INTRODUCTION:
Mount Augustus in Western Australia’s Golden Outback is supposed to be the world’s largest rock. It covers an area of 18 1/2 square miles and rises 2,815’ above the surrounding plain. The central ridge is nearly 5 miles long.
God is first called a “rock” in Moses’ song he led just before he died and the Israelites crossed into the promised land. The song is found in Deuteronomy 32 and in verse 4, Moses sings: “The Rock! His work is perfect, For all His ways are just; a God of faithfulness and without injustice, Righteous and upright is He.”
Rocks were used in the desert for a few different reasons: large rocks provided shade; they provided a hiding place; they could also be an indication that water was nearby. There were several reasons why, then, biblical writers would refer to God as a “rock” and the book of psalms are full of such references and we see several references in the prophets.
Here in Deuteronomy 32:4, Moses associates several attributes of God with the picture of Him as a rock: perfection, just, faithful, righteous, upright. Moses will refer to God as a “rock” several times in this song: verses 15 (“Rock of his salvation”), 18, 30, and 31. Then, in verses 31 and 37, Moses will say that other peoples also have a “rock” in whom they trust but their rock does not provide the benefits as the Rock of Israel, the God of heaven.
In the year of our country’s birth, a British man named Augustus M. Toplady wrote a song directed at the Rock: “The Rock of Ages.” As we begin a new series of lessons this year on “Sermons from our Favorite Songs,” we begin with this song. The initial stanza of this song was published in a magazine, The Gospel Magazine, in October 1775. He wrote the hymn for an article in the same magazine in March 1776. That article dealt with the impossibility of man paying for his own sins.
I’m not sure how he reckoned it, but Toplady estimated that if a man should live to be 80 years old, he would commit 2,522,880,000 sins.
Keep your song books opened to this song as we consider the message of Toplady, designed to help the Word of Christ dwell in us richly.
THE CLEFT ROCK – Exodus 33:17-23:
Verse 1 – “Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in Thee; Let the water and the blood, from Thy riven side which flowed, be of sin the double cure, cleanse me from its guilt and pow’r.”
It seems this verse, which sets the stage for the whole message, is based on an event from the life of Moses recorded in Exodus 33. The Israelites have created a golden calf and worshiped it while Moses on the top of Mount Sinai, receiving the Law. It completely disheartened Moses that his people so quickly turned their backs on the God who had just brought them out of slavery in Egypt. Many of those very people are punished by God for their idolatry.
Moses had offered to die in their place, to have his name erased out of the book of life (Exo. 32:32). But, Moses could not die for others when he had his own sins. God did promise “Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of my book” (32:33). Because Israel was so guilty of sin, God told Moses that God could not go with Israel as they left Mount Sinai to go to the Promised Land. God would send a divine Messenger who would lead Israel (32:34).
Moses knew that if God did not lead Israel, then there was no hope for Moses himself. Moses was discouraged and distraught at the whole situation. So, to encourage Moses, we have this dialogue between God and Moses that transpires in Exodus 33:17-23. Let’s read this text and note its importance and then we’ll see how it applies to Toplady’s hymn.
“The Lord said to Moses, “I will also do this thing of which you have spoken; for you have found favor in My sight and I have known you by name.” Then Moses said, “I pray You, show me Your glory!” And He said, “I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion.” But He said, “You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!” Then the Lord said, “Behold, there is a place by Me, and you shall stand there on the rock; and it will come about, while My glory is passing by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by. Then I will take My hand away and you shall see My back, but My face shall not be seen.”
There in the cleft of the rock, God blessed Moses with the ability to see a part of God’s glory, to encourage him. Toplady uses this event to portray the protection that we receive through the blood of Christ. The only Gospel writer who mentions the blood of Christ in the context of the crucifixion itself is John, which he does in 19:32-34: “So the soldiers came, and broke the legs of the first man and of the other who was crucified with Him; but coming to Jesus, when they saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.”
Here’s the picture, then, that Toplady portrays in his first verse. We stand in the cleft of the Rock, finding in God a hiding place from the sting and punishment of sin. In the cleft of the Rock of God’s love, we are hidden by the blood of Christ that flowed from His side on the cross.
That blood provides a double cure for sin, a cure for the guilt of sin and a cure of the power of sin. To say that we have no guilt for sin is the define the biblical word atonement.
THE EMPTY SACRIFICE – Titus 3:3-7:
I did not see any specific references to an Old or New Testament text in verse 2 but the ideas presented are certainly biblical: “Not the labor of my hands Can fulfill the Laws’s demands; Could my zeal no respite know, Could my tears forever flow, All for sin could not atone, Thou must save and Thou alone.”
I suggest a succinct biblical foundation for those thoughts can be found in Paul’s message to the young preacher Titus in 3:3-7:
“For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another.” [Here Paul argues the same way as Toplady writes in his hymn. There is no good thing that we can do to merit / deserve eternal life. There is no way we can live perfectly, sinlessly, fulfilling every single expectation God has of us – every minute of every day our whole life. We cannot save ourselves. But we continue Paul’s thoughts…
“But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,” [The “washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit” is a reference to our immersion into water, into the blood of Christ. Baptism is an act of our faithful obedience but more than that, it is an act of God through which He puts to death our sins and makes us holy and pure in His eyes.] Back to Titus…
Referring to the Holy Spirit, Paul writes: “whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”
Toplady reminds us in his verse 2 that even if our zeal for God knew no “respite,” no rest or relief, that is, even if we never ended our zeal for God and we were always hot, on fire for evangelism and faithful works, and Toplday goes on: “could my tears [for my sins] forever flow…” If I cried Lake Superior full of tears for my sins, it would not cleanse a single sin, “all for sin could not atone.”
Only Christ and Christ alone can save.
THE FOUNTAIN OF CLEANSING – Zechariah 13:1:
In verse 3, Toplady will eventually portray the forgiving blood of Christ as a fountain. That imagery comes likely from an Old Testament minor prophet named Zechariah. Zechariah is living at a time when Israel was discouraged because of their 70-years in exile and they were back in their homeland but their temple laid in ruins, a constant reminder that it was destroyed and they spent 70 years in exile because of sin.
From Zechariah 9-14, Zechariah has four prophecies of the coming of Jesus Christ and while 13:1 is not a prophecy that is quoted in the New Testament, it would be easy for us to see that Jesus is the subject of this verse: “In that day a fountain will be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for impurity.”
David refers to God as a “fountain” twice in the Psalms: a fountain of life (36:9), and a fountain of Israel (68:26). God refers to Himself as the “fountain of living waters” in Jeremiah 2:13; 17:13.
So let’s look at Toplady’s third verse: “Nothing in my hand I bring; Simply to Thy cross I cling.” That was really the message of our sermon last Sunday: Jesus: Pure and Simple. In 1 Corinthians 2:2, the apostle Paul wrote: “I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.”
Toplady goes on: “Naked, I come to Thee for dress; Helpless, I look to Thee for grace. Vile (extremely unpleasant!), to the fountain I fly. Wash me, Savior, or I die.”
Toplady’s song is a song that finds refuge and hope in the God who is the Rock. That Rock provides defense, shade, hope from the bite of sin through the blood of Jesus Christ. We have to come to grips with the fact that we cannot earn our salvation. All we can do is come to Jesus with the humility to do what He tells us to do and then find joy in the salvation He offers.
Take home message: God hides us from Satan through the blood of His Son. With empty hands, offer Him your heart in faith and obedience. The fountain of His love will cleanse your sins.
Paul Holland
