Truth of the Spirit with Patti Brunner finds a pearl of great price in sharing “Jewels—God’s Beauty in Creation”. From the beginning of mankind God created gemstones and metals that would reflect his light and glory as items of beauty. For audio and video links and to read the script please continue reading.
Today’s episode is going to be a real ‘crossover’ topic; the Lord has asked me to speak about the jewelry in Scripture—diadems and crowns, ephods and phylacteries.
Welcome to Truth of the Spirit. I am your host Patti Brunner. Today’s episode is “Jewels-God’s Beauty in Creation”.
One of my favorite gifts that my husband has given me is an opal ring. The fire within the stone is a thing of beauty. Later on he gave me opal earrings. My favorite aunt, a great aunt on by daddy’s side, was named “Opal” and every time I wear this jewelry I am flooded with loving memories of my Aunt Opal and my husband’s thoughtfulness. Many years ago I wrote a book about God’s messages to us during Advent called “Advent Pearls”. I gathered up five years of loving pearls of the Lord’s wisdom and encouragement and strung them together with the scriptures of the Advent season for meditation. Fine pearls have been treasured and handed down between the generations in my family—a pearl wedding ring, a pearl necklace.
Often, especially in scripture, the adornment of jewelry is linked with vanity. We are encouraged to be modest. Modesty and humility are good traits of a Christian. Yet there is more than meets the eye when it comes to the creation of jewels. In Matthew Chapter 7, Jesus says, “6 ‘Do not give dogs what is holy; and do not throw your pearls in front of pigs.’” In Chapter 13 Jesus says, “45 ‘Again, the kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls; 46 when he finds one of great value he goes and sells everything he owns and buys it.’” As Jesus tells the famous story of the return of the Prodigal Son in the Gospel of Luke, He shares, “22 But the father said to his servants, “Quick! Bring out the best robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger.’”
As we have often seen in the past and in the present, mankind casts their pearls before swine. Sin can take the beauty God gives us and make it ugly. The prophet Jeremiah writes, Jeremiah 2:32 [ESV] “Can a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet my people have forgotten me days without number.” Scripture gives us several references about jewels both positive and negative. Today the focus is to think of beauty. God created beauty. Beauty gives glory to God. There is natural beauty and beauty in nature.
As God created the world, He paid special attention to the Garden of Eden. Genesis Chapter 2 tells us, “10 A river flowed from Eden to water the garden, and from there it divided to make four streams. 11 The first is named the Pishon, and this winds all through the land of Havilah where there is gold. 12 The gold of this country is pure; bdellium and cornelian stone are found there.” Ever since creation, the world has given gold value, and pure gold is most valuable. Bdellium is a crystal product of a plant resin [like amber] similar to topaz. The sap that forms this jewel has a smell similar to myrrh. Cornelian stones are a glassy translucent orange or brownish red. Just imagine the sunlight and water magnifying these autumn colors.
The Prophet Ezekiel reminded us of the beauty of jewels covering mankind at creation. In Ezekiel Chapter 28 the prophet gives this word from the Lord, “The Lord Yahweh says this: You used to be a model of perfection, full of wisdom, perfect in beauty; 13 you were in Eden, in the garden of God. All kinds of gem formed your mantle: sard, topaz, diamond, chrysolite, onyx, jasper, sapphire, garnet, emerald, and your ear-pendants and spangles were made of gold; all was ready on the day you were created.” God created these stones of beauty and shared them with Adam and Eve. After man sinned they lost their glorious covering and hid from God who gave them leather to cover their nakedness.
When Abraham, our father in faith, sent a servant to find a wife for his beloved son Isaac God led him to Rebecca. Genesis Chapter 24 then tells us the servant then “22 took a gold ring weighing half a shekel, and put it through her nose, and put two bracelets weighing ten gold shekels on her arms.” After her family agreed to give her to Isaac as a bride the servant “53 brought out silver and gold ornaments and clothes which he gave to Rebekah; he also gave rich presents to her brother and to her mother.”
The prophet Malachi in Malachi Chapter 3, which is quoted a couple of days before Christmas in the liturgy, says that the Lord “3 will take his seat as refiner and purifier; he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, so that they can make the offering to Yahweh with uprightness.” Psalm 66 says that God tests us and refines us like silver to purify us.
The most specific instructions by God for man to fashion jewels into a wearable garment is the ephod created for the High Priest to wear. In Exodus Chapter 28 we hear God tell Moses to fashion the Ephod “17 In it you will set four rows of stones: a sard, topaz and emerald for the first row; 18 for the second row, a garnet, sapphire and diamond; 19 for the third row, a hyacinth, a ruby and an amethyst; 20 and for the fourth row, a beryl, a cornelian and a jasper. These must be mounted in gold settings.” The ephod was worn by the priest as a garment. The Lord chose that the High Priest, to reflect the glory of God, wear these beautiful shimmering stones. Man was created in the image of God, but, because of sin, the High Priest needed to cover his heart. As Jesus became the perfect High Priest, the glory of God shone brightly at the resurrection without the use of jewelry.
Have you ever played with the sunlight bouncing off a diamond ring or a watch crystal? It can split light to become a rainbow. It redirects a light beam to the wall or to the ceiling. Even an inexpensive rhinestone brings delight as it sparkles. God uses a diamond in the Ephod. Diamonds have the highest refractive index of any natural mineral. They are also known to be one of the hardest substances.
In scripture silver and gold, diamonds and gems are also formed, like a diamond tiara, as diadems. As God instructed Moses in Exodus 29 to clothe Aaron with the jeweled ephod he also told him to “6 Put the turban on his head, the sacred diadem on the turban” before he was ordained and anointed as High Priest. The Prophet Zechariah mentions in Zechariah Chapter 9, “16 Yahweh their God will give them victory when that day comes, like the sheep who are his people; yes, the stones of a diadem will sparkle over his country.” And Isaiah 28 writes, “5 That day Yahweh Sabaoth will be a crown of splendour and a proud diadem for the remnant of his people.” This crown-like jewelry for the head was like a crown of their beloved King David three hundred years earlier.
As the Word of the Lord was written down, the Rabbi’s came up with a very simple item of jewelry for adult males to reflect God’s glory without jewels or the sun’s reflection. Phylacteries were small, black, leather cubes containing a piece of parchment inscribed with verses 4–9 of Deuteronomy 6, verses 13–21 of Deuteronomy 11, and verses 1–16 of Exodus 13. Attached with straps to the left arm or to the forehead during weekday morning prayers by Orthodox and Conservative Jewish men in their interpretation of Exodus 13, Deuteronomy 11, and Deuteronomy chapter 6. It says: “4 ‘Listen, Israel: Yahweh our God is the one, the only Yahweh. 5 You must love Yahweh your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength. 6 Let the words I enjoin on you today stay in your heart. 7 You shall tell them to your children, and keep on telling them, when you are sitting at home, when you are out and about, when you are lying down and when you are standing up; 8 you must fasten them on your hand as a sign and on your forehead as a headband; 9 you must write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”
I love the idea of wearing the Word of God like jewelry but as for me, I prefer a little sparkle and shine. I have a favorite blessed, silver cross that I wear that brings my mind to the Lord each morning as I put it on. I also have a gold one with a cross that when my pastor blessed it he prayed that all who saw it would also be blessed. My daily wear jewelry includes my gold wedding ring, blessed at my marriage over 50 years ago –so glad it’s not in my nose like Rebecca in Genesis!—and I wear a Cross of St. Benedict that has a special exorcism blessing by a Benedictine priest at the Subiaco Monastery. No diadems or crowns for me, but I look forward to a crown of glory some day!
Beauty is from within yet what is visible to the eye is a mirror of the soul. There is too much ugliness and horror in sin. Do not seek to reflect this to others. Note, too, the effect of light on fine jewels—the shimmer, the glow, imitates and honors the glory flow like a crown of heavenly stars. Let these remind you of God’s beauty in creation. In Revelations Chapter 12 John wrote: “1 Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman, robed with the sun, standing on the moon, and on her head a crown of twelve stars”.
As King Solomon built the first temple in Jerusalem, beauty was definitely on his mind. In 2 Chronicles Chapter 3 we read that Solomon overlaid the portico in front of the house of God “with pure gold. 5 The Great Hall he lined with juniper, which he overlaid with fine gold and ornamented with palm trees and festoons, 6 and he decorated the hall beautifully with precious stones and with gold from Parvaim, 7 overlaying the hall, its beams and its thresholds, its walls and its doors, with gold and engraving the walls with great winged creatures.”
The beautiful Song of Solomon is considered a poetic conversation of the bride, the Church, with her bridegroom, the Lord. In it the bridegroom uses the image of jewels to speak of beauty. The Bridegroom says in Chapter 1, “10 Your cheeks show fair between their pendants and your neck within its necklaces. 11 We shall make you golden earrings and beads of silver.” Then in Chapter 4 of Song of Songs, “You have captivated my heart, my sister, my bride; you have captivated my heart with one glance of your eyes, with one jewel of your necklace.” The prophet Isaiah proclaims praise as he says in Isaiah Chapter 61, “10 I exult for joy in Yahweh, my soul rejoices in my God, for he has clothed me in garments of salvation, he has wrapped me in a cloak of saving justice, like a bridegroom wearing his garland, like a bride adorned in her jewels.” The prophet Ezekiel’s words paints a picture of that bride in Ezekiel Chapter 16: “And I adorned you with ornaments and put bracelets on your wrists and a chain on your neck. And I put a ring on your nose and earrings in your ears and a beautiful crown on your head. Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your clothing was of fine linen and silk and embroidered cloth. You ate fine flour and honey and oil. You grew exceedingly beautiful and advanced to royalty.”
I do believe the Lord desires to advance us to royalty, especially in heaven. Through Baptism the Lord gives us the role of priest, prophet, king. Those in heaven wear crowns of glory. John’s heavenly vision is recorded in the Book of Revelation. In Chapter 4 he uses jewels to describe what he saw. He writes, “1 Then, in my vision, I saw a door open in heaven and heard the same voice speaking to me, the voice like a trumpet, saying, ‘Come up here: I will show you what is to take place in the future.’ 2 With that, I fell into ecstasy and I saw a throne standing in heaven, and the One who was sitting on the throne, 3 and the One sitting there looked like a diamond and a ruby. There was a rainbow encircling the throne, and this looked like an emerald. 4 Round the throne in a circle were twenty-four thrones, and on them twenty-four elders sitting, dressed in white robes with golden crowns on their heads.” 1 Peter Chapter 5 says, “4 When the chief shepherd appears, you will be given the unfading crown of glory.”
Jesus tells us to shine on earth, too. Jesus says in the Gospel of Matthew Chapter 5, “14 ‘You are light for the world. A city built on a hill-top cannot be hidden. 15 No one lights a lamp to put it under a tub; they put it on the lamp-stand where it shines for everyone in the house. 16 In the same way your light must shine in people’s sight, so that, seeing your good works, they may give praise to your Father in heaven.”
Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 4: “4 the unbelievers whose minds have been blinded by the god of this world, so that they cannot see shining the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 It is not ourselves that we are proclaiming, but Christ Jesus as the Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6 It is God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ that has shone into our hearts to enlighten them with the knowledge of God’s glory, the glory on the face of Christ.” In Revelation Chapter 4 John saw “he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald.” And, in Chapter 21, he wrote, “And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”
Although the Jewish people thought that the Messiah would wear an earthly crown of gold and jewels, they failed to see the reflection of his glory; they rejected Jesus as their king. Instead, Jesus was given a crown of thorns to wear by the soldiers. Matthew writes in Chapter 27: “To make fun of him they knelt to him saying, ‘Hail, king of the Jews!’” Jesus humbly wore this crown fashioned by the sin of mankind so that we, his followers, his brothers, the children of his loving Father, might one day wear his crown of glory and truly reflect the light of Christ like the created beauty of fine jewels.
If you have a special jewel or piece of jewelry that reminds you of God’s glory please share in the comments on our YouTube channel. You’ve been listening to Truth of the Spirit and Jewels-God’s Beauty in Creation. You can also read the script on the website PatriarchMinistries.com/177. Then come back for more. With the Holy Spirit there’s always more! Amen.
