In many places the Bible tells us that God is our rock. Deuteronomy 32:18 refers to God as the rock who begot us. This indicates that as our rock God is our Father. This rock is a begetting rock, full of life. In 2 Samuel 22:47 and Psalm 95:1 we see that God is the rock of our salvation. Furthermore, this rock is our strength (Psa. 62:7) and our refuge (Psa. 94:22). This rock is our hiding place, protection, covering, and safeguard. Isaiah 32:2 speaks of the Lord as “the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.” When we are weary, we can rest under the shadow cast by this rock and be refreshed. This rock, which was waiting in a dry place for God’s people, has been smitten so the people may have living water to drink.
The water flowing out of the smitten rock typifies the Spirit. John 7:37 and 38 say, “Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, If anyone thirst, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.” This word was uttered on the last day of the feast of tabernacles. John 7:39 goes on to say, “But this He said concerning the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were about to receive.” This indicates clearly that the flowing water signifies the Spirit.
Many years ago I read an article which said that in Jerusalem in ancient times, when the Israelites celebrated the feast of tabernacles, they set up a rock. According to this article, over the rock waters were flowing as a reminder that the forefathers of the Jews had wandered in the wilderness and had drunk of the waters which flowed out of the smitten rock. Near the rock there also may have been tents showing that the forefathers lived in tents and wandered in the wilderness, but had the smitten rock with the living water to quench their thirst. Such a picture may have literally been in the background when the Lord Jesus stood up to call the thirsty ones to come to Him and drink.
Another reference to flowing water is in John 19:34. Here we are told that after the Lord had died on the cross, “one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately there came out blood and water.” This was prefigured by the water flowing out of the smitten rock.
Paul speaks of the water from the smitten rock in 1 Corinthians 10:4, where he says that the children of Israel “all drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank of a spiritual rock which followed them, and the rock was Christ.” Paul boldly tells us that the rock followed God’s people in their journey through the wilderness. Whenever the children of Israel journeyed, the rock went with them.
I have spent a good deal of time to find out what ground Paul had to say that the rock went with the children of Israel through the wilderness. All I have been able to find is a hint in Exodus 17 and Numbers 20. In Exodus 17 the rock was in one place, toward the south, in the wilderness of Sin. But in Numbers 20 the rock was in Kadesh, toward the north, in the wilderness of Zin. Because there was quarreling at both places, the same name—Meribah—was used on both occasions. The rock that was smitten in the south eventually appeared with the children of Israel in the north. Furthermore, the record in Numbers 20 describes an incident that took place approximately thirty-eight years later than what is recorded in Exodus 17. With these facts as his basis, Paul could say that the rock followed the children of Israel.
We need to believe Paul’s word in 1 Corinthians 10:4. Otherwise, we are short of faith. Instead of placing so much trust in science, we should trust the word of the Bible. The concepts of science may change, for they are altogether devoid of divine revelation, but God’s word never changes. According to Paul’s word in 1 Corinthians 10:4, the rock followed the children of Israel all the way from Horeb to Kadesh.
We have pointed out that this rock is a begetting rock and that it is also our salvation, refuge, strength, rest, and refreshment. This rock is truly everything to us. Through incarnation, Christ came to earth as the rock. At Calvary, the appointed place, He was crucified, smitten by God’s law with its power and authority. His side was cleft, and living water flowed forth. This living water is the Spirit, the ultimate issue of the Triune God.
This is not our interpretation of 17:1-6; it is the interpretation presented by the Bible itself. When we put together various verses like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, we see a picture showing the significance of the smiting of the rock by the rod of Moses. This picture reveals that Christ is the rock who begets us. He is the rock of our salvation, refuge, strength, and rest. Having been smitten by the power of God’s righteous law, He was cleft, and living water came forth for us to drink. The living water is the Spirit as the ultimate issue of the Triune God. This water quenches our thirst and fully satisfies our being. This is the proper understanding of the picture portrayed in 17:1-6.