One day Yeshua asked His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” The disciples replied that the people thought He was one of the prophets. He then asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God”, Matt 16:13-16 (ESV). Yeshua blessed Peter and said, “…on this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it”, Matt 16:18 (ESV). To what was Yeshua referring to with the word “rock”? Simply to the statement that He was the Christ, the Son of the living God? If so, why use the word “rock”? Would there not have been a much simpler and clearer way of stating that? Is it possible that He is pointing us back to the Torah, the foundation of all the Scriptures, with such a cryptic statement? If so, how does it apply to us as believers in Yeshua today?
In Greek, the word for rock as used here is “petra”. The corresponding word in Hebrew is “tsur”.
We first see the use of “tsur” in Exodus 17:6. Israel has gone through the Red Sea and has come into a wilderness place called Rephidim where there is no water. The people argue and complain to Moses about not having any water, so Moses goes to God for help. God instructs Moses what to do and says, “Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.” And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. Ex 17:6 (ESV). Is this not a picture of God’s plan of redemption that He put in place before the creation of the world? That plan was to send His Son at the appointed time to earth to pay the penalty for our sin. We read in Eph 1:4-5 (ESV), “even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will”. Then, just as Moses struck the rock to bring forth the water the Israelites needed for life, Yeshua was struck, beaten and crucified because of our sin. Is 53:4-5 (ESV), “Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed”. When Moses struck the rock the water flowed out, bringing physical life to the Israelites in the wilderness. In John 7:37-38 (ESV) we read that, “On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, 'Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water’”.
The Israelites relationship with God has now changed. Previously we saw them as a redeemed people to whom God was offering salvation as seen in the water He provided for them in the desert, for without water they would die. God has now come down on Mt. Sinai and talked to them explaining His desire to dwell in their midst, to be their God and they are to be His people. He has given them His instructions, the Torah, on what they are to do to bring that about and what He will do for them in return. They have agreed to the offered contract and entered into a covenant with God to be His people. However, they soon break that covenant when they worship the golden calf. God sees their unfaithfulness and threatens to destroy them but Moses intercedes on their behalf and God agrees to spare them. And the LORD said to Moses, “This very thing that you have spoken I will do, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name”, Ex 33:17 (ESV). Moses had a unique relationship with God. God told Aaron and Miriam that He did not speak to Moses through dreams and visions as He did other prophets, but He spoke to Moses face-to-face. So it is natural that Moses desires to have a more intimate relationship with God and asks to see God’s glory. God tells Moses, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” And the LORD said, “Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by”. Ex 33:20-22 (ESV). God knows that man with his sinful tendencies can never come directly into His presence because of His holiness and live. We can see that in the priestly service in the Tabernacle and the Temple where God gives very detailed and specific instructions as to who can approach Him, how and when. Only the priests were allowed to offer the sacrifices and enter the Holy Place, and only when they were ritually clean. Only the High Priest could enter the Holy of Holies and then only once a year at Yom Kippur. When he did enter he had to enter with the blood of a sacrifice and with burning incense, which shielded him from direct contact with the glory of God, which dwelt on the Mercy Seat between the cherubim. By God agreeing to allow His glory to pass by Moses, is He not telling us that He wants us to draw near to Him also so He can reveal Himself to us? But we can only draw near to Him if we do it His way! So He prepared a way for us to do so. He sent His only Son to be the sacrifice by which we can enter into a relationship with Him. As we by faith believe and stand on the sacrificial work of Yeshua, we are covered by His blood and can draw near to God.
I believe the connection between Yeshua’s statement in Matt 16, “…on this rock I will build my church…”, and these two passages is strengthened when we realize the Greek word “ekklesia”, which we translate as “church” in Matt 16, is better translated as “assembly”. It is the same word used in Deut 4:10, 9:10 and others, which in the Hebrew is “qahal”. In these passages in Deuteronomy Moses is recounting how God instructed him to call them out to assemble at the foot of Mt. Sinai to hear God’s instructions to them. He went on to say in Deut 14:2 (ESV), “For you are a people holy to the LORD your God, and the LORD has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.” Is that not the same call He is making to us today? Is God not calling us out to be a “holy”, set apart, people for Him?
But the choice is ours just as it was for the Israelites to choose whether or not to accept God’s offer. To accept it is to live our lives God’s way and not ours. Let’s remember that this call was to the Israelites who had already been redeemed from slavery in Egypt, they were already God’s people, set aside for His purpose to be a light to the world. Even though all of them experienced the same things, not all of them were obedient, not all of them were committed to following God’s ways. The Apostle Paul writes in 1Co 10:4-6 (ESV), “and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ; but in the most of them God was not well pleased, for they were strewn in the wilderness, and those things became types of us, for our not passionately desiring evil things, as also these did desire”.
The question is how could someone, who was totally helpless and without means to defend themselves, see the total destruction of the enemy who had for so long enslaved them and then turn their back on their Redeemer? Daily they are visibly seeing God’s leading and His presence with them in the cloud by day and the pillar of fire at night. Although they were now in the barren and deadly wilderness, daily they are eating the bread and drinking the water supernaturally provide by God and yet they turn away? Is it so surprising seeing that to walk in God’s way is not always easy? It is a life of separation from this world and its ways. But are we any different of the Children of Israel? When Yeshua died and rose again, He broke the power of sin and Satan that enslaves us and freely offers us that victory. When we by faith accept Yeshua as our Savior, He comes and dwells within us and as we yield ourselves to His Spirit He will guide us in the way we are to go. Daily He provides us with the spiritual bread and water through His Word and His Spirit that we need to thrive in the dry and barren wilderness of this world. Is this not what God is showing us through the example of the Israelites, “Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come”, 1Co 10:11 (ESV).
So we can choose to stand upon that “Rock” and experience the faithfulness of God for as Moses said in Deut 32:4 (ESV), “The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he”. When we choose, we will by faith, then confess that, “On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God”, Ps 62:7 (ESV), and that “He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken”, Ps 62:2 (ESV). We will experience as the Israelites did God’s protection and abundant provision, “He spread a cloud for a covering, and fire to give light by night. They asked, and he brought quail, and gave them bread from heaven in abundance. He opened the rock, and water gushed out; it flowed through the desert like a river”, Ps 105:39-41 (ESV). Isaiah said that to those who by faith choose to follow Him, “he will become a sanctuary”, but goes on to warn the Israelites that to those who don’t He will be, “a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many shall stumble on it. They shall fall and be broken; they shall be snared and taken", Is 8:14-15 (ESV). Paul goes on to explain, “Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by works. They stumbled at the stone of stumbling; even as it is written, Behold, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence: And he that believeth on him shall not be put to shame”, Rom 9:32-33 (ESV). Yeshua repeated this same truth in His parable of the house built on the rock. “Every one therefore that heareth these words of mine, and doeth them, shall be likened unto a wise man, who built his house upon the rock: and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon the rock. And every one that heareth these words of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand: and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and smote upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall thereof”, Matt 7:24-25 (ESV). We see in this parable a parallel to His talk with Nicodemus where He said, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish”, John 3:16 (ESV). But here He expands on that and teaches that not only must one hear and believe but must “do”, that is, act on it and live accordingly. One must build their lives on that rock foundation that is Christ and when they do they will not be shaken when the storms of life come and try to overwhelm us for. But those who don’t will not stand because they have nothing on which to stand. Peter also taught this important lesson. In 1Peter 2:6-8 (ESV) we read, “Because it is contained in scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: And he that believeth on him shall not be put to shame. For you therefore that believe is the preciousness: but for such as disbelieve, The stone which the builders rejected, The same was made the head of the corner; and, A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence; for they stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed”. Remember that all of these teachings and warnings were directed to those God had chosen to be His people, chosen to represent Him in this world, not to the pagan nations around them! So are they not also directed to us who believe and confess that “Yeshua is Lord”?
Why did Yeshua use the cryptic statement, “…on this rock I will build my church, or assembly, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it”, Matt 16:18 (ESV)? I believe that it was to point back to the Torah and the many pictures that can be seen throughout the history of the Israelite people that shows us God’s plan. That plan always was to redeem His people through the sacrifice of Yeshua, His Son. That through faith in Yeshua, His people can draw near to Him. By the use of the word “rock”, God is showing His strength and permanence to be able to sustain and protect His people in every circumstance and from every enemy; nothing will be able to overcome Him. That we are to stand, by faith, on that Rock and with it as our foundation we will be able to withstand every test and trial that comes our way, because He is our Rock and our Salvation.
Del
-- Beit HaDerekh - "House of the Way" Messianic Congregation
http://www.beithaderekh.org/
