Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. – Matt 7:24-25
And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed [it] unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. – Matt 16:17-18
INDEED! INDEED! INDEED!
As an example, consider the following passage understanding that God is the Rock, that Jesus was smitten, that the Living Water is the Spirit (John 4, 7:38):
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. And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the LORD, saying, Is the LORD among us, or not?– Exodus 17:6-7
Or perhaps this one:
And the LORD said, Behold, [there is] a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock: And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by: And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen. – Exodus 33:21-23
INDEED, INDEED, INDEED.
THE ROCK is used throughout Scripture. And, even in Revelation where the foundations of the New Jerusalem are precious rocks and even the gates living wrought rocks.
It seems that our ROCK is a rock . . . afficianado. Perhaps it's His penchant for solid foundations.
And He HIMSELF is THE MOST AND TRULY ONLY SOLID ETERNALLY SOLID FOUNDATION . . . for anything.
Given Peter's denial and looking at the waves and sinking . . . apart from the faith God imparted to Peter--strengthening his backbone . . . anything built on Peter; ANY TRUST of Peter at all--would have been fool hardy. Even walking in that faith, Paul still had to bat him into shape a bit here and there.
God throughout Scripture and history has used flawed, fallible critters called humans and His kids. But HE HAS MADE IT ABUNDANTLY CLEAR that the only redeemable aspects that were useable were those He HIMSELF imiparted to, infected with, injected into said flawed critters.
AND, even with the God imparted, enlivened inner workings of Holy Spirit--the arm of flesh is STILL subject to error and nonsense. It is still not to be leaned on; still not to be glorified; still not to be trusted; still not to usurp; still not to be elevated. The arm of flesh is basically dangerous.
Oh, great edifices are still built by the flesh. Witness the TV ministries of some folks. More so, witness the great political edifices. Tumbleweeds build a great flashy fire full of sparks and fun. But it's over in a twinkling.
God is determined to have a people refined by the refiner's fire. And as demonstrated in the fiery furnace of old, Only THE ROCK will see us through; be with us in such fiery furnaces.
And He HIMSELF is THE MOST AND TRULY ONLY SOLID ETERNALLY SOLID FOUNDATION . . . for anything.
This is absolutely the main point to be grasped, IMHO. For this ROCK is the Logos, and the Alpha and Omega, of all creation. To not stand on this ROCK is to be suspended in mid-air, subject to the vagaries of blowing winds (e.g., "opinions") that carry us hither and yon to ultimate destruction.
Matt 7:24-25 says it better:
Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.
The world is as it is because of its foundation in this ROCK; we are as we are likewise because of our foundation in this ROCK. To reject this ROCK is a consummate act of sheer ingratitude, and perilous to ourselves; for everything scatters in the end, save what stands firmly on this ROCK.
My two-cents' worth -- hardly up to Alamo-Girl's astonishing eloquence, but my very humble testimony nonetheless.
Thanks so much for writing, Quix!
Truly it thrills me that God has used so many flawed people to serve His will - whether Abraham, Moses, David, Peter, Paul - even a little "no name" like me gets to be a part of the body of Christ!
The Spiritual leaning I have is that that too is a message to us: to God be the glory!