“I don’t want you to forget, dear brothers and sisters, about our ancestors in the wilderness long ago. All of them were guided by a cloud that moved ahead of them, and all of them walked through the sea on dry ground. In the cloud and in the sea, all of them were baptised as followers of Moses. All of them ate the same spiritual food, and all of them drank the same spiritual water. For they drank from the spiritual rock that travelled with them, and that rock was Christ. Yet God was not pleased with most of them, and their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.”
1 Corinthians 10:1-5 NLT
We all have ancestors, and genealogists try their hardest to source a person’s origins, even analysing DNA to determine where a person came from. Occasionally, a set of bones emerges from the ground or another burial site, and the owner of the remains is tested for DNA, and even their facial features are reconstructed. Their age and manner of death are worked out, and we end up marvelling about what has been found. But none of that determines the state of the person’s soul, something that will continue to be a mystery. Most people can only look back over two or three generations before their ancestors become lost in time. But one thing can be guaranteed, and that is their choices in life would have determined their ultimate home. Ever since Jesus walked this planet, the importance of making the right decision has been apparent. However, for those of our ancestors who never heard about Jesus, there is no escape clause, because we are all made in God’s image (Genesis 1:27). This means that people will instinctively know right from wrong. Paul wrote, “They demonstrate that God’s law is written in their hearts, for their own conscience and thoughts either accuse them or tell them they are doing right” (Romans 2:15). Paul also wrote, “For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God” (Romans 1:20). See also Acts 17:30. Of course, we worship a righteous God who will judge fairly.
Paul reminded the Corinthians that the Israelite slaves followed Moses out of Egypt, and were effectively “baptised” as they passed through the Red Sea on dry land, and were then led through the wilderness by a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. Paul used the analogy of the cloud and the sea as baptismal indicators, but regardless of that, most of the Israelites did not please God. He was warning the Corinthians that just ticking all the liturgical boxes did not mean that they were then behaving as Christians should. Baptism is all about making a public declaration of faith, a faith that displays the belief that when a person is baptised, their “old man” is left in the baptismal tank, and their “new man” rises up to start their journey as a born-again believer. However, just because a person is baptised does not mean that God will always then be pleased with them. Their subsequent behaviour could be sufficient to make Him displeased, resulting in some form of discipline, because God loves them and wants what is best for them.
The message to us pilgrims is the same. When were we baptised? Are we now growing in the faith day by day, reading our Bibles, praying to our Heavenly Father, witnessing to our friends and families, and anyone else who stops to listen? Are we dealing with sin in our lives through confession and repentance? The Christian walk of faith is not one of grumbling and sin, as displayed by those ancestors long ago in the wilderness. The Israelites had remarkable indicators, miracles performed before their eyes every day, but they still failed to walk in the shadow of God’s provision. As a consequence, most of them failed to enter the promised land that God had prepared for them. The journey from Egypt to the Promised Land should only have taken a few weeks at the most, but our patient God allowed them to wander around the wilderness for four decades, due to their disobedience and lack of faith.
Of course, we pilgrims would claim that had we been with them at the time, then we would have behaved differently, but this would not necessarily be the case. Are we disobedient sometimes? How is our faith in challenging times? Do we grumble too much when things don’t go our way? Of course, we are guilty of such things, but thanks be to God, He forgives all those who come to Him in repentance. He dusts us off when we fall and stands us back on our feet. That’s what we call God’s grace. Through Jesus, we have a Friend and Saviour who, by His Spirit, is with us on our journey through life. And so we are so grateful. We may not have a pillar of fire leading us, but we do have God’s Word and the Holy Spirit.
Dear Father God. Thank You for Your grace and mercy, always there, packaged with Your love. We worship You today. Amen.
Being a Pilgrim 