Rock of Ages

I've had some feedback that says, "Do more of those hymns." Besides, Mother's Day is coming, and my mom loves the hymns. So you all get to enjoy them as well.

Rock of Ages
Augustus M. Toplady

Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in Thee.
Let the water and the blood, From Thy wounded side which flowed.
Be for sin the double cure: Save from wrath and make me pure.

Could my tears forever flow, Could my zeal no languor know,
These for sin could not atone - Thou must save and Thou alone.
In my hand no price I bring. Simply to Thy cross I cling.

While I draw this final breath, when my eyes shall close in death,
When I rise to worlds unknown, And behold Thee on Thy throne,
Rock of Ages cleft for me, let me hide myself in Thee.

This hymn written by Augustus Toplady in 1776, was part of a debate with John Wesley. Wesley believed it was possible to attain a condition of sinlessness and enter into a perfect rest. Toplady was a follower of John Calvin's teachings and held that there was nothing in man that could make him good enough to enter God's rest in this life. "Rock of Ages", then, points to the completeness of Christ and contrasts it with the complete inadequacy of man.

Verse one designates Christ as the Rock. There is a clear reference to the passage in Exodus 33, 34 where Moses, in the cleft of the rock, saw God. (Exo. 33:18-23) It was only there, in a rock broken for Moses, that he could tolerate the presence of God. So it is today. That broken Rock is Christ.

The verse goes on to cover the efficacy of the sacrifice. The blood represents the payment of death required by God's justice and paid in Christ's death. The water represents the cleansing that follows Christ's payment on my behalf. Toplady called it a "double cure": saved from God's wrath by my vicarious death with Christ, and made pure wholly in His forgiveness, completely apart from my actions or abilities.

Verse two contrasts Man's inadequacy with Christ's adequacy. The best I can do is not good enough. Deep, heartfelt repentance does not atone for sin. Undying zeal for God does not atone for sin. Each of us owes a certificate of debt (Col. 2:14) that cannot be repaid within ourselves. Salvation, payment of my debt, resides solely in God's hands. My only hope is God and His mercy.

Like so many others, his final verse looks to that final, blessed rest. And like so many others, this hymn sees that event rather differently than we do. This view of God carries a reverence and awe largely lacking in today's church. When Isaiah described his vision of God in Isaiah 6, even the sinless angels who attended God covered their faces in His presence. Toplady sees God in a similar light. Though forgiven and purified, there is no cavalier attitude in the presence of God. Our only hope is the Rock of Ages, broken for us, in which we hide.