Speak to the Rock

Speak to the Rock

In Hebrews six we find a somewhat curious passage that has led to some confusion over the years.

Hebrews 6:4-6 (NASB)

4  For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit,

5  and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come,

6  and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame.

It’s important not to build doctrine around a single passage of Scripture. This passage has led many to conclude that God’s gracious gift of eternal life might not actually be permanent—that it might somehow be withdrawn. I lived many years of my life believing exactly that. I can tell you from experience that the fruit of that wrong belief is not love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, or self-control. This morning I’d like to present what I think is a more holistic view.

Galatians 1:6-9 (NASB)

6  I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel;

7  which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.

8  But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed!

9  As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!

This idea of otherness, which occurs in so many forms, is central to the NT as the story of the fulfilment of the promise of God. The new which has come in Jesus Christ is something quite different from what preceded to the degree that it excludes everything else as a way of salvation.

- Theological Dictionary of the New Testament – Volume II.

Galatians 3:1-3 (NASB)

1  You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified?

2  This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?

3  Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?

The Gospel of the grace of God through Jesus, the Anointed One (or Messiah, or Christ) is presented throughout Scripture using stone as a picture of the trustworthiness of God, His ability and desire to provide life out of lifelessness, and His boundless love for us.

John 2:3 & 6 (NASB)

3  When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus *said to Him, "They have no wine."

John 2:6 (NASB)

6  Now there were six stone waterpots set there for the Jewish custom of purification, containing twenty or thirty gallons each.

Because stone vessels (as distinct from earthen) were not susceptible to Levitical impurity, they were used for water employed for ritual purposes (Jn. 2:6).

- Theological Dictionary of the New Testament – Volume IV.

The rock is not susceptible to impurity. From the rock comes living water—the wine of eternal life.

Now, beginning in Exodus as the nation of Israel is being led out of slavery in Egypt, let’s look in the Old Testament to see how this concept is presented. Egypt is a picture of our state before we accept the gift of God’s grace. At that time, just as the Hebrew people were slaves to the Egyptians, we are slaves to sin and death.

Exodus 17:1-7 (NASB)

1  Then all the congregation of the sons of Israel journeyed by stages from the wilderness of Sin, according to the command of the LORD, and camped at Rephidim, and there was no water for the people to drink.

2  Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, "Give us water that we may drink." And Moses said to them, "Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the LORD?"

3  But the people thirsted there for water; and they grumbled against Moses and said, "Why, now, have you brought us up from Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?"

This is what we feel like when we think that we have to work for acceptance by God. We hear that the birth of Jesus is good news, but then we read the Sermon on the Mount and we are still thirsty for righteousness.

4  So Moses cried out to the LORD, saying, "What shall I do to this people? A little more and they will stone me."

5  Then the LORD said to Moses, "Pass before the people and take with you some of the elders of Israel; and take in your hand your staff with which you struck the Nile, and go.

6  "Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink." And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.

7  He named the place Massah and Meribah because of the quarrel of the sons of Israel, and because they tested the LORD, saying, "Is the LORD among us, or not?"

The word translated rock here is the Hebrew word tsur (6697), which means simply, “rock.”

Moses is told to strike the rock. God provides water, or life, from the rock that was struck.

Here’s how Paul related it:

1 Corinthians 10:1-4 (NASB)

1  For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea;

2  and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea;

3  and all ate the same spiritual food;

4  and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ.

The translators of the New English Translation have this to say:

The presence of Yahweh at this rock (Exodus 17) enabled Paul to develop a midrashic lesson, an analogical application: Christ was present with Israel to provide water for them in the wilderness. So this was a Christophany. But Paul takes it a step further to equate the rock with Christ, for just as it was struck to produce water, so Christ would be struck to produce rivers of living water. The provision of bread to eat and water to drink provided for Paul a ready analogy to the provisions of Christ in the gospel

NET Bible.

This picture of life-giving water flowing from the rock happens a second time. Let’s flip over to Numbers chapter 20.

Numbers 20:2-13 (NASB)

2  There was no water for the congregation, and they assembled themselves against Moses and Aaron.

3  The people thus contended with Moses and spoke, saying, "If only we had perished when our brothers perished before the LORD!

4  "Why then have you brought the LORD'S assembly into this wilderness, for us and our beasts to die here?

5  "Why have you made us come up from Egypt, to bring us in to this wretched place? It is not a place of grain or figs or vines or pomegranates, nor is there water to drink."

6  Then Moses and Aaron came in from the presence of the assembly to the doorway of the tent of meeting and fell on their faces. Then the glory of the LORD appeared to them;

7  and the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

8  "Take the rod; and you and your brother Aaron assemble the congregation and speak to the rock before their eyes, that it may yield its water. You shall thus bring forth water for them out of the rock and let the congregation and their beasts drink."

Moses is instructed to speak to the rock and God says that this is the way in which the water of life will be provided. This is the picture that God painted for us, and we’ll return to this in a moment, but first let’s finish the passage.

9  So Moses took the rod from before the LORD, just as He had commanded him;

10  and Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly before the rock. And he said to them, "Listen now, you rebels; shall we bring forth water for you out of this rock?"

Moses was very angry with the people. Before we condemn him it’s important that we remember that he was eighty years old when he began his forty-year trek through the wilderness. I think I’d be a little grumpy too. Unfortunately he is so angry that he forgets himself a bit and makes it sound like it is he and his brother who will make the rock give water.

11  Then Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came forth abundantly, and the congregation and their beasts drank.

12  But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, "Because you have not believed Me, to treat Me as holy in the sight of the sons of Israel, "

13  Those were the waters of Meribah, because the sons of Israel contended with the LORD, and He proved Himself holy among them.

Moses is prevented from entering the promised land because of this event. I always thought God was being awfully strict with Moses on this. Notice what God tells him. “Because you have not believed Me, to treat Me as holy in the sight of the sons of Israel therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.”

There are several things going on here. Belief, works, and a ruined picture are perhaps the most obvious. God says that Moses did not believe Him to treat Him as holy. God told Moses to take the rod with him, but He also told him to speak to the rock. In his anger, Moses struck the rock; not once, but twice. He acted as if it were by something he did that water would be provided. Speaking to the rock was important to the image God was painting, however. Since water had come from the rock that was struck earlier and that rock is a shadow of Jesus, it was important that the rock not be struck a second time. This might remind you of the passage we read at the beginning. Let me read it for you again.

Hebrews 6:4-6 (NASB)

4  For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit,

5  and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come,

6  and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame.

By reverting to attempts at works-based righteousness these people crucify Jesus again—they strike the Rock again—when what they should be doing is speaking to Him, just like Moses was told to do.

Interestingly, the word translated rock here in Numbers is not the same as the word translated rock in our passage from Exodus. Here the word is Sela (5553) meaning to be lofty; a fortress or strong hold.

Proverbs 18:10 (NASB)

10  The name of the LORD is a strong tower; The righteous runs into it and is safe.

So the rock that was struck has become a lofty fortress and a stronghold and life no longer comes by striking it, but instead it comes by simply speaking to the rock. We might say this is a striking presentation of the Gospel.

Isaiah 8:14 (NASB)

14  "Then He shall become a sanctuary; But to both the houses of Israel, a stone to strike and a rock to stumble over, And a snare and a trap for the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

Isaiah 28:16 (NASB)

16  Therefore thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone, A costly cornerstone for the foundation, firmly placed. He who believes in it will not be disturbed.

Peter, preaching the Gospel in Acts was confronted by the religious leaders and responded with a picture of Jesus as the rock as well.

Acts 4:11-12 (NASB)

11  "He is the STONE WHICH WAS REJECTED by you, THE BUILDERS, but WHICH BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER stone.

12  "And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved."

Jesus Himself said the same thing to those who thought they were righteous because of what they did.

Matthew 21:42 (NASB)

42  Jesus *said to them, "Did you never read in the Scriptures, 'THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER stone; THIS CAME ABOUT FROM THE LORD, AND IT IS MARVELOUS IN OUR EYES'?

The stone still makes people stumble today. The scandalous idea that we are made acceptable to God, blameless, and righteous as a gift rather than because of our good behavior seems foolish and too good to be true.

Paul makes this concept clear in Romans.

Romans 9:30-33 (NASB)

30  What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith;

31  but Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law.

32  Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as though it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone,

33  just as it is written, "BEHOLD, I LAY IN ZION A STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE, AND HE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED."

Peter elaborates even further:

1 Peter 2:4-10 (NASB)

4  And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God,

5  you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

6  For this is contained in Scripture: "BEHOLD, I LAY IN ZION A CHOICE STONE, A PRECIOUS CORNER stone, AND HE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED."

7  This precious value, then, is for you who believe; but for those who disbelieve, "THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE VERY CORNER stone,"

8  and, "A STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE"; for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this doom they were also appointed.

9  But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God's OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;

10  for you once were NOT A PEOPLE, but now you are THE PEOPLE OF GOD; you had NOT RECEIVED MERCY, but now you have RECEIVED MERCY.

We can be clear and confident about our salvation. We are forgiven and fully accepted by God. There is no further need to crucify Jesus again by reverting to our former way of thinking that we need to make ourselves righteous. Jesus has done it for us. As we finish up, hear the words of Isaiah and think about how they apply to you.

Isaiah 51:1 (NASB)

1  "Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, Who seek the LORD: Look to the rock from which you were hewn And to the quarry from which you were dug.