Thursday, February 22, 2007

On the Rock and in the Rock





Exodus 33:18-23 And he (Moses) said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory. 19 And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy. 20 And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live. 21 And the LORD said, Behold, THERE IS A PLACE BY ME, AND THOU SHALT STAND UPON A ROCK: 22 And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I WILL PUT THEE IN A CLIFT OF THE ROCK, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by: 23 And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen.

The story of Moses request to see God is familiar I am sure to most if not all of us. What I would like for us to see in these verses is the way God honors Moses' request. First God tells Moses that he is to stand upon a Rock (vs. 21) and then as He comes near and passes by He is going to place Moses in the Rock. God is not going to let Moses see His glory unless he is on the Rock and in the Rock. I'm sure you have noticed that I capitalize Rock. This is in reverence to the One whom the Rock stands for.

Any time when you find a rock in scripture you would do well to read very closely. The rock in scripture many, many times represents Jesus Christ. The very first time "rock" shows up in the Bible is in Exodus 17:6 Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the ROCK in Horeb; and THOU SHALT SMITE THE ROCK, AND THERE SHALL COME WATER OUT OF IT, THAT THE PEOPLE MAY DRINK. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.

That passage pictures Jesus being smitten and life to the people coming from that smitten Rock. The water represents the Holy Ghost sent after His resurrection. It is the life giving water that was promised to the woman at the well in John 4:5-29. The last time rock is mentioned in the Bible is in 1 Peter 2:8 where He is to them that reject Him a stone of stumbling and a ROCK of offence.

He is the Rock that the Church is built upon in Matt. 16:18.

The teaching of Exodus then is that if you want to ever see and experience the Glory of God you will have to stand on this Rock and be PLACED IN THIS ROCK called JESUS. (John 17:21, John 6:56, John 15:5, Acts 17:28, 1 Cor. 8:6, 2:Cor. 5:21, Eph. 1:4, Eph. 1:10, Philip. 3:9, Col. 2:6-7, 10, 2 Thes. 1:12, 1 Jn. 2:5-6, 27-28, 1 Jn. 3:6,24, 1 Jn. 4:13-16, 1 Jn. 5:20) Every one of these verses state that we as Christians are IN HIM!

Are you on the Rock and in the Rock? You will never see Jesus as anything but your judge unless you are.

Is the Rock your life giving fountain or your Stone of stumbling and Rock of offence?


Hillbilly

Study taken from the Bible Nuggets series #35






Inspirational Poetry


Out Of The Rock


Out of The Rock
Flowed water
That people would drink.
Moses heard them murmuring.
Murmuring-
Before The Rock.

Moses smote The Rock
In their sight.
What sight?
They drank but-
God…
They did not thank.

Out of The Rock,
Rock of our Salvation,
Flowed water and blood.
The crowd was murmuring.
Murmuring-
Before The Rock.

A soldier pierced Jesus,
Wounding His side.
The crowd would mock Him
While He died-
For His
Flock.

Rock of Ages
Holds
In His hand
A spiritual clock
That His faithful hear
And understand.


Inspired By Our Lord
Julie Pisacane - 2006 Copyright


Based on
Exodus 17:6,
Deut. 32: 4 and John 19:34

Julie's Poetry


May God bless all of you ,

Pages of My Heart Ministry