“You shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.” – Exodus 17:6
Poor Moses. Hardly out of Egypt in the Exodus, and even with plagues and the miraculous crossing of the Red Sea, the grumbling kicks in. It kicks in so badly that Moses is worried that he is going to be stoned to death. There’s no water.
The solution is simple. The LORD commands Moses to strike the rock, and then water will come, and people will drink. Very simple and straightforward. God provides for His people, even in the midst of their grumbling. However, St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 10 notes that “the Rock was Christ.”
There is no life apart from Christ Jesus. He is the way, the truth, and the life. And just as those folks would have died of thirst in the wilderness without the LORD intervening, so too we would die, we would cease to exist without Jesus giving us life. This is true physically, but also spiritually.
Christ Jesus, the Rock, would be struck. A spear would pierce His side when He was on the cross, and from Him flowed water – not a water to drink but a water to be washed in. Your faith, your everlasting life flows from Christ Jesus, and without His Word, His Spirit, His gifts of Baptism, your faith would dry up. Christ Jesus is the Rock that provides life for you.
