And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. John 1:14.

When we want a deep problem to study, let us fix our minds on the most marvelous thing that ever took place in earth or heaven—the incarnation of the Son of God.^{37S.D.A. Bible Commentary 7:904.}

Christ alone was able to represent the Deity…. God Himself must be revealed to humanity. In order to do this, our Saviour clothed His divinity with humanity. He employed the human faculties, for only by adopting these could He be comprehended by humanity. Only humanity could reach humanity. He lived out the character of God through the human body which God had prepared for Him.^{38S.D.A. Bible Commentary 7:924.}

Had Christ come in His divine form, humanity could not have endured the sight. The contrast would have been too painful, the glory too overwhelming. Humanity could not have endured the presence of one of the pure, bright angels from glory; therefore Christ took not on Him the nature of angels; He came in the likeness of men.^{39S.D.A. Bible Commentary 5:1131.}

Looking upon Him, we behold the invisible God, who clothed His divinity with humanity in order that through humanity He might shed forth a subdued and softened glory, so that our eyes might be enabled to rest upon Him, and our souls not be extinguished by His undimmed splendor. We behold God through Christ, our Creator and Redeemer. It is our privilege to contemplate Jesus by faith, and see Him standing between humanity and the eternal throne. He is our Advocate, presenting our prayers and offerings as spiritual sacrifices to God. Jesus is the great sinless propitiation, and through His merit God and man may hold converse together.

Christ has carried His humanity into eternity. He stands before God as the representative of our race. When we are clothed with the wedding garment of His righteousness, we become one with Him, and He says of us, “They shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy” (Revelation 3:4). His saints will behold Him in His glory, with no dimming veil between.^{40S.D.A. Bible Commentary 7:925.}

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And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ. 1 Corinthians 10:4.

Christ combines the two types. He is the rock, He is the living water.

The same beautiful and expressive figures are carried throughout the Bible. Centuries before the advent of Christ, Moses pointed to Him as the rock of Israel’s salvation; the psalmist sung of Him as “my redeemer,” “the rock of my strength,” “the rock that is higher than I,” “a rock of habitation,” “rock of my heart,” “rock of my refuge.” In David’s song His grace is pictured also as the cool, “still waters,” amid green pastures, beside which the heavenly Shepherd leads His flock. Again, “Thou shalt make them,” he says, “drink of the river of thy pleasures. For with thee is the fountain of life.” And the wise man declares, “The wellspring of wisdom as a flowing brook.” To Jeremiah, Christ is “the fountain of living waters”; to Zechariah, “a fountain opened … for sin and for uncleanness.”

Isaiah describes Him as the “rock of ages,” and “the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.” And he records the precious promise, bringing vividly to mind the living stream that flowed for Israel: “When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the Lord will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them.” “I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground”; “in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.” The invitation is given, “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters.” And in the closing pages of the sacred word this invitation is echoed. The river of the water of life, “clear as crystal,” proceeds from the throne of God and the Lamb; and the gracious call is ringing down through the ages, “Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” ^{36 Patriarchs and Prophets, 413.}

References: Deuteronomy 32:15; Psalm 19:14; 62:7; 61:2; 71:3 (margin); 73:26 (margin); 94:22; 23:2; 36:8, 9; Proverbs 18:4; Jeremiah 2:13; Zechariah 13:1; Isaiah 26:4 (margin); 32:2; 41:17; 44:3; 35:6; 55:1; Revelation 22:1, 17.

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Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. Exodus 17:6.

From the smitten rock in Horeb first flowed the living stream that refreshed Israel in the desert. During all their wanderings, wherever the need existed, they were supplied with water by a miracle of God’s mercy….

It was Christ, by the power of His word, that caused the refreshing stream to flow for Israel. “They drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ” (1 Corinthians 10:4). He was the source of all temporal as well as spiritual blessings. Christ, the true Rock, was with them in all their wanderings. “They thirsted not when he led them through the deserts: he caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them.” “They ran in the dry places like a river” (Isaiah 48:21; Psalm 105:41).

The smitten rock was a figure of Christ, and through this symbol the most precious spiritual truths are taught. As the life-giving waters flowed from the smitten rock, so from Christ, “smitten of God,” “wounded for our transgressions,” “bruised for our iniquities” (Isaiah 53:4, 5), the stream of salvation flows for a lost race. As the rock had been once smitten, so Christ was to be “once offered to bear the sins of many” (Hebrews 9:28). Our Saviour was not to be sacrificed a second time; and it is only necessary for those who seek the blessings of His grace to ask in the name of Jesus, pouring forth the heart’s desire in penitential prayer. Such prayer will bring before the Lord of hosts the wounds of Jesus, and then will flow forth afresh the life-giving blood, symbolized by the flowing of the living water for Israel….

The refreshing water, welling up in a parched and barren land, … is an emblem of the divine grace which Christ alone can bestow, and which is as the living water purifying, refreshing, and invigorating the soul. He in whom Christ is abiding has within him a never-failing fountain of grace and strength.^{35Patriarchs and Prophets, 411, 412.}

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By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. Hebrews 11:24, 25.

While he was sitting under the very shadow of the throne, the Spirit of the Lord stirred his heart to lift the crushing weight that was pressing his brethren into the lowest degradation and slavery. His heart ached with sorrow, as if he himself were in slavery, laboring in the brick kiln, and sharing their degradation. They were slaves, suffering under the cruel lash. They were a reproach and a hissing to all the Egyptians, from Pharaoh down to the lowest serf.

But the Lord had singled out Moses as the one to deliver the oppressed race, and by forty years of exile, under the discipline of God, he was prepared for the work. Understanding the evil disposition of his own countrymen, knowing how many would be perverse and unreasonable, understanding that they might betray him, he was yet considering ways and means to accomplish their deliverance, though supposing that he himself had forfeited all right to be the instrument. But God, in the bush which though burning was yet unconsumed by the fire, presented Himself, and selected Moses as His agent….

Moses was accepted as a co-worker with God. He knew that scorn, hatred, persecution, and maybe death would be his portion if he should act any part in espousing the cause of the Hebrew captives…. He had stood in great popularity as the general of Pharaoh’s armies, and he knew that now his name would be bandied round and falsified, but he esteemed “the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt” (Hebrews 11:26). He laid down the prospect of a kingly crown, and took up the burdens of his oppressed and afflicted people.^{33Letter 116, 1896.}

Moses was chosen of God to break the yoke of bondage upon the children of Israel, and … in his work he prefigured Christ’s first advent to break Satan’s power over the human family and deliver those who were made captives by his power.^{34Testimonies for the Church 1:291.}

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And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. Genesis 28:12.

Jacob’s experience as a wanderer from his home, when he was shown the mystic ladder, … was designed to teach a great truth in regard to the plan of salvation….

The ladder represented Christ. He is the channel of communication between heaven and earth, and angels go to and fro in continual intercourse with the fallen race. The words of Christ to Nathanael were in harmony with the figure of the ladder, when He said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man” (John 1:51). Here the Redeemer identifies Himself as the mystic ladder that makes communication possible between heaven and earth….

In assuming humanity, Christ planted the ladder firmly upon the earth. The ladder reaches unto the highest heaven, and God’s glory shines from its summit and illuminates its whole length, while the angels pass to and fro with messages from God to man, with petition and praise from man to God…. In the vision of Jacob was represented the union of the human and the divine in Christ. As the angels pass to and fro on the ladder, God is represented as looking down with favor upon the children of men because of the merit of His Son….

The gaining of eternal life is no easy thing. By living faith we are to keep on reaching forward, ascending the ladder round by round, seeing and taking the necessary steps; and yet we must understand that not one holy thought, not one unselfish act, can be originated in self. It is only through Christ that there can be any virtue in humanity…. But while we can do nothing without Him, we have something to do in connection with Him. At no time must we relax our spiritual vigilance, for we are hanging, as it were, between heaven and earth. We must cling to Christ, climb up by Christ, become laborers together with Him in the saving of our souls.^{32The Review and Herald, November 11, 1890.}

From That I May Know Him