1 Corinthians 10:1-13 Moreover, brothers, I would not that you should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud… I. THE DESERT. 1. Our sinful parentage is our Egypt, and death our Jordan. What lies between is the desert of our wanderings. 2. Consider what it is that renders a desert formidable. To the dromedary it is what the sea is to a ship; almost what the air is to a winged bird. But not so with man. His nature is not so well suited to those trackless wastes. So we were not made to feel at home here. Many tokens are there that we are only strangers and pilgrims. (1) Now it is a loss of property, now a loss of health, now a loss of friends. (2) But, to say nothing of what is lost, who needs be reminded of the countless prizes which we may sigh for, but have never gained? To no man is life a holiday. To most is it a scene rather of feverish and but poorly requited toil. The one secret of all this suffering is to be sought in the contradiction which is found to exist between our circumstances and our endowments. We are all of us like kings in exile. We have lost our thrones, and are pawning our jewels for our daily bread. (3) But the great burden and the saddest blight of all is our sense of sin. Years ago and yesterday we sinned; and all the period between is dark with remorseful memories. The soul has no perfect rest. And so the world becomes a desert to us. 3. But courage, brother. Even this blank desert is better than it seems. Though it has no waving wheat-fields, it has manna for its morning dew. Though its sands be trackless, there move on always before us the pillar of cloud and fire. But in addition to, and above all, though there be no running streams, there is the rock smitten to assuage our thirst. II. And THAT ROCK IS CHRIST. 1. What men call pleasure only palls upon our jaded senses. Chesterfield, in his old age, said of the world: "I have enjoyed all its pleasures, and consequently know their futility, and do not regret their loss." As for gold, no wealth ever yet purchased a night's rest. As for power, the Alexanders and Napoleons have all shed bitter tears of disappointment, either conquering or conquered. As for wisdom, from Solomon to Burke, the wisest have been also the saddest of men. As for friendship and affection, even their idols are shivered one by one. "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity." All around us sweeps the glimmering desert, with no refreshment for us but what is furnished by the gushing rock. And that rock is Christ. 2. But who and what is the Christ we speak of? I challenge man's own aching heart for an answer. What is the Christ thou cravest? Is it only a human brother? Is it only an awful God? Or is it the two united in a sweet but stupendous miracle of love? The answer cannot be doubtful. Annihilate my faith in the God-man, and what then is life? But give me now the God-man, and this dreary desert of my sorrow-stricken, sinful life receives at once its gushing rock. Let redeeming love shoot its beams into the darkness, let the radiant form of the Son of God be seen walking up and down the furnace of our earthly afflictions, and straightway the torturing problem is solved. We take up the line of our march through the desert without murmuring, when we behold the smitten rock moving on before us over the sterile sand. To us now this world is brighter than it would have been without the heavy shadows of sin upon it; for in its sky has been set the Star of Bethlehem. Our own nature has been dignified, as it would not have been but for our fall; for now God's own Son is our brother. Even our life of sorrow is glorified since those shining feet have traversed it so meekly from the manger to the tomb. With this rock in our desert, the desert shouts and sings. 3. But of what avail to us is this smitten rock, unless we stoop to drink? Of what avail to us the presence of this Divine humanity, unless we are consciously related to it by a living faith? To each heart there speaks the voice of mercy. And each heart must answer for himself. What shall our response be? Christ's great central work is not teaching, which rivals the lessons of sages; not example, which rivals the exploits of heroes, but atonement, which scatters the clouds of Divine wrath, and takes away our sin. 4. That spiritual rock, we are told, followed the Hebrews. So, too, shall our Rock follow us. In health and peace and prosperity it shall pour its libations upon our gladness. In sickness, war, and want it shall cool our fevered veins. In death it shall moisten our parched lips. (R. D. Hitchcock, D.D.) Parallel Verses KJV: 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; |
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