STONES
Compiled by Peggy Harris
4309 Sandy Spring Road, Burtonsville, MD 20866-1139 800/433-WASH
or 301/384/3727

Definitions -

Fossil: Dug out of the earth, also, of the nature of a fossil; hence, belonging to a past epoch or discarded system; antiquated.  Any rock or mineral substance dug out of the earth; also, any remains, impression, or trace of an animal or plant of a former geological age, found in the earth's crust or strata; hence, a fossilized or antiquated person or thing; a person of antiquated ideas or ways.

Stone: A piece of rock of small or moderate size; also, the hard substance of which rocks consist, as distinguished from wood, metal, etc.; a particular kind of rock; also, a piece of rock of definite size, shape, etc., used for a particular purpose; a gravestone or tombstone; a grindstone; a millstone; an imposing-stone; also, a gem or stone distinguished for its beauty and rarity and prized for use in jewellery, etc. (precious stone); also, something resembling a small stone or pebble; a hailstone,  a calculus concretion in the body; the hard endocarp of a drupe; any hard, stone-like seed; also, a measure of weight having various values.  To throw stones at; drive by pelting with stones; esp., to put to death by pelting with stones' also, to turn into stone; petrify' also, to provide or fit with stones, as by paving, lining, facing, etc.; also, to rub with or on a stone, as to sharpened, polish, smooth, etc.; also to free from stones, as fruit.

Stony: Full or abounding in stones; pertaining to or characteristic of stone; of the nature of stone; resembling or suggesting stone, esp. hard like stone; unfeeling; merciless; obdurate; also, motionless or rigid; without expression, as the eyes or look; also, seeming to turn on to stone.

Stoniness, stony-hearted: Hard-hearted.

Positive uses of stones:

  Some have precious treasures hidden inside them, never discovered until they are broken.

  They may used as building materials to provide shelter, protection.

  Crushed stones (gravel) mixed with cement form a bonding material to provide foundations, walls, etc.

STONES AS DESCENDANTS

Matthew 3:9 And don't think you can escape punishment by saying that Abraham is your ancestor.  I tell you that God can take these rocks and make descendants for Abraham! Good News Bible

SDA Commentary 299: "Possibly, John means that it would be easier for God to raise up children to Abraham from the stones than to turn the stony hearts of the Pharisees and Sadducees into spiritual children of their professed father.  Or he may simply mean that these leaders were not indispensable, and that God could replace them by turning the stones into human beings."

Desire of Ages Voice in the Wilderness 104- 107: "Before the seed of the gospel could find lodgment, the soil of the heart must be broken up.  Before they would seek healing from Jesus, they must be awakened to their danger from the wounds of sin."

106: "The Jews had misinterpreted God's promise of eternal favor to Israel: 'Thus saith the Lord, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The Lord of hosts is His name: If those ordinances depart from before Me, saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before Me forever.  Thus saith the Lord; If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the Lord.' Jer.31:35-37.  The Jews regarded their natural descent from Abraham as giving them a claim to this promise.  But they overlooked the conditions which God had specified.  Before giving the promise, He had said, 'I will put My law in their inward parts, and will write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be My people....For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.' Jer. 31:33, 34."

"To a people in whose hearts His law is written the favor of God is assured.  They are one with Him.  But the Jews had separated themselves from God.  Because of their sins they were suffering under His judgments.  This was the cause of their bondage to a heathen nation.  Their minds were darkened by transgression, and because in times past the Lord had shown them so great favor, they excused their sins.  They flattered themselves that they were better than other men, and entitled to His blessings."

"These things 'are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.' 1 Cor. 10:11.  How often we misinterpret God's blessings, and flatter ourselves that we are favored on account of some goodness in us!  God cannot do for us that which He longs to do.  His gifts are used to increase our self-satisfaction, and to harden our hearts in unbelief and sin."

"John declared to the teachers of Israel that their pride, selfishness, and cruelty showed them to be generation of vipers, a deadly curse to the people rather than the children of just and obedient Abraham.  In view of the light they had received from God, they were even worse than the heathen, to whom they felt so much superior.  They had forgotten the rock whence they were hewn, and the hole of the pit from which they had been digged.  God was not dependent upon them for the fulfilling of His purpose.  As He had called Abraham out from a heathen people, so He could call others to His service.  Their hearts might now appear as lifeless as the stones of the desert, but His spirit could quicken them to do His will, and receive the fulfillment of His promise."

"'And now also,' said the prophet, 'the ax is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.'  Not by its name, but by its fruit, is the value of a tree determined.  If the fruit is worthless, the name cannot save the tree from destruction.  John declared to the Jews that their standing before God was to be decided by their character and life.  Profession was worthless.  If their life and character were not in harmony with God's law, they were not His people"

"Under his heart-searching words, his hearers were convicted.  They came to him with the inquiry,  'What shall we do then?'  He answered, 'He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do likewise'.  And he warned the publicans against injustice, and the soldiers against violence."

"All who became the subjects of Christ's kingdom, he said, would give evidence of faith and repentance.  Kindness, honesty, and fidelity would be seen in their lives. They would minister to the needy, and bring their offerings to God.  They would shield the defenseless, and give an example of virtue and compassion.  So the followers of Christ will give evidence of the transforming power of the Holy Spirit.  Into he daily life, justice, mercy, and the love of God will be seen.  Otherwise they are like the chaff that is given to the fire."

STONES CRY OUT

Luke 19:39,40 Then some of the Pharisees in the crowd spoke to Jesus. "Teacher," they said, "command your disciples to be quiet!"  Jesus answered, "I tell you that if they keep quiet, the stones themselves will start shouting.

SDA Commentary 857 "Only the night before, the leaders of Israel had taken counsel together to kill Jesus.  Judas then met with them for the first time, angered by the implied rebuke he had received at the home of Simon in Bethany.  For vast multitudes to forsake the Temple service in favor of a glimpse of Jesus especially with the Passover season at hand, was an ominous portent of the waning power of the nation's religious leaders, who now feared that Jesus would permit the multitude to crown Him king

Desire of Ages 572: "Had men failed to carry out His plan, He would have given a voice to the inanimate stones, and they would have hailed His Son with acclamations of praise."

Read the story of the blind man Jesus healed. John 9

Desire of Ages 473: "Satan and his evil angels were on the side of the Pharisees, and united their energies and subtlety with man's reasoning in order to counteract the influence of Christ. They blunted the convictions that were deepening many minds.  Angels of God were also on the ground to strengthen that man who had had his sight restored."

Testimony Vol 8: 54, 55: Our Duty To The World. "...He does nothing without the cooperation of human agencies."  "Shall the selfishness and the ease of those who have earthly comforts and attractive home allure us?  Shall we cease as moral agencies to use our powers to the saving of souls?  Shall our voices be indistinct?  Then God will pout His curse upon us who have had so great light, and inscribe upon the walls of hour homes: 'Lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God.' 2 Timothy 3:4. He will put a tongue in the stones, and they will speak; but God commands of you in Battle Creek to go forth."

Councils to Writers and Editors 38: "The message of God will come to the people; and if there were no voice among men to give it, the very stones would cry out....It is the coldness of heart, the unbelief of those who ought to have faith, that keeps the churches in feebleness.

LIVELY STONES

1 Peter 2:3-8 "As the scripture says, 'You have found out for yourselves how kind the Lord is.'  Come to the Lord, the living stone rejected by man as worthless but chosen by God as valuable.  Come as living stones, and let yourselves be used in building the spiritual temple, where you will serve as holy priests to offer spiritual and acceptable sacrifices to God through Jesus Christ.  For the scripture says,

    'I chose a valuable stone,
    which I am placing as the
    cornerstone in Zion;
    and whoever believes in
    him will never be
    disappointed.
This stone is of great value for you that believe; but for those who do not believe:
    'The stone which the builders
    rejected as worthless
    turned out to be the most
    important of all.'
And another scripture says,
    'This is the stone that will
    make people stumble,
    the rock that will make them fall.'
They stumbled because they did not believe in the word; such was God's will for them."

Desire of Ages 599: "Upon this living stone, Jew and Gentiles alike may build....And by connection with Christ, the living stone, all who build upon this foundation become living stones...Without this connection, no man can be saved.

TESTIMONY VOL 9, 180 - 181: In the chapter Unity Among Different Nationalities Ellen White states that "...they will be just as decidedly Christlike."  Speaking of the Jewish temple, "This building represents God's spiritual temple, which is composed of material gathered out of every nation, and tongue, and people, of all grades, high and low, rich and poor, learned and unlearned.  These are not dead substances to be fitted by hammer and chisel.  They are living stones, quarried out from the world by the truth; and the great Master builder, the Lord of the temple, is now hewing and polishing them and fitting them for their respective places in the spiritual temple."

Testimony Vol 8, 173, 174: Section - A Temple of Living Stones - " His church on earth is to assume divine proportions before the world as a temple built of living stones, each one reflecting light.  It is to be the light of the world as a city set on a hill, which cannot be hid.  It is built of stones laid close together, stone fitting to stone, making a firm, solid building.  Not all the stones are of the same form or shape.  Some are large, some are small; but each has its own place to fill.  And the value of each stone if determined by the light that it reflects.... We are living amidst the perils of the last days.  We are wisely to cultivate every mental and physical power; for all are needed to make the church a building that will represent the wisdom of the great Designer.

Desire of Ages 599:

THE POLISHING

Ministry of Healing 471: Section - The Discipline of Trial - Suggestion: Put your name in to personalize this section.  "To live such a life, to exert such an influence, costs at every step effort, self-sacrifice, discipline.  It is because they do not understand this that many are so easily discouraged in the Christian life.  Many who sincerely consecrate their lives to God's service are surprised and disappointed to fine themselves, as never before, confronted by obstacles and best by trials and perplexities.  They pray for Christlikeness of character, for a fitness for the Lord's work, and they are placed in circumstances that seem to call forth all the evil of their nature.  Faults are revealed of which they did not even suspect the existence.  Like Israel of old they question, 'If God is leading us, why do all these things come upon us?' 

It is because God is leading them that these things come upon them.  Trials and obstacle are the Lord's chosen methods of discipline and His appointed conditions of success.  He who reads the hearts of men knows their characters better than they themselves know them.  He see that some have powers and susceptibilities which, rightly directed, might be used in the advancement of His work.  In His providence He brings these persons into different positions and varied circumstances that they may discover in their character the defects which have been concealed from their own knowledge.  He gives them opportunity to correct these defects and to fit themselves for His service.  Often He permits the fires of affliction to assail them that they may be purified.

The fact that we are called upon to endure trial shows that the Lord Jesus sees in us something precious which He desires to develop.  It He saw in us nothing whereby He might glorify His name,  He would not spend times in refining us.  He does not cast worthless stones into His furnace.  It is valuable ore that He refines."

Testimony Vol 6: 363: "The company of believers may be few in number, but in God's sight they are very precious.  By the cleaver of truth they have been taken as rough stones from the quarry of the world and have been brought into the workshop of God to be hewed and shaped.  But even in the rough they are precious in the sight of God.  The ax, the hammer, and the chisel of trail are in the hands of One who is skillful; they are used, not to destroy, but to work out the perfection of every soul.  As precious stones, polished after the similitude of a palace, God designs us to find a place in the heavenly temple."

PRECIOUS STONES

Testimony Vol 5, 30, 31:  Addressing youth - "What God intends to do with those apparently uninteresting youth you do not know.  He has, in the past, accepted persons no more promising or attractive to do a great work for Him.. His Spirit, moving upon the heart, has aroused every faculty to vigorous action.  The Lord saw in those rough, unhewn stones, precious material that would stand the test of storm and heat and pressure.  God seeth not as man sees.  He judges not from appearance but He searches the heart and judge righteously."

Vol 5, 466: "But unselfish labor for Christ and the future life will be as gold, silver, and precious stones; it is imperishable."

JETS OF LIGHT

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 598 - 601: Throughout the ages that have passed since the days of the apostles, the building of God's temple has never ceased.  We may look back through the centuries, and see the living stones of which it is composed gleaming like jets of light through the darkness of error and superstition.  Throughout eternity these precious jewels will shine with increasing luster....The flashing light of these polished stones reveals the strong contrast between light and darkness,  between the gold of truth and the dross of error.

....The Christian who faithfully presents the word of life, leading men and women into the way of holiness and peace, is bringing to the foundation material that will endure, and in the kingdom of God he will be honored as a wise builder.

....If they will make God their strength, He will work with them, and they shall not labor in vain.

....Every member should be a channel through which God can communicate tot he world the treasure of His grace, the unsearchable riches of Christ.  There is nothing the Savior desires so much as agents who will represent to the world His Spirit and His character.  There is nothing that the world needs so much as the manifestation through humanity of the Savior’s love.  All heaven is waiting for men and women through whom God can reveal the power of Christianity.

....When the message of God meets with opposition, He gives it additional force, that it may exert greater influence.  Endowed with divine energy, it will cut its way through the strongest barriers, and triumph over every obstacle.

CONCLUSIONS

The living stones represent God's people.  Each of us as a child of God has the privilege and responsibility to be jets of light.

If we fail to accept this opportunity as Christians then as a last resort God will cause stones to cry out.

Remember that He does nothing without the cooperation of human agencies.

Question: Are the stones that cry out - women and/or children

It appears that stones represent certain people in the church as do the drybones of Ezekial, Laodicians of Revelation and the story of the Ten Virgins.

The drybones represent burned out, dried up christians.  God will bring to life when they hear His word.

The Laodicians think they have it all, the right message but it is only a head knowledge of God.  They will only recognize their deep need if they will hear God and open the door of their heart to Him, getting to know Him personally. 

The Ten Virgins all slept.  They are together till Jesus comes like the wheat and the tares.  The wise ones have let the Holy Spirit illuminate their lives.

The stones represent people in the church who are just there.  They may not have been given opportunities to speak until God gives them power to speak, perhaps because others have refused to speak for Him.  There are many hidden jewels in these stones that through polishing by God these seemingly worthless stones will shine and reflect God's character.

Through all of these examples the message that comes through is that each one of us must have a personal experience with God for our lives to be worthwhile and savable.  We all have been in one or more of these conditions.  If we will allow God's wonderful work to take place in our lives we can become beautiful instruments, reflecting the love of heaven for each other and the world.  All of the heavenly beings are waiting, eager to help us.

Compiled by Peggy Harris December 1990 and January 1991

This page last updated on Sunday September 11, 2005 10:59 AM

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