The Flinty Rock

On the western or back side of the mountain is Rephidim where Moses and the Children of Israel first encamped before reaching Mt. Sinai. It was here that Moses struck the rock, above, which gushed forth large quantities of water. The giant 60 foot rock is on a 300 foot tall hill, and has obvious signs of water erosion, yet it is located in this desert region. The fissure in the rock is so large that you can walk easily through it. A square 20 foot altar is also at this site, which was built after the Children of Israel defeated the Amalakites. The Amalakite territory covered "south of Judah and probably extended into northern Arabia.

Deut 8:15
15Who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water; who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint;

In these days of ever increasing uncertainty, when even our supposed leaders trampled our rule of law and dismantle our underpinnings of agreed upon human rights, there is rock solid hope.

Christ is our rock in multiple ways. First, He is a foundation for our lives. Second, He's our hiding place like a mountain cleft. Third, He's the source of reviving waters of hope and eternal life, as we see in this passage. In Deuteronomy 8, Moses was harkening back to an incident described in Exodus 17:

The LORD said to Moses, "Go on before the people, and take with you some of the elders of Israel. Also take in your hand your rod with which you struck the river and go. Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.

Centuries later, the apostle Paul declared, "And that rock was Christ."
1 Cor. 10:4

The Lord commanded Moses, "Strike the rock!" And Moses lifted high his rod- the rigid, inflexible rod of the lawgiver- and with all his might brought it down against the rock in the presence of the elders of Israel. It was a powerful, visual preview of what would happen on Mount Golgotha fourteen hundred years later when the rod of the law struck Christ, the Solid Rock, in the presence of the leaders of Israel.

Somehow this rock became a fountainhead of waters that quenched the thirst and saved millions of lives.

Jesus told a woman in Samaria, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water."
John 4:10

At the feast of Tabernacles, Jesus cried, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him."
John 7:37

At the end of the Bible, in Revelation 22:17, we have this final invitation to come to Jesus Christ: "The Spirit and the bride say, Come!'...And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take of the water of life freely." It's water from the Rock of our salvation.