapter 10 of 1 Corinthians opens, we find the Apostle Paul encouraging the Christian believers in Corinth to remember the actions of their ancestors, the ancient Israelites. To do so, he takes the Corinthian readers all the way back to the Israelite deliverance from Egypt.

As they fled Pharaoh and his forces, God made the way for the Israelite people to all pass through the sea, parted for their safe passage by His almighty power. The Israelites were then led through the wilderness to the Promised Land by way of a cloud by day which turned into a pillar of fire by night. Think of this as a divine form of GPS God used to guide His people. When He wanted them to move, He would lift the cloud and move it forward. When he wanted them to stop, the cloud would lower and cease movement.

During their 40 day wilderness journey, the Israelites all ate the same spiritual food and drink that were provided by the Lord. Whether manna or quail from the heavens or water pouring out from a rock, God ensured His people were cared for.

All seemed well but it wasn’t because something else happened to the Israelites along their journey. They allowed sin to dictate their actions. There was the constant complaining along the way to include many wondering whether or not God had led them into the wilderness to just kill them. A large number of these doubters actually started to think they were better off when they were enslaved by the Egyptians.

Obviously, this blatant lack of trust and show of disrespect didn’t please God but remember He is a God of grace and mercy which He showed in mass quantity toward the people of Israel, His chosen people. Unfortunately, His patience ran out when He brought them right onto the cusp of the Promised Land and a majority of the Israelites decided not to enter due to what they saw as looming danger from the groups who were already occupying the land, groups God expected the Israelites to displace and replace.

And so God brought His judgment on the Israelites. They were sentenced to one year for every day they journeyed in the wilderness to get to Canaan the first time, forty years total. The people of Israel were “scattered in the wilderness” and many of them perished there, never getting the opportunity to live in the land God provided, the land that was full of milk and honey (Deuteronomy 26:9).

Why were these things documented in the scriptures?

Paul asserts that they were intended to keep believers from setting their “hearts on evil things as they (the Israelites) did.

What fell under the category of “evil things”?

Paul highlights these:

1. Idolatry.

God provided His famous Ten Commandments during the Israelite journey to Canaan. Here’s one of the primary commands He issued:

“You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods.” Exodus 20:4-5

Unfortunately, the Israelites violated this order and worshiped idols. Thus, Paul warns the Corinthian Christians to not commit the same sins. They weren’t to be idolaters.

2. Sexual Immorality.

Here, Paul draws from another wilderness sin committed by the Israelites, one that resulted in dire consequences:

While Israel was staying in Shittim, the men began to indulge in sexual immorality with Moabite women, who invited them to the sacrifices to their gods. The people ate the sacrificial meal and bowed down before these gods. So Israel yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor. And the Lord’s anger burned against them.

The Lord said to Moses, “Take all the leaders of these people, kill them and expose them in broad daylight before the Lord, so that the Lord’s fierce anger may turn away from Israel.”

So Moses said to Israel’s judges, “Each of you must put to death those of your people who have yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor.”

Then an Israelite man brought into the camp a Midianite woman right before the eyes of Moses and the whole assembly of Israel while they were weeping at the entrance to the tent of meeting. When Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, saw this, he left the assembly, took a spear in his hand and followed the Israelite into the tent. He drove the spear into both of them, right through the Israelite man and into the woman’s stomach. Then the plague against the Israelites was stopped; but those who died in the plague numbered 24,000. Numbers 25:1-9

25,000 needless deaths. All because people allowed sin to enter in and lead them into wickedness before the God who had delivered them, the God who expected righteousness.

3. Putting the Lord to the test.

The third mistake of the Israelites that Moses placed a spotlight on was the

They traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, to go around Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way; they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!”

Then the Lord sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. Numbers 21:4-7

Here we find the Israelites falling into the sin of complaining. God had given them what they needed. He provided them food and had given them what they needed for survival but it wasn’t enough for them. They wanted more and so God gave them more in the way of venomous snakes. They quickly learned the penalty for putting the Lord to the test.

Ultimately, Paul tells the Corinthian Christians, and all of us reading today, to heed the mistakes of the biblical past for these examples “were written down as warnings for us”, the ones “on whom the culmination of the ages has come”.

Read the scriptures.

See how they tell of sinners like us and how the Lord disciplined those who failed to heed His commands.

And then, don’t do what those biblical sinners did.

This is a sure three step method to becoming more the people God wants us to be in the present and future by learning from the failures of believers from the past.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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