1 Corinthians 7

Chapter 7. Living in the End of the AgeThese things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come. (1 Corinthians 10:11)This chapter describes the relation of the Church of the New Testament to the saints of the Old. It places us in the end of the age, standing the heirs of the past, the sentinels of the solemn future, at the very gates of the coming kingdom. And it points out the peculiar responsibilities and privileges which devolve upon us all in view of these things as the men and women upon whom “the fulfillment of the ages has come” (1 Corinthians 10:11).

Section I: The Types and Examples of the Past

Section I—The Types and Examples of the PastFour great types are held forth here, drawn from the history of ancient Israel and embodying the great truths of redemption, and we are shown how really identical the gospel preached to the ancient fathers was with that which is today the ground of our salvation. “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” (1 Corinthians 10:3-4). The Cloud

1. The first great type held forth is the Cloud, which led them through the wilderness and covered them as a pavilion from their enemies. It is here spoken of as a divine baptism which came upon them as they passed through the sea. The account of that cloud is very striking and beautiful. First, it preceded and guided them as they went forth out of the land of bondage. So the Holy Spirit leads us out of the world and sin into Christ, going before us at first, while we follow somewhat at a distance. But when at last they came to the deep, dark flood and went down into the death of which it was a symbol, then that cloud that had gone before them gently turned backward. And passing through the camp it baptized them into its very substance, covered them over as a pavilion, wrapped itself around them as a garment, penetrated their very being as the element of their living and breathing. Then it passed behind and stood above them as a wall of majestic protection from their enemies and a glorious light to shine upon their pathway as they marched on before. So, after we have followed the Holy Spirit in His earlier leadings, and have come to the place of surrender and death to self and sin, then He comes nearer, passes through our very being, baptizes us into Himself and then passes through all our life and becomes our reward, gathering up our past, protecting us as a mighty Providence from all evil, and guarding and guiding all our future way. Beautiful, majestic symbol of the presence of God with His people and the baptism of the Holy Spirit! The Sea
2. The next type was the sea. “They were all baptized into Moses… in the sea” (1 Corinthians 10:2). There is no doubt that primarily the sea represented our baptism by water. We know the Red Sea represented the idea of their death to the old life of Egypt, and we know that baptism is the symbol of death, for “all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death” (Romans 6:3). But it represents much more than the ceremony of baptism. It is a vivid figure of that real death to self and sin in which all true life must begin. This is the first goal to which the Holy Spirit is ever leading us—the grave. It was of this the Master said, “I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is completed!” (Luke 12:50). Every true servant must follow Him by the same steps, by the same death. Is it not our deepest need? Is it not the secret of all our failures, all our sorrows, all our defeats? Is it not our deepest desire that we may be dead indeed unto self and sin? Oh, let us go forth with Him to the cross. Let us follow the pillar of cloud and fire down into the very bottom of the sea, and when we reach its depths and all seems lost, then the heavenly cloud will meet us and will enfold us in the bosom of God and baptize us into all His glorious fullness. The Manna
3. The third symbol is manna, the heavenly bread provided for the people in the wilderness. This was the type of Christ as the sustenance of our spiritual life. The most remarkable thing about this bread was that it was supernatural food. There was no support to be found for them in the natural world, nor is there any supply for the needs of the new man to be found in any earthly thing. It may try to feed on human love, or human sympathy, or human success, but it will wither and die. It must have Jesus Christ to nourish it, and live on His very life. Spirit, soul and body must draw their subsistence from the very mouth of God. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever…. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. (John 6:51, John 6:57) It was daily bread. It was not an accumulation stored up for a year, but every morning it must be received fresh; so as we enter upon the year before us the watchword must be, “Give us each day our daily bread” (Luke 11:3). The Rock and the Living Water
4. Next comes the Rock of Horeb and the Living Water, representing the Holy Spirit as the supply of our spiritual life through Jesus Christ. The rock represents Christ, but the Water represents the Holy Spirit, who flows from His riven side. There were three stages in the history of this rock and its lessons. The first was when the rock was smitten at Horeb and the water gushed forth, representing Christ’s crucifixion and the coming of the Holy Spirit. But there was another stage 40 years later, when they came to Kadesh and again were without water. Then God commanded Moses not to strike the rock, for it was already smitten and open, but to “speak to that rock” (Numbers 20:8), and the water would flow forth at the bidding of faith and satisfy their need. Moses despised this gentle command, and rashly struck the rock two times with the tender rod of the high priest. The result was that God was angry at his unbelief and rashness of spirit, and debarred him in consequence from the Promised Land. At the same time the water came all the same. The promise of God was fulfilled and the full tides overflowed, satisfying man and beast from the living fountain. This represents the second or deeper outflow of the Holy Spirit when we come to Him in full consecration and simple trust, not to open the fountain which is already there through Christ’s finished work, but to take, at the bidding of simple faith, the fullness that is waiting to satisfy all our need. This represents the Holy Spirit in His deeper work in the consecrated heart. It is the water of Kadesh, which means holiness. It is the baptism of sanctification and of power from on high. But there was a third manifestation of that flowing rock. It is referred to here in the 10th chapter of First Corinthians by the phrase, “the spiritual rock that accompanied them” (1 Corinthians 10:4). How could the rock follow them? Why, in a very simple way. The rock itself did not move, but the waters that poured from it followed them like a stream through the desert. Sometimes the stream was out of sight, and they seemed to be in a desolate and barren wilderness with nothing but mounds of arid sand without a drop of moisture. But even then the water was following them, and the stream was flowing as a subterranean river far down beneath their feet. They had but to stop and dig a well in the desert and the waters burst forth and flowed again until they covered all the land. This is beautifully described in one of the chapters of Numbers, where the people are represented as gathering in a circle in the sand and lifting up their voices in song, crying, “Spring up, O well!” (Numbers 21:17). The princes with their staves dug, and soon the gurgling waters burst through their barriers and the fountain poured out its living stream to satisfy the thirsty multitude and their panting flocks and herds. So, along life’s desert way we, too, may strike down in the barren sands with the staff of promise and the song of faith. And we shall find the deep tides of His blessed fullness, and the Holy Spirit will overflow in blessing and satisfaction to our hearts and lives. Such, then, were the ancient types and their precious meaning even to them. How much richer and sweeter the deeper fullness of truth and reality which the ends of the age have brought to us. Oh, let us prize that glorious fulfillment! God is expecting better men today than even Abraham and Moses, Joshua and Caleb, and the saints, patriarchs and prophets of that morning twilight of the distant past.

Section II: Warnings of the Past

Section II—Warnings of the PastWhile they had their examples they also had their beacons. Five distinct incidents are referred to with their lessons of solemn admonition for our times, for human nature is still just the same and as liable as then to sink into idolatry, licentiousness, worldliness, presumption and unbelief. Idolatry

1. The first warning is against idolatry. “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 pagan revelry’” (1 Corinthians 10:7). Under the very shadow of Sinai, and with the noise of God’s awful voice still ringing in their ears, they were ready at the slightest provocation to forget their sacred voices and join in a carnival of idolatrous revelry around the golden calf that their own hands had fashioned for a god. Perhaps we may not worship idols so tangible, but our hearts are just as truly centered on idols of human flesh, idols of worldly ambition, idols of selfish desire and willfulness. When John wrote his first epistle the danger of literal idolatry had long passed away. After the days of the Babylonian captivity we never hear any more of Israel worshiping the gods of the heathen, and yet he says to these very disciples, “Dear children, keep yourselves from idols” (1 John 5:21). Surely he must mean the idol whose throne is in the heart and whose sway is an invisible kingdom of affection, desire and strong self-will. Sexual Immorality
2. The second warning is against licentiousness or sexual immorality. “We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did—and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died” (1 Corinthians 10:8). He refers to the experience of the Israelites with the daughters of Midian. After Balaam had failed to curse Israel he persuaded them to meet with beautiful women of the neighboring tribe of the Midianites. As they mingled in the dance and in the song they were seduced by the wiles and attractions of the ungodly Midianites. And in reckless abandonment they plunged into all the excesses of sin until the fearful judgment of God alone awoke them from their foolish madness. If God were to deal today as He dealt with Israel, how many would be left on our church rolls? And yet, how much baser the sin of uncleanness is in the light of Christianity and the spotless life of Jesus Christ and the ineffable purity of the Holy Spirit than in the rude, semi-barbarous days of ancient Israel. There is no sin against which God has flashed out His fierce detestation and anger as against the sin of licentiousness, in which no true child of God can allow himself willfully to indulge. If for a moment any one who names the name of Christ has been tempted from the path of purity, the only hope for salvation is to fly from the very appearance of evil as you would fly from the yawning mouth of hell. Worldly Desire
3. Next appears worldly desire, the lusting after evil things (1 Corinthians 10:6). This would seem to imply that the real source of all sin is in the spirit of our own desires. The last of the Ten Commandments strikes down to the very taproot of all evil: “You shall not covet” (Exodus 20:17). All sin commences with the kindling of forbidden desire. The Apostle James gives us the pedigree: Each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. (James 1:14-15) The secret of victory, therefore, is not to allow the mind and heart to dwell for a moment upon any forbidden thing. Therefore it is true that “the thought of foolishness is sin” (Proverbs 24:9). It is the germ of sin. It breeds actual sin. The whole life of modern Christians is terribly fitted to stimulate unholy desire. The little child is taught from infancy to covet the vain and glittering attractions of the world—dress, equipage, pleasure, praise, fashion, display and a thousand worldly allurements. These are things that are absorbing the hearts of men and women, and they leave no room for God. It is all summed up in one great word, “Mammon,” which stands for everything which antagonizes God, and especially for this great, godless and absorbing world with all its countless snares, attractions and vanities. They began by lusting after the leeks and onions of Egypt, and they ended by lusting after the pomp and glory of earthly kings and courts until they got what they wanted. The issue of it all was the loss of Canaan first, and the loss of God afterward, and the bitter bondage of subjection and captivity at the hand of the very kings whose dazzling glories had beguiled them. The Sin of Presumption
4. The next sin against which He warns us by their example is the sin of presumption. “We should not test the Lord, as some of them did” (1 Corinthians 10:9). They seem to have tempted God in various ways. One of them was by limiting His power saying, “Can God spread a table in the wilderness?” Another was questioning His love. They might all be summed up in the word unbelief. There is nothing that so tempts God as doubt, and it was their unbelief that lost them the Land of Promise, and it will lose us the pardon of our sins, the baptism of the Spirit, the blessing of sanctification, the healing of our bodies, the answer of our prayers and even part in the coming of our Lord. The Spirit of Murmuring
5. The last of their dangers which He holds up as a warning to us is the spirit of murmuring. “Do not grumble, as some of them did—and were killed by the destroying angel” (1 Corinthians 10:10). Their entire declension, which culminated in God’s awful oath that they should not enter into His rest, all began with the one little sentence, “So the people grumbled against Moses” (Exodus 15:24). It was just the faintest kind of murmuring. It was one fly in the ointment, one speck on the spotless linen, one worm in the fruit, one blot of leprosy on the healthy face. We cannot afford for an instant to lose our joy. The spirit of depression and discontent leaves us open to every temptation and danger. We must trust in the Lord forever, rejoice evermore, in everything give thanks and always triumph in Christ Jesus.

Section III: Our Responsibility

Section III—Our ResponsibilityThese are the incitements and the admonitions of the sacred past calling us at once both to hope and fear. And in view of all, the great apostle finally in the third place, impresses upon us with great solemnity the responsibilities and privileges of our solemn place as those who are living in the end of the age. As you have seen the child trundling its little hoop by touching it on both sides alternately to keep it from either extreme, so God teaches us both with warning and with promise as our spiritual condition requires. Sometimes it is warning we need, and He shouts in our ear the solemn admonition, as a mother would cry to her babe in wild alarm if she were, too, in danger of falling over the precipice. But, again, when we are in danger of being too much depressed He speaks to us with notes of encouragement and promise. He tells us there is no real danger of our failing utterly, and that He will never allow us to be tempted above what we are able to bear. And so we hear Him saying on one hand, “If you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!” (1 Corinthians 10:12); but immediately after, adding on the other side, “God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it” (1 Corinthians 10:13). On the one hand then, let us go forth with deep and holy seriousness; on the other, with divine encouragement and confidence. He assures us of His restraining and sustaining grace. He will keep back the flood from going too far. There is nothing that can come to us but what He allows and can prevent and will arrest before it goes too far. On the other hand, He will sustain us. He will give us a way to escape. He will deliver us from evil. What is the way of escape? It is not always our way of fighting our own battles. It is rather the way of flying into the open arms of Jesus, letting Him fight the battle for us and rest us on His peaceful breast. Then armed both with hope and fear let us go forth into the days before us. Days of blessing they will doubtless be; days of trial they are sure to be. The ends of the age are upon us. The hosts of hell and earth are massing for the final conflict. Let us not expect easy circumstances or dress parades, but set our faces as a flint to endure hardness as good soldiers of Christ, and, “when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground” (Ephesians 6:13), at last, having done all, stand approved, triumphant, crowned at the coming of our blessed Lord. God has honored us by letting us stand as those “on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come” (1 Corinthians 10:11), guarding, as it were, the very bridal chamber of our coming Lord, and opening the gates for the marriage of the Lamb. Surely He expects of us more than He expected of Abraham, Moses, Joshua, Elijah or Paul! Will He be disappointed? Will He find us wholly true?