"And Moses cried unto the Lord, saying, 'What shall I do unto this people? they be almost ready to stone me.' 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. 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." (Ver. 4-6.) Thus all is met by the most perfect grace. Every murmur brings out a fresh display. Here we have the refreshing stream gushing from the smitten rock--beauteous type of the Spirit given as the fruit of Christ's accomplished sacrifice. In chapter xvi, we have a type of Christ coming down from heaven to give life to the world. In chapter xvii, we have a type of the Holy Ghost, "shed forth" in virtue of Christ's finished work. "They drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ." (1 Cor. x. 4.) But who could drink till the Rock was smitten? Israel might have gazed on that rock and died of thirst while gazing; but until smitten by the rod of God, it could yield no refreshment. This is plain enough. The Lord Jesus Christ was the centre and foundation of all God's counsels of love and mercy. Through Him all blessing was to flow to man. The streams of grace were designed to gush forth from "the Lamb of God;" but then it was needful that the Lamb should be slain--that the work of the cross should be an accomplished fact--ere any of these things could be actualized. It was when the Rock of Ages was cleft by the hand of Jehovah that the flood-gates of eternal love were thrown wide open, and perishing sinners invited, by the testimony of the Holy Ghost, to "drink abundantly," drink deeply, drink freely. "The gift of the Holy Ghost" is the result of the Son's accomplished work upon the cross. "The promise of the Father" could not be fulfilled until Christ had taken His seat at the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens, having wrought out perfect righteousness, answered all the claims of holiness, magnified the law and made it honorable, borne the unmitigated wrath of God against sin, exhausted the power of death, and deprived the grave of its victory. He, having done all this, "ascended up on high, led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. Now that He ascended, what is it but that He also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that He might fill all things." (Eph. iv. 8-10.)
This is the true foundation of the Church's peace, blessedness, and glory forever. Until the rock was smitten, the stream was pent up, and man could do nothing. What human hand could bring forth water from a flinty rock? And so we may ask, What human righteousness could afford a warrant for opening the flood-gates of divine love? This is the true way in which to test man's competency. He could not, by his doings, his sayings, or his feelings, furnish a ground for the mission of the Holy Ghost. Let him be or do what he may, he could not do this. But thank God, it is done; Christ has finished the work; the true Rock has been smitten, and the refreshing stream has issued forth, so that thirsty souls may drink. "The water that I shall give him," says Christ, "shall be in him a well of water, springing up into everlasting life." (John iv. 14.) Again: "In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, 'If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink. He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.' (But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive; for the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)" (John vii. 37-39; compare, also, Acts xix. 2.)
Thus, as in the manna we have a type of Christ, so in the stream gushing from the rock we have a type of the Holy Ghost. "If thou knewest the gift of God [_i.e._, Christ], ... thou wouldest have asked of Him, and He would have given thee living water [_i.e._, the Spirit]."