“O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms. For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods. “ —Psalm 92:1-3
Among the figures used in scripture as emblematic of God, one of the most prolific is that of the Rock. We have noted it before (cf. notes on Psalms 18 and 61), but today I should like to focus on it more specifically, while suggesting that the reader might profitably study the many references in still greater measure.
What gives special significance to this figure, of course, is the Holy Spirit’s specific use of the emblem in the New Testament, where the Rock is identified as Christ. “Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; And did all eat the same spiritual meat; And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ [I Cor. 10:1-4].” The reference is to the incident recorded in Exodus 17:1-7, where in response to Israel’s thirsting in the wilderness, Jehovah directed Moses to a certain rock in Horeb with instruction to “smite the rock” with the rod of God and when he did so there flowed water from the rock to slake their thirst.
The smitten Rock, the New Testament says, “was Christ,” and followed them throughout their wilderness wanderings. It is this incident that gives rise to the phrase, “the Rock of our salvation.” The water is emblematic of “the water of life,” a figure used in the New Testament as a representation of eternal life. (See Rev. 21:6; 22:17) The Rock Christ Jesus, smitten by the hand of God Himself on the cross, has become the source of life eternal for all those who put their trust in Him.
The Rock is subsequently presented to us as a place of safety and security in the face of God’s holiness. When Moses pleaded with God to show him His glory, the Lord responded, “Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live. And the LORD said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock: And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a cleft of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by: And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen [Exodus 33:20-23].” In the cleft of the smitten Rock, in Christ and in Him alone, can man behold the glory of God and live!
Not only is the Rock presented to us as a savior for eternity and security in the face of God’s holiness, but also as a the source of satisfaction for our present journey. “He made him ride on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields; and he made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock… [Deut. 32:13].” Honey speaks of the sweetness of fellowship with God and oil is everywhere in scripture emblematic of the Holy Spirit, Who is the key to enjoying that sweetness from day to day. Both become ours when we are established by faith upon the “Rock of our salvation.”
Again, the prophet Isaiah picks up this emblem to represent the Lord, pointing directly to Christ when he declares, “Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment. And a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land [Isa. 32:1-2].” While the prophet is looking forward to the millennium, the truth is spiritually applicable to the present for believers. Christ, our Rock, is our refuge from the cares and conflicts of this life, “the shadow of a Great Rock in [this] weary land.”
Salvation, security, satisfaction, shelter from the storm: all this and much more is the Lord our Rock to those who trust in Him. How appropriate, then is the Psalmist’s exhortation, “let us sing unto the Lord!” Isaiah seconds it when he cries, “…let the inhabitants of the rock sing, let them shout from the top of the mountains. Let them give glory unto the LORD, and declare his praise in the islands [Isa. 42:11-12].”
“My hope is built on nothing less Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame, But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
When He shall come with trumpet sound, O may I then in Him be found,
Dressed in His righteousness alone, Faultless to stand before the throne.
On Christ the solid Rock, I stand—All other ground is sinking sand!”
For a shelter from the storm here and hereafter,
"Pastor" Frasier
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