For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers … all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ. (1 Corinthians 10:1–4)

We often proclaim, “Jesus is our Rock,” extolling His solidness, unchangeableness—and rightly so. We can depend on Him, and when we set our lives on His teachings we are on a solid foundation (Matt 7:25). Peter’s declaration of faith was said to be rock solid when Jesus said, “[U]pon this rock I will build my church” (Matt 16:18). God is an “everlasting Rock” (Is 26:4, Hab 1:12) whose truth and judgment will not change. God Himself says, “Is there any God besides Me, or is there any other Rock? I know of none” (Is 44:8). The Psalms are full of references to God as a Rock in whom I find deliverance and protection (Ps 18:2), strength (Ps 31:2) and sure-footedness in life (Ps 40:2) and eternity (Ps 62:2, 6).

However, in 1 Corinthians 10:1-4, the metaphor takes on a different connotation. The backstory comes from Exodus 17, where the Lord addressed Israel’s complaining about being thirsty during the exodus travel from Egypt in the desert of Sinai. It got so bad that Moses feared they would kill him. So God told Moses to hit a specific rock at Horeb in plain sight before the people to result in a flow of water more than enough to meet their need. Moses was to use the same rod he had used to strike the Nile River during the ten plagues on Egypt before they left the land. Those plagues were judgment for repressing the Israelite people.

Paul refers to this incident, which apparently was not a one-off occurrence during the Exodus. The point, though, is that Christ is likened to that Rock. That was a picture of the coming Messiah. Paul, a few verses later, cites these kinds of OT stories as “examples” (1 Cor 10:6, 11). The Greek word he uses is “tupos” from which we get our English word “type.” Some, then, have seen in this story a “type” of Christ, an OT event that specifically pre-figured Christ in a particular way, like a mold whose shape gives a preview of that which it is used to form. Perhaps this would be reasonable to suggest: Just as the rod Moses used to strike the Rock was also the instrument of judgment to bring on the plagues of Egypt (Ex 17:5), so also the “rod” of God’s judgment—the cross—was brought to Jesus so that it can be said of each follower of Christ, “From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water” (John 7:38).

Lord, in every way You are my Spiritual Rock. And the judgment for my sin laid on You proved that You are the unmovable Rock of my salvation.