Ben

When a builder builds, he begins with the foundation. Jesus said "Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock." (Matt 7:24.) Wise men choose a solid foundation such as a rock. 1 Cor 3:11 states, "For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ." Jesus said in Matt 7:26, "But anyone who hears my teaching and ignores it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. Sand is always shifting. Men of sand also shift, saying one thing with strong affirmation one minute then the next saying something opposite or nearly so.

There also seems to be some confusion about just exactly who is "The Rock" is of scripture. God the Father is called The Rock no less than 27 times in the OT. Passages such as 1 Sam 22:47 ""The Lord lives! Blessed be my rock! May God, the rock of my salvation, be exalted!" Another example is found in Psalm 62:2, "He [God] only is my rock and my salvation; He is my defense; I shall not be greatly moved."

Jesus is also called a rock or stone in both the OT and the NT. For example in 1 Cor 10:4 "and all of them drank the same miraculous water. For they all drank from the miraculous rock that traveled with them, and that rock was Christ." 1 Peter 2:8 "And the Scriptures also say, "He [Christ] is the stone that makes people stumble, the rock that will make them fall." They stumble because they do not listen to God's word or obey it, and so they meet the fate that has been planned for them." (This passage is a quote from Isaiah 8:14.) Romans 9:33 states, "As it is written: "Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense,
And whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame." (This passage quotes from Isaiah 8:14; 28:16.) 1 Peter 2:4, "Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious."

This is not the only time there was confusion as to what Jesus actually meant when He spoke. In John 2:19-21, Jesus said, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days. The Jews replied, It has taken forty‑six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days? But by 'this temple,' Jesus meant his body." It is rather easy to imagine that Jesus placed both hands on His chest when he proclaimed "this temple" and it is just as easy to imagine He also placed both hands on his chest when He proclaimed "upon this rock." Gestures however are not found in either of these passages.

Ben