Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.
These things were Israel's wilderness experiences, recorded as lasting examples to warn God's people in every age against following the same course of unbelief and disobedience. Their stated intent is that later believers should not crave evil things as Israel craved them, but learn from that history instead of repeating it. That record was written especially for admonition upon those on whom the ends of the world are come, so that whoever thinks he stands must take heed lest he fall. Though Israel shared great spiritual privileges, deliverance, and food and drink from Christ the spiritual Rock, God was displeased with many of them and they were overthrown in the wilderness for lusting after what He had withheld, for idolatry, fornication, tempting Christ, murmuring, and rebellion. That same journey is a pattern for Christian experience now, with the same snares just before the heavenly Canaan requiring watchfulness and denial of appetite, since gratifying appetite and corrupt passions repeats Israel's lusting and turns blessings into ruin.
Purpose as Warning Example
These things are the wilderness experiences of ancient Israel, recorded as examples to warn God's people in every age against following the same course. Their desire for evil warns Christians not to desire evil as they did, but to learn from that history rather than repeat its unbelief, rebellion and refusal to submit to God's arrangements, which led to destruction. The history of their journey is a pattern for Christian experience, comparable to the Christian's journey, showing that God's people now face the same dangers and must remain separate from the world, heed God's commands, and take admonition from their disobedience and punishment.
The stated intent is that later believers should not lust after evil things as Israel lusted, with their sinful desires and the judgments that followed made examples to keep later generations from the same desire. Their shared spiritual privileges did not keep many from disobedience or from suffering its consequences, and the warning forbids the evil desires and conduct illustrated by idolatry, sexual immorality and fornication, testing of Christ, complaining, turning from praising God, and drawing minds away from Him with frivolous words and amusements. Joined to this is the command not to be idolaters as some of them were, and the call not to misuse privilege but to avoid the same sins.
The record was written especially for admonition upon those on whom the ends of the world are come, to admonish those living at the end of the world and near the close of time against falling. Whoever thinks he stands must take heed lest he fall, guarding in humility and watchfulness against self-sufficiency, unbelief, and loss of faith, since confidence in one's standing can lead to falling. This means guarding against losing faith in God's leading despite His wonderful preservation and mighty power, forgetting the great things He has done, and murmuring and complaining when brought into strait and trying places instead of trusting Him, for sin grieves God and past failures should admonish. The examples to be avoided include idolatry, fornication which prevailed and brought signal manifestation of God's displeasure with judgments following close upon the heinous sin so that thousands fell and three and twenty thousand fell in one day and their polluted bodies were left in the wilderness overthrown, tempting Christ punished by serpents, and murmuring punished by the destroyer.
The faithful record includes both iniquities and virtues, with sins and punishments to avoid and devotion, faithfulness and virtues to imitate. The murmurings, rebellious discontent, idolatry, ingratitude and punishment, together with the mighty miracles wrought in their favor, were recorded as examples and warnings that later believers should not lust after evil things as they lusted, should avoid unbelief and escape wrath, while their devotion and generous freewill offerings serve as an example for those who value God's worship and sacred presence. Both had to be faithfully written, for if the sins were omitted the history would fail to teach the lesson God intended, and the lives laid open with all their faults and follies encourage desponding hearts today, showing that men favored with great responsibilities who were overcome by temptation could through God's grace gain fresh vigor to rise above evil nature, take heart again and conquer, calling present believers who strive, waver and fall to renew the conflict and imitate only righteousness.
The verse calls God's people to study all that past history today that they may benefit by the experiences recorded, with the account given by Paul and recorded in Psalm 105 and Psalm 106 holding lessons of warning that God's people in the last days especially need to study, those psalms to be read at least once every week and often. The history of the wilderness life, God's dealing with the wanderers in all their marchings, in exposure to hunger, thirst and weariness, and in striking manifestations of His power for their relief, was chronicled for the benefit of the Israel of God till the close of time and is fraught with warning and instruction, and the journey from Egypt to Canaan was recorded as examples for those now journeying heavenward in the last days. Their varied experiences were a school of preparation for their promised home in Canaan, and God would have His people in these days review with a humble heart and teachable spirit the trials through which ancient Israel passed, that they may be instructed in preparation for the heavenly Canaan. The instruction God gave through Moses while preparing Israel to enter the promised land was given not for Israel alone but for future generations, training and educating Israel line upon line, precept upon precept, showing the traits of character to form and permitting trials to teach how to conduct themselves under difficulties, with Christ as Leader and Commander giving through Moses God's will and strength for each successive march, and Christians near the end must study and obey it and discern, acknowledge and appreciate its importance. The Word of God brings its testimony down from age to age showing the unchangeableness of the truth, with truth given for every age and Christian evidence found in the Bible rather than in human experience, and no ancient defense of God's Word and no part of the Bible worn out or dead from old age, so the Word is to be a lesson book that present believers do not repeat Israel's failure to improve the most precious opportunities for doing the work of God, as stated in both the Old and New Testaments.
Israel's Sins and Judgments
The evil craving was for what God had withheld, above all the flesh-pots of Egypt and the luxuries, ease and pleasures left behind there. It showed itself in murmuring at God's restrictions and in refusal to deny appetite in order to obey Him. That gratification of appetite and corrupt passion became the path to rebellion, bringing divine judgments despite God's deliverance, protection, feeding and care. The same indulged craving for forbidden food illustrates the warning not to follow worldly ways, as seen also when appetite and passion overcame Adam and Eve in Eden, the inhabitants of the old world, and even highly favored men like David and Solomon and Moses when tempted to take to himself the glory God claimed.
Its fruits were sitting down to eat and drink and rising up to play, throwing off the reverence felt at the giving of the law. From that lightness came making the golden calf to represent God and worshiping it, and joining the luxurious feast connected with the worship of Baal-peor and falling through licentiousness. Frivolous words and amusements drew minds away from praising God, turning privilege into idolatry and revelry. The same snares of lightness, vanity, love of ease and pleasure, selfishness and impurity that faced Israel just before entering Canaan are thus bound up with desiring evil.
The warning names idolatry, fornication, tempting Christ, and murmuring. Fornication prevailed among Israel and brought signal manifestation of God's displeasure, with judgments following close upon the heinous sin so that thousands fell and their polluted bodies were left in the wilderness. In one day three and twenty thousand fell by plague for licentiousness, while tempting Christ was punished by serpents and murmuring by the destroyer. Shared spiritual privileges did not shield the disobedient from these consequences, and God does not let such wicked practices go on without reproof and warning.
It also covers unbelief and rebellion in refusing to submit to God's arrangements, which led to destruction. That unbelief meant losing faith in His leading despite wonderful preservation and mighty power, forgetting the great things He had done, and murmuring and complaining when brought into strait and trying places instead of trusting Him. It kept Israel from entering Canaan, as Egyptian education left them vulnerable to temptation, idolatry and sexual immorality and to disregard of God's commandments. The same course includes choosing one's own way according to natural preferences and rejecting prophetic guidance, as when the Jewish nation rejected the Bible prophecies of His coming and therefore did not receive Christ.
Despite deliverance with a wonderful display of power, divine leading, protection, food and drink from Christ the spiritual Rock, and leadership through Moses and Joshua with the Son of God present, God was displeased with many and they were overthrown in the wilderness. Nearly all the adults who left Egypt died there and failed to reach Canaan, while their children were allowed to enter. Those who murmured and complained and refused to be converted from evil ways perished, showing that light and privilege without faith cannot secure entrance. Their idolatry, sexual immorality, testing of Christ and complaining therefore stand as the evil desires and conduct the verse forbids.
Warning for Last Days
Israel's wilderness journey stands as the pattern for Christian experience now, a school of preparation for the heavenly Canaan just as Canaan was the promised home for Israel. That history was chronicled for the benefit of the Israel of God till the close of time, fraught with warning and instruction in hunger and thirst and weariness and in striking manifestations of power for relief, to be reviewed with humble heart and teachable spirit. In the wilderness God trained and educated Israel line upon line and precept upon precept, showing what traits of character to form and permitting trials to teach how to conduct themselves under difficulties, with Christ as Leader and Commander giving through Moses God's will and strength for each successive march. The instruction given through Moses while preparing Israel to enter the promised land was given not for Israel alone but for future generations, and those now journeying heavenward in the last days of earth's history must study and obey it and discern its importance.
The same snares that confronted Israel just before entering Canaan confront God's people again at the end of time, and Satan's snares and Israel's history are repeated. They include lightness and vanity and love of ease and pleasure, with selfishness and impurity and love of pleasure, drawing into the same kinds of sins and failures. The example warns against desiring evil things as Israel did and calls for watchfulness and resistance, for sobriety and holiness rather than repeating that course.
To repeat Israel's history by disregarding received light, continuing one's own course, and rejecting counsel and messages brings the same sure result. Those who know the examples of idolatry and fornication and tempting Christ and murmuring, and of God's displeasure that overthrew many in the wilderness, have no excuse for turning away, yet those in high places and many others who continue a wicked course and exalt themselves and make of none effect God's messages will be judged as those who knew but did not humble their hearts, and cannot be accepted in service without genuine conversion. Disregarding light risks having blessings become curses and mercies become judgments, rejecting spiritual guidance leads away from faith and brings ruin, and failure to improve precious opportunities for doing God's work leaves some lost to the cause who would otherwise stand ready as genuine missionaries, as seen in failure during the three years past to meet the requirements of the time. By contrast, those who murmured and complained and refused to be converted from evil ways perished in the wilderness, while those who were obedient were sustained and strengthened and were light-bearers to the nations through whose land they passed, consecrating all resources and talents to God's honor for the saving of the world.
Those who profess to keep God's commandments but harbor unbelief may, despite great light and privileges, lose the heavenly Canaan just as rebellious Israel through unbelief and rebellion failed to enter the earthly Canaan promised them. Their craving for evil warns believers not to desire what they desired, teaches that sin grieves God, and admonishes those living near the end of the world. The call therefore is to remain separate and distinct from the world, to heed God's commands, and to walk in humility and watchfulness with teachable spirit, since confidence in one's own standing can lead to falling.
Practical Obedience Today
God led Israel out of Egypt to establish them in Canaan as a pure, happy, healthy and righteous people through discipline of diet, removing flesh food in great measure and supplying manna better suited to their wants, like the Eden food given to Adam and Eve, in order to bring perverted appetite into a healthy state. Their evil lust was craving the flesh-pots of Egypt, murmuring at God's restrictions, and refusing to deny appetite in obedience. Had they cheerfully obeyed, feebleness and disease would have been unknown among them, and they and their descendants would have had physical and mental strength, clear perceptions of truth and duty, keen discrimination, and sound judgment. Because they would not submit, He let them have flesh to their curse, was not well pleased with many of them, and they were overthrown in the wilderness, and that failure stands to teach later believers not to lust as they did but to deny appetite and obey God's requirements for health and holiness.
Gratifying appetite and corrupt passions instead of controlling them repeats Israel's lusting, for their overthrow came through gratification of appetite and corrupt passions so that nearly all who left Egypt died in the wilderness and failed to reach Canaan. Appetite ruled their reason, led them into grievous sins, and brought God's wrath so they fell in the wilderness. Taste is a precious gift, but it becomes a snare when cultivated to lust after evil things, and indulgence and misapplication of appetite lessens hold on life and produces much evil that continues and increases the more appetite is gratified. That history is repeated in backsliding from the principles of reform by following one's own course in eating and drinking as one pleases and by gratifying appetite instead of controlling it in diet and dress, and continuing in that course leads to gradually growing careless of instruction on other phases of present truth and to surely reaping as sown. Indulged appetite defaces the image of God in man, as shown when the same lust of appetite and passion overcame Adam and Eve in Eden, the inhabitants of the old world, and David and Solomon who were especially favored, incurring God's displeasure, with even the meek man Moses tempted to take to himself glory which God claimed.
Faithful obedience requires denying appetite, controlling it, following Christ's example in self-denial, and standing like a rock firm to principle rather than becoming careless of precious light from heaven near the close of time. Israel's rebellion and craving for the food they desired warns not to indulge appetite or choose one's own course against God's requirements, but teaches humility and obedience, for those who disregard received light risk having blessings become curses and mercies become judgments. Their journey under God's guidance teaches His people to heed His counsel and move forward in trust when He leads, rather than repeat their unbelief and departures from God. Those who murmured and complained and refused to be converted from evil ways perished in the wilderness, while those who were obedient were sustained and strengthened and were light-bearers to the nations through whose land they passed, showing that in every age God's faithful people consecrate all resources and talents to His honor for the saving of the world. That same faithfulness helps others in the right direction by precept and example in denial of appetite rather than encouraging indulgence by an opposite influence.
Lusting after evil things includes lust for fashionable dress and display, and giving oneself to that desire can lead to deception and fraud and to sacrificing virtue, nobility, gentleness, generosity, money, time, and health. Pursuing worldly fashion and display presents past wrongdoing as an example to avoid, warning against desiring evil things. It also includes whatever distracts from God or leads into sin, requiring separation from idolatry and putting away anything that turns the mind from His Word. Worthless literature can turn the mind from God's Word and weaken its sense of value, so it should be removed from the home and replaced with reading that brings heaven's light.
These things were Israel's wilderness experiences, recorded as lasting examples to warn God's people in every age against following the same course of unbelief and disobedience. Their stated intent is that later believers should not crave evil things as Israel craved them, but learn from that history instead of repeating it. That record was written especially for admonition upon those on whom the ends of the world are come, so that whoever thinks he stands must take heed lest he fall. Though Israel shared great spiritual privileges, deliverance, and food and drink from Christ the spiritual Rock, God was displeased with many of them and they were overthrown in the wilderness for lusting after what He had withheld, for idolatry, fornication, tempting Christ, murmuring, and rebellion. That same journey is a pattern for Christian experience now, with the same snares just before the heavenly Canaan requiring watchfulness and denial of appetite, since gratifying appetite and corrupt passions repeats Israel's lusting and turns blessings into ruin.
Purpose as Warning Example
These things are the wilderness experiences of ancient Israel, recorded as examples to warn God's people in every age against following the same course. Their desire for evil warns Christians not to desire evil as they did, but to learn from that history rather than repeat its unbelief, rebellion and refusal to submit to God's arrangements, which led to destruction. The history of their journey is a pattern for Christian experience, comparable to the Christian's journey, showing that God's people now face the same dangers and must remain separate from the world, heed God's commands, and take admonition from their disobedience and punishment.
The stated intent is that later believers should not lust after evil things as Israel lusted, with their sinful desires and the judgments that followed made examples to keep later generations from the same desire. Their shared spiritual privileges did not keep many from disobedience or from suffering its consequences, and the warning forbids the evil desires and conduct illustrated by idolatry, sexual immorality and fornication, testing of Christ, complaining, turning from praising God, and drawing minds away from Him with frivolous words and amusements. Joined to this is the command not to be idolaters as some of them were, and the call not to misuse privilege but to avoid the same sins.
The record was written especially for admonition upon those on whom the ends of the world are come, to admonish those living at the end of the world and near the close of time against falling. Whoever thinks he stands must take heed lest he fall, guarding in humility and watchfulness against self-sufficiency, unbelief, and loss of faith, since confidence in one's standing can lead to falling. This means guarding against losing faith in God's leading despite His wonderful preservation and mighty power, forgetting the great things He has done, and murmuring and complaining when brought into strait and trying places instead of trusting Him, for sin grieves God and past failures should admonish. The examples to be avoided include idolatry, fornication which prevailed and brought signal manifestation of God's displeasure with judgments following close upon the heinous sin so that thousands fell and three and twenty thousand fell in one day and their polluted bodies were left in the wilderness overthrown, tempting Christ punished by serpents, and murmuring punished by the destroyer.
The faithful record includes both iniquities and virtues, with sins and punishments to avoid and devotion, faithfulness and virtues to imitate. The murmurings, rebellious discontent, idolatry, ingratitude and punishment, together with the mighty miracles wrought in their favor, were recorded as examples and warnings that later believers should not lust after evil things as they lusted, should avoid unbelief and escape wrath, while their devotion and generous freewill offerings serve as an example for those who value God's worship and sacred presence. Both had to be faithfully written, for if the sins were omitted the history would fail to teach the lesson God intended, and the lives laid open with all their faults and follies encourage desponding hearts today, showing that men favored with great responsibilities who were overcome by temptation could through God's grace gain fresh vigor to rise above evil nature, take heart again and conquer, calling present believers who strive, waver and fall to renew the conflict and imitate only righteousness.
The verse calls God's people to study all that past history today that they may benefit by the experiences recorded, with the account given by Paul and recorded in Psalm 105 and Psalm 106 holding lessons of warning that God's people in the last days especially need to study, those psalms to be read at least once every week and often. The history of the wilderness life, God's dealing with the wanderers in all their marchings, in exposure to hunger, thirst and weariness, and in striking manifestations of His power for their relief, was chronicled for the benefit of the Israel of God till the close of time and is fraught with warning and instruction, and the journey from Egypt to Canaan was recorded as examples for those now journeying heavenward in the last days. Their varied experiences were a school of preparation for their promised home in Canaan, and God would have His people in these days review with a humble heart and teachable spirit the trials through which ancient Israel passed, that they may be instructed in preparation for the heavenly Canaan. The instruction God gave through Moses while preparing Israel to enter the promised land was given not for Israel alone but for future generations, training and educating Israel line upon line, precept upon precept, showing the traits of character to form and permitting trials to teach how to conduct themselves under difficulties, with Christ as Leader and Commander giving through Moses God's will and strength for each successive march, and Christians near the end must study and obey it and discern, acknowledge and appreciate its importance. The Word of God brings its testimony down from age to age showing the unchangeableness of the truth, with truth given for every age and Christian evidence found in the Bible rather than in human experience, and no ancient defense of God's Word and no part of the Bible worn out or dead from old age, so the Word is to be a lesson book that present believers do not repeat Israel's failure to improve the most precious opportunities for doing the work of God, as stated in both the Old and New Testaments.
Israel's Sins and Judgments
The evil craving was for what God had withheld, above all the flesh-pots of Egypt and the luxuries, ease and pleasures left behind there. It showed itself in murmuring at God's restrictions and in refusal to deny appetite in order to obey Him. That gratification of appetite and corrupt passion became the path to rebellion, bringing divine judgments despite God's deliverance, protection, feeding and care. The same indulged craving for forbidden food illustrates the warning not to follow worldly ways, as seen also when appetite and passion overcame Adam and Eve in Eden, the inhabitants of the old world, and even highly favored men like David and Solomon and Moses when tempted to take to himself the glory God claimed.
Its fruits were sitting down to eat and drink and rising up to play, throwing off the reverence felt at the giving of the law. From that lightness came making the golden calf to represent God and worshiping it, and joining the luxurious feast connected with the worship of Baal-peor and falling through licentiousness. Frivolous words and amusements drew minds away from praising God, turning privilege into idolatry and revelry. The same snares of lightness, vanity, love of ease and pleasure, selfishness and impurity that faced Israel just before entering Canaan are thus bound up with desiring evil.
The warning names idolatry, fornication, tempting Christ, and murmuring. Fornication prevailed among Israel and brought signal manifestation of God's displeasure, with judgments following close upon the heinous sin so that thousands fell and their polluted bodies were left in the wilderness. In one day three and twenty thousand fell by plague for licentiousness, while tempting Christ was punished by serpents and murmuring by the destroyer. Shared spiritual privileges did not shield the disobedient from these consequences, and God does not let such wicked practices go on without reproof and warning.
It also covers unbelief and rebellion in refusing to submit to God's arrangements, which led to destruction. That unbelief meant losing faith in His leading despite wonderful preservation and mighty power, forgetting the great things He had done, and murmuring and complaining when brought into strait and trying places instead of trusting Him. It kept Israel from entering Canaan, as Egyptian education left them vulnerable to temptation, idolatry and sexual immorality and to disregard of God's commandments. The same course includes choosing one's own way according to natural preferences and rejecting prophetic guidance, as when the Jewish nation rejected the Bible prophecies of His coming and therefore did not receive Christ.
Despite deliverance with a wonderful display of power, divine leading, protection, food and drink from Christ the spiritual Rock, and leadership through Moses and Joshua with the Son of God present, God was displeased with many and they were overthrown in the wilderness. Nearly all the adults who left Egypt died there and failed to reach Canaan, while their children were allowed to enter. Those who murmured and complained and refused to be converted from evil ways perished, showing that light and privilege without faith cannot secure entrance. Their idolatry, sexual immorality, testing of Christ and complaining therefore stand as the evil desires and conduct the verse forbids.
Warning for Last Days
Israel's wilderness journey stands as the pattern for Christian experience now, a school of preparation for the heavenly Canaan just as Canaan was the promised home for Israel. That history was chronicled for the benefit of the Israel of God till the close of time, fraught with warning and instruction in hunger and thirst and weariness and in striking manifestations of power for relief, to be reviewed with humble heart and teachable spirit. In the wilderness God trained and educated Israel line upon line and precept upon precept, showing what traits of character to form and permitting trials to teach how to conduct themselves under difficulties, with Christ as Leader and Commander giving through Moses God's will and strength for each successive march. The instruction given through Moses while preparing Israel to enter the promised land was given not for Israel alone but for future generations, and those now journeying heavenward in the last days of earth's history must study and obey it and discern its importance.
The same snares that confronted Israel just before entering Canaan confront God's people again at the end of time, and Satan's snares and Israel's history are repeated. They include lightness and vanity and love of ease and pleasure, with selfishness and impurity and love of pleasure, drawing into the same kinds of sins and failures. The example warns against desiring evil things as Israel did and calls for watchfulness and resistance, for sobriety and holiness rather than repeating that course.
To repeat Israel's history by disregarding received light, continuing one's own course, and rejecting counsel and messages brings the same sure result. Those who know the examples of idolatry and fornication and tempting Christ and murmuring, and of God's displeasure that overthrew many in the wilderness, have no excuse for turning away, yet those in high places and many others who continue a wicked course and exalt themselves and make of none effect God's messages will be judged as those who knew but did not humble their hearts, and cannot be accepted in service without genuine conversion. Disregarding light risks having blessings become curses and mercies become judgments, rejecting spiritual guidance leads away from faith and brings ruin, and failure to improve precious opportunities for doing God's work leaves some lost to the cause who would otherwise stand ready as genuine missionaries, as seen in failure during the three years past to meet the requirements of the time. By contrast, those who murmured and complained and refused to be converted from evil ways perished in the wilderness, while those who were obedient were sustained and strengthened and were light-bearers to the nations through whose land they passed, consecrating all resources and talents to God's honor for the saving of the world.
Those who profess to keep God's commandments but harbor unbelief may, despite great light and privileges, lose the heavenly Canaan just as rebellious Israel through unbelief and rebellion failed to enter the earthly Canaan promised them. Their craving for evil warns believers not to desire what they desired, teaches that sin grieves God, and admonishes those living near the end of the world. The call therefore is to remain separate and distinct from the world, to heed God's commands, and to walk in humility and watchfulness with teachable spirit, since confidence in one's own standing can lead to falling.
Practical Obedience Today
God led Israel out of Egypt to establish them in Canaan as a pure, happy, healthy and righteous people through discipline of diet, removing flesh food in great measure and supplying manna better suited to their wants, like the Eden food given to Adam and Eve, in order to bring perverted appetite into a healthy state. Their evil lust was craving the flesh-pots of Egypt, murmuring at God's restrictions, and refusing to deny appetite in obedience. Had they cheerfully obeyed, feebleness and disease would have been unknown among them, and they and their descendants would have had physical and mental strength, clear perceptions of truth and duty, keen discrimination, and sound judgment. Because they would not submit, He let them have flesh to their curse, was not well pleased with many of them, and they were overthrown in the wilderness, and that failure stands to teach later believers not to lust as they did but to deny appetite and obey God's requirements for health and holiness.
Gratifying appetite and corrupt passions instead of controlling them repeats Israel's lusting, for their overthrow came through gratification of appetite and corrupt passions so that nearly all who left Egypt died in the wilderness and failed to reach Canaan. Appetite ruled their reason, led them into grievous sins, and brought God's wrath so they fell in the wilderness. Taste is a precious gift, but it becomes a snare when cultivated to lust after evil things, and indulgence and misapplication of appetite lessens hold on life and produces much evil that continues and increases the more appetite is gratified. That history is repeated in backsliding from the principles of reform by following one's own course in eating and drinking as one pleases and by gratifying appetite instead of controlling it in diet and dress, and continuing in that course leads to gradually growing careless of instruction on other phases of present truth and to surely reaping as sown. Indulged appetite defaces the image of God in man, as shown when the same lust of appetite and passion overcame Adam and Eve in Eden, the inhabitants of the old world, and David and Solomon who were especially favored, incurring God's displeasure, with even the meek man Moses tempted to take to himself glory which God claimed.
Faithful obedience requires denying appetite, controlling it, following Christ's example in self-denial, and standing like a rock firm to principle rather than becoming careless of precious light from heaven near the close of time. Israel's rebellion and craving for the food they desired warns not to indulge appetite or choose one's own course against God's requirements, but teaches humility and obedience, for those who disregard received light risk having blessings become curses and mercies become judgments. Their journey under God's guidance teaches His people to heed His counsel and move forward in trust when He leads, rather than repeat their unbelief and departures from God. Those who murmured and complained and refused to be converted from evil ways perished in the wilderness, while those who were obedient were sustained and strengthened and were light-bearers to the nations through whose land they passed, showing that in every age God's faithful people consecrate all resources and talents to His honor for the saving of the world. That same faithfulness helps others in the right direction by precept and example in denial of appetite rather than encouraging indulgence by an opposite influence.
Lusting after evil things includes lust for fashionable dress and display, and giving oneself to that desire can lead to deception and fraud and to sacrificing virtue, nobility, gentleness, generosity, money, time, and health. Pursuing worldly fashion and display presents past wrongdoing as an example to avoid, warning against desiring evil things. It also includes whatever distracts from God or leads into sin, requiring separation from idolatry and putting away anything that turns the mind from His Word. Worthless literature can turn the mind from God's Word and weaken its sense of value, so it should be removed from the home and replaced with reading that brings heaven's light.