Many

passages in the Bible speak of God as a rock. Jacob called God “the

Rock of Israel” (Genesis 49:24). Hannah said, “There is no Rock

like our God” (1 Samuel 2:2). And David said, “Exalted be my

God, the Rock, my Savior!” (2 Samuel 22:47). The picture is

supremely appropriate. God is always our firm, faithful, ever­lasting

foundation.

So

when the people of Israel quarreled with Moses in the desert,

demanding water to drink, God told Moses to take his staff and go to

“the rock at Horeb.” God would stand before the rock, and Moses

was to strike it with his staff. Water would gush out of the rock for

the people to drink.

The

people had been belligerent, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

And God showed them that of course he was there. The people watched

the miracle happen, and their thirst was satisfied. God, as always,

provided for them.

Years

later, when the religious leaders quarreled with Jesus, he said in a

loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink.

Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water

will flow from within them” (John 7:37-38). By “living water,”

he meant the blessings of eternal life (see John 4:10-14). Jesus is

the Rock of salvation who was stricken so that we can receive the

water of life.