No More Striking The Rock

When the Israelites were wandering in the desert God provided for them or else they would have died of thirst immediately. God used a rock to provide them water. He instructed Moses to hit the rock and water came out of it:

“5 And the Lord said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand, and go. 6 Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.” Exodus 17:5-6

The first time Moses struck the rock, the rock was struck and water came out. He had to do this one time. There was another situation where God told Moses to speak to a rock and water would come out but Moses disobeyed God and struck the rock twice:

“8 Take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou, and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth his water, and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock: so thou shalt give the congregation and their beasts drink. 9 And Moses took the rod from before the Lord, as he commanded him. 10 And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said unto them, Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock? 11 And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also. 12 And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them.” Numbers 20:8-12

This made God angry and Moses was not able to enter into Canaan because of this one act of disobedience to God. This is similar to the way people treat Jesus today, who is the Rock. In fact, the Bible says Jesus was the Rock that followed them in the desert:

“1 Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; 2 And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; 3 And did all eat the same spiritual meat; 4 And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.” 1 Corinthians 10:1-4

The first time when Moses struck the rock and got water is similar to Jesus being killed on the cross. This sacrifice was done one time:

“12 But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; 13 From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. 14 For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified” Hebrews 10:12-14

The point is that we do not have to keep striking Jesus over and over again and re-crucifying Him. We do not have to offer Jesus’ Body up to God as a sacrifice again like Roman Catholics do at mass every Sunday and eat His actual DNA Body (transubstantiation doctrine) for forgiveness of sin. The second time Moses was told to get water from the rock He was told to simply speak to it. This is how we are to approach Jesus now, He was struck the first time on the cross and water poured out of His side:

“33 But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs: 34 But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water.” John 19:33-34

We are saved by the Blood of Jesus from His one-time death on Calvary. We are never to “strike” or crucify Jesus again, we are never to “re-offer” Him as a sacrifice to God again, we are to simply repent and speak to Him by calling upon His Name:

“11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. 12 For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. 13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Romans 10:11-13

This can be why God told Moses to only speak to the rock the second time and that because he struck it again was not able to enter Canaan. This can be a very sobering symbol to Catholics and all of those who believe Jesus’ Body needs to be offered again and again as a sacrifice to God, this kind of thinking can keep someone out of Heaven. Just like God told Moses that he “believed him not” that he needed to just speak to the rock and not strike it, believing Jesus’ sacrifice of His Body needs to be offered again and again is not believing God that Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross was offered once forever. The Catholic Church teaches in catechism 1367 (and other places, too many to list) that they do re-offer the body of Jesus to the Father, there is no denying this because this was taken from the Vatican website (vatican.va) and is their official catechism:

Catholic Catechism 1367 The sacrifice of Christ and the sacrifice of the Eucharist are one single sacrifice: “The victim is one and the same: the same now offers through the ministry of priests, who then offered himself on the cross; only the manner of offering is different.” “And since in this divine sacrifice which is celebrated in the Mass, the same Christ who offered himself once in a bloody manner on the altar of the cross is contained and is offered in an unbloody manner. . . this sacrifice is truly propitiatory.”190

The first time Moses struck the rock, water came out. If Moses would have spoke to the rock the second time water would still have came out but Moses would have been allowed to enter into the Promised Land. If we accept the fact that Jesus was struck once on the cross and speak to Him to save us then we will have salvation, be able to enter Heaven and living water flowing from the Throne of God. We need this to stay spiritually alive like the Israelites needed water in the desert to stay physically alive. If we keep having to re offer Jesus as a sacrifice then we have missed the point and have disobeyed God.

“Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.” John 4:10 “And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.” Revelation 22:1