The Solid Rock

Music has a way of cementing a memory like no other form of communication can. For me, this one takes me back to a youth conference in the mid-90s where we sang this song to a whole new rockin’ beat. Now, it was the 90s. I had hair, baggy pants, round metal frame glasses, and a fanny pack. The music was just as cool. And the youth conference worship band had my full attention. It was da bomb!

It was likely with more joy that Edward Mote wrote this hymn. He’s quoted as saying, “One morning it came into my mind as I went to labour, to write an hymn on the ‘Gracious Experience of a Christian.’ As I went up to Holborn I had the chorus,

On Christ the solid Rock I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand.

In the day I had four verses complete, and wrote them off…. On the Sabbath following… by the fireside [I] composed the last two verses… “

The hymn was first published in 1836, and then in 1863, the tune “Solid Rock” was written for it. It has been published in over 1,000 hymnals. Over the years it’s gone through some edits to what we have now.

My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
but wholly lean on Jesus’ name.

Refrain:
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand:
all other ground is sinking sand;
all other ground is sinking sand.

When darkness veils his lovely face,
I rest on his unchanging grace;
in every high and stormy gale,
my anchor holds within the veil. [Refrain]

His oath, his covenant, his blood,
support me in the whelming flood;
when all around my soul gives way,
he then is all my hope and stay. [Refrain]

When he shall come with trumpet sound,
O may I then in him be found:
dressed in his righteousness alone,
faultless to stand before the throne. [Refrain]

The first line really sets the tone. “My hope is built on nothing less”…  There’s an anonymous quote that goes like this, “A person can live 40 days without food, 4 days without water, 4 minutes without air, and 4 seconds without hope.” Hope is extremely valuable to human existence and as such, where we place our hope is just as vital – to “wholly lean on Jesus’ name”. Where else could we find the peace that passes all understanding?

Darkness will come for all of us, in one sense or another, at one time or another. As Mote so eloquently points out, we can “rest on his unchanging grace”. The writer of Hebrews 6:19 gives the basis for the next prose,  “…my anchor holds within the veil.” The veil, which was torn when Jesus died on the cross, separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the temple. To be within the veil is to be in the presence of God. This was made possible for us through Christ’s atoning blood.

The words “hope and stay” are so timeless that I don’t think anyone could come up with a better line. Jesus is our hope and stay. He is our expected desire, as well as my rest and trust.

The final stanza is one filled with so much joy and peace. What a glorious sound those trumpets will be! To be found in Christ and “dressed in his righteousness alone”! And to stand. “Before the thrown.” Such awe and wonder!

So yes, “On Christ, the solid rock, I stand” - the firm, motionless, unwavering, planted, and unchanging rock. “All other ground is sinking sand.” Everything else in life and death is shifting, moving, sinking, drifting, etc. Everything else is always changing. Everything else is in constant directionless motion, void of purpose and path. But Jesus is the solid rock, the sure and steady anchor, and our hope and stay.

Luckily, my fashion sense has never let me down…but it still doesn’t compare to the hope I have in Christ.

“My hope is built on nothing less”