Cut Out Without Hands
In the manual: Come, Follow Me lesson 46, “There Is No Other God That Can Deliver,” on Gospel Library
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In the king’s dream, a stone “cut out without hands” struck a giant statue, broke it to pieces, and grew into a mountain that “filled the whole earth” (Daniel 2:34–35).
Read Together
The statue had a head of gold, arms of silver, a belly of brass, legs of iron, and feet of iron mixed with clay (Daniel 2:32–33). Daniel explained that each part stood for a kingdom, beginning with Babylon itself (Daniel 2:37–40).
34Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces. 35Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.
44And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.
What It Teaches
The metals in the statue get cheaper as they go down, and the feet are partly clay. The stone is different. No human hands cut it, and “in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed” (Daniel 2:44).
In 1831 the Lord told Joseph Smith that the keys of his kingdom were on the earth again. He said the gospel would roll forth like the stone Daniel saw until it filled the whole earth (Doctrine and Covenants 65:2).
The Church was organized in 1830 with six members, in a log home in New York. Today its members live all over the world, and the stone is still rolling.
In general conference, President D. Todd Christofferson taught what the stone stands for. “The Church is that prophesied latter-day kingdom, not created by man but set up by the God of heaven and rolling forth as a stone ‘cut out of the mountain without hands’ to fill the earth. Its destiny is to establish Zion in preparation for the return and millennial rule of Jesus Christ.”
President D. Todd Christofferson, “Why the Church,” General conference, October 2015
Talk About It
The stone was small when it started. What is one small thing our family could do this week to help the Lord’s kingdom grow?
Take to Church
Daniel saw a stone cut out without hands become a mountain that filled the earth. The Lord has set up his kingdom again, and each of us helps it roll forth.