Revelation 21:19

And the foundations of the wall of the city,.... Which were twelve; see Revelation 21:14 were garnished with all manner of precious stones: see Isaiah 54:11 not that there were all manner of precious

And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald; And.

And the foundations of the wall of the city, by which, we noted before, are to be understood the apostles, who, building upon the one foundation, Christ Jesus, by their holy doctrine laid the beginnings of the gospel churches, the first stones, (upon the Rock Christ), which were afterwards multiplied, others being builded upon them, till the whole church was perfected.

19 And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald; Ver. 19. And the foundations] The apostles and their faithful successors, who were puriores caelo, saith Chrysostom, clearer than the sky, the very stars of the world and flowers of the Churches, as Basil calleth them. The twelve patriarchs have, Exodus 28:15-21, each of them his precious stone inscribed with his name in the breastplate of judgment: a symbol of the Church under the law. Levi hath the chalcedony, Judah the smaragd. But here in the foundation of the New Jerusalem, the Church under the gospel, Levi hath the smaragd, and Judah the chalcedony (the tribes have their stones in Aaron’ s breastplate, according to their birth). Our Savionr’ s chalcedony in Levi’ s place tells us (saith Mr Sarson) that he hath put an end to legal sacrifices, and that he is both king and priest of his Churches.

(19) And the foundations of the wall . . .—Better, The foundations of the wall of the city (were) adorned with every precious stone. We may compare the adornment of the harlot (Revelation 17:4). Her robe was decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls. The Bride, the Lamb’s wife, has her beautiful ornaments, richer and rarer than those which adorned the world-mistress. The comparison reminds us, in a vivid and figurative way, of our Master’s often-repeated teaching. He that saveth his life, loseth it; he that loseth, saveth it; he that is content to pass by the dazzling attractions of the world, refusing splendour from the outstretched hand of Babylon, will win the true spiritual riches. There is no man that has turned away for Christ’s sake from the attractions of the world-spirit, that hath forsaken houses and lands for Christ’s sake and the gospel, but shall receive manifold more, &c. (Mark 10:28-31). The “jewels of right celestial worth” are part of the heritage of him who can nobly hold cheap the degrading hire of the world. (Comp. Isaiah 54:12.) The foundation are various. There were in the foundation of the Church diversities of gifts and administrations, but the same Lord and the same spirit. In the heavenly city we have harmony, not monotony; variety, not sameness; unity, not uniformity. The stones are not arranged in the order of the high priest’s breastplate, but according to their various shades of colour, beginning from the foundation. 1. Jaspis, dark opaque green. 2. Sapphirus, Lapis-lazuli, opaque blue. 3. Chalcedon, an Emerald of a greenish hue. 4. Smaragdus, bright transparent green. 5. Sardonyx, white and red. 6. Sardius, bright red. 7. Chrysolite, our Topaz, bright yellow. 8. Beryl, bluish green. 9. Topazion, or Peridot, yellowish green. 10. Chrysoprasus, a darker shade of the same colour. 11. Hyacinthus, Sapphire, sky blue. 12. Amethystus, violet. “Chrysoprasus is probably an error for Chrysopaston, a dark blue stone, studded with gold, by which substitution all the shades of blue will follow each other.” (See King, On Gems.) With this blended harmony of colour the foundation-stones would encircle the heavenly city as with a rainbow belt. In the seer’s view the light of the heavenly city would shine with hues that betoken the advent of the morning. The varying tints would glow like pledges of a dayspring from on high. “Along the tingling desert of the sky, Beyond the circle of the conscious hills Were laid in jasper-stone as clear as glass The first foundations of that new, near Day, Which should be builded out of heaven to God. Jasper first, I said; And second, sapphire; third, chalcedony; The rest in order;-last, an amethyst.” The foundation-stones are twelve. “As twelve, they indicate their numerical completeness (Revelation 7, 14); as shining with a common lustre, their unity; as stones of different hues, their manifoldness; as brilliant stones, the glorification of this earthly life through the light of Heaven” (Lange).

Verse 19. The foundations of the wall] Does not this mean the foundations or thresholds of the gates? The gates represented the twelve tribes, Revelation 21:12; and these foundations or thresholds, the twelve apostles, Revelation 21:14. There was no entrance into the city but through those gates, and none through the gates but over these thresholds. The whole of the Mosaic dispensation was the preparation of the Gospel system: without it the Gospel would have no original; without the Gospel, it would have no reference nor proper object. Every part of the Gospel necessarily supposes the law and the prophets. They are the gates, it is the threshold; without the Gospel no person could enter through those gates. The doctrine of Christ crucified, preached by the apostles, gives a solid foundation to stand on; and we have an entrance into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, Hebrews 10:19, c. And in reference to this we are said to be built on the FOUNDATION of the APOSTLES and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone, Ephesians 2:20. The first foundation was jasper] A stone very hard, some species of which are of a sea-green colour but it is generally a bright reddish brown. The second, sapphire] This is a stone of a fine blue colour, next in hardness to the diamond. The third, a chalcedony] A genus of the semipellucid gems, of which there are four species:- 1. A bluish white; this is the most common sort. 2. The dull milky veined; this is of little worth. 3. The brownish black; the least beautiful of all. 4. The yellow and red; the most beautiful, as it is the most valuable of all. Hitherto this has been found only in the East Indies. The fourth, an emerald] This is of a bright green colour without any mixture, and is one of the most beautiful of all the gems, The true oriental emerald as very scarce, and said to be found only in the kingdom of Cambay.

19. garnished] The same word that is rendered “adorned” in Revelation 21:2. From the next sentence we are to understand that they are adorned by being constructed of these stones, not that stones are fastened on merely for ornament.precious stones] See Isaiah 54:11-12; where however there is less detail than here, and what there is is not quite the same: a warning against expecting too minute a symbolism in the details. It is true that contemporary superstition ascribed mystical meanings and magical virtues to the various stones, and it is possible that the revelation made to St John was given in terms of these beliefs, which he and his readers may have known of or even have held. But though not a priori incredible, this is hardly likely: these superstitions had, it seems, much less hold on the popular mind in St John’s day than some centuries later: and at all times they were too vague and too variable to give us a key to the interpretation. There may be a definite meaning in each of the stones named, but the general meaning of the whole is all that we can be sure of. As St Hildebert says,Quis chalcedon, quis jacinthus,Norunt illi qui sunt intus.The first foundation] The enumeration probably begins from one of the angles, and goes round the wall in order. It is useless to guess which Apostle’s name was on which stone, but it may be presumed that St Peter’s would be on the first. But in no two of the canonical lists of the Apostles are their names given in the same order; and, so far as there is any order among them, they are arranged in three groups of four, not, as is here required, in four groups of three.jasper] Like the superstructure of the wall, Revelation 21:18. But it can hardly be meant, that the Church is built more solidly on to St Peter than to any other of the Twelve.sapphire] The Greek and Hebrew words are (as with “jasper”) the same as the English. Yet it is almost certain that the stone so called in St John’s day was not our sapphire, but the far less precious lapis lazuli.chalcedony] Apparently not the stone now so called, but one closely resembling the emerald.

And the foundations of the wall of the city - notes on Revelation 21:14. Were garnished - Were adorned, or decorated.

19. “Jasper, as we have seen above, is usually a stone of green transparent colour, with red veins; but there are many varieties.