Rock of Ages
Augustus Toplady wrote this brilliant old hymn. First a fan of Wesleys, he ended up becoming their enemy! And yet his classic hymn was probably influenced by a Wesleyan hymnal.
Welcome to Friday Classic Hymns. Today we're looking at one of the greats: Rock of Ages, which was voted Britain's favourite hymn. It really is a classic, but it's hardly sung anymore. When last did you sing this song? I'd love to know if you'd share it in the comments below, because I think that it isn't sung as often as it should be anymore.
For me, this is a special one because my friend Rich wrote a kind of rock and roll version of this hymn. For years we've travelled around and played this in churches, and it was his version that awakened me to the power of these words. So there is a place for different versions of great hymns, and I'll play them both for you later at the end of the video. It's a brilliant hymn and it has an interesting story. Let me tell it to you.
The Story Behind "Rock of Ages"
Rock of Ages was written by Augustus Montague Toplady—what a name! Born in 1740 in England, he grew up in an Anglican home but was converted at the age of 16 in a barn in Ireland. He even commented on this later in his life, saying how strange that he who grew up in such a distinguished church would be converted or saved under the preaching of somebody who probably couldn't even spell his own name, out in a barn.
He ended up studying theology straight out of school and became ordained as an Anglican priest at the age of 22. He had a long career as a priest. He was well-loved and revered, known as a very serious and fiery man who was deeply committed to the ways of God.
He was born into the era of the Wesleys, when the Methodist movement was sweeping through England. Initially, Toplady was very excited by this movement. He really took to what the Wesleys were preaching and was very blessed by what they did. But then he changed his mind, because theologically he started to disagree with them.
The Wesleys spoke about free will, about how you would have to choose Jesus. Toplady came to believe that no, God chooses you—you've got no power to even choose Him or not. Calvinist thinking. The Wesleys believed in perfection, Christian perfection, that you could live a holy life, a truly holy life. Toplady, much like any Calvinist, believed you're stained by sin always until you're glorified.
Him and Wesley became kind of enemies. Toplady wrote some very horrible things about Wesley, calling him a devil and a worker of Satan. Wesley responded by publishing stuff saying this and that about Toplady. So they had a bit of a feud going.
It's actually quite ironic that Toplady's famous hymn, Rock of Ages, was probably kind of plagiarised from a Wesley hymn book that was published 30 years before he wrote and published Rock of Ages. The preface to this hymn book said this:
"O Rock of Israel, Rock of Salvation, Rock struck for me, let those two streams of blood and water which once gushed out of Thy side bring down pardon and holiness into my soul, and let me thirst after them now as if I stood upon the mountain whence sprang this water, and near the cleft of that rock, the wounds of my Lord, whence gushed the sacred blood."
It's very likely that Toplady based his hymn on those words. They're the only words of that sort of description that had been published up to that point.
But there is another story that is often associated with Rock of Ages. The story goes that Toplady was walking around one day and a huge storm blew in out of nowhere. He was looking around for shelter because lightning and thunder was crashing about. He looked over and saw a big rock with a split in it, ran off and stood in the cleft of that rock. As he stood there, the words to this hymn came to mind: Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in Thee. The legend goes that he looked around and found a playing card lying on the floor, picked it up and wrote that line on it so that he would remember it.
It's a great story, but it's almost certainly not true. In fact, one of the books that I use for research for these videos said that the story only began circulating 30 or 40 years after Toplady had died, so it was most probably just a legend.
The song became an instant classic and was sung for many years, pretty much every Sunday anywhere in a church. People were singing this song because it so beautifully summarises the gospel message.
Toplady sadly died as a young man at the age of 38. He had health issues and died far too young. But just look at these final words of Toplady's, and you can get a sense of where his heart was at when he knew he was close to death. He said:
"My heart beats every day stronger and stronger for glory. Sickness is no affliction, pain no cause, death itself no dissolution. My prayers are now all converted to praise."
Of course, he lives on in glory, but on Earth he lives on through the words of this great song. Let's take a look at what he wrote.
What Do the Lyrics of "Rock of Ages" Mean?
Verse 1: Rock of Ages, cleft for me
The famous first verse says:
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 of sin the double cure, Save from wrath and make me pure.
You can see where the legend came from that he was hiding in a rock in a storm—it would make perfect sense. But if you look at the words from the Wesley hymn book, it seems like the Rock of Ages is God, of course, the Rock of Salvation—strong, solid, unflinching—and yet wounded. The cleft, the split, is the wounds on Christ's body which were inflicted on Him when He died for us.
Toplady says, "Let me hide in the Rock of Ages, in those clefts," which mean so much to me.
He goes on to say, Let the water and the blood from Thy wounded side which flowed be of sin the double cure, save from wrath and make me pure. Or other versions say, "save me from its guilt and power"—same thing, just a different way of phrasing it.
I love this verse. He says the water and the blood which flowed. This is an image that comes out of John's Gospel. Number one, when Jesus died on the cross, they stuck the spear into His side to see that He was dead, and He was, because water and blood flowed. But in 1 John 5, John talks about this and talks about how the water and the blood are a witness.
This thinking of the water and the blood being a double cure is very powerful. The double cure is: saved from wrath, saved from God's punishment, safe from His anger, and made pure. It's so strange that he said this because this is a very Wesleyan way of thinking. The double cure is, in fact, a very Wesleyan theology. In fact, I've got a book called The Double Cure by an old Methodist minister, which is all about this—about how Jesus' death not only forgives us, saves us from God's punishment, but it makes us pure. It makes us able to live holy lives. It's only His grace, but it's what He does.
Do you know the double cure? The forgiveness of God so you don't have to face God's anger, but also the purifying of God, cleansing you and making you into a new person, living in light rather than darkness, holiness rather than sin. That's what the Rock of Ages does, and that's what His death accomplished for us.
Know today that you can be forgiven by Christ and you can be made pure and holy by His grace.
Verse 2: Not the labours of my hands
Verse two says this:
Not the labours of my hands Can fulfil Thy law's demands; Could my zeal no respite know, Could my tears forever flow, All could never sin erase, Thou must save, and save by grace.
Do you see what he's saying there? He's saying no matter how hard I try to work to earn my salvation, I can labour with my hands as much as I want, but I still won't be able to fulfil the law's demands. He says if my zeal would never stop, if I was continually zealous for God, I would still fall short.
Could my tears forever flow—if I could just weep and weep in sorry sadness for my sins, it would still not work. It would still not earn my way to salvation. All of that could not atone for my sin. He says, All could never sin erase, Thou must save—God must save—and save by grace.
Nothing I do can earn me God's salvation. What a wonderful verse! It's so great to sing these types of verses. The theology is so rich and so powerful. We should be singing theologically rich songs like these.
Verse 3: Nothing in my hand I bring
Verse three says:
Nothing in my hand I bring, Simply to Thy cross I cling; Naked, come to Thee for dress, Helpless, look to Thee for grace: Foul, I to the fountain fly, Wash me, Saviour, or I die.
The same type of thing: I'm not bringing anything to try to say, "Lord, look what I've done, now love me." Simply to the cross I cling—he says only by clinging to the cross and resting on what Jesus has done do I have any stand.
Naked, come to Thee for dress; helpless, look to Thee for grace; foul, I to the fountain fly; wash me, Saviour, or I die.
He says, "Look at me, I'm naked, I'm helpless, I'm foul. I've got nothing. I've got nothing to offer You, Lord. I need You to wash me." Of course, Jesus washes us clean. Jesus is the water, the Living Water that can cleanse us and take our foul, helpless, naked state and cleanse us and clothe us in righteousness and goodness.
Do you come to God humble, or do you come saying, "Look what I bring in my hands, Lord. This is me. You can save me because of this"? Oh no. Nothing in my hand I bring. Only Him washing me, clothing me in righteousness and making me ready to meet Him.
Verse 4: While I draw this fleeting breath
Then verse four is a great verse which says:
While I draw this fleeting breath, When mine eyes shall close in death, When I soar to worlds unknown, See Thee on Thy judgement throne, Rock of Ages, cleft for me, Let me hide myself in Thee.
While I draw this fleeting breath—in other words, while I'm still breathing—and when mine eyes shall close in death—when I die too—when I soar to worlds unknown and see Thee on Thy judgement throne—we're all going to face the judgement throne. What are you going to say?
Well, he's going to say, Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in Thee. When he sees God on the judgement throne, the only thing that he's going to be able to say is, "Well, I'm hidden in Your love. I have got nothing to bring, but I'm hidden in Your love. I am safe in the Rock of Ages who was cleft for me."
Conclusion
What a powerful hymn! What a powerful collection of words, reminding us that God's grace is all we have, and it is only by being hidden in Him, the Rock of Ages, that we can find our way with God.
Don't try to earn your way. Just rely on the love that God has for you and live holy out of that—because He loves you, not to make Him love you. What love He has for us!
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Please share in the comments what words meant something to you. Maybe some line of the song really touched you—share it all down below so we can all share in this song together.
References
Wesley Hymn Book Preface (published c. 1738)
Augustus Montague Toplady's final words (1778)
John 19:34 - The piercing of Jesus' side
1 John 5 - The witness of the water and the blood
