THE ROCK OF AGES

"Trust ye the Lord for ever: for in the Lord Jehovah is an everlasting rock."  (Isaiah 26:4 RV)

                                                

The love of God, like a cleft rock, is the age long shelter of His people, land rears itself above the tumultuous waters of time. The lightning that flashed from the thunder clouds of Calvary has pierced it. A cleft was made in it by the spear that pierced the heart of our Lord, and this was followed, as it was withdrawn from the gaping wound, by blood and water. But there sinful souls may hide! God had said to Moses: "Behold, there is a place by Me, and it shall come to pass that I will put thee in a cleft of the rock, and will cover thee with My hand while I pass by, for thou canst not see My face, and live." So he speaks to us all, and promises that the water and the blood shall be the double cure from the wrath and power of sin.

It is free. The sinner need not seek to acquire the shelter of that Rock of Ages by the labor of his hands, or the fulfilling of the demands of the law. It is not required that he should burn with a zeal that knows no respite, or flow with tears that refuse to cease. To be helpless and forlorn, to be in peril of condemnation, to be contrite and humble, this is all that is required. To have no mediator, no refuge, no helper beside, and to lift the eyes of faith to the Savior.  That is the sole condition of being lifted by unseen hands into the cleft of that Rock.

It holds all that the soul needs. Is the soul naked? There is dress for it. Is it helpless? There is grace for it. Is it blackened by sin? There is cleansing for it. Is it sick? There is healing for it. Augustus Toplady, the Anglican cleric and hymn writer, the Calvinist, and Wesley, the Arminian, agree here: "Thou, O Christ, art all I want; more than all in Thee I find."

It is for ever. It is the Rock of Ages! Time may beat upon it, but it cannot alter it or impair it. While this fleeting breath is drawn, when eyes close in death, when unknown worlds are entered, when the judgment throne is set, always and for ever the soul may find shelter in the cleft Rock of the unchanging Redeemer. Then peace, like a double window, intercepts trouble from the heart which is stayed on God and trusting in Him.  O then to the Rock let me fly!

PRAYER

Rock of Ages! Cleft for me, Let me hide myself in Thee. Let the water and the blood, From Thy pierced side which flowed, Be of sin the double cure, Save me from its guilt and power.  In Your name I pray, AMEN.

God's Daily Promise

Promise #171:
My Spirit will rest on you when you suffer for Christ's sake.

1 Peter 4:14 (WEB)
If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed;
because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.
On their part he is blasphemed, but on your part he is glorified.