the foundations of the wall of the city [were] adorned with every precious stone the first foundation, jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, chalcedony; the fourth, emerald;
The wall of the heavenly city rests on twelve foundations, and John notices their colour rather than their strength. Each one is a different jewel. Why would a city built by God have foundations that break light like a prism?
The stones do more than decorate. They are how the light of God reaches a creature's eye.
Next, the foundations of the wall are adorned with precious stones. Besides the general idea of every character of beauty, the stones have a special character, noted elsewhere. Light transforms itself into a varied display of colours when it is seen through a medium. So it is when God is revealed in and by the creature, or in connection with his state: in creation, in priestly representation, and here, in glory.
Jasper appears three times in the description of the city. This verse is its third mention.
The jasper and the sardius are hard and indestructible gems, fit emblems of incorruption in the glorified state (1 Corinthians 15:50). The jasper is also mentioned three times in the detailed description of the heavenly city. First, as her light (v. 11). Second, as her security (v. 18). Third, as the first foundation of the wall (v. 19). So the glory of God is the light, the security, and the foundation of the glorified Church.
Behind the stones stands a Person. Commentators point past the apostles' names to the One who carries the weight.
The names of the apostles are engraved on the foundations of the Church, but Christ Himself is the true foundation. In the breastplate of Israel's high priest, the perfections of Christ gleamed in the precious stones, and each stone carried the name of a tribe cut into it. In the same way, the many perfections, beauties and glories of Christ, the true foundation, hold up the Church in its heavenly brightness. The foundation of all is jasper, "the glory of God."
The second stone already has a history in the Bible.
When Moses and the elders went up the mountain to God, "there was under His feet as it were a pavement of sapphire stone" (Exodus 24:10). In Ezekiel's vision, above the expanse, there was "the likeness of a throne, in appearance like sapphire" (Ezekiel 1:26). It was one of the stones in the breastplate, and it is a symbol of heavenly glory.
Several of the other names are hard to pin down. The ESV reads "agate" where older versions read "chalcedony."
Many of these precious stones are not found anywhere else in Scripture, so it is difficult to say what they are. This may be an indication that there are many glories that we are not even aware of that will be displayed. 1 Corinthians 13:9 reminds us, "we know in part".
Precious stones appear in lists three times in Scripture. Where the jasper stands in each list is the clue.
The names of the stones are then given, beginning with the jasper and ending with the amethyst. Compare the list with the twelve precious stones on the breastplate of the high priest (Exodus 28). The jasper comes first in our scripture, but it comes last on the breastplate. This may mean that the church begins with the glory in the Person of the Head, while for Israel it lies at the end. Morally the stones show the history of souls — as creatures, then as objects of grace taken up and placed on the heart of Christ, and finally as seen displayed in all His various beauties in the glory.
God's own light is not a spectrum. The colours belong to what He gives away.
We may learn from this that in every variety of beauty God will clothe His people in that day of glory. There will be different rays of His glory reflected through them, set forth by these different precious stones. In God's own case it is not so. His essential glory is not described in this way. It is full concentrated light.
The difference of colour is personal.
Although we are all partakers of the grace of God, that grace will shine through each differently, and no two are alike. It would be an immense pity if all the saints were like a cart-load of bricks — all the same shape and colour.
There is a plain lesson in how such stones come to exist.
As far as I understand it, precious stones are the result of two things: heat and pressure. It seems to show that if we are to display in any way the glories of Christ, we will have to pass through heat and pressure. What is both precious in God's sight and precious in testimony is the result of the various exercises we pass through.
- Light — God is undivided light. It breaks into colours only when it shines through a creature. These foundations are a prism, not a lamp.
- Foundation — jasper stands first, and jasper is the glory of God. The glory that lights the city and guards it also carries it.
- Grace — jasper comes last on the high priest's breastplate and first here. The church begins with the glory in the Person of its Head.
- Pressure — heat and pressure make a gem. What you pass through now is the making of what will be displayed.
- Variety — no two stones are alike, and no two saints are. Glory does not erase what makes each one different.
the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, topaz; the tenth, chrysoprasus; the eleventh, jacinth; the twelfth, amethyst.
Revelation 21:20 ends the list of the twelve foundation stones of the city wall, naming the fifth gem through the twelfth. Why did God choose coloured stones to picture the future glory of His people, and does each stone carry a meaning of its own?
(The ESV calls the fifth and sixth stones "onyx" and "carnelian." Older translations call them "sardonyx" and "sardius." Some quotations below use the older names.)
God's own glory is never described this way. The gems belong to what He gives away, not to what He is in Himself.
We will not try to give the spiritual meaning of each of these precious stones. Still, we may learn from them that God will clothe His people in every variety of beauty in that day of glory. There will be different rays of His glory reflected through them, set forth by these different precious stones. In God's own case it is not so. Scripture does not describe His essential glory this way. It is full, concentrated light. Unlike the glory He gives to the church, it is not broken up into a variety of hues.
A stone has no glow of its own. Whatever a topaz or a beryl shows, it first received.
The foundations were "adorned with every kind of jewel." There is variety in the stones, but all are precious. The stones are not a source of light, but they reflect and refract light and so display the beautiful colours of light. Christ is the light. In Him all excellencies combine in perfection to form the light. In His people every excellency is set forth in detail to display, as it were, the colours of the light.
These stones appear three times in Scripture, and the third time they stand for something permanent. Their difference from one another also carries a lesson.
These precious stones appear in Scripture three times. In the garden of Eden we see them in connection with creation. Then in Exodus 28 we see them in the breastplate of the high priest, and there it is clearly a question of grace for a failing people. But when we see these same stones in the foundation of the heavenly city, the thought suggested is permanent glory… Put a light through an emerald, and it is quite different from the light through a ruby. We are all partakers of the grace of God, yet that grace will shine through each of us differently, and no two are alike. It would be a great pity if all the saints were like a cartload of bricks — all the same shape and colour. All are alike in being saved by grace, but all are different in the expression of that grace.
The stones sit in foundations, and foundations carry weight. Commentators tie that weight-bearing role back to Christ.
The names of the apostles are engraved on the foundations of the Church, but Christ Himself is the true foundation. In the breastplate of the high priest, the perfections of Christ gleamed in the precious stones, and those stones were linked with the tribes whose names were cut into them. So here too the many perfections, beauties and glories of Christ, the true foundation, hold up the Church in its heavenly brightness.
Commentators differ here. Kelly gives no separate meaning to each stone. A Bible dictionary does trace one of them, the sardius, through several passages — including one that describes a fall.
One of the precious stones in the breastplate. Exodus 28:17; Exodus 39:10. It also adorned one of the foundations of the holy Jerusalem. Revelation 21:20. It was one of the stones that covered the king of Tyre (no doubt picturing Satan before his fall). Ezekiel 28:13. In heaven the One who sat on the throne "had the appearance of jasper and carnelian." Revelation 4:3. It is thought to be the sard, a superior variety of agate, of various colours, some blood-red, and others of a golden hue.
One stone in this verse appears nowhere else in the Bible. It shows up only here, in the wall's foundations.
Scripture mentions the sardonyx only once — in the fifth place, in the foundations of the wall of the heavenly capital in Revelation 21:20. There it shines as a symbol between the emerald and the sardius.
- One light. God's own glory is one undivided light. The twelve gems show what that light becomes when He shares it.
- Reflected light. No stone shines by itself. Christ is the light, and each foundation gives back a colour of it.
- Three settings. The same gems appear three times: in creation, in grace on the high priest's breastplate, and here in permanent glory.
- Twelve differences. Every believer receives the same grace, yet each displays it in a different hue — sameness would be the loss, not the gain.
- Solid ground. The colours rest in foundations, so the beauty on show is also the strength that holds the city up.