Precious stones, Privileged People

19/2/2023

Malachi 3:17-18

"They shall be Mine," says the LORD of hosts,
"On the day that I make them My jewels.
And I will spare them
As a man spares his own son who serves him."
Then you shall again discern
Between the righteous and the wicked,
Between one who serves God
And one who does not serve Him.

The Lord is making up His jewels – and ‘jewels’ are ‘special possessions’. We have been purchased at a price to be those Special Possessions, – and that makes us ‘Precious Stones’ and ‘Privileged People’ —and as ‘pearl[s] of great price’, we are being prepared to be set into His crown – to rule and reign with Christ. And they shall be mine, says the LORD of hosts...

But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. [1 Peter 3:4] That is what The LORD desires to see – a meek and quiet spirit – precious in His sight. Scripture has so much to say about jewels and precious stones – we can only skim the surface of that rich treasure here.

Being a ‘Precious Stone’ in the King’s regalia is more than the opportunity to accept a privileged position at the King’s court. The crown is having the ‘mind’ of the King, while the Sceptre is a symbol of the king’s authority or government — of righteousness and of Christ. In Exodus 28:17-21 we see twelve jewels set into the ephod, or chest adornment, of the High Priest – remembering that Jesus is our Great High Priest after the order of Melchisedec, and therefore our source of all heavenly authority. This ephod was placed to govern the heart. The twelve stones speak, not only of the heart and qualities of God’s chosen, but of the life and truth in the heart of God, as revealed to us by Jesus Christ.

You were in Eden, the garden of God;
Every precious stone was your covering:
The sardius, topaz, and diamond,
Beryl, onyx, and jasper,
Sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold.
The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes
Was prepared for you on the day you were created.
[Ezekiel 28:13]

Not only are we jewels for our Lord, but that precious stone nature has been ‘prepared in [us], on the day [we] were created’ – all that is needed is for Jesus Christ’s nature to be awakened in us for that to grow. ‘Every precious stone was [our] covering’. But as subsequent verses make clear, we must remain under that covering – under that government.*

MEDITATE ON THESE THINGS

1 PETER 2:4-6
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.
Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture,
"Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, And he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame."

* Briefly the meaning of the twelve jewels in the ephod are (as described in Exodus 39:17-20):

And you shall put settings of stones in it, four rows of 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. They shall be set in gold settings. [Exodus 39:17-20]

Sardius — of the tribe of Judah is sometimes described as a ruby. Judah means ‘praise’, and is the tribe into which Jesus was born.
Topaz — of the tribe of Issachar means ‘bearer of burdens / discerning the times’ – and you can see that in following The LORD we need that spirit of discernment – to see and know [with crystal clarity] as The LORD sees. It also brings those qualities of prophecy and vision, of leadership and understanding – and these are all burdens.
Emerald — (perhaps a garnet) — of Reuben speaks of the first-born son nature. [The inheritor?].
Turquoise — (perhaps an emerald, or a carbuncle) — of the tribe of Zebulon reveals His dwelling-place [abiding in Him, and He in us].
Sapphire — of Simeon brings a hearing ear [understanding].
Diamond — of the tribe of Gad is a company of overcomers. Diamond is an extremely hard mineral, not easily crushed.
Jacinth — of the tribe of Ephraim makes Doubly Fruitful.
Agate — of Manasseh shows forgetting. Our sins are not only forgiven, but forgotten by His great mercy.
Amethyst — of Benjamin is the Son of The Right Hand – when we are in Jesus nature we are seated at The Right Hand of God. (the Benjamites were predominantly left-handed.)
Beryl — of the tribe of Dan brings judgement -–not something to fear if we are found in Him.
Onyx — of the tribe of Asher will reveal happiness and Blessings.
Jasper — of the tribe of Naphtali. Naphtali means wrestling. We have much to wrestle with in our lives, not least our own natures. We tend to the nature of Jacob and like to wrestle with angels, but Genesis 30:8 says ‘I wrestled with my sister and I have prevailed’ about the birth of Naphtali the man. I believe it speaks of overcoming, of victory in the LORD, but I have also heard mention that this is a type of the true church – the true church and the man-made church being ‘sisters’, which would suggest the true church prevailing over the man-made one. Still a type for the overcoming nature.

PRECIOUS MOMENTS (Instrumental) — written by Fanny J Crosby

PRAYER requires FAITH

OUR LORD, IN instructing the disciples in regard to prayer, presented them with three pictures (see Luke 11:1-13 and 18:1-8), and strangely puzzling pictures they are until we understand their meaning. They are the pictures of an unkind friend, an unnatural father, and an unjust judge. Like many of our Lord's answers, these pictures seem no answer at all at first; they seem evasions, but we find that in answering our inarticulate questions our Lord presents His answer to the reality discernible to conscience, and not to logic.
[from ‘Christian Discipline, Vol 2’ by Oswald Chambers]

LISTEN TO THIS MEDITATION BY CLICKING ON DOWNLOAD FILE BELOW

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Below is a pdf (for download) of the original word brought to ‘Living Stones Christian Centre’ in June 2009, which we intend to edit and publish on www.write-the-vision.com.
Some of today’s meditation is taken from this talk.

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LIVELY STONES MEDITATIONS