UPON THIS ROCK, PETRA. A rock immovable. Craggy or a mountain peak. Rightly fitted to become the foundation of the church. Mt. 16:18 This is the rock against which the gates of hell will not prevail. This is the church TRIUMPHANT.
THE SYMBOL OF THE ROCK IN RELATIONSHIP TO JESUS. HE IS THE REJECTED STONE. The type and symbol relevant to the Lord Jesus must bear the imprint of His rejection. His own race rejected Him and were unwilling to receive Him. John 1:11 Jesus mentioned the <rejected stone> and thereby made it to be appropriate to this study of the stone. Mt. 21:42 It was to become the most important stone in the building of the Lord. The Lord does not choose after the ways of men. Often He has used that which was the least, for His purposes. The account is one from the life of Jacob. Jacob went out from Beersheba {the well of the oath}. Jesus went out of the presence of His Father. The God of the oath. Jacob went toward Haran {parched, or dry, desert}. Jesus came into this spiritually dry, barren, parched world seeking a wife as was Jacob. Gen. 28:10
A STONE USED AS A PILLOW. Seemingly not a comfortable choice but in this case an excellent one. He dreamed a spiritual dream. He saw the Lord. Gen. 28:12 Now what had been promised to his grandfather and to his father was confirmed to him. The promise of the covenant was no longer something that had been told him by his father, now it was his very own. The Lord had validated it to him. We may well tell our children of the Lord and raise them up with Christian virtues but they must have a spiritual experience for themselves in order to know the Lord. Upon awakening Jacob declared that awesome place to be the <gateway to the house of God>. Gen. 28:17 The pillow became a pillar or an altar a place of worship. He anointed the stone. Christ the anointed one. Jacob renamed the place and called it Bethel {the house of El or God} The gate of heaven. Gen. 28:19 He later used the name Bethel-Elohim {Gods house}. v. 22 He promised to tithe all that the Lord gave to him. Tithing was before the Law! Jesus is the way, the truth the life, the door. There is no other way. He is heavens door.