Replies

Thank you so much for your wonderful metaphors, dear hosepipe!

Is a diamond more precious than a topaz?..

I don’t think “precious” would apply to being transparent in God’s Light – more like “fruitful.” (John 15, Galatians 5) But it takes all kinds, as you say. A painting all in one color couldn’t say much. And paintings have their own language, you know. (*wink*)

I'm amazed and delighted at Alexandrite, a particular rare precious stone.. It is one color in artificial light and another tint of color in natural/sunlight..

Perhaps many of us are like the Alexandrite – appearing one way when in the company of certain souls and differently when in the company of others. But my prayer is that we will all walk in God’s Light (1 John 1:7)

All precious stones are unique to what they are because of their crystalline structure.. The crystals that they are made of are unique.. Even the frequencies of light they absorb are unique to what kind of stone it is..

I found this particularly fascinating, i.e. that each stone is unique in the frequency of light it absorbs. That is a very important metaphor, IMHO – because it seems to me that a lot of us – while walking in God’s Light – absorb some or all of it, failing to “let our light” shine as Christ commanded in the Sermon on the Mount.

Some of us may be selective in one we absorb but refuse to let flow through us – like forgiveness, i.e. receiving God’s forgiveness while refusing to forgive others. But bottling up all that Light cannot have a good ending – and we know it does not in the example given. (Matt 7)

Which brings me to your reply, Quix!

I rejoice that Christ picked twelve very different persons! And that He received seven very different churches in Revelation!

Truly, I believe the foundation stones for New Jerusalem are a metaphor for this beauty – we are not cookie-cutter Christians. God is like a master artist whose Creation – both spiritual and physical – is a living canvas.

But personally, I must never give up trying to be utterly transparent in Him – a diamond instead of a sapphire.

You see, Quix, when I first believed I was not just absorbing Light (using hosepipe’s metaphor) – I was a black hole. Light cannot escape the gravity of a black hole, and light passing by it is bent by the intense gravity. That’s me. Left to my own devices, I would absorb all of God's Light and hurt those around me.

Therefore, I personally cannot afford the luxury of slacking off, dear brother in Christ. So I will continue to try to be like a diamond, though I know in the end I’ll be blessed to be an amethyst.

[ Therefore, I personally cannot afford the luxury of slacking off, dear brother in Christ. So I will continue to try to be like a diamond, though I know in the end I’ll be blessed to be an amethyst. ]

Grooovey lets talk diamonds.. A good quality diamond releases ALL the light that comes into it.. no other stone does that.. Also that diamond is invisible in clear water, invisible..
A ruby steals most of the infra-red wavelengths and some of the green and a little ultra-violet wavelengths in some rubies..

Diamonds are special among stones in several ways.. first that they steal no light.. second they can cut any other stone.. or most anything else.. What they are made of(carbon) is opaque uncrystalized.. Keep in mind there are blue, pink, yellow and green diamonds.. not all diamonds are "pure" carbon.. These diamonds are NOT invisible in water..

I too tend to dream about the visual metaphorical meanings of the last chapters of revelation.. Missing those metaphors would cost a deeper revelation of what "heaven" might be.. The New Jerusalem is not an earthly structure but a heavenly one.. Its talking about spiritual beings built together not some earth like building made for human bodies.. Deep calling out to deep, I think.. The water of the river of life running thru the "city" is a wonderful metaphor.. simply wonderful.. I see a "virtual city" changing as the spiritual beings move about.. since they ARE the city..

Actually an earthly city with all the infra-structure removed is still that city.. Because the city IS the people, even on earth.. The infra-structure is for service to human bodies.. With a new updated body(heaven) infra-structure may not be needed at all..

So much is possibly implied in the last chapters of revelation.. Precious stone typology is present all thru the bible.. However it is very hard for humans to even concieve of life without these bodies.. they are so indentified with them.. For me its easy to consider life without this body(mine).. for some reason.. The possiblities (in revelation) seem delicious to me..

Maranatha...

But personally, I must never give up trying to be utterly transparent in Him – a diamond instead of a sapphire.

Therefore, I personally cannot afford the luxury of slacking off, dear brother in Christ. So I will continue to try to be like a diamond, though I know in the end I’ll be blessed to be an amethyst.

I think all of us were black holes. And none of us can afford the luxury of slacking off.

But I must push this metaphor a bit more . . . though it seems to be breaking down somewhat in terms of applicability from my perspective.

If God designed you to be . . . a pot of pristine use at a State Banquet . . . trying to be a chamber pot would be rebellion. If God designed you to be a chamber pot, trying to be a pristine banquet goblet would be rebellion.

As we have noted, all one color--as you said--in a painting conveys no beauty or message of The Lord.

A saphire is transparent. A flawless blue saphire created by The Father to be a blue saphire and to shine forth Christ's image in that perfect blue saphireness . . . is fulfilling it's role perfectly. What more can be wanted?

I think there is something insideous from satan which tries to get us to feel horrible because we are not some mass produced amorphus mass of sterilized clones made in satan's featureless image instead of the wonderous variety God intended us to be. And then when he successfully deludes us into thinking that glass pipes are MORE HOLY AND MORE PERFECT AND MORE SANTICIFIED, he's won something horrid regardless of how subtle.

Being Conformed by Holy Spirit completely and perfectly to the image of His Son is not the same thing as losing our personality to zero.

I do not believe that our personalities were designed to be a kind of . . . temporary shoehorn to get us into the perfect glass pipe form, shape and condition and then be discarded as stinking refuse.

I believe that as we become more and more perfectly conformed to the image of His Son, that our personalities become MORE ROBUSTLY US, more intensely us just as we become more thoroughly Him. It's a mystery.

ALL of the Heavenly visitations I've read have described saints of old running around loose with their personalities MORE ROBUSTLY INTACT than ever--just as, in Heaven, they are perfectly conformed to the image of His Son. I think Roland Buck's ANGELS ON ASSIGNMENT describes such well.

Don't know how to put it any better.

Obliterating me is NOT what God intended in the process of me becoming conformed to the image of His Son.

Christ hung on the cross that I might becme more fully and freely me IN HIS IMAGE--not that He would have 'another layer of totally transparent me fat' on His left bicep, for example.

The glory God designed for us and for Him in us is maximized by Him transforming us to be MORE US AND MORE IN CHRIST'S IMAGE ALL IN THE SAME OPERATION, PHENOMENA, TRANSFORMATION.

It's not that we get fully conformed to Christ's image and as a milk sop consolation get a microsopic gram of our personality left on the side.

GOD created us for FELLOWSHIP. By definition, that requires diversity . . . something MORE (not less) than cloneness; off white sameness; all grey numbness . . .

I'll hush, for a few seconds.

LUB,