Exodus Teaching - 07 - Rock of Ages

Exodus Teaching Series #7

TITLE: Rock of Ages

TEXT: Exodus 17:1-7

Introduction

When I was growing up in the Mississippi Delta, seven miles west of Sledge, Mississippi, my family was active in a mission church for some time before it was organized as a Southern Baptist Church. Our Director of Missions, M. C. Waldrup, started several mission churches in northwest Mississippi and preached at all of them from time to time. He preached every Sunday morning at our church going into the army as a chaplain during World War II. He was an outstanding preacher and pastor to our people. Then, for some time, we had our worship service at 9:00 A. M. and then we had Sunday School after that. Henning Andrews, pastor of the Lula Baptist Church, Lula, Mississippi, our sponsoring church, came out and preached for us and then drove back to preach at Lula at 11:00. We got home in time to hear R. G. Lee preach every Sunday. If you ever heard R. G. Lee preach in person you would never forget it. I heard him preach Pay Day Some Day, the sermon he preached over 1200 times at First Baptist Church, Senatobia, Mississippi, and some time later I took my brother James to hear him preach that sermon.

No, I have forgotten that this is another message in the Exodus Series. What I am remembering is that we sang the same hymns over and over for years. We loved Amazing Grace, On Jordan’s Stormy Banks, Shall We Gather at the River, The Old Rugged Cross, The Rock of Ages, and several other favorites. Several years ago, when my son Mark was working for a cardiology clinic, the founding cardiologist asked him to go to a studio and record four hymns so he could take it to Pennsylvania to have it played at his father’s funeral service. He recorded How Great Thou Art, Amazing Grace, In the Garden, and The Rock of Ages. I have a copy of those four hymns on a CD in my truck and another in my car and I play them often.

Both the title and the words of that great hymn, Rock of Ages, have come to mean a lot more to me over the years as I have studied the Scripture about how the Lord caused water to gush forth from a rock at Sinai and flood an area large enough to take care of the needs of some two million people. Then, I read what Paul wrote to the church at Corinth:

“Now I want you to know, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, all passed through the sea, (2) and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. (3) They all ate the same spiritual food, (4) and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from a spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ.” (1 Cor 10:1-4, HCSB) [Bold added]

In the Prologue to the Gospel According to John, we read: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (2) He was with God in the beginning. (3) All things were created through Him, and apart from Him not one thing was created that has been created.” (John 1:1-3)

The Holy Spirit inspired the Apostle John to identify Jesus as the Word in the Fourth Gospel for a reason. There was a budding Gnosticism that was posing a threat to the First Century church. Some Gentiles with a background in Gnosticism were being converted and accepted into the fellowship of the church. Some of them brought aspects of Gnosticism with them and introduced those beliefs to the church and the Prologue to the Gospel of John destroyed that satanic movement, just as it destroys any such movement today for those who read the Word of God and believe what it says about The Jesus. Modern day Eastern Mysticism has its roots in ancient Gnosticism, just as the New Age Movements of the 1980s and 1990s had their roots in Eastern Mysticism. And let me add that New Age movements only dropped the New Age name, they have not all gone away. Some can be found under the umbrella of Post Modernism, for example. For those who look to the Lord there is an answer to all false religions and cults, as well as the occult. Now, let’s move from modern day America back in time and location to ancient Midian, and to be more specific, to Rephidim.

I. THEY MOVED FROM THE WILDERNESS OF SIN TO SIN AT REPHIDIM, Ex. 17:1ff.

A. They Moved from a Place Called Sin to a Behavior Called Sin, 17:1-2.

“The entire Israelite community left the Wilderness of Sin, moving from one place to the next according to the Lord’s command. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink.” (17:1, HCSB).

We should note that this huge multitude had moved “from one place to the next according to the Lord’s command” before they reached Rephidim and they had camped at Dophkah and Alush before Rephidim (Num. 33 12:14). These same Israelites had seen the mighty hand of God bring down the powerful Egyptian army, humiliate the Pharaoh, and devastate the whole population of the Egyptians, but when they became weary from walking and when they became thirsty they took their eyes off the Lord and began to complain against Moses and Aaron. It is easy for us to condemn those ancient Israelites for complaining against their leaders, but the old adage, “don’t criticize another person until you have walked in his shoes,” is still good advice for us today. It doesn’t take much to start modern day church members to grumbling and complaining.

Have you ever been thirsty? I mean really, really thirsty? I believe all of can remember some time when we were thirsty, possibly even very thirsty. I grew up on a cotton farm in the Mississippi Delta where it is extremely hot and humid during the summer, which happens to be a time when cotton and soy bean fields require a lot of attention. When we came in from the field we headed for the pump where there was plenty of cold water. You could pump all day and never worry about running out of water. You could only pump water over your hand so long before it became cold enough to hurt the back of your hand.

While in college and seminary I worked for the Quitman County, Mississippi, ASCS, a branch of the USDA whose responsibility it was to be sure cotton farmers did not over plant their allotment. I worked for them six summer, and I knew to carry a thermos can of water with plenty ice in it. I also knew the location of every artesian well in the area in which I normally worked. You could stop and let the run off from the artesian well run over your hands and arms and wash you face and even though it was not as cold as water from the pumps, which pumped water from about 15 - 20 feet, it was refreshing. I never got too thirsty for the simple reason that I planned and I was prepared.

There was another time when I was about twelve years old that some friends and I decided one Sunday afternoon to walk to Six Mile Lake, about a mile and a half from our house, and when we got there we decided to walk north along the bank, through the woods, just to see what we could see. It was hot and we all became thirsty and decided to go home so we could get some water. I took a short cut so I could get home sooner than if I had gone with the others. The longer I walked the thirstier I got. I had not planned on it but I had to walk through a big rice farm after the terraces had been pulled, which meant that my feet would sink in the loose soil every time I took a step. It was an exhausting experience. Finally, I came out of a rice field onto a dirt road and turned left and started up the road, plodding along subconsciously focused on a house that I thought was located at the intersection of that road and the main gravel road that ran in front of our farm, about 150 yards from our house. I had one thing on my mind. I would walk to that intersection and then on to my home where cool, fresh water awaited me. I kept walking, drawing closer and closer to that house. After some time I began to see that something was wrong with that house. It didn’t look like it normally did. Then it hit me: “That’s not the Bland house, that is the Chapman’s house! I am walking in the wrong direction!”

It was not the Bland’s house as I had assumed. I had walked to the Chapman’s house many times before, but in my intense thirst I had become confused. I had a long walk back to the road that ran in front of my house and when I got to the intersection I cut across the field and walked home, across another plowed field. I felt that I had to save every step and every minute possible. When I got home I discovered that we had visitors, some of my favorites relatives. But it didn’t matter. I spoke and headed inside to get cold water from the refrigerator. Unlike those ancient Israelites, I knew where there was water, and if I had needed to I could have stopped at a neighbor’s house for a drink of water. And, there was always water on a rice farm and in those ditches and bayous near it. Of course, there were also snakes in that water.

Those Israelites had never walked that road before. They had no idea where they would find water. At the same time, they lost faith in the Lord who had demonstrated His power and His protection for them as no other nation had ever known it. They could see no house at the crossroads. They could see no water in the road ditches. They could also see that as they approached Rephidim they were moving deeper and deeper into a desert area which, according to one report, might not receive one-half inch of rain in ten years.

We might appreciate their fear and frustration if it were not for the fact that God had faithfully protected them and provided for them in their journey. He had tested them at Marah (the bitter springs) and on the way when they complained about the food, and now they presume to put God to the test!

B. The People Complained to Moses, 17:2-3.

1. God was testing them but they had no right to test Him. Perhaps you have heard the old saying, “when the going gets tough the tough get going.” That sounds good, but you can be sure that among those estimated 2 million people there must have been some really tough people. They had survived the brutality of Egypt’s barbarous slavery, designed to reduce the population of the Israelites. The slave drivers were given the task of eliminating a significant percentage of the population, either through hard work under trying circumstances, or intense abuse of the slaves. They had some really strong, tough people among them, people who had seen hard work and abuse you and I cannot imagine, but they are now complaining and griping to Moses.

Let us remember what these people had seen and experienced in the days before they found themselves without water and began grumbling against Moses. They had witnessed the ten plagues, the last of which was so dramatic that the citizens of Egypt urged them to leave and gave them whatever they wanted as they were leaving. They had participated in the first ever Passover and then marched out of the land of Egypt and when the Lord was ready they were led to the place where they would cross the Red Sea. By this time, the Lord had Pharaoh worked up over the situation to the point that he charged after the Israelites with his elite chariots and calvary.

The Lord blocked the Egyptians while the Israelites crossed the sea on dry land after the He parted the waters of the Red Sea. They did not bog down in mud at the bottom of the sea, and if you had grown up in the Mississippi Delta where I did you would appreciate that a lot more than you probably do. There was a saying where I grew up, “If you will stick with it in the summer it will stick with you in the winter,” meaning that the wet gumbo soil (buck shot) can be a challenge when it sticks to your shoes or boots. Those Israelites didn’t have to deal with anything like that. If the ground had not been dry the carts would have become bogged down on the bottom of the sea, so lets us not overlook the significance of the dry land. They came out on the other side and saw the Egyptians charge after them, and they saw the waters collapse on Egyptian soldiers and their horses and chariots. They saw the bodies of the Egyptians floating onto the shore. Then, they sang praises to the Lord Who had delivered them.

Those same Israelites who were singing His praises as they began marching toward Mara were complaining against Him a few days later at Rephidim when they camped there and found no water. There was never a time when the welfare of the Israelites was in their hands. Let me stress here that I am convinced that Jesus knew what He was saying when He uttered those amazing words we find in John 10:28: “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish—ever! No one will snatch them out of My hand.” (John 10:28, HCSB) This, to me, means that when Jesus Christ gives you eternal life you cannot loose it, either accidentally, incidentally, or intentionally! I know that is saying a lot, but I am convinced that this is exactly what Jesus meant. We will not slip from His hand, and He also said, “No one will snatch them out of My hand.” That explains it all! The reason true believers are safe and secure is that we are in His hand. He is not in our hands!

I recall the many times my wife Rebecca (Becky) and I would take our young son John and drive to Monroe, Louisiana for dinner on Friday evening after she got out of school. After our meal we would go to a few favorite stores, and while she looked at the things that interest ladies, John and I looked at hunting gear and things like that. While walking in Sears or Penney’s, in those days before modern malls came to the area, I would often hold my index finger down so John could hold onto it. However, when we left the store, I did not let him continue holding onto my finger. I reached down and caught his hand in mine and if he stumbled I held him up until he got his feet back on the ground. If we came to a hole in the street I simply lifted him up and set him down on the other side. When I came to the curb I would lift him up and set him over it, so that he would be safe on the other side of the street.

When you and I come to the chuck holes in the pathway of life we should remember that we are not holding Jesus’ in our hands, He is holding us in His hands. If He was in my hands I might lose Him. I thank God that I am in His hand. When Jesus made the declaration (John 10) that He is the Door to the sheep fold, He is telling us that no sheep could escape without overpowering Him, and no enemy could steal a sheep without overpowering our Good Shepherd who becomes the door to the sheepfold when we lie down to sleep.

We understand that today, but let us see what happened when those ancient Israelites camped at Rephidim, but found no water there. What often happens when people do not see their needs met in accordance with their expectations? In the wilderness, the people complained against God and they complained to Moses and Aaron. What do we do when we have a problem? Weak believers often act like non-believers, and that is exactly what they did. Many attack pastors, deacons, or other leaders.

2. So the people complained to Moses, “Give us water to drink” (17:2a).

(a) There was a problem and the people complained to Moses. “Why are you complaining to me?” Moses replied to them.

(b) They complained against Moses. Think about it: They were in a desert and they complain to Moses, “Give us water to drink.” Had they seen Moses drinking water? Did they think he had water stored somewhere? Perhaps they knew he had tended his father-in-law’s sheep for 40 years in the land of Midian and assumed he would know where to find water. They knew he was familiar with some parts of Midian (Saudi Arabia today), so they must have been convinced that he would led them to water. The Lord was directing this trek into the wilderness and on to Sinai. Moses was following Him because he trusted Him.

(c) They tested the Lord. “Why are you complaining to me?” Moses replied to them. “Why are you testing the Lord?” (Ex 17:2b). While it is impossible to tempt God, one may test Him. Up until this time the Lord had said nothing about putting Him to the test, but they have not yet been to Sinai where they would receive Laws, ordinances, and statutes. Jesus rebuked Satan for trying to put Him to the test. Is it not interesting that Satan knows more about Jesus than a lot of people who profess to be Christians? He has certainly had his experience with the Lord, and he has a great day of judgment coming when he will be cast into the lake of fire that burns with intense heat day and night forever.

(d) “But the people thirsted there for water, and grumbled against Moses” (17:3a). Apparently, the complaints were becoming more and more intense. They were attacking Moses, but they were questioning God, too. We may picture mothers and fathers demanding that Moses do something for their children or for the elderly, but of course they wanted water to quench their own thirst.

(e) The great multitude of people said, “Why did you ever bring us out of Egypt to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?”(17:3b). The people are now verbalizing their fears. They are remembering the food and water they drank in Egypt, but they have apparently forgotten the intense labor, the harsh treatment of family members, and the orders to kill the male babies. They have moved from complaining, to grumbling, to confronting Moses. This is the way mob scenes begin. The only difference here is that hundreds of thousands of adults are confronting Moses.

We should remind ourselves that we are not talking about a western movie in which twenty or twenty five people who are threatening the local sheriff. How could Moses possibly provide enough water for two million people, plus their livestock? Only Yahweh, the great I AM, could even consider such a mighty challenge, which, of course was no challenge to Him. It is easy to criticize those Israelites, but how much have we learned from their experience? A number of years ago I had a sprained left foot and my secretary asked me if I would like for her to call their foot specialist. I did and she did. The foot specialist nearly destroyed both of my feet, and another one made them both worse. I prayed day after day and night after night for healing. I remember quoting Scripture to the Lord - hoping that would help. My entire ministry was at stake - didn’t the Lord know that?! Why didn’t He act? Well, He did. He just didn’t do it my way.

(f) Moses cried out to the Lord for answers. “Then Moses cried out to the Lord, “What should I do with these people? In a little while they will stone me!” (17:4) Understandably, Moses has no answer. He was also without water. His brother and his family were out of water. His sister Miriam was out of water. If he couldn’t help them how could he help the great multitude of people. He had a reason to fear that the people might stone him. Mobs are not given to reason.

II. THE LORD HAS AN ANSWER.

A. The Lord Answered Moses.

“The Lord answered Moses, “Go on ahead of the people and take some of the elders of Israel with you. Take the staff you struck the Nile with in your hand and go” (Ex. 17:5).

The people griped and complained when they had no water. Once again, the Lord answered Moses, His chosen leader. The Lord spoke to Noah and Abraham, but never had He spoken to any individual since Adam and Eve as he had spoken to Moses. Moses was the Lord’s chosen leader. There would be other times when the Lord would demonstrate His sovereign right to choose their leader. See Numbers 16 to see how the Lord confirms His choice of Moses as their leader when Korah and others usurped his position of leadership.

B. The Lord Pointed Out a Rock.

(6) I am going to stand there in front of you on the rock at Horeb; when you hit the rock, water will come out of it and the people will drink.” Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. (7) He named the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites complained, and because they tested the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?” (Ex 17:6-7)

Yahweh declared that He would stand in front of Moses on the rock at Horeb, which is Sinai. Horeb was an alternate name for Mt. Sinai. They had arrived at Sinai, they were not in route when these people rebelled again.

The Caldwell family visited this site many times and they have shared their testimony about what they saw there. In another message I have talked about explorers Bob Cornuke and Larry Williams who make a very convincing argument that the traditional site of Mount Sinai does not meet the descriptions found in the Bible. Astronaut Jim Irwin had stood with Bob Cornuke on the traditional Mt. Sinai and were convinced that it did not match what the Bible had to say about Mt. Sinai. Jim Irwin was convinced that there was a site in Saudi Arabia that did match what the Bible says about it. They explored what they are convinced was the place where the Israelites crossed the Red Sea, and they were convinced, based on what Bob Cornuke read from the Bible about the Exodus experience, that they were on the right path to Mt. Sinai, including the bitter springs of Marah and then on to the 12 spring of Elim and the 70 date palm trees.

Let me share just a little of the story Jim and Penny Caldwell tell about their experience at Sinai.
The Caldwells, with their young son and daughter, visited Mt. Sinai 14 times over an eight year period. Jim Caldwell worked in Saudi Arabia and they had to leave the country for 24 days each year, and during the Desert Storm War leaving was a problem, so they went to Egypt and to the traditional Mt. Sinai. When the got there they were as convinced as Bob Cornuke that this site, St. Catherine’s, didn’t match the biblical description of Mt. Sinai. The mother of Constantine had designated it as Mt. Sinai and who was going to argue with the mother of the emperor?

While on that vacation they bought a book by Sir Richard Burton in which he had a map that showed Sinai in Madayan (Midian), which meant that it was in Arabia, just as the New Testament identified it as:“Mount Sinai in Arabia...” (Gal 4:25) The modern name of the mountain, they are convinced is Mt. Sinai, is Jabel Al Lawz. From a distance there was a high mountain peak that stood between four and five thousand feet above where the Caldwells stood, and checking the altitude, they found that they were at 4000 feet when they viewed it. Based on this they declared that the peak of Mt. Sinai is something like 8,000 feet above sea level.

The Petersons arrived at Mt. Sinai from the east and Cornuke and Williams from the west. They were all amazed at what they saw when they arrive at Jabel Al Lawz. The top of the mountain was black (evidence of fire on the mountain!), but the rocks and soil that join it is a red, sandy color.

They looked out across the desert before approaching Jabel Al Lawz and saw one of the most amazing things they could have imagined. They were convinced that it was “the rock” in the miracle in which Yahweh provided water for the great host of Israelites camped at Mt. Sinai. They described it, and the video supports what they say, as the most amazing thing one can imagine. There are various hills throughout the area and atop one hill is a rock that they knew had to be “the rock.”

You may be wondering how they could pick out one rock from a desert full of rocks and say that was it. Have you ever thought of how big that rock was? I really had not given it much thought. Was it a small bolder, a medium sized bolder, or a big bolder? The Caldwells say it was at least four stories high! They climbed the hill and approached the base of the rock and saw that it was indeed split, and they were convinced that it had split from the bottom to the top as the water gushed from beneath the surface, splitting the giant rock. How did the water get to the base? It had to come, like a super-charged artesian well, through the soil, or possibly through solid granite, to get to that rock.
An artesian well in the Mississippi Delta (no hills, let alone a mountain) may be over one thousand feet deep.

The video shows Penny Caldwell standing in the cleft of the rock, examining the surface on either side. When I saw that scene in the video I thought, “Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in Thee.” Both sides of the split rock show wear, which would have been caused by the water gushing forth under pressure - in a desert that might get one-half inch of rain in ten years, according to Bob Cornuke. The Caldwells are convinced that the rock’s sides showed flaking - now, get this - flaking from bottom to top. In granite. Normally, granite will wear or flake from top to bottom.

Jim Caldwell is convinced that the miracle that happened when the water gushed forth from this rock is a miracle every bit as great as the parting of the waters of the Red Sea. There was, before the rock, a depression that was soon turned into a lake - right in the middle of the desert. Significant evaporation would have been expected in a desert with daytime temperatures at around 128 degrees. Bob Cornuke said your tongue at that site tastes like you have been tasting the tarp at the airport in Houston, Texas. Yet, there was enough water in that lake for two million Israelites, if estimates are correct, and I believe they may be. There was also a plain that would have accommodated the thousands of tents in which the people lived for many months.

The water Yahweh provided for the Israelites was good water. It was fresh water. It was probably cool water when it came forth from the rock. It never failed. The supply was always adequate, from day one to the day they marched away from Sinai. That reminds me of the declaration Jesus made on the last and most important day of the Feast of Festivals on one occasion:

“On the last and most important day of the festival, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone is thirsty, he should come to Me and drink! (38) The one who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, will have streams of living water flow from deep within him.” (39) He said this about the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were going to receive, for the Spirit had not yet been received, because Jesus had not yet been glorified.” (John 7:37-39)

There is an eternal supply. That well will never run dry and the children of God will never thirst. So it was for the months the Children of Israel camped at Sinai. They never ran out of that water. Those who place their faith and trust in Jesus Christ will have a well of water springing up unto eternal life. We will never thirst again.

C. The Lord Permitted Himself to Be Tested.

“He named the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites complained, and because they tested the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?” (Ex. 17:7)

This is a good place to remind ourselves of a point we all should note. When Jesus went into the wilderness to be tested by the devil, He refuted Satan by quoting Scripture: “Jesus told him, “It is also written: Do not test the Lord your God.” (Matt 4:7). The Scripture He quoted was: “Do not test the Lord your God as you tested ⌊Him⌋ at Massah” (Deut 6:16). Interestingly, at Massah Yahweh did not condemn the Israelites for testing him, but in Deuteronomy 6:16, He specifically says, “Do not test the Lord you God as you tested Him and Massah.” Why did He not condemn them at Massah? They were approaching Sinai at that time, but they had not yet entered a covenant relationship with Yahweh. After that, they were commanded never to put Him to the test again. They still had not learned the kind of God they were following, even though He, by His mighty right hand, had delivered them from Egypt. In all the history of the world no nation had ever been delivered from slavery to a powerful nation as had the Israelites.

III. THAT ROCK WAS GOD’S GIFT OF LIFE.

A. The Rock in the Wilderness Meant Life to the Israelites.

1. Actually, the water that flowed from that rock meant life. As long as no water flowed from that rock there was no hope for those two million people whom Yahweh called His Chosen People. Sadly, those people kept forgetting that it was Yahweh who chose them and not the other way around. We should be able to identify with that. How often do we hear people identify themselves by a particular denomination and not as a child of God? How often do we hear someone on TV say, “I’m a Catholic.” How many times do we hear the man or woman in the supermarket or department store say, “I go to First Methodist Church,” or “I am a Presbyterian.” How many time do we hear someone say, “I am a Baptist,” or “I go to the Church of God?” If some people mention Jesus Christ it may only be those who say, “I belong to the Church of Christ.” What is wrong with saying, “I belong to Jesus Christ”? Why not say, “I am a Christian” (but please, only say it if you mean it).

2. The Lord told Moses what to do. In fact, He made a practice of telling Moses what to do.
He revealed His will to him in various ways. Sometimes He spoke verbally to His servant, and at other times He demonstrated His will and purpose, as in the destruction of those 250 people who rebelled against Moses, when the earth opened up and swallowed them, their families, and all their possessions (Numbers 16).

Here, once again, the Lord gave specific directions:

“The Lord answered Moses, “Go on ahead of the people and take some of the elders of Israel with you. Take the staff you struck the Nile with in your hand and go. (6) I am going to stand there in front of you on the rock at Horeb; when you hit the rock, water will come out of it and the people will drink.” (Ex 17:5-6)

The Lord stood on the rock at Horeb. The people did not see God, but they saw evidence of His presence when He provided water for that vast multitude. Here, we are talking about a real place, with real people, real circumstances, and real provisions. And we are talking about a real God. Without God and His provisions everyone of those two million people would have died a miserable death. Without God, all people will perish. You think those two million people were in a desperate position? What about the millions in America who do not know the Lord? What about the billions around the world who are dying in a desert of sin and rebellion and cannot see that they are in danger of eternal consequences. No, they cannot see that they are already dead!

B. That Rock Was Christ (1 Cor. 10:4).

1. That rock gave life to two million people. Actually, as we know, the people did not have their thirst satisfied by fragments of this huge monolith. It was the water that quenched their thirst, but without the rock there would have been no water. Actually, it was God, who was standing on that rock who gave them water. God became a source of water for them. They were in a hot, arid desert, where, according to Bob Cornuke, as I have already mentioned, they get about one half inch of rain in ten years. The sun was bearing down on them and they felt the intense heat from the rocks and sand. Cornuke, I will remind you, said the 128 degree heat was all but unbearable. At least, he didn’t add that it was dry heat!

2. Paul tells us “that Rock was Christ.” Of course, we know Jesus is not a rock, and Christians understand that when they sing “Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in Thee.”
No one saw Yahweh stand on that rock, but when that giant monolith split and a mighty stream came gushing forth with such a volume that two million people soon had their thirst quenched. There was, we should remember, a huge depression before that rock and it was filled with enough water for some two million people plus their livestock. The people had water for drinking, and no doubt for bathing and washing their clothes.

C. Jesus Is the Water of Life to All Who Believe in Him.

We need water to sustain life and Jesus assures us He is the water of life. Do you remember the story of the woman at the well in Samaria? Well, of course you do. If you read the New Testament you will remember that Jesus, of a moral (or spiritual) necessity, chose to return to Galilee from Jerusalem through Samaria, even though travelers normally traveled from Jerusalem to the Jordan River, crossed over and traveled north on the east side of the river until they were above Samaria and then crossed back into Galilee. They did not associate with Samaritans and wanted nothing to do with them. Mere contact would leave a worshiper going to Jerusalem for a feast ceremonially unclean. If the shadow of a Samaritan fell across a Jewish worshiper he would have to go through ceremonial cleansing before he would be allowed to take of the Passover meal.

Jesus stopped at Jacob’s Well at Sychar and sent His disciples into town food. A Samaritan woman came to the well to draw water and Jesus asked her for a drink she responded that Jews do not associate with Samaritans. “Jesus answered, “If you knew the gift of God, and who is saying to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would ask Him, and He would give you living water.” (John 4:10) The woman offered a human argument, but, “Jesus said, “Everyone who drinks from this water will get thirsty again. But whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will never get thirsty again—ever! In fact, the water I will give him will become a well of water springing up within him for eternal life.” (John 4:13-14)

CONCLUSION

I rode with my friend Everett Geis, who was a member of the Board of Trustees for the North American Mission Board (NAMB) for the Southern Baptist Convention, to Atlanta for a board meeting some twenty-five years ago. We stood with several board members who were talking with Richard Harris, a Vice President with NAMB, discussing certain outstanding preachers. Richard Harris said, “There are a lot of good preachers out there, but the one I get the most out of is Stephen Olford. A number of years later I was standing with other members of the Board of Trustees for LifeWay Christian Resources when the subject of great preachers was introduced by someone. I believe it was Dr. Jimmy Draper who said, “I get more out of the preaching of Stephen Olford than anyone else.” Another LifeWay Christian Resources Board member, Roger Wilmore, worked with Stepehn Olford for seven years and he told me he sat with Mrs. Olford while Dr. Olford was dying. Roger affirmed all the incredible things pastors around the world were saying about Dr. Olford. I remembered standing with him right after we received our doctorates and thinking while I was looking him in the eye, “I am looking into the eyes of the most humble man I can imagine, and one of the most powerful.” Humble and powerful! Jesus will do that for one who is totally committed to Him.

The late Stephen Olford used to tell about the time he and his brother were traveling with their parents in Africa. He was in his mid-teens at the time. His father and mother were missionaries and they had employed natives to help carry the things they needed as they traveled by foot through the jungle to visit another tribe. They were to replenish their water supply at a certain river, but when they reached that river it was dry. They went to sleep that night and when they awoke the next morning they found that the natives had slipped away during the night and carried all the water with them.

Dr. Olford recalled the thirst. He said his tongue was swollen, his lips were split, and he knew he was dying of thirst. Suddenly, his father stepped out from under the limbs of a tree where they had found shade and, lifting up his hands to the Lord, he prayed, “O Lord, I know you didn’t bring us all the way to this place for us to die like this,” and looking to the sky, he said, “In the name of Jesus Christ, I command clouds to form and rain to fall!”

Dr. Olford said that within ten minutes they were catching rain in tin cans and every kind of container they had. That, my friends, was a miracle, and that was an expression of faith on the part of that missionary. It not only saved their lives, it touched the heart of one of the most powerful preachers of the past century. Jesus offered the woman at the well the water of life. Another time, at a festival in Jerusalem, He stood and cried out:

“If anyone is thirsty, he should come to Me and drink! The one who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, will have streams of living water flow from deep within him.” He said this about the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were going to receive, for the Spirit had not yet been received, because Jesus had not yet been glorified.” (John 7:37-39)

Jesus offers living water to all who believe in Him, and he continues to offer the Water of Life to sustain and bless the lives of believers. Paul said, “That Rock was Christ” (1 Cor.
Jesus is still The Rock of Ages.

THAT ROCK WAS CHRIST (1 Cor. 10:1-4). - HE IS THE ROCK OF AGES. Trust Him for eternal life. Follow Him for a life of service and sanctification.

Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let me hid myself in Thee;
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 labors of my hands can fulfill Thy law’s demands;
These for sin could not atone; Thou must save and Thou alone;
In my hand no price I bring, Simply to thy cross I cling.

While I draw this fleeting breath, When mine 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 hid myself in Thee.