Historian Will Durant asked, “Is it possible that history has no sense and that the immense past was only a weary rehearsal of mistakes that the future is destined to make on a larger stage and scale?”
In the Bible we are told to learn from history. God’s dealings with his ancient people Israel provide lessons to teach us. “These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us” ( 1 Corinthians 10:11). In this text the apostle Paul is reminding us not to repeat the mistakes of the Old Testament Israelites.
In 1 Corinthians 10 Paul refers to a pivotal event in biblical history, the exodus. God’s covenant people were liberated from slavery in Egypt. Some of Paul’s readers (the Jews) would have been familiar with this. Others (Gentiles), would have needed to learn about it. So in 1 Corinthians 10:1-10, he outlined the story, and some of the lessons Christians should draw from it.
He wrote about how, despite the Lord’s goodness in delivering them from slavery and providing for them on their journey to the Promised Land, they disobeyed God. They put God to the test. They complained about the leadership of Moses. They were ungrateful. They were tempted by idolatry.
The Hebrew people had all kinds of special advantages and supernatural blessings from God, yet they fell into sin. The books of Exodus and Numbers tell us about their experiences on the way to their new homeland. Their forty-year pilgrimage in the wilderness of Sinai was one long funeral procession, the consequence of their disobedience.
Paul is writing about this as a warning to the Corinthian church, and to believers today. Do not put God to the test and face his corrective punishment. ! Corinthians 10:11 says we are living in “the fulfillment of the ages.” This is the culmination of God’s plan for history, beginning with Christ’s death and resurrection and continuing through his second coming. We live in the period of time when God’s grace is in operation, the age of the Holy Spirit, the church age.
With these greater advantages comes greater responsibility. Sinning against God’s grace is even more serious than sinning against his law. He expects us to live in the power of his Holy Spirit. He has given us the guidance of his word. We are to learn the lessons of biblical history and link them to our lives as guardrails.
Failure is not inevitable. The warnings and threats in this scripture are meant to protect us and keep us from falling into sin. Paul gives us these words of encouragement: “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And 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).
I read that 26% of all U.S. bachelor’s degree recipients graduate from college without having earned one single undergraduate credit in history. William Willimon lamented what he called “an a-historical culture in which ignorance of the past hinders our ability to move forward into the future.”
I think the apostle Paul would agree. Ignorance of biblical history puts us at risk of falling into the same pattern of failure as ancient Israel. Let’s read our Bibles and learn the lessons of history.
Pastor Randy Faulkner