THE CONCEPT OF THE ROCK

Deuteronomy 32

1 "Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak; And hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.

2 Let my teaching drop as the rain, My speech distill as the dew, As raindrops on the tender herb, And as showers on the grass.

3 For I proclaim the name of the LORD: Ascribe greatness to our God.

4 He is the Rock, His work is perfect; For all His ways are justice, A God of truth and without injustice; Righteous and upright is He.

 “Listen to Me, you who follow after righteousness, You who seek the LORD: Look to the rock from which you were hewn, And to the hole of the pit from which you were dug.” Isa51:1

 All through the bible God is referred to as the Rock. Here Isaiah tells us to look to the rock. He doesn’t tell us to look at the rock but rather to look to. This word means to regard with care, to look with sustained and favorable contemplation in order to receive everything.

 Matthew16

13 When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, "Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?"

14 So they said, "Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets."

15 He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"

16 Simon Peter answered and said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."

17 Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.

18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.

19 And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."

 When Peter said to Jesus "you are the Christ, the son of  the living God." He was not naming Him. He was identifying Him. He was saying 'you come from God. your origin is God. you are the offspring of God.'

Then Jesus returned the favor by identifying Simon according to the flesh. His natural birth. 

 You are Simon son of Jonah. You come from Jonah. Your origin is Jonah. You are the offspring of Jonah.

 But then Jesus did not stop there. He took it to the next level. 

"But now I say ALSO unto thee"

This word ALSO is an important word in this passage. There is no proper English word to translate the meaning of what Jesus was saying and conveying to Simon with that word.

By using ALSO Jesus was saying, 'I likewise in the same way that you identified me (as the Son, offspring of God) I also identify you (as petros, pebble, small stone)'

 You are petros, small stone cut from me (Petra) The Rock, the big rock.

Jesus was not naming peter. He was identifying him, locating him, placing him,

 A stone or pebble or little rock has exactly the same characteristics, nature, composition as the big rock from which it was hewn. Jesus was showing simon his new identity.

 How did Jesus know who He was?

a)      His mum told Him

b)      He found Himself in the scriptures.

Hebrews10

5 Therefore, when He came into the world, He said: " Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, But a body You have prepared for Me. 6 In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You had no pleasure. 7 Then I said, 'Behold, I have come ---  In the volume of the book it is written of Me ---  To do Your will, O God.' "

 Jesus didn’t study the scriptures to look for doctrine or whatever.

He studied to know who He was, to discover Himself, His identity, where He came from, what His purpose was etc.

Luke 4 and isa61

 He believed what the Word said about Him and He went about doing what the Word said was His purpose.

 2Cor3:18

When we look in the gospel, the New Covenant we see ourselves and we become what we see.

Acts17:22-29

We are God's offspring. His children. We came out of Him. That word offspring is the word Genos from which we get the English word Genetics. Origin…

“Why do you call me 'Lord, Lord,' and not do what I tell you? Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.” Lk6:46-49 ESV

“Why do you call Me, Lord, Lord, and do not [practice] what I tell you? For everyone who comes to Me and listens to My words [in order to heed their teaching] and does them, I will show you what he is like: He is like a man building a house, who dug and went down deep and laid a foundation upon the rock; and when a flood arose, the torrent broke against that house and could not shake {or} move it, because it had been securely built {or founded on a rock}. But he who merely hears and does not practice doing My words is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation, against which the torrent burst, and immediately it collapsed {and} fell, and the breaking {and} ruin of that house was great.” Lk6:46-49 AMP

Jesus is the rock upon which the foundation of our house should be built. His gospel is the truth that establishes us upon a solid foundation.

 The gospel of Jesus is not for our adornment or decoration. The gospel of Jesus is for our establishment. It should be established in our hearts because it is what will establish us on a solid foundation.

 The truths of the gospel are foundational truths. They are the truths we need to establish our hearts upon and build our lives on. Jesus didn’t just come to make our lives better, to correct our speech, to give us some money, to heal our bodies and so on and so forth. Jesus came to transform us, to transfer us.

 Colossians2

6 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:

How hard was it for you to accept Jesus? Did you fast 30 days or pray for a long time or give a lot of money? You didn’t do any of these things.

All you did was believe on Him. You believed what He accomplished on the Cross and simply received the finished work.

This verse now tells us to walk in the same way. The same way that you accepted Jesus is the same way you are supposed to live the rest of your Christian life. By faith in Him.

7 Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.

It is in Christ that we are rooted, built up and established in the faith. It is not in our works. It is not in our obedience to the law. It is not in our hard work and attempts to please God that establishes us. It is when we stay in Christ that we are rooted and established in the faith and have victory in life.

8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. 9 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.

All of the fulness of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is in Jesus. Everything that God the Father has, God the Son has and God the Holy Spirit is in Jesus. There is nothing we desire from God that is outside of Jesus. Everything is in Jesus.

10 And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:

This probably has got to be one of the most unbelieved scriptures in the bible. We are complete in Christ. In Christ we have whatever we need and want. There is nothing you want that is outside of Christ.