A Devotional Mosaic: The Crystal Cave

A Devotional by Margot Cioccio

Photo from http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/04/
photogalleries/giant-crystals-cave/images/primary/crystal-cave-1.jpg

I started my morning out thinking about the stones in the Bible. Stones can be used for a lot of things, alters, covers for tombs, tools, monuments, jewelry. I've been thinking a lot about the verse in Luke 19 where the Pharisees are telling Jesus to rebuke his disciples. He responds with this verse. 40 “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” I think about how we use diamonds to make record needles. Not that many folks use vinyl records anymore. Its kind of a side rabbit trail of wondering if there is deeper wisdom in the use of gem stones. Do various stones have any capability of resonance or give off energy. Might one be helped by wearing one stone rather than another.? I clearly have more questions than I have answers at this moment. One question seems to lead to another and along the way I stumble upon little bread crumbs left by the Lord for me to find. I'm not really sure where we are heading with this but as I follow the Lord I find I have these questions. As I search out the answers I discover things along the way that then point me towards new questions and new discoveries. I guess I think of it as maintaing a sense of wonder. God's creation is so vast and far beyond my simple understanding. I'm like the kindergartner at the zoo thinking wow - those animals are really cool. Not even beginning to realize that each and every animal in the zoo is a study in and of it self.

I found this in Matthew Henry's Commentary

"What a difference there is between men’s building and God’s; when men build their Babel, brick and slime are their best materials; but, when God builds his Jerusalem, he lays even the foundations of it with sapphires, and all its borders with pleasant stones, Isa. 54:11-12; Rev. 21:19.

Revelation 21:18-21 NIV

18 The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass. 19 The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone.The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, 20 the fifth onyx, the sixth ruby, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth turquoise, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst. 21 The twelve gates were twelve pearls,each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of gold, as pure as transparent glass.

So my next thought was that it was notable that the stones are listed in order. I wondered why? So I started with jasper and I found that it comes in a lot of colors. I found the following in the Easton's Bible Dictionary.

(Heb. yashpheh, "glittering"), a gem of various colours, one of the twelve inserted in the high priest's breast-plate (Ex. 28:20). It is named in the building of the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:18, 19). It was "most precious," "clear as crystal" (21:11). It was emblematic of the glory of God (4:3).

Then I found this on jasper in wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jasper "Although the term jasper is now restricted to opaque quartz, the ancient iaspis was a stone of considerable translucency. The jasper of antiquity was in many cases distinctly green, for it is often compared with the emerald and other green objects. Jasper is referred to in the Niebelungenlied as being clear and green. Probably the jasper of the ancients included stones which would now be classed as chalcedony, and the emerald-like jasper may have been akin to the modern chrysoprase. The Hebrew word yushphah may have designated a green jasper. Flinders Petrie suggested that the odem, the first stone on the High Priest's breastplate, was a red jasper, whilst tarshish, the tenth stone, may have been a yellow jasper.

The term basanite has occasionally been used to refer to a variety of jasper, for example a black flinty or cherty jasper found in several New England states of the USA. Such varieties of jasper are also informally known as Lydian stone or lydite and have been used as touchstones in testing the purity of precious metal alloys.

A touchstone is a small tablet of dark stone such as fieldstone, slate, or lydite, used for assaying precious metal alloys. It has a finely grained surface on which soft metals leave a visible trace."

Interesting I think, and I go look at photos of Jasper stones trying to find any that look transparent. I found a photo of someone in front of huge clear crystals. So I click on the photo and found an article that talked about the Crystal Cave. It reminds me of Super Man's home from the movies. I think about how in Revelation 21 the gates to the city are each made with a single pearl. I look at the immense size of the crystals in the cave and I think I wonder how big the oysters will have to be to make pearls big enough for gates. I think of the saying "The world is your oyster." I think about how tiny pearls are made from irritating grains of sand. I think of the beauty and the mess we've made of our world. Which causes me to think of Ecclesiastes 3:11 "He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end."

So I go to find out more about the crystal cave. I found theses videos and I sat and watched them with great wonder and fascination. They lay under the mountain in water and would not have been discovered except for the mining in the area that pumped out the water. They would not have been created or grown except for the heat and water and gypsum. I think sometimes it is the heat and pressure and odd circumstances in our lives that create the conditions for us to become all He intends for us to become.

Revelation 4:6 NIV

6 Also in front of the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal. In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures,and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back.

I need to get on with other things but I leave this little journey with a greater sense of wonder, awe and a deep humility. I am reminded again of John 21:25 NIV

"Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written."

Here are the videos about the Crystal Cave hope you will enjoy them.