Living in the Wilderness Now

181 snips

Nov 10, 2025

Explore how New Testament authors use wilderness imagery to illustrate the spiritual journey of believers. Delve into Paul’s warnings about idolatry and temptation in 1 Corinthians, and the connection between spiritual sustenance and Israel’s experience. Learn about the challenges Jewish Christians faced in Hebrews and the call to remain faithful amidst persecution. The discussion emphasizes the importance of staying close to Jesus for spiritual nourishment while navigating the complexities of faith in a world fraught with danger.

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INSIGHT

Life As An In-Between Wilderness

Life before new creation is a sustained wilderness where Jesus meets us with provision and guidance.
We're no longer captive to death, but we're not home yet so the wilderness shapes us.

ADVICE

Protect Others' Consciences

Avoid attending idol feasts when your presence will harm another believer's conscience.
Sacrifice personal liberties out of love to prevent others from stumbling in faith.

INSIGHT

The Overlap Of Two Ages

The New Age has arrived in Jesus, but the old age still persists, producing an overlapping 'edge' of ages.
That overlap makes the wilderness an in-between where Eden gifts appear yet remain contested.

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The Wilderness E11 — After his death and resurrection, Jesus sends his disciples out into the world to share the good news of the Kingdom and make disciples. These disciples, also known as apostles, plant churches across the Roman Empire and write letters to congregations made up of Jewish and Gentile believers. And their letters often wrestle with the tension of living in the new age of Jesus’ reign while also living in the old age of idolatry, corruption, and injustice. To talk about the overlap of these two ages, the apostles use a familiar metaphor: the wilderness. In this final episode of the series, Jon and Tim discuss how the New Testament authors use wilderness imagery to encourage and warn followers of Jesus to stay close to their good shepherd through the danger and deception of this present age.

View all of our resources for The Wilderness →

CHAPTERS

The Wilderness Pattern in 1 Corinthians 10 (0:00-27:00)
The Wilderness Warnings in 1 Corinthians 3 and 5 (27:00-37:08)
More Wilderness Warnings in Hebrews 3-4 (37:08-52:43)
Concluding Thoughts on the Wilderness (52:43-1:00:21)

OFFICIAL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

View this episode’s official transcript.

REFERENCED RESOURCES

First Corinthians: Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching by Richard B. Hays
Echoes of Scripture in the Letters of Paul by Richard B. Hays
The Great Divorce by C. S. Lewis
In chapter 1, Tim mentions our video Eternal Life, which you watch here.
You can view annotations for this episode—plus our entire library of videos, podcasts, articles, and classes—in the BibleProject app, available for Android and iOS.
Check out Tim’s extensive collection of recommended books here.

SHOW MUSIC

“familydinner” by Lofi Sunday, Cassidy Godwin
“Cruise” by Lofi Sunday, Just Derrick
“Silver N Gold” by Lofi Sunday, Yoni Charis
BibleProject theme song by TENTS

SHOW CREDITS

Production of today’s episode is by Lindsey Ponder, producer, and Cooper Peltz, managing producer. Tyler Bailey is our supervising engineer, who also edited today’s episode and provided the sound design and mix. JB Witty does our show notes, and Hannah Woo provides the annotations for our app. Our host and creative director is Jon Collins, and our lead scholar is Tim Mackie.

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