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CHAPTER
14
CHAPTER
FOURTEEN
THE
ROCK
-----for
they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied
them, and that rock was Christ.
(1
Corinthians chapter 10, verse 4).
THE
ROCK
Rock
is great material for building on; there’s nothing better.
It is just about the most immovable stuff on the planet.
Engineers love to be able to get down to bedrock to
place their foundations upon it. They can then have
great confidence that the finished structure will remain
standing. For believers, Jesus Christ is our spiritual
Rock. If our faith is founded only and entirely on Him,
we will stand eternally; and this however the storms
of life may blow, through hurricane, earthquake, fire
and flood.
Jesus
says:
“Therefore
everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them
into practice is like a wise man who built his house
on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and
the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did
not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.
But everyone who hears these words of mine and does
not put them into practice is like a foolish man who
built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams
rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house,
and it fell with a great crash.”
(Matthew
chapter 7, verses 24-27).
How
good it is to notice what is seen as wisdom in the Lord’s
eyes: everyone who hears His words and puts them into
practice is like a wise man who builds on the rock.
To be wise in the eyes of God is to hear the words of
Jesus and put them into practice. This is not the wisdom
of the world. How comforting that we need not be clever,
intellectual or even intelligent as the world may measure
these things; but to believe on Jesus is wise by God’s
measure---and God’s measure is immeasurably greater
than the world’s. In truth, little children, and men
and women, who may be the weakest, the feeblest, the
lowest and the least thought of as the world might regard
them can have wisdom that far outshines any scholar
or genius of unbelief---and many do.
If
coupled with unbelief, even the best of worldly wisdom
does not reach the first rung on the ladder of what
is truly wise. The Old Testament says:
The
fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom;---
(Psalm
111, verse 10).
We
need to have a healthy respect for God; we need to believe
He is who He says He is; and we need to put His words
into practice---then even the little child and the untutored
will have wisdom indeed. Wisdom, like truth, is solid
ground. We find both and much more in the Rock that
is Jesus.
Our
opening verse at the beginning of this chapter, ‘for
they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied
them, and that rock was Christ’, is from the New Testament,
but it refers back to Old Testament times approximately
1440 years earlier. Moses (under God’s directing and
empowering) was leading the children of Israel through
the desert wilderness on their 40-years journey from
slavery in Egypt to what is now the land of Israel.
They could have made the journey in possibly just a
few months, but God needed to teach them many things
about Himself, He had to discipline and chastise them
because of much sin and unbelief, and through His dealings
with them He would teach us. In fact, we would receive
the greater blessings, we, who in the fullness of time,
would receive Christ. Then was not the right moment
in history for the incarnation of Christ, but God was
teaching, through symbols and shadows, about His beloved
Son. Israel, in the wilderness, had symbols and shadows---we
have the reality, the Christ Himself. We have the only
begotten Son, who was born of a virgin, suffered under
Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, was raised from
the dead, is seated at the right hand of the Father
in heaven, and who will come again in glory.
The
book of Exodus tells us that in the desert the people
were without water, and the whole Israelite community
quarrelled with Moses and demanded water to drink:
Then
Moses cried out to the LORD, “What am I to do with these
people? They are almost ready to stone me.”
The
LORD answered Moses, “Walk on ahead of the people. Take
with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your
hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go.
I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb.
Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the
people to drink.”
(Exodus
chapter 17, verses 4-6).
Connections
again: the rock represents Christ; water gushed from
it, and we have seen that Jesus claimed that whoever
drank from Him would never thirst again. Also the Holy
Spirit is symbolised by water; remember what Jesus said
to the woman at the well, that He would give to those
who asked for it, ‘living water’. So, the rock is Christ,
the water is the Holy Spirit, and, there is more. Moses
is told to strike the rock. In a manner of speaking,
the rock was wounded. Isaiah (chapter 53, verse 5) prophesied,
‘But he was wounded for our transgressions’. Christ
is struck to death so that, ‘In the last days I will
pour out my Spirit on all people’ (Acts chapter 2, verse
17). And what strikes the rock? The staff of Moses,
representing the righteousness of God. What strikes
Jesus to the grave? Nothing else but the righteousness
of God, the only possible way for a just God to forgive
sinners and redeem fallen mankind. Jesus did not die
by mistake, and our sins did cause His death. But, Jesus
came, died and was raised again all according to God’s
righteous plan of salvation. Can anyone seriously believe
that mere men could torture and kill the Lord of the
universe? Impossible. But, God’s righteousness demanded
it. Jesus was wounded to death, nailed and pierced,
and out came real blood. The Rock was split, and out
came living water; the water of eternal life for all
who will drink it. Glorious connections.
Still
talking of the rock, let us bring in yet another connection
showing the oneness of Jesus with the Father. In the
Old Testament, God says through the prophet Isaiah:
You
are my witnesses. Is there any God besides me? No, there
is no other Rock; I know not one.”
(Isaiah
chapter 44, verse 8).
No
other Rock but Almighty God, yet, in the New Testament
we are told Christ is the Rock. Another proof of ‘I
and the Father are one’.
Someone
might say, ‘What about the Apostle Peter, his name means
‘rock’? So, is Peter yet another rock along with the
Father and the Son?’ The Church of Rome say that Peter
is the rock on which Christ said He would build His
church. Let us look at what Jesus did say:
When
Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked
his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”
They
replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah;
and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
“But
what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
Simon
Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the
living God.”
Jesus
replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this
was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in
heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this
rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades
will not overcome it.”
(Matthew
chapter 16, verses 13-18).
There
is no possible way in which the Church (the body of
believers) of Almighty God could ever be built on any
man other than the Man, Jesus Christ. Jesus was using
a play on words. In essence He was saying, ‘Blessed
are you, Simon Peter, for recognising the truth about
me, even though you could not have done so unless my
Father had enabled you. Your name is Peter, which means
rock, and your confession of who I really am is the
rock on which I will build my church.’
Jesus’
Church could never be built on, or consist of, people
who did not recognise who He was. It is still the same
today. As I have been saying repeatedly, if we think
of Jesus as just a very good man, a wise teacher, John
the Baptist, Jeremiah, or anyone else other than
who He really is, then we are not a part of His Church
and we have no part in Him.
The
true Church is made up of all those men, women and children
who believe in their hearts and confess with their mouths
the simple truth about Jesus, which Peter declared:
‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ The
reality in these words is the bedrock of the Church;
it is the foundation of the apostles’ doctrine. Jesus
IS the CHRIST, the SON of the LIVING GOD. In the fullness
of God’s timing, nothing, not even the gates of Hell,
will stand against or be able to deny this magnificent
fact.
THE
CORNERSTONE
The
apostle Peter himself reminds us of Old Testament Scriptures
which speak of Jesus as the Rock. In his writings (1
Peter chapter 2) he does not consider himself as the
rock, rather, he repeats God’s word from the Old Testament:
“See,
I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone,
and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”
In
the world of building, certainly in earlier times, the
cornerstone was the first part of the building to be
laid. So it is with Christ and His Church; without Him
the building could not even begin, there could be no
reference point for all the other stones---there could
be no other stones.
THE
LIVING STONE
Obviously
when speaking of Christ and His Church we are not talking
of actual lifeless stones, brick, rock or any other
inert building material; we are speaking of a living
building built on the Living Stone:
As
you come to him, the living Stone---rejected by men
but chosen by God and precious to him---you also, like
living stones, are being built into a spiritual house
to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices
acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
(1
Peter chapter 2, verses 4-6).
Through
faith in Jesus, we all become living stones in the building
that is His Church; but more than this, as living stones
we are also holy priests---each and every Christian
is a member of God’s priesthood. Unlike the ancient
Israelite priesthood, we do not offer animal sacrifices,
our Living Stone who is also the Lamb of God made Himself
the full and final sacrifice; now we all, who are priests,
offer the heartfelt spiritual sacrifices of prayer,
praise and worship to our God through our Living Stone.
THE
CAPSTONE
This
time Peter adds his words to those from the Psalms and
Isaiah:
Now
to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those
who do not believe,
“The
stone the builders rejected has become the capstone,”
and,
“A
stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes
them fall.”
(1
Peter chapter 2, verses 7-8).
Moments
ago we looked at Jesus as the Cornerstone, the initial,
vital part of the whole building. Now, as the Capstone,
we find Him topping, capping, the building off. Together,
the Cornerstone and Capstone give us the picture of
Jesus being the start and the finish of the Church---He
is the main part of the structure holding it together,
without Him there is no building, no Church.
So,
in all the above verses from Peter, as well as ‘the
rock’, we have seen several additional descriptions
of Jesus: ‘the living Stone’; ‘a stone in Zion’; ‘a
chosen and precious cornerstone’; ‘the capstone’.
Peter
is not, and knew he was not, the Rock on which Jesus
would build His Church. Peter knew, without doubt---that
Rock was Christ.
Before
leaving this chapter let us take a look at some prophetic
writings in the book of Daniel, again concerning a rock.
During
the 6th century BC, the Babylonians captured and took
into captivity the southern kingdom of Israel (called
Judah after its largest tribe), the larger northern
kingdom had previously been defeated and dispersed by
the Assyrians. God had spoken to the prophet, Jeremiah,
telling him that the kingdom of Judah would remain captive
in Babylon for 70 years before being allowed to return
and rebuild Jerusalem. Another prophet, Daniel, was
one of the Jewish captives, and he was given some very
great visions, interpretations of dreams, and prophecies;
so great, in fact, that they foretold events both in
the near future and the local environment right through
to the end of the age and globally. Some of Daniel’s
visions were not understood even by him; God told him
they would be understood in later times, in the last
days of this age. There are some truly staggering still-future
events spoken of in the book of Daniel.
The
King of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, had a disturbing dream
which he sought the interpretation of. His magicians,
enchanters and astrologers could not help in this matter,
but God gave Daniel the interpretation. First, the dream:
“You
looked, O king, and there before you stood a large statue---an
enormous, dazzling statue, awesome in appearance. The
head of the statue was made of pure gold, its chest
and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze,
its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly
of baked clay. While you were watching, a rock was cut
out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on
its feet of iron and clay and smashed them. Then the
iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold
were broken to pieces at the same time and became like
chaff on a threshing floor in the summer. The wind swept
them away without leaving a trace. But the rock that
struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled
the whole earth.
(Daniel
chapter 2, verses 31-35).
The
awesome statue represented the succession of major world
empires from, and including, the then existing Babylonian
Empire. The empires represented include all those of
major concern in the history of the nation of Israel.
The
head of pure gold represented the Babylonian Empire;
the chest and arms of silver represented the Medo-Persians
who would defeat Babylon; the belly and thighs of bronze
were for the Greek Empire; the legs of iron for the
succeeding Roman Empire; and the feet of iron and clay
for the final world empire, an empire still to come
and emerging before our very eyes, an empire which will
in some sense be a renewed form of the Roman Empire
(the iron is one clue; the iron legs being the original
Roman Empire).
The
rock that was cut out, ‘but not by human hands’, and
smashed the metal statue to pieces represents THE Rock,
Jesus Christ. His kingdom is seen in the rock becoming
‘a huge mountain’ which ‘filled the whole earth’.
After
the dream, the interpretation:
“This
was the dream, and now we interpret it to the king.
You, O king----- are that head of gold. After you, another
kingdom will rise, inferior to yours. Next, a third
kingdom, one of bronze, will rule over the whole earth.
Finally, there will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron---for
iron breaks and smashes everything---and as iron breaks
things to pieces, so it will crush and break all the
others. Just as you saw that the feet and toes were
partly iron and partly clay, so this kingdom will be
partly strong and partly brittle. And just as you saw
the iron mixed with baked clay, so the people will be
a mixture and will not remain united, any more than
iron mixes with clay.
In
the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set
up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will
it be left to another people. It will crush all those
kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself
endure for ever. This is the meaning of the vision of
the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands---a
rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the
silver and the gold to pieces.
“The
great God has shown the king what will take place in
the future. The dream is true and the interpretation
is trustworthy.”
(Daniel
chapter 2, verses 36-45).
Notice,
in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, the statue has five specific
parts. Yet, in the interpretation these are explained
as only four kingdoms. This is because the first Roman
Empire (the legs of iron) and its eventual, somewhat
changed, re-emergence (feet partly of iron and partly
of baked clay) are regarded in the above verses as one
and the same. Prophecy’s long-range perspective telescopes
the two together. (I believe the increasing size, influence
and power of the EU is the outworking of the above prophecy.)
Let
us bring to a close this chapter on the Rock with the
moving words from a very well known 18th century hymn
by A. M. Toplady:
Rock
of Ages, cleft for me,
Let
me hide myself in thee;
Let
the water and the blood,
From
Thy riven side which flowed,
Be
of sin the double cure,
Cleanse
me from its guilt and power.
While
I draw this fleeting breath,
When
mine eyes shall close in death,
When
I soar through tracts unknown,
See
Thee on Thy judgment throne;
Rock
of Ages, cleft for me,
Let
me hide myself in Thee.
Will
this mighty, eternal Rock really allow us to hide from
God’s terrible judgement, come that day? He was
split asunder for us! If we confess with our mouths
that, ‘Jesus is Lord’, and believe in our hearts that
God raised Him from the dead; then to the question,
‘Will He hide me?’ I say---undoubtedly!
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