What "Baptized Unto Moses" Really Means — 1 Corinthians 10 Explained

Hello, and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick. An Oklahoma rancher and farmer, Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. Okay, now I guess we're ready to go, and we'll just turn right back to 1 Corinthians, chapter 10. We'll start with verse 1. We just finished chapter 9 in our last program, and again, I guess I just have to keep reminding folks that all the past programs are available on video, or in the little printed books. You drop us a note or call us on the 800, and we'll help you get the list at whatever you want. You can pick and choose. Again, we always like to thank our listening audience for your letters of encouragement. My, how we love mail time. And Iris almost beats me to it, you know, she wants to read them before I get a chance to. So mail time is the high point of our day. And then in response to so many questions, we always like to let it be known, if you want to dub your own tapes and pass them on to others, you feel free to do so. And the same way with the little books. If you want to make copies, we're not in this for the money. All we want to do is, as we showed the Apostle Paul in our last program, he just had that burning desire to see lost people saved, and that's the only reason we're doing this. Many a time, I think, what in the world have I gotten into, because, you know, I'm still a full-time rancher, and I've still got all the ranch responsibilities, but the Lord has given this ministry, and so we have to use it for His glory. All right, now without any further ado, let's just go into chapter 10. We've got a lot of ground to cover here in the next few verses, because Paul here is going to go way back, of course, to the book of Exodus, and we're going to follow him in just a moment. I Corinthians chapter 10, now verse 1, and he says, "...Moreover, brethren," in other words, in spite of everything that he's been saying ever since chapter 1, now he's going to add a lesson to it, because this is the whole purpose of Paul's letters, is to teach us, not just some of the simple things, but even how all of these Scriptures tie themselves together. And if there's anything I love to do, it is to tie the old and the new, because they all fit so intrinsically. All right, he says, "...Moreover, brethren, I would not have you be ignorant, how that our fathers," and, of course, he's speaking as a Jew, "...that our fathers were under the cloud, and they all passed through the sea," that is the Red Sea, and that parting of the Red Sea. And then verse 2, "...and they were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea." Well, I always have to stop here, because most people in this age of the Church, as soon as they see the word, baptized, they think of water. Well now, even though they did have the Red Sea water parted, yet did they get wet? No. They walked through on dry ground. Well then, what's the baptism? Well I've pointed it out in previous programs, it comes from the Greek word, Ecclesia. No not the word, baptized, but this whole idea of a called out assembly is the Ecclesia, and called the Church in the wilderness, and so forth, but Israel was not baptized to become members of that Ecclesia. Now let me show you what I'm talking about. Go back to Acts chapter 7, otherwise there's a blank if I don't show you what I'm referring to. Back to Acts chapter 7, where Stephen, of course, is preaching this tremendous sermon to his Jewish religious leaders, and he's gone all the way back to Abraham, and he's brought the Jewish history before them, and here in Acts chapter 7, beginning at about verse 36, he's referring to their forefathers who came out of Egypt under Moses. Alright, and he says in verse 36 of Acts 7, he brought them out, that is the nation of Israel, after that he had showed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt. In other words, it's almost the same as Christ's earthly ministry, see. He had to show wonders and signs to prove to the Jewish nation that it was God's doing. Alright, and same way with Moses. He had showed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness forty years. Now, of course, Stephen is trying to prove to Israel that Jesus was the Christ, remember. And so, Stephen comes on now in verse 37, and he says, "...this is that Moses, who said to the children of Israel prophetically, a prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren like unto me." In other words, someone who would deliver Israel even as Moses did. Alright, reading on. "...and so he'll be a prophet like unto me, and him you shall hear." Now verse 38, "...this is he," Stephen says, speaking of Jesus of Nazareth, "...this is he that was in the church," there it is, the Ecclesia, or that called out assembly of the children of Israel, "...this is he who was in that assembly in the wilderness with the angel, which spoke with him in the Mount Sinai with our fathers, and who received the living oracles," that is, the Law. Alright. Now, when God called Israel out of Egypt, He brought them through a Red Sea experience, which was a baptism, but without a drop of water. And they became a church, but without any church organization. Well, it's a matter of definitions again, see. The church here is a called out assembly. It's not a New Testament church. It's Israel in the wilderness, fresh out of Egypt. And they're also going to have a baptism that is not water baptism. But now come back to I Corinthians a moment. They passed through the sea, and in that passing through the sea, going from one, what shall I say, from one lifestyle of slavery under the heavy hand of the Egyptians, to absolute freedom set aside as the people of God. Alright. What kind of a baptism was it? Well, it wasn't water. It was simply that they were placed under Moses' leadership. They were placed under the Shekinah Glory, the cloud that accompanied them. And it was called a baptism. And so we've got to watch our definitions. They were all placed under Moses' leadership. You see that? And so it became a baptism of sorts. Now in another place where baptism is used, and it never refers to water, is when the disciples thought they could go and do whatever Jesus was going to do. And what did He tell them? Look fellas, I have a baptism to be accomplished that you know nothing of. Now I'm paraphrasing it. Well, what kind of a baptism was He talking about? His death, His suffering. He would be placed under all of that that the disciples could never do, but He called it a baptism. He was placed under all of the ramifications of His crucifixion, His burial, and His resurrection, and He called it a baptism. Here, Israel coming through the Red Sea under Moses' leadership, the power of the Shekinah cloud, it's called a baptism. Do you see that? And it merely meant that they were identified now with Moses and His leadership. Alright, now let's move on to verse 3. And they all did eat the same spiritual food. Now the word meat in the King James anyhow should be food. And they all ate the same spiritual food. And they did all drink the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. Alright, back up a couple pages to chapter 5 here in 1 Corinthians, where in chapter 5 Paul refers to Christ our Passover. Now, I didn't take the time when we were back there in chapter 5, so we're going to tie all this in with chapter 10. I kind of did it purposely. And now we're in chapter 5, verse 7, Paul says, Paul purge out therefore the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you are unleavened. That is, he's talking to believers. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. Alright, now then we see Paul pull this whole Exodus out of Egypt as a lesson for not only the Corinthians, but for us. Now on your way back to Exodus, I want you to stop at Romans chapter 15. Romans 15, and honey, we'll drop down to verse 4. I guess maybe I call her that too much. Once in a while we'll get a letter, dear Les and honey. Romans chapter 15, verse 4. You know, that's another thing I appreciate. This television thing is so interesting. You know, I never made a big deal of it, but you know, 99 out of 100 letters, they just say either dear Les or dear Les and Iris, and oh, I like that. Once in a while, somebody will make the horrible booboo of calling me pastor or something like that, and say I'm not a pastor, and you know that as well as anybody, but I just love it when they address the letters dear Les or dear Les and Iris, because that's just exactly what we are. We're just on common ground with everybody. In fact, I was thinking last night, I still think I should have named this program the Sunday School of the Air or something like that, because I feel more like a Sunday school teacher or just a plain layman than anything else. But whatever. Here we are now in Romans chapter 15, verse 4. Now Paul, of course, is writing to the Christians at Rome, and look what he says here. For whatsoever things were written aforetime, that is back in the Old Testament, were written for our learning. All those things written back there, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, even though it was written to the Jew under the Law, yet it was for our learning. And how many people today just shut their eyes to the Old Testament? We've got nothing to do with that. The Old Testament is just a bedrock for the New, and you can't understand the New unless you understand the Old. And so that's what Paul is saying. He said, all these things were written for our learning, not our doctrine. You're not going to find the plan of salvation back in Exodus. You'll find a picture of it, but you won't find the Gospel back in Exodus or anywhere else in the Old Testament. But it's there for our learning that we, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope. Well how in the world does understanding the Old Testament increase our hope? It makes it so much more believable. My when you see how all this fits so beautifully, written thousands of years before by men totally unaware of the Church Age, and yet it all fits. How could it if God hadn't been the author of it? And so this is another one of the proof positives, of course, that this book is supernatural. All right, so now then let's go back to the Old Testament and see what we can put together here and come all the way back first to the Passover, and that would be in Exodus chapter 12. Exodus chapter 12. And you've all known the story of the plagues in Egypt and how Israel was just being submerged in the suffering and the horrors of slavery under the Egyptian slave masters. And then finally, Pharaoh told Moses not to ever come back and see him. I'll never see your face again, Pharaoh says, and Moses said, You've spoken well. You don't know how close to the truth you are. And then we come into chapter 12, and God gives Moses and the nation of Israel the instructions for the Passover lamb. And then they were to take it out in verse 5 of chapter 12. They were to take it out of the flock without blemish, a male of the first year. They were to take it either from the sheep or the goats. And then verse 6, they were to keep it and pin it up for three days until the fourteenth day of that month of April. And all of Israel was to have a Passover lamb at their disposal. All right, now then verse 7. They were to take the blood of that Passover lamb, and they were to strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the house wherein they shall eat it. All right, then I'd like to have you turn over to the same chapter, verse 12. All right, now I think in order to make this a little more graphic then, the door of their little huts. They certainly had no fancy homes in slavery in Egypt. But on the door of their little hut they were to strike with a piece of hyssop, which was like our ragweed really. And they were to put the blood on the two door posts and on the lintel or on the headboard. And of course they didn't know it, but we can see it that that was the outline of the cross, and certainly that's what God had in mind. All right, now they were to take the blood of that lamb, strike it on the two door posts and on the lintel, as the word is used in the King James anyway. And now verse 12. Why? What was the purpose? This is the last plague that's going to fall on Pharaoh's Egypt. And you all know the plague of the death angel. Verse 12, God says, "...I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and I 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." And the reason He can do it is because He's Sovereign, and He says, I am the Lord. Now then verse 13, here is where the lesson really comes home to you and I. And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where you are. And God says, when I see the blood on those door posts, when I see the blood, I will pass over your house, and the death angel will not strike the firstborn. I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you. Now when we were teaching all this years ago back in Exodus, I made the point, and I'm going to repeat it again. As those Jewish families stood in their little hovels, and they were to stand around the kitchen table with the Passover lamb roasted, and they were to partake of it, give them strength for their journey. This is the emphasis I've always said. When they knew that the blood was out there on the door post, did they shake with fear all that night? No! Why? Because by faith they knew that the blood had kept them secure. They knew by faith, and that's the word. They knew by faith that with the blood on the door, the death angel would never strike them. They were safe, they were secure, and they didn't have to shake in their boots. Alright now then, we're going to come back to Exodus in a little bit, but for now let's go all the way back up to Romans. Now look what Paul says in the book of Romans concerning the blood. And remember he said in I Corinthians chapter 9, that Christ was our Passover, and so again if there's a Passover lamb, there has to be blood, because that was the whole idea was the shedding of the lamb's blood, that it could be stricken on the door post. Now look in Romans chapter 3. Now this is our ground. Here we are doctrinally. This isn't just an example. Now this is the real thing. This is what we have to latch on to, just like the Israelites in Egypt rested on the blood of that lamb on the door, this is what we have to rest on even as Gentiles in this Age of Grace. Starting at verse 23 of Romans 3, for all, every human being has sinned and come short of the glory of God. So every human being in his natural state is separated from God because he's fallen short. He can't meet God's standard. But we're not left with the dilemma of hopelessness. You move on now into verse 24, that even though all have sinned, yet we can be justified freely by His grace through the redemption or the buying back that is in Christ Jesus. Now remember, all of Scripture is always teaching that whole idea of something that was owned and was lost, or hopped is a better word for us today. For example, the nation of Israel were God's covenant people until because of the brother's sin, where did Joseph end up? Down in Egypt. And while Joseph was down in Egypt and the other brethren were in rebellion, God lost His chosen people. He had lost control of them. So what is He going to have to do? He's going to have to buy them back. And that's what the book of Exodus is all about. It's a book of redemption. And how did He buy them back? Through the blood of the Passover lamb. Now it's the same way with us today. God lost us when Adam fell. And so He's going to have to redeem us. And how does He redeem us? With blood. That's the only, what shall I say, it's the only thing that God can use to purchase mankind's redemption. All right, now here it is then. Verse 25, "...whom," speaking of Christ Jesus in verse 24, "...whom God hath sent forth to be a propitiation through faith in His," what? Blood. You don't hear that much anymore, do you? You just don't hear that anymore. But there is only one way to experience the redemption of verse 24, and that is putting your faith in the blood of Christ. Now do you see why Paul took us back to the Passover night in Egypt? It's the same setting. Just as sure as that Jewish family in Egypt was safe, and the death angel couldn't touch the firstborn because of the blood out there on the door, so also for you and I who have had the blood of Christ applied, nothing can touch us. Nothing. Now I have to think of verses as they come along. Romans chapter 8. Oh, we just thrilled at it when we were teaching it, even here on television. Romans 8, and you come all the way down to verse 37 in Romans 8, Paul says, "...in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us." Now listen, "...for I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers," I think that's the Satanic principalities and powers, "...nor things present, nor anything that could yet come on the scene, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, none of these things shall be able to separate us from the love of God which we have in Christ Jesus." Why? We're under the blood. We're under the blood, and nobody, no power on earth or in heaven can take us from under that blood protection. As surely as the Israelites were safe in Egypt, we're safe today. Oh, what a beautiful security. You remember even when we taught the flood, and I'm not going to take time, I wasn't planning to do that, but you remember when God gave instructions to Noah to build that old ark, and of course he was going to make it of wood, and it was going to have to be up there in the water, the raging sea, for almost a year. What did God instruct Noah to do to seal the ark so that it wouldn't leak? Remember? Pitch. Remember that? Which was a tar, but I pointed out back there in that lesson in Genesis, the same Hebrew word for pitch was also the Hebrew word for, who remembers? Atonement. See? Atonement. Same Greek, same Hebrew word. All right. So what did the pitch between the boards of that old ark really amount to? The sealing effect. It was the atoning effect, that just as sure as the blood seals out judgment and it can never touch us, the pitch sealed out the waters of the flood. And so this is all the way through Scripture, that we are secure, not because of anything we do, not because of anything we deserve, but simply because we've placed our faith in the blood of Christ. Now of course it doesn't stop there. We also place our faith in His resurrection, the fact that He rose from the dead. Well all right, now come back to Corinthians for just a moment, now that you're this close in Romans, and we're going to go right back to Exodus again. Now in Romans, 1 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 4. "...after they came out of Egypt, came through the Red Sea experience, were separated unto the God, they're out in the desert. And all these millions of people," and you know I'm so tickled whenever I read, there was an article in Jerusalem Post a while back, and the writer used the same numbers. Now don't think for a minute she heard me say it. But whatsoever, she used the same numbers that I've used for years concerning the children of Israel coming out of Egypt, three to seven million. Now that's unbelievable, I know it is, but that's what it must have been. From three to five, six, seven million Jews, Israelites, out there in the desert. And out in the desert, naturally there was no water. And oh, they got thirsty. Whatever livestock they had, oh, that always raises questions for me too. Why were they hungry for meat when they had all those sheep and cattle and goats? Don't ask me, I can't explain that. But whatever, they did. And their livestock were getting thirsty, and they were bawling and bleeding for a drink, and the Israelites were thirsty, and so what'd they do? Hey, they come roaring up to Moses. Now let's come back to Exodus. That's got to be about what? Exodus chapter 17, verse 2, Exodus 17, verse 2. Wherefore, wherefore the people did chide with Moses. Oh, they were just irritating him. They were almost screaming at him. And they said, give us water that we may drink. And Moses said to them, why chide ye with me? Wherefore do you tempt the Lord with all your complaining? But that didn't help any. Verse 3, they're still what? Well, they're still thirsty. And they thirsted there for water, and the people murmured against Moses, and they said, wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst? What's the purpose? My Moses, we could be just as well down there mixing mortar and making brick as to die of thirst. All right. And Moses cried unto the Lord and said, what shall I do to this people? They're almost ready to stone me, and I'll bet they were. And now look what God says. And the Lord said unto Moses, verse 5, go before the people, take with thee the elders of Israel and thy shepherd's rod, wherewith you smote the river, you remember, back in Egypt, made it turn into blood. He says, take that same rod and go. Now verse 6, behold, the Lord says, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb, and remember, Horeb is the same as Mount Sinai. I will stand there upon the rock in Mount Sinai, and thou shalt smite the rock with his shepherd's rod, and there shall come water out of it that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. And how much water did they get? They got enough for all the Israelites and all their cattle, and there was enough left over that the neighbors started fighting for it. Thank you for watching Through the Bible with Les Feldick, a weekly Bible study. If you would like more information about the Les Feldick Ministries, a Bible study in your area or about this program, write to Les Feldick Ministries, Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, Oklahoma, 74552. That's Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, Oklahoma, 74552. Through the Bible with Les Feldick is viewer supported, and your gift is appreciated. 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