What’s your birthstone? Mine is topaz. Do you have a favourite stone? I like sapphire the most.
God has a love of precious stones. Why? It’s the same reason we love the stones – because they’re rare and beautiful. It’s pride of ownership.
God said to Moses on the mountain; “Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” Exodus 19:4-5
The idea was expressed in the priest’s garment. God chose Aaron and his sons to minister as the high priests. Holy garments were made for Aaron – for glory and for beauty. The garments he wore were a breastplate, an ephod, a robe, a skillfully woven tunic, a turban, and a sash.
“You shall make the breastplate of judgment,” Moses was told in Exodus 28:15. This was the ephod – an ornamented vest of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine woven linen, artistically worked. The ephod worn by the priest had twelve stones with the names of the sons of Israel engraved like a signet.
Two onyx stones set in gold and engraved with the names of the tribes of Israel (six on each stone in birth order) were put on the shoulders of the ephod. They were for a memorial;
“So Aaron shall bear their names before the Lord on his two shoulders as a memorial.” Exodus 28:12
So each tribe had a stone. And the priest wore them on his chest as a breastplate.
There were four rows of three stones: “The first row shall be a sardius, a topaz, and an emerald; this shall be the first row; the second row shall be a turquoise, a sapphire, and a diamond; the third row, a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst; and the fourth row, a beryl, an onyx, and a jasper.” Exodus 28:17-21
God builds with precious stones.
In Isaiah 54:11-12 God says, “Afflicted city, lashed by storms and not comforted, I will rebuild you with stones of turquoise, your foundations with lapis lazuli. I will make your battlements of rubies, your gates of sparkling jewels, and all your walls of precious stones.
God says in Isaiah 49:16 that he can never forget Israel; “See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me.”
The Walls of the City of God
I am reminded of the City of God, the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21:9-27. “Now the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb …
… The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with all kinds of precious stones: the first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, the fifth sardonyx, the sixth sardius, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst.“
And each apostle had a foundation stone. There are eight stones in common with the ephod and the foundations of the City.
The first row of the ephod had the most stones in common – emerald, sardius, and Topaz. Not in common are the chalcedony, sardonyx, chrysolite, chrysoprase.
Jasper, the first foundation (of the City) and the fourth row of the ephod.
Sapphire, second foundation and the second row of the ephod.
Emerald, fourth foundation and the first row of the ephod.
Sardius, sixth foundation and the first row of the ephod.
Beryl, eighth foundation and the fourth row of the ephod.
Topaz, ninth foundation and the first row of the ephod.
Jacinth, eleventh foundation and the third row of the ephod.
Amethyst, twelth foundation and the third row of the ephod.
The Sapphire
It’s interesting that my favourite, the sapphire, is the second foundation of the City and the second row of the ephod.
Do you recall what was under God’s feet in Exodus 24?
Then Moses went up, also Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and they saw the God of Israel. And there was under His feet as it were a paved work of sapphire stone, and it was like the very heavens in its clarity.
Related post: Through the Word: The Mountain of God
Living Stones
Do you remember what the apostle Peter said about us being living stones?
The Chosen Stone and His Chosen People: “Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” 1 Peter 2:4-5
A few verses later Peter states we are the Lord’s possession: “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 1 Peter 2:9
So we are seen as living stones.
When you think of these stones, do you see them as grey or brown? Plain, ordinary stones? Think again.
This is what Zechariah prophesied about the people God saves;
“For they shall be like the jewels of a crown,
Lifted like a banner over His land—
For how great is its goodness
And how great its beauty!”
Child of God, you may think you’re ordinary but you’re not.
Do you know that God listens to those who love him and talk about him?
He says so in Malachi 3:16-17:
And the Lord listened and heard them;
So a book of remembrance was written before Him
For those who fear the Lord
And who meditate on His name.
“They shall be Mine,” says the Lord of hosts,
“On the day that I make them My jewels.“
Did you hear that? There’ll come a day when God will make those who fear Him and meditate on His name “jewels,” a prized possession.
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Related post: Grains of sand
Even the grains of sand are not ordinary.
Sand is formed from the chemical and physical breakdown of rocks.
God knows that we are dust, formed from the same stuff as the stars. In Psalm 103:13-14 he says, As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.
But even dust has a promise. Have you ever seen grains of sand magnified? You should take a look.
The Kingdom 