The Rock

One of the blessings of the gospel is that we get to know God (John 17:3). He has been so gracious to reveal His nature to us in His word. And He uses so many different examples to communicate things about His nature. Because of our limited understanding, God uses earthly pictures to help us see a glimpse of His awesome, holy nature. These pictures help us to see although only in the mirror dimly because, as A.W. Tozer says, we are forced to think “creature-thoughts” and use “creature-words” to describe One who is uncreated.  

He is Our Rock

One of the Bible’s simplest, yet most profound metaphors for God is the rock. Now, to be clear, God is not like a rock in substance or inactivity. Remember, Paul said, “we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone” (Acts 17:29). But what does it mean when Moses says, “For I will proclaim the name of the LORD; ascribe greatness to our God! The Rock, his work is perfect” (Deut 32:3-4)? Or when the Psalmist says, “he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him” (Psalm 92:15)? I believe what God wants to communicate to us is that He is mighty, unchanging, immoveable, and faithful. He is the One who says, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Heb 13:5). He is the One who says, “”For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed” (Mal 3:6). He is the One who, “does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, ‘What have you done?’ (Dan 4:35). Our God is the Rock!

He is Our Redeemer

And our Rock is also our Redeemer! Our Rock came in the flesh, Jesus of Nazareth, and he “set his face to go to Jerusalem” (Luke 9:51) where he died on a Roman cross and “bore our sins in his body on the tree” (1 Peter 2:24). Yet he rose victoriously from the dead on the third day, thereby defeating death and the devil (Heb 2:14), fulfilling the promises of God (2 Cor 1:20), and redeeming a people to himself (Gal 4:5). We are now, “justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Rom 3:24). 

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Daniel Defoe illustrates our Redeemer Rock wonderfully in his book Robinson Crusoe. Robinson Crusoe has been shipwrecked, and he is being thrown about in the waves to the point that he is sure he is going to die: until he is dashed against a rock.

“The seas, having hurried me along as before, landed me, or rather dashed me, against a piece of a rock, and that with such force, as it left me senseless, and indeed helpless, as to my own deliverance… I recovered a little before the return of the waves, and seeing I should be covered again with the water, I resolved to hold fast by a piece of the rock.”

Yes! We too are helpless as to our own deliverance, and our only hope is to cling to our Rock. Praise to the Rock of our salvation!

©Jacob Crouch 2021, 2024