The Rock on which I stand

What rock do you stand upon?

📖 “The Interpreter then led Christian into a place where there was a fire burning in a fireplace. A man stood by it, continually throwing buckets of water on the fire, trying to put it out, but the fire continued to burn higher and hotter!… He took Christian behind the wall of the fireplace where a man holding a container of oil was secretively throwing the oil on the fire.”

Bunyan, J. (2020) ‘4th Room - The Roaring Fire’, in A. Vermilye (tran.) The Pilgrim’s Progress. Brown Chair Books, p. 47.

I love this chapter. It’s incredibly powerful, and the imagery perfectly describes faith. I was genuinely confused when I read the part about the man tipping buckets of water over the fire and it not going out. Where on earth is Bunyan going with this?! The man trying to extinguish the fire is the devil; man, is he trying hard, but the fire still gets bigger and hotter. The man behind the fireplace with the oil is Christ. The oil of grace is continually poured into the heart, maintaining the work already begun. It ignites the soul; no matter how hard the devil tries, the roaring fire will not be extinguished.

Faith is fundamental to our journey with God. It is imperative to have faith, or we will forever be in a state of fear and uncertainty. If I don’t have faith in aeroplanes, I will give up seeing much of God’s creation. If I don’t have faith in the chair's ability to hold my weight, then… well, I will have very sore legs. If I don’t have faith in people, then isolation will become my friend. You see where I’m going with this. If I don’t have faith in God, how do I expect to have a relationship with Him and receive His promises over my life?

So, what makes faith in God seemingly harder than faith in other things? I often hear, “I want to see it to believe it”, and I understand why people say this. In my first post about ‘What is Christian Freedom?’, I spoke about how the earthly law indoctrinates over what is tangible. We are hardwired to protect ourselves from the danger of the unknown, and anything that is not tangible and seen is unknown. To unbelievers, God is unknown. It can be much easier and feel much safer to have faith in something else. I think there is one true faith and many false faiths. I don’t believe that all these false faiths will necessarily bring you harm in this life, but I do believe that the evil one still governs them. If faith does not reside in Christ, then His love and grace do not protect it. If Christ’s love and grace do not protect it, then it is open to Satan’s grips, and he aims to keep us as far away from Christ and salvation as possible. Maybe it won’t harm you in this life, but it’s not this life that we should really be worrying about. Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.” - John 14:6

God is deeply personal, but we can only see and experience Him if we surrender to Him. As Christians, we should say, “I need to believe it to see it,” but I realise it can be hard to start that journey sometimes. Crossing the line from “I need to see it to believe it” to “I need to believe it to see it” takes an awful amount of trust and faith.

“ ³ You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you. ⁴ Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord himself, is the Rock eternal.” - Isaiah 26:3-4

God is an eternal Rock, referred to as such many times throughout the Bible. The word ‘Rock’ is even capitalised to suggest that it is a part of His identity. God is our Saviour, Father, Yahew, Redeemer, and Rock. I’m not picturing a stable rock until there is a storm. Nor a rock that is small or cracked. I’m picturing a rock that is more like a mountain. The oldest rock, the strongest rock. A rock that is world-renowned and that people travel hundreds of miles to see. That kind of rock. I would certainly have faith in that rock.

In Matthew 16:13-18, Jesus travelled to the region of Caesarea Philippi, the base of Mount Hermon, where he asked his disciples who the people thought the Son of Man was. John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, one of the prophets were all in the running, but Simon Peter declared, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God”. There are great debates over this next part, where Jesus replies, “You are Peter, and on this rock, I will build my church.” The Greek word for Peter is, in fact, ‘rock’ and as he was the first Bishop, some denominations have come to believe that bishops would govern the church. I don’t believe that this was what Jesus meant. As I read this, I read Jesus declaring that He will build His Church on this statement of faith that He is the Messiah and the Son of the Living God. Whoever pronounces this confession of belief, Jesus will build and grow His church through that person. “Who do YOU say I am?” What is your belief? What is your declaration? His Church grows every time someone declares that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the Living God, and he radiates out of that person through the Holy Spirit. It is through that declaration that we have faith. I do not believe Jesus would make someone else or a group of people the rock for His Church. This removes Christ from His rightful place as the head of the Church and as the Rock on which we stand.

I would like to reinforce my earlier point about capitalising the word. Something very small but of all importance. In this verse, the word ‘rock’ is not capitalised. In all other verses (as far as I can tell), the word ‘Rock’ is capitalised when discussing God's identity. This is intentional. It is used as a noun. In this verse in Matthew and others in the Bible, ‘rock’ is an adjective. A describing word for faith. There is a clear distinction, and it is not to be mistaken.

Why do we use the imagery of a rock? Whilst God is infinite, we are finite meaning He is things that we cannot comprehend, and that’s okay as we have been perfectly created. He alludes Himself to that which is known, seen and tangible. We build this solid image of an unbreaking, steadfast, strong, powerful rock that we associate with God. What happens if we take tangible imagery away from the description of God? I do not doubt that for many Christians, maybe those who are more mature in their faith, this would not be so much of a problem. I am also sure that many people still discovering God rely more heavily on tangible imagery to help them mature in their faith. I think that there’s a valuable lesson in that. No matter how mature we are in our faith or how long we have been a Christian. No matter how many C.S.Lewis’ are out there, we should all come back to that feeling of discovering God for the first time. Why?

“³ And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. ⁴ Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”  - Matthew 18:3-4

Children are discovering and learning every day. Their innocence and excitement are beautiful. Their laughter is infectious, and their curiosity is endless. One of the most important and helpful ways of teaching a child more complicated things is using language and imagery they understand. They trust and have faith in the things they understand. They trust and have faith in the people who are teaching them. Our Heavenly Father uses language and imagery that we will understand because we are called to come to Him as children of Christ. As we have trust and faith in Him, we know that He is true and unfailing. He is exactly who He says He is.

“  ¹⁴God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” - Exodus 3:14

I love how innocent and simple it is. Like a child’s relationship with their mother, our relationship with God is nurturing and gentle. Like a child’s relationship with their father, our relationship with God is guided and protected. God makes it so simple because He is who He is. Christ stands in full light for us to see like a rock that cannot be hidden. There’s no hiding. His word thoroughly covers His nature, right there for us to read.

I read recently, most probably in a C.S. Lewis book, that we have a fundamental understanding of morality. We fundamentally know in our DNA what right and wrong looks like. We can recognise evil and instinctively know to steer clear. Where does this instinct come from? It must have been created and installed in us before we were born. I certainly don’t recollect my parents having to teach me that murder is wrong. I just kind of… knew. So, we have faith in our moral compass. We have faith in our instincts. However, we must still be cautious about our moral compass and instincts until we are born again. I’ll circle back around to this in a minute.

If we zoom out, Earth is perfectly placed in our solar system for human life to thrive. If we were closer to the sun, it would be too hot; if we were further away, it would be too cold. I look around at the majesty and beauty of this earth and can’t help but think… know that someone specially designed and created it. When I studied Philosophy at A-Level, we used a watch as an example. A man stumbles across a beautiful watch lying on the ground. He opens it up, and it’s so intricately made and designed. Everything about it has a purpose. Naturally, the man assumes there is a watchmaker somewhere. The watch didn’t just appear. That would be ludicrous. Someone created it. Now, the human body is SO much more complex and intricately detailed. Everything has a purpose and works together. We must have been created if we follow the same logic as the watch. I cannot believe for a second that we just appeared and evolved. I have faith in that.

Here’s the best bit… If we have faith in all these things, then that faith is already unconsciously and indirectly placed in God. To bring that faith to the surface and make it consciously directed to God, the maker of the universe, we must hear the Word and be born again. Here is where I will circle back to my earlier word of caution. As we established, our moral compass and instincts are indirectly and unconsciously placed in God. Because of this, Satan still has access. Instincts can be turned into evil, and we see this worldwide. When we are born again, our faith becomes conscious and direct because it is God’s moral compass and instincts through which we see the world, not our own.

“ ¹⁷ Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ” - Romans 10:17

God makes it so simple. Hear the word, turn from your wicked ways, follow Christ and allow Him to work in your heart. The word is the never-changing and unfailing Gospel that through the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the penalties of our sins have been forgiven, and we can freely come to our Heavenly Father, be at his side in His Kingdom and have eternal life. As a child runs into their parent’s arms, we are to run into Christ’s arms. If we struggle to have faith in something we cannot see, remember that we see God in the world daily. Looking in the mirror, we can see God as he perfectly created us. Not only that, but God also gives us tangible imagery to help us. When this faith becomes conscious and direct, our fire gets harder and harder to extinguish. The more we pour into our relationship with Christ, the more oil of grace he pours into us.

*“ ¹⁸ The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, ¹⁹ since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. ²⁰ ***For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.” - Romans 1:18-20

Romans 1 is so clear about this. God created everything and has made himself clear as day for us to see Him. The problem is that many people have made themselves blind to this. It’s up to the universe; it’s just how things are. I’m a good person; I can do what I want; I’m here for a good time, not a long time, and all the rest. God allows us to be blind because faith is built on trust, trust is built on love, and love is built on having free will. God gives us free will in the hope that we will open our eyes, turn from our blindness and wicked ways and put our faith in Him. No excuse… the Bible says so. My faith is built on my eternal Rock, with a capital R; his majesty is revealed daily.

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Prayer

Lord, thank you for being the eternal Rock on which we stand. Thank you for your ultimate sacrifice that paved the Way. You made us so intricately and delicately and made yourself so abundantly clear to us. Thank you for the Holy Spirit giving us faith and allowing You to build Your Church through us. May our faith strengthen daily and shine out from us, helping others find you. May your will be done on EARTH as it is in Heaven.

Amen🙏