The Smitten Rock

[Thompson, Darryl]

The Smitten Rock 

     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. Ex. 17:6.  

     From the smitten rock in Horeb first flowed the living stream that
refreshed Israel in the desert. During all their wanderings, wherever
the need existed, they were supplied with water by a miracle of God's
mercy. . . .  

     It was Christ, by the power of His word, that caused the refreshing
stream to flow for Israel. "They drank of that spiritual Rock that
followed them: and that Rock was Christ" (1 Cor. 10:4). He was the
source of all temporal as well as spiritual blessings. Christ, the true
Rock, was with them in all their wanderings. "They thirsted not when he
led them through the deserts: he caused the waters to flow out of the
rock for them." "They ran in the dry places like a river" (Isa. 48:21;
Ps. 105:41). 

     The smitten rock was a figure of Christ, and through this symbol
the most precious spiritual truths are taught. As the life-giving waters
flowed from the smitten rock, so from Christ, "smitten of God," "wounded
for our transgressions," "bruised for our iniquities" (Isa. 53:4, 5),
the stream of salvation flows for a lost race. As the rock had been once
smitten, so Christ was to be "once offered to bear the sins of many"
(Heb. 9:28). Our Saviour was not to be sacrificed a second time; and it
is only necessary for those who seek the blessings of His grace to ask
in the name of Jesus, pouring forth the heart's desire in penitential
prayer. Such prayer will bring before the Lord of hosts the wounds of
Jesus, and then will flow forth afresh the life-giving blood, symbolized
by the flowing of the living water for Israel. . . .  

     The refreshing water, welling up in a parched and barren land, . .
. is an emblem of the divine grace which Christ alone can bestow, and
which is as the living water purifying, refreshing, and invigorating the
soul. He in whom Christ is abiding has within him a never-failing
fountain of grace and strength. 

>From That I May Know Him - Page 23