1Cor 10:1-5 - Threshing Wheat and Chaff

1-5 I want you to know, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 and all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. 5 Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.

This is a continuation of Paul’s thread from the last chapter. There he was exhorting the saints at Corinth to press in and to take the kingdom by force. He indicated that it was not enough just to have a profession of faith based on deliverance from ultimate evil. All men, if asked, would like to be delivered from hell and all would profess faith in order to acquire such a deliverance. The real question is "is such a belief evidence of real saving faith"? Paul seems to doubt this.

He uses the illustration of Israel’s deliverance from bondage in Egypt. The whole nation came out of Egypt and into the wilderness. They all underwent and they witnessed the very same experiences and manifestations. They were a precise allegory or "type" of the church, with its tares growing up with the wheat. Not all in the visible church are saved, even though they have followed a leader, been baptized - even tasted of the heavenly things and been sharers in the Holy Spirit. {Heb 6:4-6} For such people can fall away so as not to be renewed again unto repentance, whereas the true sheep can never be snatched from the hand of their Saviour.

But see how many of those leaving bondage were actually pleasing to God. A few. Not many. Does this not remind us of the Lord’s own words in Matthew? {Mt 7:13-14} Indeed, is it not a principle that we see everywhere - the principle of the remnant preserved out of a great mass? And has God Himself not left us examples in nature that also illustrate this point? Are not many seeds sown by a tree, or many eggs laid by a turtle and yet how many of these are brought all the way to adulthood?

The plain historic truth is that most of Israel did not savingly believe. God always preserved for Himself a remnant, but most of the people fell short of saving faith. It was not only among that first generation that came out of bondage that false profession and apostasy were rife, but also in all the succeeding generations on a progressively degenerative scale. There were revivals, but the trend was always down, down, down...and eventually God, who had been faithful all along, simply ceased speaking to the nation for 400 years, until the advent of Christ.

Indeed, the whole exodus and the whole history of the church catholic illustrates the teaching that "many are called, but few are chosen." Not only are not "all called," but only "many" - but not even all those who are called are ultimately saved - but only those who were chosen from eternity in Christ. Which is why we must examine ourselves to see if we are truly in the faith {2Co 13:5} and also why we must be diligent to make our calling and election sure {2Pe 1:10} by manifesting those things that are fruit and evidence of the regenerative, indwelling, sanctifying work of God.

As saints we are in the same wilderness with both the false professors and the lost. The adversities we find there are God’s chosen means of testing and proving our faith. The true children will be sanctified through suffering and tribulation - but the goats will be offended and will begin to complain, to become bitter and, ultimately, to fall away. Will we endure, trusting and believing in God no matter the circumstances He brings to us? Yes, we shall, if indeed He is at work in us, bringing us to completion on the Day. And it is through belief in God our Saviour to actually save us that we shall endure with the faith he purchased for us upon the cross.

Note, then, that most of those delivered out of Egypt were not delivered unto saving faith. They were called, but only the chosen persevered until the end. All in the Exodus heard the message(s) and received the same common grace - but only some were found faithful. All were called to repentance and faith and to obedience but most of them were overthrown. Saving faith is more than following the herd. Saving faith is more than mere profession. Saving faith perseveres to the end through trusting in God alone.