Jasper: The First Foundation Stone -Step One- of the New Jerusalem Part 1

Jasper: is an opaque stone that comes in red, yellow, black, white, and tans.
Rev 4:3 NIV - And the one who sat there (on the Saphire Throne) had the appearance of jasper and carnelian. A rainbow, resembling an emerald, encircled the throne.
 This stone reminds us we are all made in His Image, the Image of the On e who sits on the throne. It reminds us that we all are precious in his sight.    Jasper is also the color of the First Foundation stone of of the New Jerusalem coming down from Heaven. 

The perfect living space or environment is often called: paradise, utopia, heaven, garden of Eden, nirvana,  happy hunting ground, and so on (etc.). Some people think they can have utopia – perfection – here and now.   What do you think? Can we?

It sounds great but we have a problem.  Everyone makes mistakes or has screwed up, somewhere, somehow.  We say and do things that hurt each other. That is a FACT – a truth that no one can argue with.  For instance can you name someone that is absolutely perfect?  Can you name someone in your life that has never sworn at you, never lied, never talked bad about others, never cheated, never been frustrated and blown up?  Well if you thought about someone in your life that you think has never done this to you, I can promise you that they have done it to someone else and it is just a matter of time before it happens with you and your relationship with them.  There is no one that is absolutely perfect, no not one.

In Hebrew, the language of the Bible, there is a term that many people say means to miss the mark – fall short of perfection.  In the original language, (which was formed with pictures like Chinese)  that word is chatath (tauh) and it actually has a target in it. See it in the middle of  the word?   It is the x with a circle around it. 

We will come back to this word but for the moment let’s go back to your life. When people treat you in a less than a perfect way how does this make you feel? Let’s say they lied to you or called you names, took your money, hit you, threw away something important to you, cheated on you.  How do you feel?  Do you feel let down and betrayed?  Do you feel hurt and angry? Do you feel you can’t trust them anymore?  Do you feel like there is a separation in your friendship or relationship? Would you say you put a wall up or a fence?   When we fall short of perfection in our relationships it puts up barriers in those relationships. Now this is true sadness isn’t it?  Two people who are really important to each other but yet they can no longer relate to each other and have a friendship because there is a barrier dividing their friendship.  There is a saying from long ago, “An offended brother is more unyielding than a fortified city, and disputes are like the barred gates of a castle.” (Pro 18:19)

Now back to the word chatath (tauh), there is a fence or bars in it too. Do you see it? It is the picture letter on the far right?  In this word we see that there is a target, a goal to hit.  In front of the target is a fence that doesn’t allow you to hit the target. More importantly this word also shows the fence as a barrier or a boundary marker stopping us from a relationship with a significant other. (tauh). The 2 symbols on the far left are the first and last symbols in the ancient Hebrew alphabet. They represent the Creator: the One who is the First one and the Last one.

 The Creator is the one who formed the universe, lights, plants, and animals and said that it was good.  He fashioned man in his image - the colors of jasper stone: red, yellow black, and white. He calls mankind a wonderful creation. He made each of us with special gifts and abilities.  He made us all unique and important and wants to be absolutely best friends. He so much wants to have a relationship with you because he made you and fashioned you.   He’s excited about you, like a man is about a woman and a groom about his bride.  This Creator wants to be our support and encouragement in the fulfillment of our purpose.

Along with that, He wants us all to be best friends.  But somewhere along the line we have missed the mark and fallen short of perfection.  We’ve set up little thrones for ourselves to try and rule and reign from and have treated others less than they deserved. Having done this we’ve set up a barrier between those friends but most importantly between the one who created us.

You see that highest power - the creator God is loving, He doesn’t want anyone hurting. He doesn’t want us hurting ourselves or someone else by making wrong choices.  How do you think the Creator feels when we have lied to one another or cheated each other?  But that is exactly what missing the mark of perfection does in our lives, our friendships and in our relationship to God.  It crumples the paper house dreams we live in, causing hurt, pain and chaos. Part 2 coming soon.