His Crown Jewels

I am convinced we haven’t cultivated the imagination we need in order to fully enjoy, and be encouraged by, some Scripture passages.  Take, for instance, talk of jewels.  Jewels don’t do it for us anymore.  We’ve got stores full of baubles and costume jewelry, drawers full of matching earrings and necklaces.  But it feels detached from our reality to view the crown jewels of England or Scotland; to imagine this king or that coming in full regalia to a coronation, a wedding, an affair of state.   We hardly have the framework to appreciate the magnificence of the scepters or crowns, and the beauty doesn’t touch our soul or move us--maybe because the crowds push us through the spectacle without room for reflection (after all, we’re more accustomed to Disneyland than to the Tower of London or Edinburgh Castle); maybe because our value system has been transferred to electronics, nice cars, big vacations.  Yet God uses this imagery often in Scripture, and since we’ve recently been reflecting on the divine and perhaps even hidden depth of His promises, two of these have been on my mind.

One of my very favorite passages of promise:

“…my kindness shall not depart from you, nor shall my covenant of peace be removed, says the Lord who has mercy on you.  Oh, you afflicted one, tossed with tempest and not comforted, behold, I will lay your stones with colorful gems, and lay your foundations with sapphires.  I will make your pinnacles of rubies, your gates of crystal, and all your walls of precious stones.”  If we try to think about the essence of foundations, pinnacles, gates, and walls, like the Hebrews did, rather than a flat picture, we can imagine God’s building of our lives as something which is enduring, which provides a home, safety and security for other human souls, a place where fellowship is found; a person’s life work which lives on after they are gone, still acting as fortress, as castle.  Foundations, gates, pinnacles and walls do not come into being without careful planning for the purposes of strength, provision, purpose, and beauty.  Castles take a long time to build.  The blessing and the beauty of them lasts many generations beyond those whose dream and reality first brought them into being.  Castles were often made for defense and protection as well as for beauty.

 

But I digress, we are talking about jewels—how is it imaginable, when one sees castles built of grey rock, to get our minds around foundations laid with sapphire, blue, glowing translucent?   “Walls of precious stones”?  Breathtaking beauty beyond our imaginations.  A most lovely reality of our value and our potential impact here on earth, amidst both sorrows and joys; also perhaps a lovely reality of what is being built in heaven that bears our name as we fitfully and faithfully seek to honor Him with our lives.    Surely it is as simple as the first Westminster Catechism:  What is the chief end of man? …To glorify God and enjoy Him forever.”

And what about this one?

“They shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels.”  Malachi 3:17

“A day is coming in which the crown jewels of our great King shall be counted, that it may be seen whether they answer to the inventory which His Father gave Him.  My soul, wilt thou be among the precious things of Jesus?  Thou art precious to Him is He is precious to Thee, and thou shalt be His ‘in that day’ if He is thine in this day.

“In the days of Malachi, the chosen of the Lord were accustomed so to converse with each other that their God Himself listened to their talk.  He liked it so well that He took notes of it; yes, and made a book of it, which He lodged in His Record Office.  Pleased with their conversation, He was also pleased with them.  Pause, my soul, and ask thyself: If Jesus were to listen to thy talk would He be pleased with it?  Is it to His glory and to the edification of the brotherhood?  Say, my soul, and be sure thou sayest the truth.

“But what will be the honor for us poor creatures to be reckoned by the Lord to be His crown jewels!  This honor have all the saints.   Jesus not only says, ‘They are mine’, but ‘They shall be mine’.  He bought us, sought us, brought us in, and has so far wrought us to His image, that we shall be fought for by him with all His might.”  --Charles Haddon Spurgeon

If we are not shocked, undone, and utterly changed by this reality of our life and infinite value in Christ, then we are stepping falsely on another path than the straight one called Truths of His Promises.  Shall we miss the beauty and wonder of the journey?  Or live a life of awe, of jewel-brilliance?

--This fairytale castle was built by the 9th Earl of Argyle, who was martyred for his Christian faith in the 1600's.  In the castle, you can view his Bible: imprisoned, he marked passages of encouragement for his loved ones by pricking his finger and setting his blood by the verse.

--Also in this castle: a letter written by Rob Roy; and the flag and drum of this clan carried into the Battle of Culloden. 

 Inverary Castle, Scotland