THE ROCK IN THE WILDERNESS
Exodus 17; Numbers 20; 1 Corinthians 10:4

Scripture names the Rock, and Scripture interprets the Rock. The apostle writes that Israel drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ (1 Cor 10:4). That sentence governs the two wilderness narratives. Exodus 17 shows the Rock struck. Numbers 20 shows the Rock addressed after the striking. First Corinthians 10 shows that both belong to one history, one Rock, and one Lord. The gospel of Christ is the spirit of revelation in these texts (Rev 19:10). Christ Himself opens the Scriptures, beginning at Moses and all the prophets, and expounds the things concerning Himself (Luke 24:27). All the Scriptures testify of Him (John 5:39). God has spoken by His Son, through whom also He made the worlds (Heb 1:1-2). All things were created through Christ and for Christ, and in Him all things hold together (Col 1:16-17). No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, has declared Him (John 1:18). Christ is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6). From Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things (Rom 11:36). The Rock in the wilderness is therefore not first an illustration. The Rock is Christ.

THE ROCK FOLLOWED ISRAEL, AND THE ROCK WAS CHRIST

First Corinthians 10 gathers the whole wilderness history under one pattern. Paul writes that all the fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea (1 Cor 10:1). All were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea (1 Cor 10:2). All ate the same spiritual food (1 Cor 10:3). All drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ (1 Cor 10:4). The sameness is deliberate. One cloud covered all. One sea opened for all. One manna fell for all. One drink flowed for all. One Rock followed all.

The verb followed carries weight. The Rock did not stand as a fixed monument at one station and then recede from memory. The Rock accompanied Israel through the wilderness, present at Rephidim and present at Kadesh, present at the beginning of the wilderness and present near its end. The presence was not the presence of a place. The presence was the presence of a Person. The Rock was Christ (1 Cor 10:4).

That identification reorders the reading of Exodus and Numbers. The Lord went before Israel in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night (Exod 13:21). The Rock that followed them was the same Lord who led them.

CHRIST WAS STRUCK ONCE, AND WATER FLOWED FROM JUDGMENT

Exodus 17 records the first striking. Israel came to Rephidim, and there was no water for the people to drink (Exod 17:1). The people contended with Moses and demanded water (Exod 17:2). Moses answered that the people were testing the Lord (Exod 17:2). The people murmured and asked why he had brought them out of Egypt to kill them with thirst (Exod 17:3). The Lord commanded Moses to take elders of Israel and the rod with which he had struck the river (Exod 17:5). The Lord said that He would stand before Moses upon the rock in Horeb, and that Moses should strike the rock, and water would come out of it (Exod 17:6). Moses did so in the sight of the elders (Exod 17:6). Moses called the place Massah and Meribah, because the people tested the Lord (Exod 17:7).

The order matters. Contention came first. Testing came first. Murmuring came first. Judgment was deserved first. Water came after, and water came through striking. The Lord stood upon the Rock. Moses struck the Rock. The blow fell where the Lord stood. The Rock bore the stroke, and the water came out of the stricken Rock for a people who had contended against the Lord.

Scripture elsewhere names what the striking means. The Servant was wounded for transgressions and bruised for iniquities, and the chastisement of peace was upon Him (Isa 53:5). God made Him who knew no sin to be sin, that in Him sinners might become the righteousness of God (2 Cor 5:21). Christ suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring sinners to God (1 Pet 3:18). Christ offered Himself once, and by one offering He has perfected forever those who are sanctified (Heb 10:10-14). Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many, and He will appear a second time apart from sin for salvation (Heb 9:26-28). The striking of the Rock in Exodus 17 carries that once-ness in type. The rod fell once. The Rock was struck once. The water flowed once from that striking, and the flow was sufficient for the people to drink (Exod 17:6).

The water did not flow because the people had repented or believed or ceased to contend. The water flowed because the Lord stood upon the Rock and received the stroke in the place of the people. Mercy came through judgment. Judgment fell on the Rock. Mercy flowed from the Rock. The people tested the Lord (Exod 17:7). The Lord gave water to the people who tested Him (Exod 17:6).

THE WATER FROM THE ROCK IS THE SPIRIT, WHO IS LIFE

Scripture names the water as well as the Rock. On the last day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out that if anyone thirsts, he should come to Him and drink, and that he who believes in Him, out of his heart would flow rivers of living water (John 7:37-38). John adds that Jesus spoke this concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive, for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified (John 7:39). The water is therefore not mere refreshment. The water is the Spirit. The Spirit is life.

The same thread runs through the Gospel of John. Jesus told the woman at the well that whoever drinks of the water that He gives will never thirst, but the water will become in him a fountain springing up into everlasting life (John 4:14). The Spirit gives life, and the flesh profits nothing (John 6:63). He who believes has everlasting life (John 6:47). The possession is present. The life is given where the Spirit is given.

The prophets had spoken of the same water. The Lord promised to pour water on the thirsty and to pour His Spirit on offspring (Isa 44:3). The Lord promised to give a new heart and to put His Spirit within and cause obedience (Ezek 36:26-27). John saw a pure river of water of life, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb (Rev 22:1). The water in the wilderness flowed from the Rock, and the Rock was Christ (1 Cor 10:4). The source is one. The water is one. The life is one.

AFTER THE STRIKING, THE ROCK IS SPOKEN TO, NOT STRUCK AGAIN

Numbers 20 records the second scene, and the difference from Exodus 17 is the whole point. The children of Israel came to the Wilderness of Zin, and Miriam died there (Num 20:1). There was no water, and the congregation gathered against Moses and Aaron (Num 20:2). The people contended and asked why Moses and Aaron had brought them into the wilderness to die (Num 20:4). Moses and Aaron fell on their faces, and the glory of the Lord appeared to them (Num 20:6).

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying that he should take the rod, and gather the assembly together, he and Aaron his brother, and speak to the rock before their eyes, and it would yield its water, and he would bring water for them out of the rock, and give drink to the congregation and their animals (Num 20:7-8). The command was to speak. The command was not to strike. The Rock had already been struck. The Rock was not to be struck again. The water was to come by the word spoken to the Rock before the eyes of the congregation.

The distinction is precise because the type is precise. Christ was offered once (Heb 9:28). Christ died once (Rom 6:10). Christ suffered once for sins (1 Pet 3:18). Christ does not die again. Christ does not suffer again. Christ does not bear wrath again. The risen Christ lives, and because He lives, the access to the water is now by the word. The high priest has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, and the throne of grace stands open through Him (Heb 4:14-16). The Lord said that whatever is asked in His name would be done (John 14:13-14). The Rock is spoken to because the striking is finished.

The change from striking to speaking displays the order of redemption. The striking belongs to the cross. The speaking belongs to the risen life. The water at Rephidim flowed from a stricken Rock. The water at Kadesh flowed from the same Rock, now addressed by the word. The Rock did not change. The manner of approach changed, because the work of striking had been accomplished.

MOSES STRUCK THE ROCK AGAIN, AND JUDGMENT AND MERCY MET TOGETHER

Moses did not speak to the rock. Moses took the rod from before the Lord, as He commanded him (Num 20:9). Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly before the rock, and Moses said to them that they should hear, calling them rebels, and asking whether he and Aaron must bring water for them out of the rock (Num 20:10). Moses lifted his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod, and water came out abundantly, and the congregation and their animals drank (Num 20:11). Water came, even through disobedience. Judgment also came, even through abundance. The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying that because they did not believe Him, to sanctify Him in the eyes of the children of Israel, they would not bring the assembly into the land which He had given them (Num 20:12). The place was called the water of Meribah, because the children of Israel contended with the Lord, and He was sanctified among them (Num 20:13).

The passage holds judgment and mercy together without dissolving either. Mercy appears in the abundance of the water. The congregation drank. The animals drank. The water came out abundantly (Num 20:11). The disobedience of the mediator did not dam the water. The Rock gave water because the Lord had commanded water to be given, not because the instrument was faithful.

Judgment appears in the sentence on Moses and Aaron. The Lord said that they did not believe Him, to sanctify Him in the eyes of the children of Israel, and that they would not bring the assembly into the land (Num 20:12). Moses was kept from entering the land because of this failure (Deut 34:4-5). Aaron died on Mount Hor shortly after (Num 20:28-29). The sentence was severe, and the sentence was just. The Rock was Christ, and Christ was to be sanctified before the eyes of the people.

First Corinthians 10 draws the same line through the whole wilderness. Paul writes that God was not well pleased with many of them, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness (1 Cor 10:5). The things that happened to them became examples (1 Cor 10:6). Paul warns against tempting Christ, as some of them tempted, and were destroyed by serpents (1 Cor 10:9). Paul warns against murmuring, as some of them murmured, and were destroyed by the destroyer (1 Cor 10:10). All these things happened as examples, and were written for admonition (1 Cor 10:11). The generation that drank from the Rock also died in the wilderness. The Rock gave water. The wilderness judged unbelief. Both are true in the same history, because the Rock is Christ, revealed as both mercy and judgment.

THE ROCK GIVES WATER FOR THE WEDDING

Scripture ends where Scripture begins: with the wedding. The Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and took a rib, and made a woman, and brought her to the man (Gen 2:21-22). Paul quotes that text and says that the mystery is great, and that he speaks concerning Christ and the church (Eph 5:31-32). The marriage in Genesis was already the shadow of Christ and the church. The Rock in the wilderness belongs to the same mystery. Christ was struck, and from the stricken Rock flowed the water that gives life to the bride.

The bride is not prepared by her own hands. Paul writes that Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but holy and without blemish (Eph 5:25-27). The washing is by water. The water is by the word. The word is spoken to the Rock. The Rock gives the water. The presentation is by Christ to Himself. The bride is His work, from first to last. The water from the Rock is the washing that prepares her.

John saw the consummation. The marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready, and to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints (Rev 19:7-8). The granting is the point. The readiness is granted. The linen is granted. The righteousness is granted. The bride does not weave her own garment. The bride is clothed by the Lamb. The river of water of life proceeds from the throne of God and of the Lamb (Rev 22:1). The Lamb is the source of the river. The Lamb is the Rock. The water that flowed in the wilderness flows in the city. The water that gave drink to a contending people gives drink to the city of God.

The Rock was struck once. The water flowed. The Rock is spoken to now. The water flows still. The Rock is Christ (1 Cor 10:4). From Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things (Rom 11:36). The wilderness ends in the wedding, because the Rock ends in the Lamb, and the Lamb presents the bride to Himself, without spot, without wrinkle, holy and without blemish (Eph 5:27).