“…all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.” 1 Corinthians 10:3-4
Paul the Apostle had been telling the Corinthians about the children of Israel and their journey from Egypt to the Promised Land. He did not have the New Testament, so he taught from the Old Testament. Paul was writing the New Testament as he was teaching the new church.
What is so cool is how you see Jesus in the Old Testament He was there, with the children of Israel, going through the wilderness. Many Christians think the Old Testament is not for today, for the Christian church, but we can see from Paul’s teaching, we have to read the Old Testament to fully understand the New Testament.
Think about it. What was the spiritual food? God sent manna from heaven. What was the spiritual drink? Where did it come from? Water came from a rock—the Rock. Who is the Rock? Jesus Christ.
Remember when Moses struck the rock instead of speaking to it, as God told him to do? The rock was symbolic of Jesus and He was not smitten twice. Moses misrepresented God. He was not obedient to God’s instruction. Jesus was the Rock who provided spiritual water to the children of Israel as they wandered through the wilderness.
In John 4, Jesus told the Samaritan woman, He could provide her with living water. If she drank of it, she would thirst no more. From the Old Testament to the New Testament, Jesus provided living water. The water from the rock in the wilderness sustained their lives and the spiritual water He provides gives everlasting life.
Jesus is the Rock; the Rock of my salvation; the Rock of my fortress, Jesus makes me strong. He makes me the person I want to be, as I live my life in Him, not in me.