The Rock of My Salvation

    Mangers— To those of us who live in North America, they are hay boxes made of wood, and so they are depicted in Christmas manger scenes throughout the Western World. But mangers in Judea in the time of Jesus earthly sojourn were hewn from solid stone, either free-standing or hewn out of the wall of the cave being used as a stable.

    Have you who have read God’s Word considered the number of times rocks and stones are associated with our Lord Jesus Christ, both in the Old and the New Testaments?

    Both Moses and David refer to Him as the “Rock of Salvation,” David specifying the “Rock of my salvation;” Isaiah calls Him a “great Rock in a weary land;” Isaiah, Paul and Peter all refer to Him as a “Rock of offence;” Paul says He was a stone of stumbling; Jesus Himself said that upon Himself, “This Rock,” He would build His Church; Matthew said of Him, “The stone that the builders rejected, the same became the head of the corner;” Daniel saw Him as the “stone cut out of the mountain without hands” which dashed the image of Nebuchadnezzar to pieces, and so on.

    I awoke this morning, December 5, 1987, with these images passing through my mind and then came the words to this poem:

    The “Rock of My Salvation”

The “Rock of my salvation” was laid in a manger of stone
When He came as a babe in Bethlehem To make this earth His home.

“Thou art the Christ, the Son of God,” Said Peter, a little stone,
Of the “Rock of my salvation,” Jesus the Cornerstone.

The “Rock of my salvation” Was laid in a tomb of stone
When He died on the cross of Calvary For my sin to atone.

The “Rock of my salvation” Came forth from that tomb of stone,
Forever and ever conquering death, Jesus, and Him alone.

Said the “Rock of my salvation” As He stood on Mount Olive’s stone,
“Go, preach, baptize, and teach,” Then into heaven was gone.

But the “stone cut out of the mountain” All nations will claim as His own,
When the “Rock of my salvation” Shall return to sit on His Throne.

    — a. franklin staples       

Copyright © 1987 by a. franklin staples