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The Rock Eternal

 Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord himself, is the Rock eternal. (Isaiah 26:4)

 

We believe in the Father, who created all that is
And we believe the universe and all therein is His
As a loving heavenly Father, He yearned to save us all
To lift us from the fall . . . We believe

We believe in Jesus the Father's only Son
Existing uncreated before time had begun
A sacrifice for sin, He died then rose again
To ransom sinful men, We believe

We believe in the spirit who makes believers one
Our hearts are filled with His presence
The Comforter has come
The kingdom unfolds in His plan
Unhindered by quarrels of man
His church upheld by His hand . . . We believe

Though the earth be removed
And time be no more
These truths are secure
God's word shall endure
Whatever may change, these things are sure . . . We believe

So if the mountains are cast down into the plains
When kingdoms all crumble, this one remains
Our faith is not subject to seasons of man
With our fathers we proclaim
We believe our Lord will come as he said
The land and the sea will give up their dead
His children will reign with Him as their head

We believe. We believe.

Steve Green, We Believe

 

As I look at the weather forecast for the next week, I’m glad that Biblegateway.com chose this verse for today. At the same time, my thoughts are once again going to that “non-magical” side of things. In Tennessee and North Carolina, some of the rocks on which people had built their homes, that made up mountains that had been there “forever” crashed into the valleys.

The thing about rocks is not that they show up to make everything better. The whole point is that they don’t move. We don’t tend to really notice them unless we’re trying to dig a hole. If they do move, it tends to mean trouble. I think when we start talking about God as the Rock eternal, we need to be careful.  He is the Rock eternal, but it’s not that He moves in and becomes the Rock for us. He is the Rock on which all of creation was founded, and the Rock that will continue to underlie every part of creation throughout all eternity. He remains the Rock even if our lives crumble. He remains the Rock on which creation is built even if the creation crumbles. I’m not sure God has a choice in the matter. He can’t not be the Rock eternal without becoming something other than God.

It’s not a purely personal thing – He’s not our Rock. He’s the Rock. And what He has caused to be is founded on the truth of who He is.

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