Summary
Rock and Sand
At the close of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus paints a picture every hearer in Galilee would recognize: two builders, two foundations, one storm. "Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock" Matthew 7:24-27. Torrential rains were familiar to people living in the Holy Land; a house not anchored to bedrock would simply be swept away. Jesus uses that ordinary scene to press an extraordinary truth—what we build our lives on determines whether we stand or fall when the floods rise.
The first Easter tested those foundations in dramatic fashion. The women came to the tomb at dawn carrying spices, expecting to anoint a corpse Luke 24:1-3. When two angels asked, "Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen" Luke 24:5-6, the angels added a pointed reminder: "Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee." Only then did they remember His words. Their reports struck the apostles as "an idle tale, and they did not believe them" Luke 24:11. Peter ran to the empty tomb and went home merely "amazed"—not yet believing. Thomas refused to believe at all. The Emmaus disciples walked away downcast and despairing.
This was no failure of information. Jesus had told the Twelve plainly, again and again, that He must go to Jerusalem, be killed, and on the third day be raised (Matthew 16:21; Matthew 17:22-23; Matthew 20:17-19). The disciples had heard the words but had not built upon them. When Good Friday came, the rains came down—and houses built on the shifting sand of personal assessment, fear, and despair collapsed. The diagnosis of Rock and Sand is precise: confusion and depression on Easter morning came from trusting one's own thinking rather than the rock-solid promises of Christ.
The remedy is the gospel itself. On the cross, the spotless Lamb of God bore the sin of the world, and the wrath that should have fallen on us fell on Him. He reconciled the world to Himself, was raised from the dead, and clothes the baptized in His own perfect righteousness, so that when the Father looks upon us He sees the garment of Christ. That is grace—undeserved love poured out, the gates of heaven opened, faith itself given to us as God's gift.
Christ alone, then, is the rock. He is our hope—not wishful thinking but confident certainty—for "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" John 14:6. He is our light: "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life" John 8:12. He is our strength: "I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand" Isaiah 41:10. And He is our song, as the Spirit fills His people with "psalms and hymns and spiritual songs" Ephesians 5:18-19.
We still have a stubborn tendency to drift back onto the sand—to trust our fears, our reasoning, our circumstances. The good news is that the risen Christ keeps lifting His people up and setting them again on Himself and on His promises. Sanctuaries may stand empty for a season; the news of the day may seem an endless loop of bad tidings; storms will surely come. But the distance between God and sinners has been closed at the cross, and the house built on the solid rock of Jesus Christ does not fall.
Video citations
- "Rock and Sand" — Let's open our Bibles, please. This morning to the 24th chapter of the gospel of Luke for our study on this Easter day. When one comes to Easter day, it is such a joyous day for so many reasons. And…