Lessons From 1 Corinthians – Lesson 10
Paul started the section about how there are consequences to not doing the should and only doing the I have to with an illustration of running a race and striving and bringing his body into subjection.
That is the should and that comes with a reward given to you by the Lord.
Now Paul is going deeper into this by using Old Testament scripture. He is going to cover many things that happened to the children of Israel in the wilderness.
And he is going to use them as an example for us. Paul is going to show that the same principals of have to verses should and I can but should I existed back then. And that there are real life consequences to how you answer those questions.
Consequences to have to vs. should, and I can but should I existed back then and they still exist for us today.
1 Cor 10:1 Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;
Paul is going to go thru event after event real fast. He is going to hammer this truth home, bam, bam, bam, bam.
Anyone who is not up on all that happened to them in Exodus thru Deu. are not going to fully understand. So we are going to slow down and remind ourselves of what happened and of some of the types and symbols of what happened.
Paul jumps right in with them crossing the red sea. But to really understand we need to remind ourselves of the background information that got them to the red sea.
Joseph is one of the great types of Jesus in the Bible both him and Moses. What God did was bring situation after situation and circumstance after circumstance and event after event in their lives that was a picture of what Jesus would do, or what Jesus would go thru, or something in their character that pointed to Jesus.
For example Joseph was betrayed by and not accepted by his brethren. Jesus was betrayed by and not accepted by his brethren.
Joseph was sold for 30 pieces of silver, Jesus was sold for 30 pieces of silver. The list is really long.
When Joseph is in Egypt he is playing the picture of the Son. Joseph is used as a type, a picture, of Jesus. At that time the Pharaoh is a picture of the father. Joseph saves his brothers from death.
They would have starved and died. They had no power to save themselves. They needed a savior. This parallels us today. Joseph made the offer for them to accept his salvation and they received it and moved. They turned from and turned to. They left their old life behind.
After Joseph saved them, he then presents them to Pharaoh, a picture of the father, at that brief moment in the story.
And the father, accepts them. Not because of their virtue or talents. He accepts them because of their relationship with Joseph. The same today. God the father accepts us because of our relationship with Jesus the Son.
In fact the Father will reject anyone who does not have a relationship with Jesus the Son.
Pharaoh who is briefly playing the part of the father, gives the children of Israel the best of the land. He does not give them the left overs. And they are blessed greatly because of their relationship with Joseph.
Exo 1:5 And all the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were seventy souls: for Joseph was in Egypt already.
Exo 1:6 And Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that generation.
Exo 1:7 And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them.
Joseph dies. The one who played a type, a picture of Jesus the Son is off the scene.
That picture has been shown forth. Reset. Time for a new picture to be told.
And it starts with a new Pharaoh. And this Pharaoh will have a different part to play. He is going to be a type, a picture of the wicked one who rules this world.
Exo 1:8 Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph.
History shows that a group of people moved into Egypt and took over. Those that ruled before and their allies and supporters would have been looking for an opportunity to take back control. So they kind of had their hands full.
Exo 1:9 And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we:
Exo 1:10 Come on, let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land.
Exo 1:11 Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses.
Exo 1:12 But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because of the children of Israel.
Exo 1:13 And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigour:
Exo 1:14 And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in morter, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour.
They were afflicted. They had burdens laid upon them. They were made to serve with rigour. This Pharaoh who plays the part of Satan made their lives bitter with hard bondage.
The picture is of Satan who has power over the lost people. And how he hates them, and hurts them and oppresses them and even wants them to die.
He tells the midwives to kill all the new male babies. He hates the lost Israelites but will not let them go.
It is a really good picture of the reality of how Satan has the lost in bondage to sin. He hates them but will not voluntarily let them go.
Moses shows up, who is now playing the type, the picture of Jesus.
He will deliver them from bondage; he will deliver them from the bondage of Pharaoh. It is a picture of just like today how Jesus delivers those in bondage to sin from the power of Satan.
But any kind of works will not deliver anyone.
The frogs did not deliver, or the flies, or the lice, hail, or darkness.
God went thru all of the first 9 plagues for more than one reason. One reason was to harden Pharaoh’s heart. Another reason was to show forth His power. Both to the Egyptians and that I believe it had a part in them giving to the Jews as they left.
But showing his power also was for the benefit of the Israelites to give them reasons to believe. To increase their faith so more would get saved.
The 10 plagues were also directed towards the false gods of Egypt. Darkness was an attack against RA who was the sun god.
But the plagues also showed that power alone would not deliver anyone from the bondage of sin.
Only one thing can. And that is the blood of the lamb.
They were not set free. Not delivered from the power of Satan until blood of the Lamb was not only spilt, but it had to be applied.
Exo 12:3 Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house:
Question. So how many lambs did they kill? Thousands.
Exo 12:4 And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb.
And the lamb had to have qualities that pictured Jesus the perfect sinless Son of God.
Exo 12:5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats:
Exo 12:6 And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.
I hope you caught it. It is easy to miss and pass over. Shall kill it. Singular. It is not shall kill them. They killed thousands of lambs that night.
Why not plural. Why not them. Because that messes up the picture. All of those lambs where just symbolically representing the 1 Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world.
They were all a picture of Jesus, The one and only. So it is singular. Kill it.
But the death and shed blood of the lamb is also not enough. The blood had to be applied in faith.
Exo 12:7 And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.
And they had to eat it. Eating is a picture of receiving. Of making it a part of yourself. So they had to eat it.
Exo 12:8 And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.
Exo 12:9 Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; …
Fire is a type a picture of judgment. Fire, judgment had to be put upon the lamb. That is what happened on the cross. Jesus took the fire of God’s judgment on sin upon him.
And they had to eat it all, a picture of receiving the lamb completely. It is not a smorgasbord line. Someone can’t say I will take the blessings of salvation but I will not admit I am a sinner.
It does not work that way. You have to take the complete package.
Exo 12:10 And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire.
And it had to be received in faith. In their case they showed that faith by being ready to move out. Faith in the promise of God to be delivered.
Exo 12:11 And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the LORD’S passover.
Exo 12:12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD.
Exo 12:13 And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.
And when the death angel came, when he saw the blood he passed over. A great picture of how when we die eternal death passes over us because we have applied the blood of Jesus to the door posts of our hearts.
Once they left they are His Children. Saved by putting faith in what typified, in what showed forth, the death of Jesus and applying His blood in faith.
The death angel passed over them when he saw the blood.
Now they are His. They are saved. Salvation has always been by faith.
Now that the blood has been spilt and applied in faith, they are delivered. The same night, they just march out. And Egypt, the world, gives them the gold and jewels and material that they need to go out and build the tabernacle and serve God.
Pharaoh, Satan, gets mad and as a roaring lion seeking who he can devour comes after the newly saved group.
But they are now saved, and have God’s protection. A pillar of fire which represented the presence of God protects them.
The whole account is a beautiful picture of people getting saved. From God sending the message, and God sending the deliverer, and God showing forth his power and giving reasons to believe and have faith.
To works not delivering, to the only thing that can which is the blood of the one, singular, and only Lamb of God, to that blood needing to be applied in faith, and the Lamb, Jesus having to be received in faith.
And once applied and received in faith, the death angel passes over showing that they have moved from eternal death to eternal life.
And then after salvation, delivered from the power of Satan.
An instant changing in kingdoms. An instant changing in Lords.
Going from the one over you hating you and causing suffering, to one that cares for you protects you and provides for you.
The entire account is all about showing forth a picture of the lost getting saved.
A good understanding of this is critical to understand what Paul goes into next.
We need to keep in our fore front of our minds that the Israelites that left Egypt are a picture of born again saved people. Saved in faith, by putting their faith in, the lamb that takes away the sins of the world.
And after salvation what is supposed to come next. Baptism.
The great commission is go win, baptize, and then teach. So if the church is commanded to baptize after salvation, then the implication is that the newly saved person should do that.
Baptism is sometimes referred to as the first act of obedience for the new Believer.
And that is what Paul starts with in 1 Cor chapter 10. It appears that Paul assumes that who he is writing to know all about what we just went over and so he jumps right in with baptism at the red sea.
1 Cor 10:1 Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;
1 Cor 10:2 And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea;
That is two baptisms. Both are represented here.
Baptized in the cloud and in the sea. That is 2 different things.
We have covered this before. In the N.T. there are actually 2 different baptisms. One is water baptism and Paul is saying that them passing thru the red sea was a type, a picture of water baptism.
The other baptism is the baptism of fire done by the Holy Ghost.
Mat_3:11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:
That happens at salvation. It is something that God does. Everyone that gets saved automatically receives that baptism.
Water baptism is a choice. One of the things it does is makes a declaration to the world that you have decided to follow Jesus.
The Red Sea pictured that.
1 Cor 10:2 And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud
What cloud? The answer clears that up. God’s presence was manifested to them in the pillar of cloud by day and pillar of fire by night.
They passed under that cloud, which was the presence of God.
Paul says that when they passed under that presence of God in the cloud that it was a type, a picture, of Holy Ghost Baptism.
So now what we have is a group that pictured saved born again believers delivered from the power and control of Satan, who are now baptized.
Showing forth that they have decided to leave the world and follow the Lord.
Now next time we will be ready to see how Paul uses them in the topic he is discussing of the difference between have to and should and I can but should I. And the consequences to all of that.