Upon This Rock

If you know anything about King David, you know he spent most of his life (once he was ordained as King) fleeing from King Saul.

God is faithful. He protected and delivered David, again and again. We get the first taste of David’s poetry in 2 Samuel 22, where he praises God for his deliverance from Saul.

“And he said, The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer;” (2 Sam 22:2)

Numerous times in this song and in the psalms, David refers to the Lord as his rock. Interestingly, in v. 2, he uses the Hebrew word סֶלַע sela‛ meaning a literal rock or stronghold. But in the remaining verses and nearly all the psalms, he uses the Hebrew word צוּר tsûr. This word also means a literal rock, but is more frequently used to picture God’s support and defense of His people.

Moses was the first to use this word in the Bible. In his swan song, Moses proclaims God as perfect, just, and righteous in all His ways: “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.” (Deut 32:4)

Later in the same song, Moses warns Israel about the pagan gods, saying, “For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges.” (v. 31)

As I already mentioned, the Psalms are filled with passages describing God as our Rock. Psalm 82 is a great example because it uses both Hebrew words!

“The LORD is my rock (sela‛), and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength (tsûr), in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.” (Psalm 18:2, emphasis mine)

Mere human words can never fully describe our God. But these comparisons can help us begin to understand Him in part. (1 Cor 13:12) We can take great comfort from these passages in the psalms. They assure us that we can trust God to be our strength, our protector, our deliverer, and our salvation, no matter what trial or temptation we may face. (1 Cor 10:13)

This concept of God as our Rock isn’t in the OT alone. The NT carries it through in a significant way.

“And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (Mat 16:18)

Although this verse is often taught to say Peter is the rock, we come to a different conclusion when we compare scripture with scripture.

The OT clearly states that God is our Rock. Therefore, we can confidently say that Jesus is our Rock. He is referring to Himself in this passage after Peter had just confessed Him as being the Messiah.

The church belongs to Jesus. He is still in the process of building it. And those of us who confess Him as Messiah are the living stones, being built up into a spiritual house and royal priesthood. (1 Peter 2:4-5)

May we shine forth, praising the Lord our Rock, the One who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light! (1 Peter 2:9)

Shalom.

Photo credit: Maxim Boldyrev on Unsplash

AI Disclaimer: No part of this blog was written by bots. Every word, typo, grammatical error, and witticism is lovingly and/or accidentally crafted by my own two (very human) hands.