Thursday of Lent 3

Thursday of Lent 3 – March 19, 2020 – 1 Corinthians 10:4
 

[1]

Rock of Ages, cleft for me,

Let me hide myself in Thee;

Let the water and the blood,

From Thy riven side which flowed,

Be of sin the double cure:

Cleanse me from its guilt and pow’r. [2]

“And [they] all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.” – 1 Corinthians 10:4

In the book of Daniel as he interpreted the dream for Nebuchadnezzer of the kingdoms that would rule over the world, when he got to the next to last world dominating kingdom the feet of iron and clay, as he watched there came a stone not cut with hands and it smote the image in its feet, so that the whole image crumbled and the stone grew into a mountain that covered the earth.

This is a prophecy of the second coming of Jesus. Jesus is that stone not cut with hands.

Jesus is the rock that was smitten from which the water of life flowed out to the people of God.

“If you will believe on the Lord Jesus Christ you will be saved” is the answer that Paul gave to the Phillipian  jailor when he asked, "What must I do to be saved?"

To the church in Rome Paul declared that salvation was not something that was far away or difficult to attain, but it was close to them as close as their mouths. For if they would confess with their mouths that Jesus Christ was Lord, and believe in their hearts that God had raised Him from the dead, they would be saved.

Keep watch over Your church, O Lord, with Your unfailing love; and, since it is grounded in human weakness and cannot maintain itself without Your aid, protect it from all danger, and keep it in the way of salvation; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen [3]

_________________

1. Luther’s Seal © Higher Things
2.  Rock of Ages, Cleft for Me, Lutheran Service Book © 2006 Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis
3. Collect for Thursday of Lent 3, http://www.liturgies.net/Lent/LentenCollects.htm