Ponder: Are you hidden with Christ?
Scripture: “For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Col. 3:3, NKJV).
In 1776 Augustus Montague Toplady wrote the hymn “Rock of Ages.” Despite being a staunch Calvinist cleric in the Anglican church, Mr. Toplady demonstrated keen insight in the opening words of his song: “Rock of Ages cleft for me, Let me hide myself in Thee.”
A cleft is a hole, fissure, or indentation. Being hidden in a cleft of a rock takes us back to Exodus 33:20-23 where the Lord put Moses in the cleft of a rock while His visible presence passed by because “no man shall see Me and live.”
Just as Moses was saved from death by being hidden in the cleft of a rock, we are saved from eternal death by being “hidden with Christ in God.” Mr. Toplady brilliantly recognized the connection. The hymn goes on to acknowledge the blood and water that flowed from Christ’s “riven side” (see John 19:31-37); that blood cleanses us from sin’s guilt and power. Nothing else could accomplish such a monumental task. “Not the labor of my hands,” not the most fervent zeal, not even the most bitter tears could atone for our sins. Our spiritual nakedness requires being clothed by and with Christ; our helpless condition looks to Him for grace; and our vileness motivates us to fly to the “fountain for sin and uncleanness (Zech. 13:1) as we plead, “Wash me, Savior, or I die!”
When we sing this grand old hymn, let us be thankful for Jesus, our Rock of Ages in whom we hide so that we might live with Him forever.
Hymn: “Rock of Ages”
Prayer: Gracious God, may we hide ourselves in Jesus who bled and died to save us. In His name, Amen.
–Joe Slater
