1 Corinthians 10:1-22--Warning Against Idolatry

Warning Against Idolatry
10 For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, 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, 3 and all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. 5 Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.

6 Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. 7 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.” 8 We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. 9 We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, 10 nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. 11 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. 12 Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. 13 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.

14 Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. 15 I speak as to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. 16 The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? 17 Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. 18 Consider the people of Israel: are not those who eat the sacrifices participants in the altar? 19 What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? 20 No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons. 21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. 22 Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?

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The timing of this couldn't be better as we just talked about the Passover, Exodus, and parting of the Red Sea last night in our small group meeting for Gospel Foundations.  As they passed through the Red Sea they symbolically passed through the waters (as we do in baptism) from an old nature of slavery (our slavery was to sin and not to a physical kingdom like Egypt) and into life and freedom and becoming the people of God--a new nation with a new purpose and identity, just like God has done for us through Christ.

The people all wandered in the wilderness together and ate manna from heaven which Jesus would point to later when he would call Himself the Bread of Life that has come down from heaven, and they drank from the water that came from the rock that was smitten, which we know to be symbolic of Christ as this passage explains, and we know that Jesus is also the Living Water the produces a wellspring or fountain of living water inside of us.

Even though these Israelites had everything in their favor--Moses and Aaron the pillar of cloud and pillar of fire and the angel of the LORD to guide and protect them and they experience the plagues and manna and quail and water from a rock and so much more, they grumble, complained and were heard-headed and hard-hearted and most of them died in the desert without ever entering the Promised Land.  We should learn form them not to grumble or complain and that we should never desire to go back to the life that we had before Christ.  As we go back and study the book of Numbers together in a little bit (it's coming soon), we'll see that God's anger burned against them to the point where His holiness would have consumed them for their rebellion and idolatry had not a mediator stepped in (while it was Moses there, this is a picture of the work of Christ).  We too are weak like them and we should not be haughty or conceited to act as if we would not make the same kinds of mistakes.  We need to be careful to learn from their mistakes and look for these same weaknesses in ourselves, and we need to trust God to guide us, protect us and deliver us--this is what we pray in the Lord's Prayer, "...and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil."

The mighty works of the LORD in Exodus should have show the Israelites that there was no god other than the LORD, as the plagues showed all of the gods of the Egyptians to be false, and the gods of the Canaanites could not save them from the wrath of the LORD, but yet the people still turned back to these false gods--to the golden calf and to Baals and Asherah poles and even sacrificing their children to Molech because they forgot the name and nature and character and works of the LORD or they even began to ascribe those attributes and actions to the gods they had made, because they then were in control of the gods because the LORD is not a god made by human hands and no one can control Him.  As C.S. Lewis would say about Aslan, He is good, but not safe.

Paul then tried to come back and tied up some loose ends.  First, that we are all one body in Christ as God made the many people of Israel into one nation and one people, even though they were 12 tribes, and looked at them as one holy nation of priests (see Exodus 19), which is the same way that He describes us in Christ (see 1 Peter 2).  But if we have become one with each other and with God through Christ, then why should we commit adulatory with false gods?  We should not give ourselves or our bodies to be instruments of unrighteousness to fulfill the lusts and desires of the flesh, as that was our old life and identity.

So now that these false gods have been revealed for what they are--nothing but the inventions and creations of man (though maybe animated in some way by demons), so then to eat the food that has been sacrificed to idols in a way that is ignorant of the fact or does not directly participate in the worship of the demonic forces behind the idols is one thing, but it is quite another to participate in making the sacrifices to them and drinking to them all while at the same time taking communion and identifying yourself with the body and blood of Christ.  You cannot identify with both Christ and these false gods--you must make up your mind which you will identify with and which you will serve.  We should not be like the Israelites and provoke the LORD's jealousy and wrath as He alone deserves all glory, honor and praise and will share his glory with no one and nothing else, for His name is Jealous (Exodus 34:14).