Hear my cry, O God. Listen to my prayer. From the ends of the earth I call to You, I call as my heart grows faint. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I… Find rest, O my soul, in God alone. My hope comes from Him. He alone is my rock and my salvation… I will not be shaken. (Psalms 61:1-2, 62:5-6)
Jesus Is More Solid than El Capitan
Years ago in Yosemite National Park, there was a series of earthquakes. Houses were overturned and people were thrown out of bed! Loose rocks from the mountains tumbled down into the valley. People fled in panic, ready to despair. But one man camped near “El Capitan,” a huge, strong rock in the park. El Capitan is 3,000 feet tall along its tallest face, with a base of three miles. The survivor reasoned that if El Capitan ever moved, the whole world would be ending.1
The Lord (Father, Son, and Spirit) often speaks of Himself as the Rock who gives security and safety to His people. God the Sovereign Father promised, “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation. Whoever relies on Christ will never be stricken with panic… Jesus is the Rock. His deeds are perfect. Everything He does is just and fair. He is a faithful God who does no wrong. How righteous and true!”2
Christians don’t just “hang in there.” We hang onto Christ our solid Rock, knowing that He protects and stabilizes us. Elisabeth Elliot tells us how to hang on: “Faith, prayer, and obedience are our requirements. We are not offered immunity and exemption from the world’s woes. What we are offered in Christ comes from another world.”3
Life with Christ is an endless hope.
Life without Christ is a hopeless end. (John Blanchard)
A Powerful Hymn with a Humble Beginning
Hymnwriter Edward Mote (1797-1874) was not raised in a Christian home. His parents were poor, and young Edward spent his Sundays playing in the streets of London. He wrote, “I was so ignorant that I did not know that there was a God.” His school did not allow the Bible to be taught. But the Lord opened Mote’s heart to call on Jesus when he was 16. Mote heard and responded to a sermon based on Isaiah 53:6: “We all, like sheep, have gone astray; each of us has turned to our own way. And the Lord has laid on Jesus the iniquity of us all.”
Edward served Christ as a cabinetmaker for the next 37 years, working heartily as for the Lord and not just for people. At the age of 55, he became pastor of a Baptist church, where he served for 21 years. Mote wrote the lyrics below one day in 1834 on his way to work. Soon after, he visited a dying woman, Mrs. King. He read Scripture and prayed for her. Then he took his lyrics from his pocket, and they sang together.4 This hymn says that our assurance of salvation rests on Jesus’ saving work and God’s unchanging grace.
Motes’ chorus refers to the Lord’s parable of “The Wise and Foolish Builders.”
Jesus said: Everyone who hears My words and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the floods rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house. Yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. (Matthew 7:24-25)
Let’s look at the four hymn stanzas with related Scriptures.
Stanza #1: Atonement
My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
Scripture: At just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly… God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by Jesus’ blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through Him!5
Christ not only paid the penalty for His people’s sins on the Cross; He also obeyed all of God’s commandments during His life so that believers are counted as righteous in God’s sight. Now Christians lean alone on what Christ has done for us, not on our own efforts. That’s the greatest news of all eternity!
Stanza #2: Solid and Ongoing Help
When darkness veils Christ’s lovely face, I rest on His unchanging grace.
In every rough and stormy gale, my anchor holds within the veil.
Scripture: We have this hope in Jesus as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. Christ, our Forerunner, entered Heaven’s throne room on our behalf… So let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings.6
The storms of life may threaten to crash our ships (our lives), but our anchor is firmly fixed on Christ. A boat’s anchor sinks to the bottom of the sea. It’s even more secure if it hooks onto a solid rock deep down. Our confidence in Christ is even better! Our anchor of hope is solidly attached upward to Jesus Himself and His throne in heaven!
True Christians may feel insecure in dark or dangerous times, and our feelings are fickle and unstable. So:
- We look back to Jesus’ finished work – His death,
resurrection, ascension, and pouring out of the Spirit. - We look up and remember that Christ continually
advocates, intercedes, and prays for us. Because Christ
stands ready to help us, we can run right into His throne
room to talk to Him in prayer. - And we look forward to the blessed hope – that Jesus
will return to complete and consummate our salvation.
Stanza #3: Guarantee of Salvation
His oath, His covenant, His blood support me in the whelming flood.
When all around my soul gives way, Christ then is all my hope and stay.
Scripture: On the night before the Cross, Jesus celebrated the Last Supper with His disciples, which became the Lord’s Supper for us. Christ said: “This cup is the new covenant between God and His people—an agreement confirmed with My blood, which is poured out as a sacrifice for you.”7
Jesus’ covenant is His oath-sworn promise that He will be our God and we will be His people forever. John Blanchard says, “Christ’s followers may fall, but because of His covenant, we will not fall from grace. God has never torn up a Christian’s birth certificate. Heaven is more certain for us than the grave.”
Stanza #4: Second Coming
When Christ shall come with trumpet sound, O may I then in Him be found,
Dressed in His righteousness alone, Faultless to stand before God’s throne.
Scripture: For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive… In a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. The trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed… I delight greatly in the Lord. My soul rejoices in my God. For He has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of His righteousness.8
Jesus’ return for His followers is more certain than tomorrow’s sunrise. Christ has died! Christ is risen! Christ will come again for us! Let us live joyfully today, following Jesus out of love for Him who first loved us!
Pastor John Piper says that we can do three things to prepare for the Lord’s return:
- Pursue Christlikeness now.
- Endure hardships for Jesus’ sake.
- Work faithfully for Christ.9
To Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy– to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen. (Jude 24-25)
Prayer
Heavenly Father, in times of trouble, You are always ready to help us. You are our Rock, our Refuge, and our Rescuer. You are our immovable foundation, our guarantee, and our solid place of safety. Guard us from temptations and troubles wherever we go. Keep evil and the evil one far from us. Help us not to be afraid because You are the Lord our God who fights for us. Surely Your goodness and mercy shall follow us, and we will dwell in the Lord’s house forever. Hear us and help us until You bring us home. Amen.10
On Christ the solid Rock I stand.
All other ground is sinking sand.
Notes: 1 Story from Rev. Theodore Cuyler, Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church, Brooklyn, NY. 2 Isaiah 28:16; Deut 32:4. See also 1 Cor 10:1-5; 1 Pet 2:1-10. 3 Elisabeth Elliot, These Strange Ashes: Is God Still in Charge? 2004. 4 Hymncharts.com, Apr 8, 2024. 5 Rom 5:6-9. 6 Heb 6:19-20, 10:22 (paraphrase). 7 Luke 22:20 NLT. 8 1 Cor 15:22,52; Isaiah 61:10. 9 John Piper, “How Do We Prepare for the Second Coming?” desiringgod.org, Oct 21, 2021. 10 Prayer builds on Psalm 18:2; Matt 6:13; Exodus 14:14; Psalm 23.