Rock that is Christ

Rock that is Christ
One day I was walking through a dirt quarry with a friend. We were   throwing rocks and flipping old tires and all the things that young boys do.  I was mid-stride when my friend pointed something out “Hey!” It took half a second for me to jump over the sun and onto the other side of the road avoiding a rattlesnake that lay in my path. After surviving a heart attack, I was thankful my friend pointed out that important detail.

In Exodus 17 the Israelites complain to Moses and God provides for them by having him strike a rock “Meribah” at Horeb to supply water for them. Later in Numbers 20, at the end of their sojourn at Kadesh, Moses and    Aaron sin when they ignore God’s instructions to speak and demonstrate their pride as they cry “Must we bring water for you out of this rock?” (Num. 20:10). God provides the water, but it cost Moses and Aaron entrance to the promised land. Again, this rock is called “Meribah” (v.13).

Paul, in 1 Corinthians 10 wishes to enlighten his brethren of God’s plan that he was working in the Old Testament: He states they “all were baptized  into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, all ate of the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ” (v2-4).

I had never noticed it before a friend pointed it out to me- the rock followed them. What is that supposed to mean? I’m still not certain if Paul was describing the reality of the events of a rock named Meribah that traveled the desert with them; It certainly wouldn’t be the strangest thing that occurred to Israel during that time. Whether reality or only symbolic, these events do give us a picture of Christ: he is the stone the builders rejected (Matt. 21:42-44) and he is the source of living water as he told the Samaritan woman (John 4:14) and declared at the feast of Tabernacles (John 7:38).

Jesus is the rock that has been offered to a grumbling people. Jesus was struck by the leaders for the people. He is the only rock that can save us. He gives of the miraculous supply that is within him. I thank God my friend pointed that out to me.

Whoever falls on that stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder. (Luke 20:18)