JESUS CHRIST THE “ROCK”
1Co 10:1 Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;
1Co 10:2 And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea;
1Co 10:3 And did all eat the same spiritual meat;
1Co 10:4 And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.
Briefly put, my understanding is that the context has to do with godly sanctification and the opposition against it from the Satanic policy of evil. It’s the issue both with Israel when the designation is originally used by God when He brought them out of Egypt and they first confronted the policy of evil, as well as when the Song of Moses in Deuteronomy 32 testifies against them for completely succumbing to it in their history; and godly sanctification and the policy of evil is also the issue with us today in I Corinthians 10 when Paul for us cites the example and grievous ensample of Israel when they first encountered the policy of evil against them.
Deu 32:1 Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.
Deu 32:2 My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass:
Deu 32:3 Because I will publish the name of the LORD: ascribe ye greatness unto our God.
Deu 32:4 He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.
Deu 32:5 They have corrupted themselves, their spot is not the spot of his children: they are a perverse and crooked generation.
Deu 32:6 Do ye thus requite the LORD, O foolish people and unwise? is not he thy father that hath bought thee? hath he not made thee, and established thee?
Again, briefly and simply put, when Israel came out of Egypt they were God’s purchased possession; delivered from Satan’s possession and bondage, separated from his things and use, and sanctified unto God to be His godly nation for His singular use in the repossession of the earth. As such, and because of a policy of evil that would now assail their godly sanctification, as part of their fundamental education in the issue of God’s “Jehovah-ness” God educated them in Him being the “Rock” of their stability and strength in the face of that policy of evil against them. This education was part of the overall fundamental education set forth in Exodus 32–34. As their “Rock” in the face of that policy of evil, the Lord’s provisions for them in connection with who He had made them to be in His plan and purpose would not only provide stability and strength for them against the ploys and tactics of the policy of evil, but as their “Rock” He would also provide them with the means to put their godly sanctification into effect and practice in the midst of the ungodliness of the world, and also to put it into practice zealously. However, though the provisions were there and the “Rock” “followed them,” they failed to avail themselves of them. And they succumbed to the policy of evil against their godly sanctification.
That’s the gist of my understanding of the basics of this issue, and in view of it the “example” and “ensample” Paul makes of it in I Corinthians 10 for the Corinthians and for us isn’t hard to understand.
Keith Blades
Enjoy The Bible Ministries