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The Smitten Rock, January 17
Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and
thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that
the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of
Israel.
Exodus 17:6
.
From the smitten rock in Horeb first flowed the living stream that
refreshed Israel in the desert. During all their wanderings, wherever the
need existed, they were supplied with water by a miracle of God’s mercy....
It was Christ, by the power of His word, that caused the refreshing
stream to flow for Israel. “They drank of that spiritual Rock that followed
them: and that Rock was Christ” (
1 Corinthians 10:4
). He was the source
of all temporal as well as spiritual blessings. Christ, the true Rock, was
with them in all their wanderings. “They thirsted not when he led them
through the deserts: he caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them.”
“They ran in the dry places like a river” (
Isaiah 48:21
;
Psalm 105:41
).
The smitten rock was a figure of Christ, and through this symbol the
most precious spiritual truths are taught. As the life-giving waters flowed
from the smitten rock, so from Christ, “smitten of God,” “wounded for
our transgressions,” “bruised for our iniquities” (
Isaiah 53:4, 5
), the stream
of salvation flows for a lost race. As the rock had been once smitten, so
Christ was to be “once offered to bear the sins of many” (
Hebrews 9:28
).
Our Saviour was not to be sacrificed a second time; and it is only necessary
for those who seek the blessings of His grace to ask in the name of Jesus,
pouring forth the heart’s desire in penitential prayer. Such prayer will bring
before the Lord of hosts the wounds of Jesus, and then will flow forth
afresh the life-giving blood, symbolized by the flowing of the living water
for Israel....
The refreshing water, welling up in a parched and barren land, ... is an
emblem of the divine grace which Christ alone can bestow, and which is
as the living water purifying, refreshing, and invigorating the soul. He in
whom Christ is abiding has within him a never-failing fountain of grace
and strength
[24]
35
Patriarch and Prophets, 411, 412
.
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