‘And the Lord said, “Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by.”‘ (Exodus 33:21-22 ESV).
The Lord hid Moses in the cleft of a rock, letting him catch a glimpse of His glory as He passed by. Many have meditated on the meaning of this rock. Among them was Augustus Toplady, who wrote the well-known hymn, “Rock of Ages.” First published in 1775, the hymn became the most popular in all the English-speaking world. Its first verse shares Toplady’s meditation on the rock as a symbol for Christ and His work of salvation:
“Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee;
Let the water and the blood,
From Thy riven side which flowed,
Be of sin the double cure,
Cleanse me from its guilt and power.”
Surely, he was inspired by this passage from Exodus, but he also saw it through the eyes of the apostle Paul who wrote, “That rock was Christ” (1 Cor. 10:4). So Toplady saw that just as God had hid Moses in the crevice of the rock, so He offers to hide us from His wrath by the Rock of Ages, who is Christ Jesus. Toplady wrote that this Rock was “cleft for me.” So, Christ’s side was “cleft” or “riven” (both mean “to cut or split”), so that water and blood flowed from His side to cure us from sin’s “guilt and power.”
As Paul wrote, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1). Are you hidden in Christ Jesus, the Rock of Ages cleft for you?
PRAYER: Dear Father, thank You for the saving work of Jesus, who died that we might have eternal life. He took our sin and our separation that we might receive His righteousness and Sonship. Thank You. Now we are “in” Christ and He is “in” us. We are one. Strengthen us to live for Him today. In Jesus’ name, amen.