Christ, the Rock of our Salvation

(More Stuff I’m Learning from Rabbi Izaak)

Isaiah 28:16 Behold, I lay in Zion a foundation stone, an elect stone, a most precious stone, a cornerstone, a safe foundation. Whoever believes in it shall not be ashamed. (Quoted in Romans 9:30-33 and in 1 Peter 2:6)

Two of the most fascinating of the Messianic Prophecies – two of them, actually, are in the book of the Prophet Daniel. Their fascination, for me, comes mostly from the accuracy with which the holy Prophet predicts the time of Messiah’s coming.

The first such prophecy is in Chapter 2, in which Daniel is interpreting Kind Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. The whole chapter should be on your ‘must-read” list, but here is the most salient section:

31 "You, O king, were watching; and behold, a great image! This great image, whose splendor was excellent, stood before you; and its form was awesome. 32 This image's head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, 33 its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay.

34 You watched while a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. 35 Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together, and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; the wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found. And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.

36 "This is the dream. Now we will tell the interpretation of it before the king. 37 You, O king, are a king of kings. For the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory; 38 and wherever the children of men dwell, or the beasts of the field and the birds of the heaven, He has given them into your hand, and has made you ruler over them all—you are this head of gold.

39 But after you shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours; then another, a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth. 40 And the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron, inasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything; and like iron that crushes, that kingdom will break in pieces and crush all the others. 41 Whereas you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter's clay and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; yet the strength of the iron shall be in it, just as you saw the iron mixed with ceramic clay. 42 And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile. 43 As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will mingle with the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay.

44 And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. 45 Inasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold—the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation is sure."

In the light of history, we now know that King Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom (Babylonia) was succeeded by the Persian kingdom of Darius. Then the third kingdom, to rule over all the earth (known earth of course) was that of Alexander the Great. His army came into India, but just there his men refused to go any further, because that is where their maps ended. (Who knew whether the world might end there, too, or a very short distance therefrom? Who knew what might lie on the wrong side of the map? And how do you make plot strategy in a totally unfamiliar and uncharted landscape?)

The fourth kingdom, the one to rule as with an iron fist, is Rome. The division refers to the battles between Octavian and Pompey for control of the Empire. The Empire remained divided until Caesar Augustus. And then came Messiah, setting up the kingdom that shall never be destroyed – which of course, to be indestructible, has got to be a spiritual one.

Notice, too, the rock that smashes the power of the earthly kingdoms is cut from a mountain without hands. Another type of the Messiah born without male seed.

Messiah is called a “rock” or a “stone” in all sorts of other places. You’ll find some 7 references, from Deuteronomy, 2 Samuel, Psalms, and Isaiah if you check an electronic concordance using the search phrase, “rock of salvation”.

Here’s a “rock” prophecy of Messiah well known because Jesus quoted part of it as the conclusion of His Parable about the Wicked Tenants.

Psalm 117:22-26 The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. By God this was done, and it was miraculous in our eyes. This is the day, the day which the Lord made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it … Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord!

Now here’s why all these “rock” prophecies astonish me the most. It’s because I used to think when St. Paul, speaking of the “spiritual rock” that followed the Children of Israel, said, “that rock is Christ,” (1 Cor. 10:4), he was making it up! Of course I knew it was the Holy Spirit inspiring him to make it up, but still…

No. That’s such an ignorant assumption! St. Paul wasn’t just saying to himself, “That makes for a really cool bit of typography! I think I’ll use it.” No. He had all these Scriptures specifically and firmly in mind and when he called the rock Christ, he meant Christ is the spiritual meaning of that stone – AND of the stone dreamt of by Nebuchadnezzar, sung of by David, prophesied by Isaiah, and taught by Jesus. Christ is the Rock of Our Salvation.