THE SOLID ROCK
By Harold Stoddard

The Apostle Peter was always quick to speak although his answers were not always right. But when Jesus asked him, "whom say ye that I am,?" Peter this time hit the nail square on the head when he said, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." Matthew 16:16 (KJV)

No Jew would ever misunderstand that answer for "the Christ" was that One for whom they had, for many generations, desired to come. The Messiah, the Rock, was He who would conquer all their enemies and set up a perfect Kingdom, and they, the Jews, would rule and reign on the earth from that time forth, with a perfect King and a Kingdom that would never end. They longed for that time to come.

They were all familiar with the passage in Deuternomy 32:4 which said, "He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he." (KJV). And they would all surely recognize the words of David when he said, "The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spoke to me..." 2 Samuel 23:3 (KJV).
Surely no one of rational mind would misunderstand when Jesus said to Peter concerning the Church, "...That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Matthew 16:18 (KJV). Although Satan is causing much confusion in the religious world today he will never prevail over the True Church, for it is built upon THE ROCK. When Moses led the people through the Red Sea and out onto the desert of Sinai, THE ROCK was surely identified for all time.

"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....And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ." I Corinthians 10:1,4) (KJV)

We sing the old hymn, "On Christ the Solid Rock I stand, All other ground is sinking sand." Have you considered what that means? Jesus said "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. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likended unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it." Matthew 7:24-27 (KJV)

"The Lord is my Rock" Psalm 18:2. The testimony of any true believer is surely stated clearly in Psalm 40:2, "He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings." (KJV)

Christ alone can lift the sinner from the horrible pit of sin and despair and establish that poor lost sinner on the ROCK that is solid and secure. "He only is my Rock and my salvation; he is my defence; I shall not be greatly moved." Psalm 62:2 (KJV). ONLY in Christ Jesus my Lord is there Salvation, for there is no other name given among men whereby we must be saved.

Soon He is coming again for he is the Stone that Daniel saw in Nebuchadnezzar's dream which stone would break in pieces those nations that gather together in hopes of ruling the entire world, and as Daniel said in Daniel 2:45, "The dream is certain and the interpretation thereof sure".

If you are standing on the quicksand of religion today, the call comes to you from the Rock, for Jesus says in the book of Isaiah, "COME NOW, AND LET US REASON TOGETHER, SAITH THE LORD; THOUGH YOUR SINS BE AS SCARLET, THEY SHALL BE AS WHITE AS SNOW; THOUGH THEY BE RED LIKE CRIMSON, THEY SHALL BE AS WOOL." Isaiah 1:18 (KJV)

Today my friend, it may well be that God is calling you to salvation, for He has said that TODAY is the day of salvation for every sinner who will call upon the name of the Lord in simple childlike faith....
"FOR WHOSOEVER SHALL CALL UPON THE NAME OF THE LORD SHALL BE SAVED" Romans 10:13 (KJV)