What does 1 Corinthians 10:11 mean?

Paul again declares that Christians, in Corinth and all others, should see the discipline of the Israelites in the desert as an example relevant to their own lives. Each of these stories was recorded for the instruction of modern believers who find themselves at the end of the ages.

Those in Paul's day were the first to whom the mystery of Christ had been revealed. With the fulfillment of Messiah's birth, death, and resurrection, all the stories of the Old Testament locked into place. Those events gave proper context to the Old Testament, clarifying those mysteries in light of the coming of the Messiah. His arrival, death, and resurrection marked the beginning of the "end of the ages."

Instead of making the Old Testament stories irrelevant, the revelation of Christ gave them new meaning. Christians must work to understand how those stories interweave as God's Word, to those of us who now live with the knowledge of Christ. Here, Paul makes clear the stories of God's wrath, poured out on His own people for their sin, should be a warning to us. It is dangerous to take sin lightly. It can be fatal to assume God will not act against us in this life—for our good and the good of others He loves—if we refuse to obey and submit to Him.