The living Rock….
While this verse (Exodus 23:25 from image) by itself demonstrates the power of obedience and the fruitful blessing that obedience to God bears for us, there is much more to this passage. In verse 20 we see that the Angel of the Lord was sent to keep the newly forming nation of Israel. In verse 21 they are told to obey this Angel, and that the power of forgiveness was in Him (provoke him not, for he will not pardon your transgressions, for my name is in him).
20 Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. 21 Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions: for my name is in him. 22 But if thou shalt indeed obey his voice, and do all that I speak; then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary unto thine adversaries.
Wow, who is this incredibly powerful Angel? Paul explains in 1 Corinthians 10:4 in his discourse of the same in chapter 10. “And did drink the same spiritual drink, for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Jesus Christ.” –
That the rock was mobile somehow is deduced from meditation of scripture, along with plain common sense, that this is a desert absent of water except the traveling mysterious well, or rock. What is interesting is that many scholars have suggested that Paul is merely including Jewish traditional legend about the traveling rock as a metaphor of Christ. The problem with this is the number of scriptures that refer to “the Rock”, one in particular from Psalms 78. This chapter from Psalms recalls Israel’s defiance and stubbornness to God, then in verses 20 and 35 are direct references to the “Rock”. Read the entire chapter for perspective, but for the sake of today’s comments:
20 “Behold, he smote the rock, that the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed……… 35 And they remembered that God was their rock, and the high God their redeemer.”
In 2 Samuel chapter 23, David says “the Rock of Israel” spoke to him - 3 “The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me, He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God.”
The biblical references to the “Rock” with Messianic overtones are numerous. In chapter 17 verse 6 of Exodus, is where this phenomenon of the living water flowing from the rock begins: 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. – And this became the theme of the rock giving living water, striking it produced salvation to Israel. Then in chapter 33, the famous moment when Moses asks to see God’s tremendous glory before him, and is granted the opportunity to see God in His full glory, but may not see His face, “…..for there shall no man see me, and live” (verse 20).
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:
The rock of Horeb was cleft where it had been struck by Moses to produce water for the Israelites, and this is where Moses would await the glory of God to be revealed to him, in the wound of the rock. In the 40yrs of wandering, the rock producing water was always with them. When Moses would strike the rock, it produced water. Moses was literally in the afore typical wound of the coming Messiah, as he observed the glory of the Most High God, before the nation of Israel!
In Luke 19, Yehshua is riding into town ahead of the Passover and His crucifixion in fulfillment of prophecy, and the crowds are laying palms before him in adulation as the Messiah rides in before them. The Pharisees are angered and ask him to stop this! In verse 40, he replies “And he answered and said unto them, I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.”
We assume a stone to be something dead. With today’s modern technological advances, the use of laser microscopes can actually see the movement of electrons in stone. With the conditions of the electromagnetic field of the earth, and…..WATER as a conductor, stones are actually alive! There is well known stone in eastern Europe that is almost pure calcium carbonate that when exposed to water, can eventually over time grow up to 10 meters in height and even reproduce more stones, of all shapes and sizes, to demonstrate my point. Even the stones cry out for the “sons of God to be revealed” as Paul says in Romans chapter 8, pointing out that ALL of creation groans at the curse of the fall of man. In 1 Peter 2:5 “Ye also, as lively stones, (poor translation, is living stones in the Greek) are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
This is not to mention the obvious references to the “stone that the builders rejected”. The builders were the Israelites! God’s coveted people chosen to lead the world into the knowledge of God! Isaiah 28:16 “Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.” Psalms 118:22 “The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner.” And Matthew 21:42, Mark 12:10, Luke 20:17, Acts 4:11, 1 Peter 2:6-7, all cite the same. This precious corner stone was indeed also the Rock of Salvation of Israel in the wilderness, the living water of God’s chosen people!
It is my belief, that the mysterious Rock that followed, or rather guided Israel through the wilderness, even protecting them from ahead and behind, the Angel of the Lord, was the manifestation of the living spirit of the Word Himself, who was with God, and was God, from the beginning! He was the Rock that gave life to Israel as they were born into a nation as God’s coveted people!
Romans 9:33 As it is written, Behold, I lay in Zion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.