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Rightly Dividing
the Word of Truth (2 Timothy 2:15)
Established
November 2008 Published weekly on Friday
This is good and
acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and
to come to the knowledge of the truth. 1Timothy 2:3-4
1 Corinthians (Lesson 28)
Introduction to
Chapter 10
Our Apostle Paul
used an analogy of an athlete running a footrace in (9:24-25) to show us
Believers, if the athlete is to continue in the race, not only to complete it
but to win it, he or she must discipline their body in every facet of their life
and train it rigorously. But there’s
more to it. The athlete must compete
according to the principles of
discipline that promote success or as Paul put it run in such a way that you may win (v24).
Many Believers
begin their new life in Christ Jesus “on fire” for the Lord; they’re like
spiritual sponges, willingly absorbing everything within reach of value to them. But over time many Believers permit their
devotion for the Lord, their spiritual fire,
to burn down if not out all together.
This sad truth serves to remind us of one of the primary principles in
the Believer’s life: having the lead at the beginning of the race
matters little; what matters is how
you finish the race. You see, your
race and mine is not a sprint to the finish line, as in the Isthmian Games,
it’s a marathon, which means while we’re here on earth, we’re running each and every day of our lives. This requires stamina; a life-long commitment
to keep on running, to keep the fire of your devotion burning, with the goal of
finishing strong (Romans 12:1-1, 11).
There’s a familiar colloquial
expression that goes like this, “It ain’t
over until the fat lady sings.” It
means no one should presume to know the outcome of an event which is still in
progress. I borrowed this phrase this
week to remind Believers that even if you “fall behind” in your race, even if
you stumble, don’t give up; you can still finish well.
In 9:24-27, Paul
shared that he practiced self-control daily, disciplining his body for the
long-haul, because he did not want to be disqualified
from the race or God’s approval
at the finish line. In 1 Corinthians
10:1-13 our Apostle Paul warns the Corinthians (and us) about the dreadful and
severe consequences of sin. He
challenges them to avoid backsliding;
to persevere in their life-long walk with the Lord, because according to Paul there
is a very real possibility that many Believers will not finish their race well.
Paul considered this
a possibility in his life and the lives of other Believers but he’s about to
point out that it was actually a sad reality in the lives of God’s chosen people
in the Old Testament. Although approximately
5 million Israelites left Egypt for the Promised Land, when they finally
reached the border and crossed over into the land of promise only two original
members of that group who were over the age of 20, Joshua and Caleb, made
the trip. The rest died in the wilderness
because of their unbelief. Moses
himself was denied access to the Promised Land because he too failed the Lord God (Numbers 13, 14, 20;
Hebrews 3:7-19).
Paul wants Believers
to ponder these truths; this is why chapter 10 begins with a caveat.
********
Please
open your Bible to 1 Corinthians 10.
Avoid Israel’s
Mistakes
1 Corinthians 10
1: For I do not
want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under
the cloud and all passed through the sea;
2: and all
were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea;
Let’s
hold up here. This baptism into Moses is obviously an important subject, for our
Apostle Paul mentions it right from the start saying: “For I
do not want you to be unaware (ignorant or untaught) concerning
it. It’s a sad fact that the truths which
Paul says, “I do not want you to be
unaware” are the very truths which Believers are most apt to be unaware or untaught. Several times in his letters to the
Corinthians we find Paul writing, “Do
you not know.” Let us all make certain, then, that by God’s
grace we do not remain unaware (ignorant
or untaught) of the vital truths expressed in Paul’s epistles.
Denominational
tradition has caused multitudes of
people to think of water as soon as they hear or read the word baptism in the Bible. Bible verses such as: Romans 6:3-4, Galatians 3:27, Ephesians 4:5,
Colossians 2:12 have been borrowed by many, erroneously I might add, to teach
the necessity of water baptism. However, none of these verses refer to water baptism. And most certainly 1 Corinthians 12:13 does
not.
The
confusion is not with the clarity of the subject in the Bible, it is with the
failure of many Believers themselves to recognize both the meaning of the word baptize in Scripture and the right division of Scripture on this
subject.
But
doesn’t one of our standard lexicons define the Greek baptizo as to dip? Yes, it certainly does, and the person who
compiled it was a Baptist who failed to rightly
divide Scripture.
The
Pauline epistles have much to say about the importance of Believer’s baptism.
We who rightly divide the
Scriptures believe in baptism, however,
we believe what the Scriptures have to say concerning a specific baptism that is unique to this Dispensation
of Grace – one that has nothing to do with getting wet per se or is connected
to any church ceremony, ritual, or tradition.
Paul
would have us know the word baptism in the Church Age is most
closely associated with identification. When
Christ died on the cross, God identified
the Believer as having died with Him.
Paul expressed this thought with the phrase, “baptized into His death” (Romans 6:3). God sees the Believer as “buried with Him” in His death (v4). This is an act of faith expressed by the one
who believes: So faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (Romans
10:17). There isn’t a drop of water
involved in the act of believing. God
also sees the Believer as raised with Christ.
As a result of Christ’s resurrection from the dead; the Believer can
experience a new life, “in Christ Jesus”
(v4).
From
Paul’s teaching, the Apostle to the Gentiles, the Apostle of the Gospel of the
Grace of God, and the apostle to whom Christ revealed the Church, the Body of
Christ, comes the knowledge of one
baptism: the baptism of the Holy
Spirit. By this one baptism, we are identified
with Christ and placed “in Christ.” God
the Holy Spirit is the baptizer of Believers, not a church leader who dips,
pours, or sprinkles water on someone. Despite
the centuries of history of water baptism
and all the traditions attached to this practice, the Scriptures teach baptism of the Holy Spirit is the one legitimate baptism for you and me, the Church, the Body of Christ.
If
you’re still unsure about the difference between water baptism and spiritual baptism,
find these passages in your Bible and study them (Colossians 2:9-12; Titus
3:5-7).
Getting
back to verse 10:1, this verse has nothing to do with immersion in water, or sprinkling, for the Israelites
went through the sea on dry ground: But
the sons of Israel walked on dry land through the midst of the
sea, and the waters were like a wall
to them on the right hand and on their left (Exodus 14:29). It was Pharaoh and his armies who were, not
merely immersed, but drowned in the Red Sea (Exodus 14:27, 28, 30; Hebrews
11:27-29). They all died so this was not
the baptism into Moses Paul spoke
of.
Moses
was God’s chosen man; he was used of the LORD God to “deliver” His people from
Egypt, so it was Israel’s baptism into
Moses, meaning their identification with him that took them
safely through the Red Sea experience.
As the Israelites encamped in a trap, as it were, with the Red Sea
before them, desert on one side and mountains on the other, and Pharaoh’s
armies bearing down on them from behind, Moses stood before the people and
said, “Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the
LORD which He will accomplish for you today (Exodus 14:13a).
Moses
wasn’t talking about salvation from
their sins there on the shores of the Red Sea.
He meant if they stood firm,
trusting in the LORD God, He would save them from the advancing Egyptian armies. Therefore the Israelites, without a doubt, identified themselves with Moses at that
time by placing their trust in him and the LORD God to protect them from
annihilation. The alternative was to
surrender to Pharaoh’s and his armies. This
young nation of five million people put their faith in Moses, identifying with him, and the LORD God, their
Provider and Protector; let’s not overlook the Main Thing, and in doing so they
were all baptized into Moses in the cloud
and in the sea.
This
is where the expression Shekinah
glory first appears in Scripture. You
won’t find the word Shekinah in the
Bible, but the concept exists. Some
Jewish rabbis coined the expression, a form of a Hebrew word that literally
means, “He caused to dwell,” signifying
it was a divine visitation of the presence of the LORD God on this earth. The Shekinah
was first evident when the Israelites set out from Succoth in their escape from
Egypt. This is when the LORD God
appeared in a cloud by day and a fiery pillar by night (Exodus
13:20-22).
In
the New Testament, the Lord Jesus Christ is the dwelling place of God’s
glory. Paul tells us in Colossians 2:9 “For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells
in bodily form…” causing Jesus Christ to explain to Phillip, “He who as seen Me has seen the Father; (John
14:9a). Even though Jesus Christ’ glory
was veiled while He was here on earth, He is nonetheless the presence of God on
this earth in bodily form.
Verse
3:
3: and all
ate the same spiritual food – this speaks of the manna (the bread of angels – Exodus 16:15, 35; Psalms 78:25); and quail (Exodus 16:13; Numbers 11:31-32),
which were the LORD God’s supernatural provisions during the wilderness
wandering period. Flavius Josephus, the
historian, (37-100 AD) called this manna “divine
and extraordinary food,” It is called spiritual
food to denote its purity, significance,
and superiority (compare spiritual
to natural @ Romans 7:14; 1
Corinthians 3:1, 15:44, 46). The
Israelites were nourished by spiritual
food for forty years until they finally reached the borders of the land of
Canaan – the Promised Land (Exodus 16:35).
Verse
4:
4: and all
drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock
which followed them; and the rock was Christ (Exodus 17:6).
Here
our Apostle Paul is recalling the miraculous supply of water in the desert
drawn from the rock. The water didn’t trickle forth from the rock it gushed out in a torrent, after Moses struck it per the
LORD’s command, albeit disobediently, which is why he was not permitted to
enter the Promised Land (Exodus 17:6; Numbers 20:1-13). It had to be a large quantity of water to
supply the needs of 5 million people. In
fact, Scripture says it became a “brook” or “river,” flowing from Mount Horeb
to the Red Sea (Deuteronomy 9:21; Numbers 34:5; Joshua 15:4, 47; 1 Kings
8:65).
Paul
informs us the spiritual rock mentioned here, as it is elsewhere
in the O.T., is Christ. But this is not meant to be taken
literally. Jesus Christ didn’t become a rock. The
rock from which the water gushed
forth was an ordinary rock, probably a part of Mount Horeb; but it represented
the Messiah. Paul writes: and
the rock was Christ - the word “was”
is often used to denote similarity or representation in Scripture, and the
Bible student should not take it literally.
I
need another example from Scripture to show you what I mean: in the institution of the Lord’s Supper, Jesus
Christ said, “This is my body,” that is,
the bread represents His body. Likewise,
He took the cup saying, “This cup is the new
covenant in My blood;” that is to say it represents the new covenant and
His blood (1 Corinthians 11:24-25).
Moses
was the first in Scripture to use the word “rock” in a figurative sense in connection with the LORD God. Rock is
a title for YHWH in the O.T. which emphasizes His strength and permanence. Rock was used to build walls, fortresses, and
strong towers back in the day. This
translates to meaning God is our source of strength in times of danger and
distress (Deuteronomy 32:4; Psalm 18:2, 19:14).
In the book of Daniel the word rock it’s used to symbolize the kingdom
of God as a destroying force in the latter days (Daniel 2:45). The rock
symbolism continues in the N.T. with reference to the Lord Jesus Christ for
He is the Chief-Cornerstone. He is the rock of offense to those who reject
Him, but the spiritual rock for
those who obey Him (Romans 9:33; Ephesians 2:20; 1 Peter 2:8).
Our
Apostle Paul does not say the Israelites knew the rock was designed to be a
representation of their Messiah. But he
does mean to say the rock was a
representation of the Messiah, the Jews did partake of the “life-giving water”
and mercy that flowed from Him, and in their desert wanderings they were under
His constant care for Paul said: “a spiritual rock which followed
them…” (Exodus 17:6 and Numbers 20:11)
The
rock didn’t up and follow the nation
of Israel, obviously, so when Scripture says, they were drinking from a spiritual rock, it must mean the water
that came from the Rock accompanied
them; they physically carried the water in some kind of container from one
place to the next. Water was twice
brought out of a rock by Moses to supply the needs of Israel. Once
at Mount Horeb, (Exodus 17:6) in the wilderness of Sin, in the first year of
their departure from Egypt; and the second about the time of the death of
Miriam at Kadesh-barnea in the 40th year of their departure from
Egypt (Numbers 20).
Verse
5:
5: Nevertheless,
with most of them God was not well-pleased (with their ingratitude
and rebellion); for they were laid low (perished)
in the wilderness.
Verses
1-4 shed light on the fact that the Israelites left Egypt and wandered in the
wilderness for forty years and they were saved.
How do we know they were saved? All of them had observed the very first
Passover the night before their freedom was realized, which was an act of
faith, and came out of their bondage in Egypt in total compliance with the God of their fathers– and this is certainly
a picture of salvation from an O.T. perspective (Exodus 12).
If
you’ll recall, Paul used the Passover Lamb of Exodus 12 to describe the benefit
of the cross of Jesus Christ to the
Corinthian saints (5:7). The saved status of the Exodus generation is
also realized in Paul’s use of the word all
(5 occurrences in verses 1-4). This means every Israelite experienced the same
supernatural blessings of Yahweh.
Despite
all these blessing, verse 5 says
there’s a “b-u-t” coming, which means: behold the underlying truth. In the
wilderness, the Israelites hardened their hearts against the LORD God. They tested (or tried) Him with their lack of
faith, a.k.a. unbelief. This is the chief reason they did not enter
God’s rest. The LORD God was angry with that generation because of
their persistent rebellion (Numbers 14:11-12, Psalm 78:32-34, 106:13-33).
The
LORD God swore they would not enter His rest; of all those over the age of 20
when they left Egypt, only Joshua
and Caleb entered the Promised
Land. The rest were disqualified from the ministry the LORD God had planned for them and
they died in the wilderness (Exodus 19:6); millions of people did not finish
the journey they started (Numbers 14:22-24, 28-35; Deuteronomy 1:34-35,
2:15-16).
The
Israelites were rebellious early on but their ingratitude came to a head at a place called Kadesh-barnea, 150 miles from Mount Horeb, near the borders of
Canaan, the Promised Land (Exodus 16:2; Numbers 11; 14:2; Deuteronomy 1:2,
19-21). It has been approximately two
years since the Israelites had left Egypt.
They are now on the very borders of the Promised Land with Kadesh-barnea
being the gateway. The LORD God said, “…go up, take possession, as
the LORD, the God of your fathers, has spoken to you. Do not
fear or be dismayed.”
Instead
of obeying the God of their fathers,
Israel’s faith wavered, and they proposed that a committee be chosen and
sent in to see if the land was all that
the LORD God had said it was, and to see if they could conquer it and take possession of it.
This
was not God’s plan. The very thought of
going against God’s plan was evidence that God’s people did not believe
Him and did not trust His leadership.
He gave in to their request though, and one man was chosen from each of
the twelve tribes to make up this investigating committee a.k.a. spies (Numbers 13).
The
spies were gone forty days and returned with a glowing report and they brought back
samples of the land’s fruit. They
declared that it was all the LORD God had promised. But it was a divided report. Ten of the twelve spies began to describe the
walled cities as impregnable fortresses, and the inhabitants of the land as
“giants” (Nephilim – Genesis 6:2, 4; Deuteronomy 2:10-11, 2:21, 3:11 – See also
Goliath). They reported that it would be
impossible for the Israelites to conquer the country. In doing so, they left the LORD God
completely out of the picture. Caleb and Joshua went out of their way in trying to counteract the evil
influence of the other ten spies, urging the people to go up at once and take possession of the land, saying, “for we will surely overcome it”
(Numbers 13:28-33).
Now
the entire Israelite camp is upset. Joy
and hope once existed, but now gloom, despair, and grumbling have set in (Numbers
14:1-10). Caleb and Joshua
continued their efforts to turn the tide of unbelief and rebellion saying, “If
the LORD is pleased with us, then He
will bring us into this land, and
give it to us” (Numbers 14:6-10).
They pleaded with the people not to rebel, but their pleas made the
people angry, so angry that they threatened to stone the two faithful spies to
death. The people sat in their tents
grumbling and complaining against the LORD God (Deuteronomy 1:25-28).
The
people believed trying to conquer the land was sure suicide so it was better
that they perish in the wilderness,
so the LORD God granted them their request.
The LORD sentenced them to an additional forty years of wandering in the wilderness, one year for each
day they had spent spying in the land against His expressed will; until their
wish was fulfilled… The LORD God spared their children saying, “…Your sons shall be shepherds for forty
years in the wilderness, and they will suffer for your unfaithfulness, until your corpses lie in the
wilderness…. Eventually, the
Israelites entered Canaan with Joshua
as their leader and not Moses (Deuteronomy 1:34-40; Numbers 14:22-30).
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Copyright 2011
GJ
Heitzman’s Ministry
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