Paul’s words from 1 Corinthians 10 come to us as a warning, a cautionary tale about the dangerous reality of our lives as the people of God. Paul is not a street corner preacher who is terrifying passersby about the existence of Hell if they do not turn from their ways. No, he is addressing the Church, talking to those who call themselves Christians. He is speaking about you. You are chosen by God. You have been given life and salvation through the works of our Lord Jesus Christ. Yet, such a life is marked by obstacles and entrapments which would derail you from such a pathway forward. For just as your Lord had enemies, so do you. It is a complex and never-ending struggle as the Devil, the world, and even your own sinful nature team up to pull you away from His gifts and turn you ever inward on yourself, to create what turns out to be a prison house of your own making, one built by your own desires and comforts.

Paul begins by directing our attention to the great exodus of God’s people. He says, “Our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.” Here, we see the image of the pillar of the cloud that protected and led the Israelites as they departed the slavery of Egypt. It is a departure that takes them through the sea on dry ground. All were under the cloud, he says, and all passed through the sea. All were baptized into Moses, baptized into this representative of God who led them to freedom. To trust the leadership of Moses was to trust in the promises of God. In fact, he goes on to say, “All ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.” All ate the food provided by God, all drank the living water He provided, the gift of Christ blessed all of them.

But we are called to notice how not all of them entered the Promised Land. He says, “With most, God was not pleased.” That is a massive understatement. Out of the adults who started the journey, only two, Caleb and Joshua, entered. The others turned to idolatry and sexual immorality, rejecting the commandments of God and living only for their own desires. He recounts the making of the golden calf and the incident of the Baal worship at Peor, where, in a single day, twenty-three thousand were left dead in the wilderness. He reminds us of the grumbling against God and the plague of serpents that infected their camp. The wilderness wandering was littered with the corpses of those who turned from God.

In this recounting, we ought to see the precursors, the images of the blessings of the Church today. You, too, are under the cloud and pass through the sea. For you, you are baptized, not into Moses, but into the greater Moses, into the very Son of God Himself. In those waters, you are chosen by God, and you are given the promises of eternal life. Your gaze has now shifted from temporal fears of this age to the promise of an eternal land of rest and peace.

And yes, you all eat the same spiritual food and drink the same spiritual drink, for you are invited around the table of the Lord. It is not manna you eat, but the very body and blood of our Lord, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of all your sins. Here, all that is needed to endure, to press on through this present darkness, is freely given. Here, you are bound to the love of God, who gathers you not only to Himself but to one another. In the midst of your wilderness wanderings, you find you are not alone, you are not cut off. Our spiritual Rock continues to feed and gather His people, to forgive and welcome them into His presence.

So, Paul says to you that these stories of the past, these accounts of the ancient people of God, were “written down for our instruction.” They stand as a warning about our day, about our inclusion in the blessings of God. He says, “Let anyone who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.” With this warning, he calls our attention to our own pride and apathy, to our arrogance and hubris regarding the Lord’s gifts. For he knows that the temptations will come, the temptations common to every person, the temptations which would have us forsake the gifts on the one hand or take them for granted on the other. They are temptations that would lead the faithful to turn again to the idolatry and sexual immorality of our forefathers.

What are these temptations? What pulls you away in your wilderness wanderings? Oftentimes, it comes in the form of suffering and heartache. We discover them in profound grief where you cry out in desperation for something to fill the void, something that will give you a sense of control and meaning again. You turn slowly to the ways of the world, to momentary rushes of dopamine which only temporarily satisfy. You forget who you are. You forget into whose name you are baptized and turn again from the light to the comfort of the darkness. At such times, the voices of our age scream loud and long, making it hard to hear the constant call and promises of your God. You are tempted to put your trust in the rulers of our age, to find meaning and security in their thin and twisting promises.

We are tempted to think only of today, only of our immediate gratification. Idolatry and sexual immorality rise up from all sides. They stream into your lives through the phones in your pockets, the news on the radio, and the endless entertainment available for you to consume. To all of this, Paul declares, “God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability.” Though we are unfaithful, though we wander into the darkness, though we find comfort in our own pride and turn from His gifts, He is faithful. He does not waver. He does not forsake. He does not pull back His promises to you.

And because God is faithful, Paul ends this section with a wonderful word of encouragement. The temptations will come, yes. “But,” he says, “with the temptation, He will also provide the way of escape.” And I am here to tell you, the way of escape, the way out of the prison of your own making are the very gifts which called you, gathered you, and enlightened you to begin with. Here, in the gathering of the people of God, there is escape. Here, in the remembrance of your baptism, there is escape. Here, gathered around the Lord’s table, there is escape. For here, in these gifts, you are forgiven, cleansed, fed, and welcomed into a promise that will endure beyond this age and into the Promised Land to come. God is faithful. Let us take heed of His gifts and rejoice in His love.