God said to Moses, ” ‘Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.’ And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel” (Exodus 17:6).
“Our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea; and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and all ate the same spiritual food; and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ” (I Corinthians 10:1-4).
The apostle Paul makes the connection for us in this Old Testament revelation of Jesus Christ. The backstory in Exodus chapter 17 has the children of Israel complaining about the lack of water on their journey. Moses appealed to God, worried that he was about to be stoned by the people due to the lack of water. God instructed Moses to strike the rock at Horeb and water flowed.
The flowing rock is a picture of Christ. Similar to the manna/bread, the water from the rock would not sustain them forever. But Christ is the eternal spring of water, the water of life. Jesus said to the Samaritan women at the well, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life” (John 4:13-14).
And again, “Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, ‘If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ”From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water” ‘ “ (John 7:37-38)
And finally, “Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst’ “ (John 6:35).
Never thirsty. Jesus is the Water of Life and His flowing in you will never end!
Jesus is the rock at Horeb, because Jesus was there from the beginning!