p. 8 | CHRIST IS THE ROCK by E. J. Hammer

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Aug 13, 1894

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 20, No. 40.

CHRIST IS THE ROCK.

By E. J. Hammer

BY E. J. HAMMER.

"AND I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church." Matt. 16:18.

These are the words of our Lord to Peter at the time Peter confessed that Jesus was the Christ. The Catholics make this text the foundation for their claim that the Church of Rome is the true church of Christ, and the pope the divinely-appointed successor of Peter, holding that Peter is the rock upon which the church is built. A little study of Scripture will show the falsity of this claim, and that Christ alone is, and no other could be, the rock meant in the words above quoted.

Christ said, "Thou art petros," which is the Greek word for a stone—what we understand by a small bowlder, or stone, which alone is of little use, but placed with others like it in a wall, serves as part of a great building. Peter, then, was one of a considerable number upon whom the house of faith is erected, as stated by Paul, "And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone." Eph. 2:20. Peter, also, himself testified before the rulers and elders, "This is the stone [Christ] which was set at naught of you builders, which is become the head of the corner." Acts 4:11. Hence, Peter could not be the rock which Christ meant when he said, "Upon this rock I will build my church."

When the angel announced to Mary the birth of the Lord, he said, "Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins." This is said to be a fulfillment of a prophecy which said, "Behold, a virgin shall . . . bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel; which being interpreted is, God with us." Matt. 1:23. Compare this with the statement, "For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour" (Isa. 43:3), and we have it direct from Inspiration that Christ is our God.

Christ, then, is our God, and it was of him that Moses spake when he said to the children of Israel: "Ascribe ye greatness unto our God. He is the Rock." Deut. 32:3, 4. David also said, "The Lord is my rock" (2 Sam. 22:2); and again, "My God is the rock of my refuge." Ps. 94:22. Paul also testifies, in speaking of the wanderings of Israel in the wilderness, that "they did all drink the same spiritual drink; for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them [margin, "went with them"]; and that rock was Christ." 1 Cor. 10:4.

But this is not all the evidence we have. Away back, 1,700 years before the first advent, Jacob utters a prophecy concerning Joseph, that "his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob (from thence is the Shepherd, the stone of Israel)" (Gen. 49:24); and Christ declares, "I am the Good Shepherd" (John 10:14).

Is not this enough to prove that Christ's church could not be built upon Peter? He was a sinner, dependent on Christ for salvation, while the church must be founded upon that wherein no unrighteousness existed, in order that it might be permanent, and endure throughout the ages. So David says, "The Lord is upright; he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him." Ps. 92:15.

The word our Saviour used in his address to Peter beside petros, a little stone, was petra, a great rock, or bed rock, if you please, upon which immense buildings might stand solid and secure. How appropriate this representation is may be seen in many scriptures, where God is represented as a secure refuge, a secret place, under the shadow of which we may defy the assaults of all enemies. "In God is my salvation and my glory; the rock of my strength, and my refuge is in God." Ps. 62:7.

Can we not, then, vanquish the enemy of souls by a "Thus saith the Lord"? For it is written, "Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." 1 Cor. 3:11.

How true, then, is the statement which Peter quotes, "Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious;" and he adds, "Unto you therefore which believe he is precious; but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient." 1 Peter 2:6-8. Let us, then, permit the Holy Spirit to work in us, that we, as "living stones," may build on the true Rock, Christ, by faith, a solid structure, which will stand the test by which every man's work will be tried, that it may be made manifest of what sort it is.