{"id":10613,"date":"2025-03-17T07:20:31","date_gmt":"2025-03-17T14:20:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?p=10613"},"modified":"2025-03-17T07:21:56","modified_gmt":"2025-03-17T14:21:56","slug":"rock-of-ages","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?p=10613","title":{"rendered":"\u201cRock of Ages\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Select here for a pdf version.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Sermon for the Season of Lent<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a favorite hymn about \u201cthe rock,\u201d written by Augustus Toplady in the 1700\u2019s. What a name, Toplady. Obviously from England. Why is this such a favorite hymn? It has both a lovely tune and great imagery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rock is a well-known image in Scripture. Isaiah 28:16: \u201cThus says the Lord God, \u2018Behold, I am laying in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation. He who believes will not be in haste.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That verse is quoted in Romans 9:33, 1 Peter 2:6, and is also behind other things. When it says in 1 Cor 3:11: \u201cThere is no other foundation,\u201d it is obviously referring to this imagery. We know from manuscripts which aren\u2019t Biblical that they collected all kinds of lists of verses about the rock, the foundation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We know that there are other places that talk about the foundation as in Eph 2:20: \u201cBuilt on the foundation of the prophets and the apostles, Christ himself being the cornerstone.\u201d Jesus is the cornerstone. Of course, the cornerstone is mentioned in Isaiah also. And in Revelation 21 we see the new Jerusalem with the twelve foundations really referring to the twelve tribes and the twelve apostles. In this case Jesus is the light that takes the place of the temple.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course there is Matthew 16:18 about Peter, the rock, or Rocky. If you take that verse: \u201cYou are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church\u201d and you translate it back into Aramaic, the language which Jesus spoke, then it is very clear that it says: \u201cYou are rock and on this rock I will build my church.\u201d The same word \u201cCephas\u201d is used both times, and there\u2019s no question that it means Peter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are those who say it does not mean Peter; it means the confession he made.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then there are others who say that Jesus said to Peter: \u201cYou are Peter,\u201d and then Jesus pointed to himself and said, \u201cAnd upon this rock\u201d I will build my church. But there\u2019s no basis for that in the text at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few verses later Jesus said to Peter: \u201cGet behind me, Satan! You are a hinderance to me.\u201d And Peter denied Jesus three times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s obvious that what is meant when Peter is called \u201cthe rock\u201d is that he\u2019s the rock when he is confessing Christ. When he\u2019s not confessing Christ, he is pretty rocky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back to \u201cRock of Ages.\u201d Hebrews 13:8 states: \u201cJesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.\u201d There is that which is the unshakeable basis for our Christian faith. In that lovely hymn, \u201cAbide with me,\u201d there is that verse: \u201cChange and decay in all around I see, O thou who changest not, abide with me.\u201d He is the one who changes not, who is the basis we can depend upon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In writing \u201cRock of Ages,\u201d the poet, Toplady, has written a very complicated hymn for us. It says \u201cRock of Ages, cleft for me.\u201d The rock is broken; it\u2019s cut in two\u2014cleft for me! This is obviously referring to the crucifixion. This foundation that can\u2019t be shaken is broken.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s this referring to? This refers to Matthew 27:41 and 28:2, which point out that there was an earthquake and everything shook, the veil of the temple split. The poet is thinking of that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then the poet says: \u201cLet me hid myself in thee.\u201d Where\u2019s that image from? It goes back to the second giving of the Ten Commandments. You recall in Exodus 33, it talks about the fact Moses wanted to see God and God said (paraphrase): \u201cNo you can\u2019t see God and live, but if you hide in the cleft of the rock, I\u2019ll put my hand over you to protect you and after I\u2019ve gone by, I\u2019ll let you look at my back. You can hide in the cleft.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There it is a kind of playing with imagery, hiding from God (Adam and Eve), and in the hymn, it is hiding in him. It\u2019s a complicated use of imagery here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then: \u201cLet the water and the blood from thy riven side which flowed.\u201d That\u2019s referring to John 19:34 which says when he was crucified, they pierced his side with a spear and water and blood both came out. There\u2019s a lot of discussion as to what that is about, but this is what the poet was referring to with language \u201cfrom thy riven side.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then: \u201cBe of sin the double cure.\u201d What is a double cure? You have to go to the end of the line where it says: \u201cCleanse me from its guilt and power.\u201d Double cure means it cures both the guilt and the power of sin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Verse two is right out of Paul: \u201cNot the labors of my hands can fulfill the laws demands.\u201d That\u2019s straight Paul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCould my zeal no respite know, could my tears forever flow? All for sin could not atone, Thou must save and thou alone.\u201d It\u2019s about as straight out of Paul as you can get.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remember how Luther tried and tried to earn God\u2019s favor. If anybody had zeal it was him. He was a monk who did everything possible. But, as the hymn says: \u201cCould my zeal no respite know, could my tears forever flow.\u201d None of this would do any good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And in February 1546 when Luther died, they found in his clothes a slip of paper which he had left there which said: \u201cWe are beggars this is true.\u201d We are all beggars before God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that leads us to the next verse:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNothing in my hand I bring; Simply to thy cross I cling.\u201d This image is sort of a problem, which you can see by looking at the rest of the verse: \u201cNaked, come to thee for dress, Helpless, look to thee for grace; Foul, I to the fountain fly; Wash me, Savior, or I die.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The problem with: \u201cNothing in my hand I bring, simply to the cross I cling,\u201d is that when you come down to it, I don\u2019t cling to the cross; he clings to me. I do not go to him; he comes and covers me. I don\u2019t look to him; he comes and washes me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A pastor tells of being a child and present when his grandfather stood up at a family gathering and said: \u201cI thank my Lord that he has made and washed me in the blood of the Lamb.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many years later the pastor happened upon that verse, Rev 7:13-14, where it says: \u201cWho are these people in white robes? These are they . . . who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He noted that his grandfather had, without knowing, altered the text in a good way. He said: \u201cHe has washed my robe . . .\u201d He is the one who washes us, rather than we have done it. The third verse of \u201cRock of Ages\u201d picks up this imagery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are problems with the Book of Revelation and not only in chapter six where the saints are under the altar cursing their enemies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is also a problem with the image in Revelation 3:20: \u201cBehold I stand at the door and knock: if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come to him . . . .\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a famous painting by William Holman Hunt (1827-1910) of this image. The door has no handle on the outside, the implication being that the only handle is on the inside, and the implication of that being that you have to open the door.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s simply not right. We have to correct the Book of Revelation, and be aware of the fact that the painting, which correctly reflects the verse, is not what it\u2019s about. We do not open the door. He is the one who comes and overcomes our rebellion and makes us his own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s the difference between what the gospel of Jesus Christ is about rather than other things that have gone the wrong way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s the remarkable thing about this third verse of \u2018Rock of Ages.\u201d It starts out: \u201cNothing in my hand,\u201d and ends with \u201cWash me Savior or I die.\u201d He has to do the washing. And in between there\u2019s this little bit of complexity. Some fancy things happen. We sing it, and we don\u2019t think about it, but there is something basic at stake here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He has washed our robes for us and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then it concludes: \u201cWhile I draw this fleeting breathe, When mine eyelids close in death, When I soar to worlds unknown, See thee on thy judgment throne, Rock of Ages, cleft for me, Let me hide myself in thee.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a kind of dedication when one thinks of what life is about. \u201cWhen mine eyelids close in death . . . Let me hide myself in thee.\u201d Yet it\u2019s not up to us to do it right. He is the one who hides us in him. That\u2019s important to keep in the right framework because we want to use hymns that point us to Christ so that we keep it straight that it\u2019s not the labor of our hands, but \u201cThou must save and Thou alone.\u201d And this is what he does. Amen.
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cRock of Ages\u201d<\/p>\n

A Sermon for the Season of Lent<\/p>\n

This is a favorite hymn about \u201cthe rock,\u201d written by Augustus Toplady in the 1700\u2019s. What a name, Toplady. Obviously from England. Why is this such a favorite hymn? It has both a lovely tune and great imagery.<\/p>\n

The rock is a well-known image in Scripture. Isaiah 28:16: \u201cThus says the Lord God, \u2018Behold, I am laying in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation. He who believes will not be in haste.\u201d <\/p>\n

That verse is quoted in Romans 9:33, 1 Peter 2:6, and is also behind other things. When it says in 1 Cor 3:11: \u201cThere is no other foundation,\u201d it is obviously referring to this imagery. We know from manuscripts which aren\u2019t Biblical that they collected all kinds of lists of verses about the rock, the foundation. <\/p>\n

Select here<\/a> to read more or here <\/a>for a pdf document.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10613","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10613","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10613"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10613\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10625,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10613\/revisions\/10625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}