The Cleft Of The Rock

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.