The Rock
Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like: He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock. But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great. (Luke 6:47-49 NKJV)
This scripture is easy to understand, but I want to point out something in it. We would lay a foundation for a building on a rock base. If we do not have a layer of rock on the surface of the ground, then proper engineering requires that we would drill holes in the ground until we found the rock layer, and then we would insert pilasters or pour concrete into the holes to hold the foundation up.
But Jesus did not say “the rock layer”… so, why “the rock” ? What rock?
In another part of the scriptures there is a reference to ”the rock” also:
And the Lord said to Moses, “Go on before the people, and take with you some of the elders of Israel. Also take in your hand your rod with which you struck the river, and go. Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.” (Exodus 17: 5-6)
Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Take the rod; you and your brother Aaron gather the congregation together. Speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will yield its water; thus you shall bring water for them out of the rock, and give drink to the congregation and their animals.” So Moses took the rod from before the Lord as He commanded him. And Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock; and he said to them, “Hear now, you rebels! Must we bring water for you out of this rock?” Then Moses lifted his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came out abundantly, and the congregation and their animals drank. (Numbers 20: 7-11)
The children of Israel were in the desert, and they were thirsty. God did not tell Moses to strike “a rock”, but to strike “the rock.” How did Moses know which rock to strike? It was a particular rock, and Moses knew which rock it was and where it was. In fact, all the children of Israel knew what rock it was and where it was. These were the descendants of Jacob/ Israel who were in Egypt for 400 years or about 4 or 5 generations ( Moses died at 120 years old but not of old age).
Then He said to Abram: “Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions.” (Genesis 15:13,14)
How did they know the rock? Who gave them this rock? Where was it given? When was it given? The children of Israel knew who they were, and knew who their ancestors were.
When Joseph, the younger son of Jacob was ruling Egypt, there was a famine in the land where his father and brothers were. Because of the famine, Jacob came to Egypt with his family and satyed there. This happened to Jacob when he was younger:
Now Jacob went out from Beersheba and went toward Haran. So he came to a certain place and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. And he took one of the stones of that place and put it at his head, and he lay down in that place to sleep. Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And behold, the Lord stood above it and said: “I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants. Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.” Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it. And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!” Then Jacob rose early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put at his head, set it up as a pillar, and poured oil on top of it. And he called the name of that place Bethel; but the name of that city had been Luz previously Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me, and keep me in this way that I am going, and give me bread to eat and clothing to put on, so that I come back to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God. And this stone which I have set as a pillar shall be God’s house, and of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You.” (Genesis 28: 10-21)
The next chapter says: Then Jacob went on his journey…
Jacob did not leave the stone behind, he took it with him. It was not a huge stone, it had served as a pillow. When he went to Egypt, he took his anointed stone with him. It was his point of contact with his dream and with God. All his children and his children’s children knew the story of this stone. This story went down the generations. The children of Israel were carrying the stone, it was a special stone, one which could be “spoken to.” It was a living stone.
Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture, “Behold, I lay in Zion A chief cornerstone, elect, precious, And he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.” Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, “The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone,” and “A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.” (1 Peter 2:4-8)
For generations the Israelites knew about this stone, and they kept it.
Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ. (1 Corinthians 10: 1-4)
What has happened to the stone?
The Bible does not make any other reference to the stone, but historians have mentioned it. It is said that when the children of Judah were being exiled to Babylon, Jeremiah the prophet took the stone to safeguard it. It is said that he took the stone and the two daughters of the last king of Judah with him to Spain, and he married one of them to the Jewish prince of Zaragoza. He then sailed to Great Britain (as it is called now) and married the other princess to another prince and left the stone there. Historians say that the stone is kept under the coronation chair of Great Britain. It is sometimes referred to as “Jacob’s Pillow” or the “coronation stone”.
Back to Luke 6: Jesus was saying that building your life is like building a house on the right foundation, the foundation being Him, The Solid Rock, so that our trust in Him will make us overcomers through any adversity, temptation or weakness.