The Rock and the River

“They drank of that rock that followed them and that rock was Christ.’’ I. Cor. x:4.

AMONG the beautiful types of spiritual truth in the Old Testament there is none more striking or significant than the rock in Horeb, of which we read in Exodus, chapter xvii. 2-7, and again in Numbers, chapter xx. 8-12. The Rock in Horeb was a type of Jesus Christ, the Rock of Ages. The smiting of that rock set forth the death of Jesus on the cross under the stroke of divine judgment. And the flowing of the waters from the rock when smitten foreshadowed the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in consequence of Christ’s atoning death. The Apostle John connects this with the piercing of His side by the Roman soldier when he says, ‘“This is He that came by water and blood,, even Jesus Christ, not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness because the Spirit is truth.” The Hc)ly Spirit therefore was poured out at Pentecost in pursuance of Christ’s finished work. The Comforter is closely associated with the precious blood in the Old Testament. The oil was always poured upon the blood and we cannot have the Holy Ghost apart from the cross of Jesus Christ. The water which flowed from the riven rock suggests the cleansing, refreshing, satisfying influences of the blessed Comforter. He is for us the ‘‘Water of Life’’ so constantly referred to in the New Testament.

In the second passage referred to in Numbers we have an entirely different scene. A whole generation has passed since the rock was smitten. Once more the people are famishing with thirst and once more Moses leads them at God’s command to the rock. But this time the rock is not to be smitten for it has been smitten once and is open still. Instead Moses is commanded to “speak to the rock,” and the waters will flow forth abundantly. He is to use the language of faith and claim the blessing which is already waiting His acceptance. Instead of doing this Moses becomes excited and violently strikes the rock thrice. God does not fail to respond by causing the water to flow in abundance, but He is grieved with Moses for his disobedience and haste and in consequence of this Moses is debarred from entering the Land of Promise a few years later.

Now all this is full of deep spiritual teaching. This incident typifies our present relation to the Holy Spirit. Pentecost has come. The Spirit is given. The heavens are opened. The water of life is flowing. We do not have to bring the Spirit now for He is here. We have only to ‘’speak to the Rock.’’ That is, we are to come in simple trust and claim the fulness of the Spirit who has been given, and as we open our hearts to drink the water will flow at our bidding. There is no need for excitement or noisy demonstrations and incantations, but faith can calmly take what the Spirit is lovingly waiting to give.

Speak to the Rock,

Bid the waters flow,

Doubt not the Spirit,

Given long ago.

Take what He waiteth
Freely to bestow;

Drink till thy being
All His fulness know.

We pass on to the next chapter of Numbers and we find a still more striking and beautiful illustration of the Holy Spirit in chapter xxi. 16-18. Again they were sufifering from thirst and no water appeared in sight. But this time they do not seek the rock, but gather in a circle in the sand and with their staves dig a well, accompanying the digging with a song of faith and invocation, “Spring up, oh, well, sing ye unto it.” And as they dug and sang their song of faith, lo, the waters gushed up from subterranean fountains and they drank in abundance. The waters which had flowed from the smitten rock were evidently running as a subterranean river beneath their feet, and all they had to do was to tap the river and drink abundantly and be satfefied. This is what is meant by the “Rock that followed them.’’ The Rock itself did not move, but the waters that flowed from it followed them all through the wilderness.

How full of simple and glorious meaning is this little picture! We may not always see the river of God’s fulness flowing in our lives, nor be distinctly conscious of the Spirit’s gracious presence. Olften we shall be entirely without religious feeling or emotion, but the Holy Spirit is still there in the depths of our sub-conscious being and in the moment of need we can, like them, dig a well of faith and prayer, and best of all by song and praise, and lo, the fountains will gush forth, the living waters will flow, and our happy hearts will sing, “There is a river whose streams make glad the city of our God.”