This week we will play a great hymn of the faith at RHC written by Edward Mote (1797-1874) called “The Solid Rock”. The often neglected son of pub owners in London, Mote spent much of his early years playing in the city streets. And in speaking of his theological upbringing, Mote commented, “So ignorant was I that I did not know that there was a God.” At the age of 18 Mote gave his life to the Lord and spent the next 37 years of his life plying his trade as a cabinetmaker, but spent the ast 21 years of his life as a pastor at a Baptist church in Horsham, Sussex. Mote wrote the hymn, “The Solid Rock” during his cabinetmaking days in 1834 on his way to work when it entered his mind to write a hymn. The chorus was done by the time he arrived at work and 4 verses by the time he got home that night.

The hymn itself is a treasure that clearly sets forth the message of Grace in its text. Each stanza is a declaration of our dependence upon Christ and His unfailing Grace. We have a hope that is not built on our ability to finish the race well but rather is founded on finished work of Jesus Christ. When life gets messy and it becomes difficult to see God’s work in our lives we can rest on His “unchanging grace” for our “anchor holds” fast when we cannot. His promise, sealed by the blood of Christ brings us comfort and peace in the midst of trouble. And ultimately, when we shall stand before His throne we will Faultless be as we come “dressed in His righteousness alone”! What an amazing truth!

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.

When darkness veils His lovely face,
I rest on His unchanging grace;
In every high and stormy gale,
My anchor holds within the veil.

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.

When He shall come with trumpet sound,
Oh, may I then in Him be found;
Dressed in His righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne.

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

Edward Mote (1834)

The above information was taken from the Journal of the Grace Evangelical Society, Spring 1998 – Volume 11:20 and can be found at http://www.faithalone.org/journal/1998i/Ward.html