Thursday Devotional – Jesus is Worthy to Make Everything Beautiful (4/9/26)

After all the Spring rain this past week, our neighborhood’s grass transformed into a lush green. As Edmund, Alexis and I ran last night, I couldn’t help but comment on the sudden change and the beautiful scenery. The bright blue sky, with traces of white clouds, met the waves of green grass sprinkled with blooming yellow daffodils.

We marveled at God’s beauty, achieved with just a few colors. I can’t fathom the beauty as He decorates the new Jerusalem using more than all the colors imaginable in different textures of stones and jewels. It won’t be a small area, either. Its length, width, and height of 12,000 stadia, equivalent to 1,400 miles (or 2250 kilometers) is roughly the distance between Detroit, MI and Miami, FL.

Revelation 21:15-21 ¹⁵ The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls. ¹⁶ The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia in length, and as wide and high as it is long. ¹⁷ The angel measured the wall using human measurement, and it was 144 cubits thick. 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.

The variety of stones mentioned is stunning. In our world today, jasper can display a wide range of earthy tones, while sapphire, agate, onyx, beryl, and topaz come in almost every color. Agate is a type of quartz, and onyx is known for its high polish. Jasper, sapphire, beryl and topaz can be translucent. Emerald typically appears in shades of green, ruby in shades of red, chrysolite in shades of yellow, turquoise in shades of blue, jacinth in shades of orange, and amethyst in shades of purple. Plus, there will be pure gold streets, huge pearl gates and walls over 200 feet thick!

As we celebrated Jesus’ resurrection on Easter, His triumph over death gives us confidence in eternal life in this beautiful new Jerusalem. He is worthy of making everything beautiful. As we marvel at beautiful new life in nature this Spring, let’s give God the glory and express gratitude for an even more beautiful life to come!

Alice