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Thoughts of Heaven

 Do you like gemstones? They are my favorite form of “bling”, and I have several because my husband loves to give me gifts for every occasion, and gemstones, especially the colorful ones, are his gift of choice, and my gift of “receiving”.

God loves them, too because He decorated heaven with them. John the Revelator was so mesmerized by them when he was given a vision of heaven that he wrote about them extensively.
John describes the foundations of the walls of heaven as if they appear in layers, one stacked on top of the other. If so, the beauty would be too awesome for words. I have a few rings where different gemstones are mounted in a cluster and they are mind-boggling in their extravagance.
John says the first foundation is made of jasper, a beautiful reddish brown stone usually set as a cabachon. The next layer is sapphire. Sapphire comes from the mines in a variation of colors.
Chalcedony is a form of quartz, a translucent stone in colors of white and gray and blue but comes in other colors, too as we shall soon see in the following paragraphs.
The fourth layer is emerald, a form of beryl, and usually in a brilliant and bright green color. Stacked on top of the emerald is a layer of sardonyx, a stone similar in composition to the chalcedony. It is also reddish-brown. Sardius is red and goes by the name of carnelian.
Chrysolite is otherwise known as peridot, or olivene. This is my birthstone and when I was young I thought it was very ugly, but I had only seen it in the “dimestore” version. When I saw my first faceted real peridot set in gold, it took my breath away. Chrysolite or peridot tends to be a yellowish green, as opposed to the true green of the emerald.
Beryl is a comprehensive term for many notable stones, including emerald. Also aquamarine and morganite. Morganite is one of the most expensive stones trending in jewelry right now - a beautiful sparkling color reminiscent of peach and coral.
Topaz is number nine in the layers of gemstones as we climb our way up the walls of that city. Topaz is usually colorless but as brilliant and sparkling as a diamond and is often used with other gemstones as a substitute for the diamond. It does come in colors also.
The 10th layer is chrysoprasus and is often mistaken for emerald. It is the most valuable stone in the chalcedony family. Jacinth is the eleventh layer and is mined in yellowish and orange colors. I can tell you from experience that an orange gemstone is the epitome to me as a ring setting.
The top layer of the wall is an amethyst, which is a variety of quartz, and is a brilliant purple or violet color.
John tries to describe the wonders of heaven in words to which we can relate, thus the use of gold to describe the streets of the city.
One of my favorite heaven “jokes” tells of the rich man who was determined to “take it all with him” when he died. He packed a briefcase full of bars of gold and managed to sneak it into the city, but St. Peter stopped him at the gate. The man explained that he something very rare and special to bring into the city with him. St. Peter opened the briefcase and a look of astonishment came over his face. “Asphalt”, he cried. “You think we need more asphalt in heaven?”
The golden streets mentioned by John are described as so pure they were like transparent glass.
My favorite part about John’s description of heaven are the gates of pearl. Pearls are organic, which makes them different from gemstones. Pearls are formed inside mollusks such as oysters and mussels. They are formed when an irritant such as a tiny stone or bit of sand gets inside the mollusk's shell. A lustrous substance, called nacre, is secreted around the object to protect the soft internal surface of the mollusk.
Pearls speak to us of suffering, undergoing trials and tribulations, (the irritants of life, so to speak), walking through times of darkness, sickness and even death.
Heaven’s gates of pearl remind us that we only enter heaven by passing through times of suffering - difficult times and stressful life situations. We leave that all behind us as we pass through those beautiful gates and the promise of no more sickness, nor death, nor pain, no sadness of any kind. There is a great lesson in those gates.
All the gemstones John writes about also have great meaning and significance but for purposes of this lesson, I won’t go into greater detail here.
As my health has failed and the final chapter of my life is being written, I have given them all to my daughter and granddaughters so they can be enjoying them, but I will not miss them even now when I don’t go anywhere to wear them because I know they are nothing but pieces of glass when compared to the real treasures of heaven I shall inherit, and I look forward to living in a city within the walls of gems beyond compare. And I can’t wait!!!
@Copyright Joan Rowden Hart

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