became idolaters and fell into vice (verses 6-8). They tempted the Lord and perished

through the snake bites (9). They tried to see how far they could go into sin without the

Lord intervening. They continually grumbled about the Lord's leading and dealings with

them. We may think that grumbling is not nearly so bad as idolatry, but the Lord took a

different and solemn view of this. They wearied Him with their constant complaints and

dissatisfaction. It is no wonder that we, as members of the Body of Christ are warned

against this sin, and we should note that it is in the epistle concerning the prize, namely

Phil. 2: 14, that we are told: "Do all things without murmurings and disputings".

The Apostle sums up by saying:

Some of the Corinthians apparently thought that, because they were saved, they could

get away with idolatry and sin, so that this was of little account in their estimation. Paul

is at pains to show the falsity and danger of such a conception.

In 10: 11 Paul uses the striking expression, "the end of the ages". The whole verse

translated literally would read, "Now these things happened to them by way of example;

and they were written for our warning, upon whom the ends of the ages have arrived".

Such a drastic expression can only be understood in the light of the early Second Coming

of the Lord as a possibility during the Acts period (Acts 3: 19-26). Nothing less than

this would warrant such an expression, which would otherwise be a gross exaggeration.

The Apostle had already stated that the "time was short" (7: 29), and he instructed

believers to wait daily for the return of the Saviour. We have seen that this was the

united testimony of all the early epistles and it is difficult to understand how this has been

ignored by expositors and believers generally over the centuries.

It is true to say that the early epistles cannot be understood properly without a

recognition of this tremendous fact and its implications at the time of writing. The

Apostle has been stressing the responsibility to the Lord that Truth brings, and the need

for its practical outworking, in terms of a heavenly race. This was to counter the

complacency of some of the Corinthian believers. However, to balance things up, lest

this responsibility should appear too great, he now brings forward a Divine promise of

great encouragement:

God knows even better than the believer just how much testing he can endure, and

never will He allow the burden to become too great. Sometimes we may feel that we