This sermon is rather unusual in format. I paused at various times for one of the members to lead a song relevant to the topic under consideration at the moment, sometimes followed by a prayer directly related to the subject. These notes reflect the pauses and the songs that were sung at those moments.
The Cleft of the Rock
Many years ago, while driving in western Colorado near the geologic uplift called Grand Mesa, I looked to my left and noticed a deep fracture in the escarpment that ran from the top of the mesa downward as far as I could see. It occurred to me that it was a place where one might find shelter from a storm. It reminded me of the hymn, Rock of Ages, written in 1763 by Augustus Toplady when he was only 23 years old.
Augustus had been traveling near Somerset in England’s west country, along the road with cliffs on either side when the storm struck. He dashed into a hollowed out place in the rock for shelter. He had been fortunate to find this hiding place so quickly, and while waiting for the storm to pass he began to think on the idea of the “rock of faith” being a shelter from the “storms of life.” The words for a hymn began to form in his mind but, according to a story that still persists; he had no paper in his pocket to write down the words. Looking down he saw a playing card, considered a sinful thing by this young minister. Nevertheless, he picked it up and began to write:
Rock of ages, cleft for me
Let my hide myself in Thee
Either then or afterward, he expanded the thoughts flowing from that memorable experience, and penned the words to one the most beloved of all Christian hymns:
Let the water and the blood,
From Thy wounded side which flowed,
Be of sin the double cure,
Save from wrath and make me pure.
Not the labor of my hands
Can fulfill Thy law’s demands;
Could my zeal no respite know,
Could my tears forever flow,
All for sin could not atone;
Thou must save, and Thou alone.
Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to Thy cross I cling;
Naked, come to Thee for dress;
Helpless, look to Thee for grace;
Foul, I to the fountain fly;
Wash me, Savior, or I die.
While I draw this fleeting breath,
When my eyes shall close in death,
When I rise to worlds unknown,
And behold Thee on Thy throne,
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee.
The analogy of Christ to a rock has its roots in Scripture. There are numerous Old Testament references to the Lord as a "Rock" or "Rock of my salvation." Or as one of our songs, drawn from Psalm 18 says, “The Lord liveth, and blessed be the Rock.”
Alluding to the Israelites during their wanderings in the wilderness, Paul writes, "For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ" (1 Corinthians 10:4). Paul is referring to the event recorded in Exodus 17:6. Moses, at God’s command, struck the rock in Horeb, bringing forth a needed supply of water for God’s people. That physical rock is a picture of Christ providing a never-ending flow of "water" to satisfy sinful man’s spiritual need.
So our song, Rock of Ages, was conceived in the mind of this 23-year-old man. It was not published until years later, when he himself published it in Gospel Magazine the year before he died at the age of 38.
One may ask, “What is a ‘double cure’ (of sin)?” I suggest that the disease of sin assaults the life we now live, and first wreaks havoc with the quality of it; and second, it undermines our salvation.
Song - Rock of Ages
Prayer of thanks for shelter from storms and trials
The specific picture of Christ as a rock broken open, or cleft, to provide a place of spiritual refuge for sinful people was surely drawn from Moses’ experience recorded in Exodus 33:20-23 (read).
There are things about God which we must not see. Others are shown to have seen dazzling visible representations of the glory of God, though perhaps none so directly as Moses; and Moses was granted this favor only with some proper limitations, restrictions, and precautions. That which we crave to see and to know of God and the way he acts is beyond us.
• Why God acts as he does
• Why God acts when he does
• Why God does not seem to act at all
• Though we would like to see all of God, Man cannot be brought to a full view and understanding of God
The brightest displays of his grace and goodness, and a full viewing of it, are too much for man in the present state of things. What Moses and others were permitted to see was but a small part and portion of God, and of his ways and works, as of creation and providence.
Because Moses, a mortal, could not see God’s face and live, God Himself protected Moses by placing him in the cleft of a rock as He passed by, covering Moses in that cleft with God’s own hand from the harm that would surely befall a mortal who looked directly upon the full glory of God. Similarly, by being hidden in Christ, the Rock cleft on his behalf at the cross, the believer is sheltered from the eternal death he would face should he stand unsheltered before a holy God who executes righteous judgment.
Paul wrote to the church at Colossae, “If we are risen with Christ, our affection is on things above, and our life is hidden in Christ.” Colossians 3:1-3
Thus, our life is hidden within a wonderful Savior, as one hides from a storm in the shelter of the cleft the Rock--not hidden as a secret, but hidden as protection from harm.
Song - A Wonderful Savior
The things we are talking about are larger than we are. They are too profound for our full understanding; too interlaced with divine things beyond the scope of human comprehension. Isaiah 55:8-9
But because he is above us, and his ways are higher than ours, we have reason for confidence and security. When our days and nights are filled with uncertainty, what refuge could we find in one who only knows what we know, understands things only on our level, and can do only the things we can do? No, our refuge is one who is higher than we are.
It is like a child we must disappoint from time to time by denying their desires. They want to do one thing, but another be done. They want to play in a dangerous place, but a loving parent forbids it. They want to go one way, but it is necessary to go another. The child cannot understand why it is so because his capacity for understanding has not yet developed to grasp the larger things of life.
Song - Rock that is Higher than I
Prayer of thanks that we have a Savior - one who is greater than ourselves
To Tullius O’Kane, who wrote the words of our next song, the cleft of the Rock was a place of rest. While we Christians may resist the notion of rest as being motivated by laziness or apathy, there is a rest into which we MUST enter.
Hebrews 3:18 - 4:1 shows that NOT entering the promised rest is a thing to be feared:
And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief. Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it.
What is this promised rest? It is the land of Canaan, called God’s rest because he promised it, and gave it to the Israelites as their rest; and where he himself had a place of rest; and where he gave the Messiah, the author of peace and rest; and which was a type of heaven, the rest from toil and labor, which remains for the people of God.
In the imagery of this song, the promised rest is found in the cleft of the Rock - that is, the fact that Jesus was pierced, bled and died purchased our entrance into the promised land, or as the Hebrew writer says it, the promised rest.
Song - There Stands a Rock
Prayer of thanks for heaven, and our hope of entering into it
In the tabernacle, the mercy seat was located directly above the ark of the covenant, between the two gold cherubim. The specifications for it may be found in Exodus 25. Speaking of the mercy seat, the Lord said to Moses, “I will meet with you there.” Exodus 25:22. Numbers 7:89 among other scriptures shows him doing just that.
On the annual day of atonement, the high priest sprinkled the blood of a young bull on the mercy seat for his own sins and those of his family, and sprinkled the blood of a slain goat on the mercy seat for the sins of the people. This was for the ceremonial cleansing of the high priest and all the people from sin.
The mercy seat typifies the divine throne and the one who sits on it. Revelation 4:2-5 describes the awesome scene, still in symbolic language, of which the mercy seat is a type.
The mercy seat was the most sacred location in the tabernacle, and in fact, on earth. The way to the mercy seat was once available only to Moses, that he should inquire into the mind and will of God, and then to the high priest, that he should enter once a year to make atonement for sin. At the moment Jesus died, the veil that concealed the Most Holy Place was destroyed--torn from top to bottom. Thus, the writer of Hebrews wrote:
Hebrews 6:19-20 - This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil, where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.
and
Hebrews 10:19-22 - Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
The mercy seat signifies that the way of access to God lies through Jesus Christ, and propitiation by his blood and righteousness; through the veil that signifies His flesh. We make use of that access when we pray in his name.
Song - From Every Stormy Wind
Prayer for the sick, those suffering trials or distress, and other requests
We see then that Jesus is pictured in many of our songs and scriptures as a rock that is cleft, broken, or fractured. It was on a hill just outside Jerusalem that the body of Jesus was “broken” on a Roman cross by the piercing of his hands and his side, allowing his life blood to flow out as the price of all the benefits we have mentioned in the last few minutes and - not the least - everlasting life in the realms of glory.
And that is why we hide ourselves in the cleft of that rock.
