Last week I set up shop in the cafeteria of a corporate office building. Since I only sell women's jewelry (I think I have one guy bracelet~), 95% of the folks that stop by my display are female.
At this particular show, I was approached by a guy in about his late 20s-early 30s. He said, "This is a weird question but you wouldn't happen to know what Chrysoprase is, would you?"
"I do!" said I, "It's a light green gemstone, but I don't have any jewelry with that, sorry."
He continued, "The reason I ask is that every month for the first year of our marriage, I've bought my wife a piece of jewelry based on the gemstones listed in Revelations 21. Are you familiar with that?"
At this point, I realized that I'd only heard "every month...bought my wife jewelry" and had drifted into a dream-like state. I recovered quickly to say, "No, I'm not familiar with that."
He went on to explain that there are twelve gemstones in the verse and he had searched for them, in the order that they're listed, for his wife. Of course, as soon as I got home I looked it up and, sure enough, it's in Revelations 21: 19-20. The foundations of the walls of the New Jerusalem are adorned with these twelve jewels.
What a sweet way to celebrate the first year of marriage,
using the adornments of God's New Kingdom!
19 The foundations of the wall of the city are adorned with every jewel; the first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, 20 the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst.
Revelations 21:19-20 NRSV
biblegateway.com
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Jasper |
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Sapphire |
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Agate |
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Emerald |
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Onyx |
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Carnelian |
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Chrysolite |
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Beryl (Aquamarine) |
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Topaz |
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Chrysoprase |
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Jacinth |
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Amethyst |
Images courtesy of Wikipedia, Rio Grande & Gem Select