May 6, 2026

In Numbers 20 I learned three things from the miracle of the water coming from the rock.

First, the rod represents the priesthood, the power of God to do His work on earth. His work is immortality and eternal life. It is fitting that the symbolic instrument of the rod was used to bring forth water in a desolate land so that the children of Israel might live. Without the priesthood, we cannot access the everliving water that is our Messiah. The priesthood binds us to Him through sacred covenants, and through this relationship we come to know Him, become like Him, and have eternal life and joy. Without the priesthood and the ordinances God has given us, we cannot enter the celestial kingdom.

Second, Moses was commanded to take the rod and speak to the rock, but because of his unbelief he struck the rock instead, and therefore was punished. God has the power to grant us living water in whatever way He designs. Christ demonstrates this many times during His early ministry where he heals people using different physical rituals. Exact obedience shows faith, and that faith brings forth miracles. God has set up symbolic rituals for us to follow in our day that lead to salvation. These rituals could have been anything that God wanted them to be - and He made them as they are. As we follow them, and all of His commandments with exactness, undeviating, we demonstrate our faith and draw closer to God - we come to know Him.

Finally, this story somewhat reminds me of John the Baptist proclaiming that God can raise up children from stones into Abraham. He said this to tell the Jews, and more specifically the Pharisees, that any who come into God can be adopted into the Abrahamic covenant. In this covenant, God promises priesthood, posterity, and promised land. Through an eternal lense, these promises are exaltation - they are living with our Heavenly Father, like our Heavenly Father. Now, how are these similar? It relates to the allegory of the olive branches. Through the power of the priesthood, the gentiles (stones) bring forth the gospel to the Israelites.

As I was lifting this morning, a thought came to me about the hewn verses unhewn tablets. The higher law on the unhewn that Moses broke because the Israelites were worshipping idols, and the lesser law on the hewn tablets. The hewn stone is considered defiled because man shaped them rather than God.

In Mosiah 13:11 Abinadi accuses the wicked priests of not having the word of God written in their hearts. Paul writes, in 2 Corinthians, "written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart."

If we are to have the commandments, the word of God, written on the tables of our hearts, we must not hew our heart after our own will, but let it be shaped by God by aligning our will with His that we may not be defiled, but that we may walk in His paths which are holy, which are a higher and holier law and life.

Another thought to tie my two thoughts from today together. If God is able to raise up children to Abraham from stones, then He can, if we let Him, change our hearts (stones) to allow us to participate in the blessings He promised Abraham. If we give Him our broken, our hewn heart, He can fix it and change it after the design of God.

Simon has his name changed to Peter, or rock. And upon this rock Christ built His church. Peter went through a lot of change to become the type of rock shaped by God that His church could be built upon. Our hearts, when given to and shaped by God, become the foundation of His church and the instruments of bringing forth the gospel to all His children.

Of Stones and Hearts

The rock cut out of the mountain without hands that we read about in Daniel is the church of God and the kingdom of God that will roll forth until it fills the earth. Why is it cut out without hands? Because a hewn stone is of man's design. It is defiled and not complete. It is not God's. Other churches that are made by man, are like hewn stones. God's church and kingdom are after His design, undefiled by man.

The process of repentance, of change of heart, of giving out broken heart and contrite spirit to Heavenly Father and our Savior, is how He fixes the hewn and defiled stone of the natural man and makes us, again, after His image. We become like Him, higher and holier.

Mountains represent temples. Temples are the house of God and where we draw nearest to Him. These are perfect, unhewn stones. Are our hearts, our bodies not temples of the Lord? Does the Spirit not speak to us through our hearts?