How much people think of their jewels. Eastern people are even more fond of jewels than we are, and Eastern ladies are even more lavishly decked with them. Howpeople value their jewels! They count them as their chiefest treasure, so God uses the figure to make us feel how highly He thinks of us, His redeemed ones, who are more and better to Him than men’s jewels can be to them. I once knew a lady who was so passionately fond of her jewels that, when the rest of the house hold went to church, and the house was quiet, she would go up to her bedroom, lock the door, spread out all her pearls and diamonds upon the bed, and spend her time in admiring them, one after another. Poor, foolish woman! She could not take them with her through the grave. Our children are our jewels; the friends we love are our jewels; those whom we try to bless and save become precious to us as jewels. Then whom does God count among His jewels?
I. The penitent. Who is humble before God. The publican in the temple was one of the Lord’s jewels.
II. The returning. Who is a seeker after God. The prodigal was one of the Lord’s jewels.
III. The consecrated. Who is wholly God’s. The apostle Paul was one of the Lord’s jewels. God will take care of his jewels now, and in the great day. See Christ’s prayer, “None of them is lost.” (Robert Tuck, B. A.)
Jewels
1. God’s jewels--His people.
(1) For their rarity.
(2) Their beauty.
(3) Their value.
(4) Their preservation.
2. The means by which He collects them.
(1) His word and ordinances.
(2) The dispensations of His providence.
(3) The influence of His Holy Spirit.
3. The period when He shall make them up.
(1) At the hour of death.
(2) On the day of judgment. (A. Brooks.)
The fear of God rewarded
The expression used by the prophet conveys to us a strong idea of the pleasure which our Lord will Himself experience in executing this office of “making up His jewels.” He will then “see of the travail of His soul, and be satisfied.” We trace the idea of pleasure in the term “jewels.” And they are His jewels, for He has bought them with a price, and no less a price than that of His own most precious blood. The idea of pleasure on His part in the performance of this work is completed in the expression, “make up My jewels.” We see Him rejoicing that the time is come, when to the gift of grace He may add that of glory; and finally exulting that not one “of all that the Father hath given Him” is wanting to His crown. As if we might want something more closely and readily applicable than this figurative language, He adds, “And I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.” In what manner are they described, who are to be the passive subjects of His mercy in that day? The first characteristic is that they “feared the Lord.” This fundamental grace of godly fear is the sure and safe road to the higher attainments of love. All whowill be His “jewels” there, must fear Him in some degree here, that they may love Him in perfection hereafter. To know whether you fear Him, ask yourselves, and that with searching honesty, whether you shrink from an evil thought; whether you strive manfully against your imaginations when they set in the direction of lust, malice, or covetousness; or willingly float down the current to certain distance, only taking pains to avoid the last precipice towards which it leads. If you face Him with that holy fear, which is the result of a living faith, you will prove it, not by your thoughts and actions only, but by your words. “Then they that feared the Lord spoke often one to another.” To such God says, “They shall be Mine.” Is your conversation such asto warrant your entertaining a hope that you have an interest in this gracious promise? (J. Marriot, A. M.)
Believers are the jewels of Christ
I. God’s regard for his people. They are described as God’s“jewels,” therefore dear and valuable to Him; those on whom He looks with complacency; they were dearly purchased, bought with a price, infinitely above all earthly treasures. He speaks of them in an endearing manner as “My jewels.” The text also gives another token of Divine regard--His sparing mercy. Every parent will fully enter into the figure here used
II. The time appointed for the manifestation of this regard. “In that day.” It betokens either temporal visitation, the day of death, or the clay of judgment. Probably the final clay is meant, when He will vouchsafe a peculiar manifestation of His favour.
III. The security by which this promise is confirmed. This security is not of man, but of God. “They shall be Mine.” (W. Mayers, A. M.)
Jehovah’s jewels
I. The precious in principle. Regard for the greatness of God. Obedience to the commands of God. Dread of the punishment of God. Trust in the mercy of God. Fear of God is the foundation of piety; it casts out all other fear.
II. The precious in practice.
1. Frequent religious association. They often met together apart from the world. An expression of spiritual separation from evil society. An index of devotedness to a common purpose.
2. Concentrated mental action. “Thought upon His name.” Mind the greatest thing in man. The believer sees God in all things, and his meditation of Him is sweet. Constant mutual edification--“Speak often,” etc. Information, counsel, warning, encouragement.
III. The precious in privilege.
1. Divine attention. “God hearkened and heard it.”
2. Divine remembrance. “And a book,” etc. All the services of the good registered for compensation.
3. Divine promise. Tender treatment. “I will spare.” Great honour. “They shall be Mine.” Great destructiveness. “Then shall ye return.” (B. D. Johns.)
The dignity of the people of God
1. The people of God are dignified with the Divine approbation.
2. By the Divine solicitude.
3. By the Divine security.
4. By the Divine regard. They are to Him as jewels.
5. By a Divine promise.
“I will spare them.” Learn from this subject full confidence in God. He has made full provision for you in the obedience and death of Jesus. He will take care of you here, and glorify you with dignity hereafter. Also learn humility; for what maketh you to differ from others but the grace of God alone? (Hugh Allen, M. A.)
The making up of God’s jewels
The Lord makes up His jewels--
1. By the word and ordinances of His grace. The word of inspiration is the grand instrument which the Lord uses for hewing His jewels out of the rock of corrupt nature, and bringing them from the dark mine of misery to the light of everlasting felicity. It is an instrument of great power. It commands holiness, supplies motives, and presents encouragements to the mind. The exercises of praise and prayer are admirably adapted to refine and polish the soul in the beauties of holiness,
2. By the operations and dispensations of His providence. Looking at providence on a comprehensive scale, redemption is its most striking and grand display. The darkest as well as the brightest aspects of providence are necessary to the making up of God’s jewels. God’s own saints are often the better for being afflicted. Trials are necessary to purify the Church from corruptions, to cleanse the heart, and rectify the life of individuals, and to beautify them both severally and collectively in time, and make their character shine in the light of eternity.
3. By the work and influences of His Spirit. The word and ordinances of grace, aided by the operation and dispensations of providence, can do nothing to convert or sanctify a single soul, unless the Spirit accompany them with His blessing. Just as the hammer, or the chisel, or the saw, or the file, without the hand of the mechanic, cannot hew a single jewel out of the quarry of nature, or polish it into beauty, so without the agency of the Holy Spirit, ordinances and providences, powerful instruments though they are, cannot convince a sinner of sin, or lead him from the paths of error into the way of God. The Holy Spirit dwells in the heart s of believers to polish and fit them for shining as jewels in the mediatorial crown of glory. Let all Christians then, make a right improvement, both for their own and their brethren’s sake, of God’s dealings. The more faith Christians exercise, the more godly will they become; and the more godly they are here, the brighter shall they shine hereafter in that world where everlasting peace reigns, and grace never declines, where the sun of glory never sets, and where the sky of blessedness is never overcast with clouds. (John Shoolbraid.)
The Lord’s jewel
s:--
I. How may the saints be compared to jewels? The word translated” jewels “(segullah) signifies a treasure, a peculiar treasure, as the Church of the Jews compared to all the nations of the earth. The saints of God are more excellent in the sight of God than all other men. They may be compared to jewels--
1. Because of their rarity. Jewels are only found in certain places, and only worn by certain persons. So the saints are said to be “a very little flock.”
2. Because they cost the Lord Jesus very dear. Jewels are costly things. Being rare, they are enhanced in price. The Son of God redeemed these jewels by His own blood. This is a price of incalculable value.
3. Because He has an infinite esteem of them. They are His treasure, and His affections are where they are. Since they were purchased by the blood of His Son, they are precious in His sight and honourable. He thinks on them with approbation, He speaks of them, and to them, with delight.
4. BecauseHe keeps them in safety. They are set on His heart and cannot be taken away.
II. How shall the lord make up his jewels? This refers either to His work in His jewels in time, or to His procedure at the day of judgment. It may refer to His work of grace in taking them all from the corrupted mass of human nature. He begins the work of sanctification in them, and brings it to a glorious issue. God refines His people by His Spirit, by His word, and by His providences, till they become without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. In the last sense of the declaration, they shall be made up, when their number is completed in the day of the Lord. And they shall all be presented perfect in holiness.
III. What is theday on which the Lord shall make up his jewels? The great and notable day of the Lord. A day which shall be the end of time, the end of the world, and of the present system of things. A day for which saints are constantly preparing, for which they wait, which they love, and to which they are hastening. (Leumas.)
My jewels
Here is an inspired truth, setting forth the relation subsisting between God and His people, and illustrating His love for, and joy in, them.
I. God’s own estimation of the real value of a sincere Christian. He calls them His “jewels” or “His peculiar treasure.” All rare and beautiful and precious things in earth and heaven are employed as metaphorical of the value God puts upon His people and the affection He bears them. A Christian man is more than a “spirit,” he is a redeemed and regenerated spirit. The value of a gem is not in its composition, but in its crystallisation. Even a diamond is composed mostly of carbon, but differs from the black coal of our furnaces only in this mysterious transfiguration. And a change analogous to this has every saved soul undergone. The spiritual man has, through gracious crystallisation, become a gem, reflecting Divine light, and thus fitted for a diadem. What marvel then that God counts His people more precious than the stars, and calls them “ His peculiar treasure.”
II. An explanation of God’sstrange treatment of his children. The true believer may say, “If I am thus valued, why does He so afflict me?” The text suggests the answer. After finding or purchasing a gem, the next thing is to polish it. And this is always a gentle work. Of the rarer gems the ancients supposed the cutting and polishing impossible. The large diamonds which ornamented the imperial mantle of Charlemagne are yet preserved as uncut crystals. It was only later that men learned how the diamond might be cut, by attrition with another diamond, and polished on a wheel charged with diamond dust. And herein is found the only criterion of the true gem. The service of the Christian’s afflictions is twofold. They prove and they polish the spiritual gem.
1. They are necessary to prove it. There are many counterfeits in religion. Any reliable test of godliness must have power to go beneath the outward show into the real essence.
2. Even when the piety is sincere, such afflictions are useful to develop and discipline it. Before the diamond is set in a kingly crown it must be roughly pressed on the diamond wheel. All afflictions are God’s means of polishing. Here we are instructed as to the seeming partiality of God’s treatment of different Christians, for men may be equally pious, and alike dear to our Heavenly Father, and yettheir mortal experiences be widely dissimilar. Gems are of different degrees of hardness, and are to be set in different conditions. They require very variant cutting, and unequal polishing. So with the true people of God; one is only smoothed with a file, while another must be pressed on the grinding wheel. He will not grind His jewels more than they need.
III. A prediction of the future dignity andglory of the children of God. “In the day when I make up My jewels.” The reference is to the great day of Christ’s coming. The metaphor is of a mighty conqueror, who, having overthrown all enemies, appears laden with spoil, leading captive his foes, marching in triumph, magnificent in regalia, over the royal highway. Then God’s saints will be gathered to Christ, and God’s “jewels “ be made up as precious stones into a crown, or as stars into a constellation. In that great day of manifestation the moral rather than the natural attributes of God are to be especially glorified. It is only in the economy of grace that what we may term the Divine affections are perfectly displayed. Let this fair picture be hung in our chambers of imagery. This material universe is only a great platform, erected temporarily for the coronation of Immanuel, and the redeemedspirits of the just made perfect. “God’s jewels,”--or as Isaiah has it, “God’s crown of glory,” “God’s royal diadem.” The richest gems blazing in the many crowns of Immanuel will be the souls of Christ’s redeemed ones--these diamonds, dug from the black caverns of death--these pearls, brought up from the stormy depths of hell--these blood-bought, grace-preserved, grief-polished “jewels of God.” (Charles Wadsworth, D. D.)
The jewels of the King
1. Jewels represent superlative value. Nature’s jewels differ from God’s, which are conscious and immortal. And yet by valuable things God illustrates His appreciation of His children.
2. They represent surpassing beauty. Gems are nature’s loveliest gifts. In God’s sight natural pales before spiritual beauty. We are only beautiful when “the beauty of the Lord our God is upon us.” God’s brightest earthly jewels are yet incomplete. When the cutting and burnishing are finished, they are to shine as the stars forever.
3. They represent costly and self-sacrificing toil in their discovery and ownership. When a Brazilian slave finds a gem of seventeen carats, he wins his freedom. At what enormous cost God secures a soul!
4. Their worth and beauty represent the triumphs of science and art. Diamonds are never worn in the rough. God develops the worth and spiritual beauty of His children by the ministry of suffering. No lapidary ever knew so well when and where to cut a crown jewel as does our Heavenly Father.
5. The King will gather His gems into His royal palace. God has long loaned His jewels to the communities of earth. When the sun darkens, His angels are to gather them from every land and sea. (S.V. Leech, D. D.)
The Lord’s jewels
1. This title shows the estimation in which God holds His people. In the Bible, God avails Himself of one good or beautiful thing to describe another. The Christian is like a cedar in Lebanon, the most majestic and beautiful tree in the forest. Heaven is a city of golden walls and gates of pearl. So here, in like manner, He calls His people “jewels.” The emerald, the ruby, and the diamond, are the most precious and costly things in nature. These are the things which God takes to illustrate theestimation in which He holds the good. He knows the Capabilities of these immortal souls, that they can be “equal to the angels,” through the redemption of His Son Jesus Christ.
2. This title, “jewels,” suggests a reason why God’s people are sometimes so exercised by the providences of God. When diamonds and other gems are first found, they are usually covered with a dark, rusty coating, every particle of which must be removed. This process is long and expensive. Their brilliancy cannot be fairly seen without it. The famous Koh-i-noor diamond was subjected to repolishing with the help of a steam-engine for twenty-three days and twelve hours each day. So it was with Job, and Joseph, and Jacob, and many others whom God chose as His jewels. This disciplinary process is still going on in the present age, in innumerable ways, by disease, loss of property, family afflictions, etc. Ill-treatment at the hand of one we have been accustomed to esteem is especially hard to endure. But it is needed. There is nothing that can polish the diamond like the diamond itself. Two diamonds are rubbed, the oneupon the other, and the dust thus obtained is used for polishing. So, by the natural constitution of the soul, and the providence of God, there may be nothing so good for polishing as afflictions sent upon us by others. They may seem to have an opposite effect for a time; may seem to ruffle our temper, and make us rebellious and antagonistic; but, by and by, through the influence of the Holy Spirit, like the vegetable oil that is mixed with the diamond dust to polish the diamond,--the Holy Spirit working with these afflictions,--our tempers will be subdued, and the ‘ peaceable fruits of righteousness “ will be worked out thereby.
3. This name which the Lord applies to His people warrants us in the belief that God will never lose sight of any one of them. To say that God would surrender one of His people, permit him to fall away and be lost, is to declare a thing which is inconsistent for God to do. But does any one say, “Good! that just suits me; I am going to live just as I please, for I shall get home to heaven at last anyhow.” Then be sure that you are one of His jewels. If you are not, the result may be terribly and eternally disastrous. The truth is, that no true child of God will make any such resolution, or entertain such a thought. There are some who do wander away from God; not, however, with a deliberate purpose so to do, but because they have been led captive by the enemy. But God will never lose sight of His “jewel,” but will follow him by His Spirit and His providences, making use of those things that are best calculated to bring a rational soul back again to the fold from whence it had wandered away. (Homer M’Vay.)
God’s crown jewels
I. The name by which God calls his people. “My jewels.” The comparison suggests--
1. The preciousness of good people. Jewels are, on account of their intrinsic worth, or historic interest, the most valuable and highly prized things on earth. God alone can comprehend the value of a soul. He knows the price which was paid for his ransom.
2. Good people are compared to jewels on account of their beauty. How the diamond sparkles and flashes! But its beauty is eclipsed when compared with the beauty of holiness which God puts upon all His saints. That beauty is not fully disclosed on earth.
3. God’s people are like jewels because they need so much polishing. While a single stain of sin remains upon our souls we cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven. Every trial the Spirit of God employs as a means of sanctifying us, and polishing us, to shine among the crown jewels of heaven.
II. God claims a special property in good men. “They shall be Mine.” All souls belong to Him by creation and preser ration: but true believers are His by redemption.
III. God watches over his people, so that not one of them is lost, “When I make up My jewels.” They are widely scattered now, but He will bring them together by and by. On the day when He shall crown Immanuel Lord of all not one of them shall he missing. (David Winters.)
Crown jewels
The Lord Jesus has been gathering up His treasures for a good while, and on the great coronation day of the judgment He will, in the presence of the assembled universe, show that the good of all ages are His crown jewels. I speak to you of the jewel-finding, the jewel-grinding, the jewel-setting. You have noticed the great difference between jewels. Let not a Christian man envy another Christian man’s experience. You open the king’s casket, and you see jewels of all sizes, shapes, and colours. Do not worry because you don’t have the faith of that man, or the praying qualities of this, or the singing qualities of another. The trouble is that you are not willing to be ordinary gold, you want to be gold of twenty-four carats. Notice jewel-grinding. Christian character, like black spots in an amethyst, must sometimes be cleared out by the flame; it must go through the furnace. Nearly all God’s jewels are crystallised tears. You can tell God’s jewel, as the lapidary tells the diamond. If the breath of temptation comes on it, and soon vanishes, it is a real diamond. Note the jewel-setting. The lapidary gets the gems in the right shape, gathers them on his table, and then puts them into head-bands, or hilts of swords, or into crowns. The Lord Jesus will gather up His people, and before the assembled universe their splendour shall shine forth. (T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.)
Gem formation
In nature there is hardly a stone that is not capable of crystallising into something purer and brighter than its normal state. Coal, by a slightly different arrangement of its particles, is capable of becoming the radiant diamond. The slag cast out from the furnace as useless waste, forms into globular masses of radiating crystals. The very mud on the road, trampled under foot as the type of all impurity, can be changed by chemical art into metals and gems of surpassing beauty. God can make jewels out of the most worthless rubbish. Let the cases of John Newton, of the woman that was a sinner, of the thief upon the cross, of Augustine, of John Bunyan, of Colonel Gardiner, and of thousands more, bear witness to the almighty power of the alchemy of Divine grace. It only requires a supreme surrender ofourselves into the hands of the Holy Spirit to ensure the Scripture assurance, “They shall be Mine in that day when I make up My jewels.” (Cyclopaedia of Nature Teachings.)
A name for God’s people
The impiety and irreligion which so strongly marked the character, both of priests and people, in the days of this prophet, are concentrated, as it were, in Mal_3:13-15. Amidst this general departure from God, others existed of a different description. Note--
1. The endearing name here given to the people of God. “Jewels.” “His jewels,” or special treasure. Jewels are often purchased at an immense price. The people of God are “bought with a price.” They may be called “jewels “ from the comparative fewness of their number. And also from their glory and beauty. It is customary for the great and noble of the earth to adorn themselves with their jewels on particular occasions, and so the Lord glories in His people, and sets them “as a seal upon His heart,” and has them “graven on the palms of His hands.”
2. The expression, “When I make up My jewels.” These figurative words refer to the care and attention of the jeweller in polishing and arranging his jewels, so as to make them appear to the best advantage. So shall it be with the redeemed--God’s jewels.
3. The time for making up the jewels is “that day.” Either the day of the Christian’s death, or the day of final judgment.
4. God says of His people, “They shall be Mine.” Not that the people of God were ever, at any time, not His. The expression indicates somespecial sign of favour. (D. Adams.)
God and good men
I. Good men are precious to God. They are here spoken of as “jewels.” They are precious as loving children are precious to their parents. “Can a woman forget her suckling child?” etc. Precious. He knows--
1. The worth of their existence.
2. The cost of their restoration.
3. The greatness of their capabilities.
Great as God is, a really true man is precious in His sight.
II. Good men are collected by God. “In that day when I make up My jewels.” He will gather them together one day:they are now scattered abroad. By death He brings them together into a glorious social state, the Heavenly Jerusalem.
III. Good men are claimed by God. “They shall be Mine.” They shall be sure to love Me and to serve the interests of My creation--My friends, My children, etc. (Homilist.)
My jewels
This is what God calls His people.
I. Some reasons why Christians are like jewels.
1. Because jewels are very beautiful. God never made anything that looks more lovely than some jewels do. Christians are beautiful, but their beauty is not their own. When they learn to know Jesus, and to love and serve Him, they become like Him, and this is what makes them beautiful.
2. Jewels are very valuable. Therefore we call them precious stones.
3. Jewels are hard to polish. The men who polish are called lapidaries, from the Latin lapis, a stone. There are specks on us which must be removed by polishing, and this is always hard and trying work. Church and Sunday school may be regarded as God’s polishing shop. (R. Newton, D. D.)
Divine jewels
I.The dignity of the truly good. If we are His people, we are very dear to God. None of us can rightly estimate His wondrous love. God loves us so much that He cannot do without us. As a true-hearted man cares for his bride, so the Lord likens Himself to a lover who graves the name of his bride upon the palm of his hand. Some people are afraid this wonderful love will change as we change. No, God’s love to us is the same to-day as when first we prayed. The Lord’s forbearance and forgiveness is the most wonderful of His attributes. And God is very earnest in seeking His jewels.
II. The certainty of the future glory of the lord’s people. People are apt to imagine that because time moves slowly on, as if with leaden feet, that the great day here spoken of will not come. But it is sure to come to every one. We shall surely see the King of kings coming to judge men on the earth. (W. Birch.)
God’s people regarded as His jewels
I. The people of God, such as fear Him, are His jewels. The fear of God is often put for all religion. They that fear Him are such as have not only the form, but the power of godliness. Such may be styled “jewels” as rare, and comparatively few: on account of their excellency; by reason of the place they have in God’s value and esteem; and in His care: as He esteems Himself honoured by them, and greatly delights in them. God calls them “Myjewels,” as He is the efficient or maker of them: the owner and disposer of them; and as they are set apart for Himself.
II. What is implied in “making them up”? This may be considered with reference either to their being at present dispersed and mixed with others, or imperfect as to themselves. It may mean His taking them out from the company of all others. God will collect all His people into one body. Or God’s making them up may imply, finishing what concerns either soul or body, and making them completely happy, as to both, to all eternity He will free them from all the imperfections of their present state.
III. There is a day coming wherein God will thus make up his jewels.
1. The day of the saints’ dissolution.
2. The day of the general resurrection.
IV. How they shall be the Lord’s in that day. Then they shall be proclaimed to be jewels--
1. To testify His knowledge and approbation of them.
2. To shame and silence the hard censures to which they were liable from a malignant world.
3. This will tend to the greater confusion of the prince of darkness.
4. Such a declaration will invite an universal regard to the faithfulness of God, in what He promised to them, and engaged to do for them.
V. The title under which God is represented as resolving upon the happiness of his people. “Saith the Lord of hosts.” A foundation of hope and comfort. As He has power enough to engage for them. As He hath an absolute sway over all their enemies. It shows that the number of the finally saved will be great, not small. (D. Wilcox.)
The Lord’s jewels
The verse before the text contains the praise of a little company of Israelites who, in the midst of abounding iniquity, feared the Lord, and thought upon His name. A day comes when all such shall be known, and when the Lord shall make up His jewels. Are jewels with toil and danger and cost torn from earth’s safe keeping? So are the Lord’s chosen ones redeemed from the earth by the precious blood of God’s dear Son. Are they procured by persevering search? So the Lord left heaven and came to earth to seek that which was lost. Are jewels gathered from all lands and from the isles of the sea? So are the Lord’s chosen people. Do jewels of earth vary in their colour, their splendour, their worth? So are there among the Lord’s people diversities of gifts, to each his proper place, to each his proper talent, to each at last a place in the Saviour’s diadem, some to shine with meek and placid light, some with stronger and deeper brilliancy; but the brightest and best of all the fair jewels of the eternal world will be those who have most of the Saviour’s image in them. Jewels are safely treasured, carefully deposited in the secret casket of their possessor, to be brought forth on the festive or the bridal day, and gill Chat day arrives are little known to anyone but their owner. So are the Lord’s chosen ones in the secret place of the Most High. But in the day when the Lord makes up His jewels each shall be found in its proper setting, each shall shine with its proper lustre. (W. H. Perkins.)
God’s jewels
Moreclosely rendered, the passage is “They shall be My peculiar treasure in the day I am preparing.” For one, I like the familiar phraseology in our common version. Christians are Christ’s jewels. They are purchased by atoning blood; at an infinite price was this Divine ownership secured. As the pearls are only won from the depths of the sea by the dangerous dive of the fishers, so were the pearls for Messiah’s crown brought up from the miry depths of depravity by the descent of that Divine Sufferer who came “to seek and to save the lost.” The most brilliant and precious gem known to us is of the same chemical substance as the black and opaque coal of the mine. Crystallisation turns the carbon into the diamond. The grace of the Lord Jesus transforms an opaque soul, as black by nature as the jet, into a jewel which reflects the glory of Christ’s countenance. All the lustre that the ripest Christian character possesses is but the reflection of the Sun of Righteousness. He who lives nearest to Jesus shines the brightest. The tarnish which makes some Christians no more slightly than a common pebble of the mire, comes from contact with an evil world. A “pearl cast before swine” is not more out of place than is a professed follower of Jesus in the society of scoffers, or in the haunts of revelry. Not all precious jewels glitter in conspicuous positions. The Master has His hidden ones; there are costly sapphires beneath coarse raiment, and up in the dingy attic of poverty. That self-denying daughter who wears out her youthful years in nursing a poor infirm mother, is a ruby of whom the Master saith, “Thou art Mine in the day when I gather My jewels.” (T. C. Cuyler.)
God’s estimate of Christian character
I.The Christian character as illustrated by the simile of the text--“Jewels.” This is suggestive--
1. Of the beauty of that character. God delights in all beauty, but most of all in that moral excellence which adorns His people. Let us seek to realise this perfection. Flaws in jewels greatly depreciate their value and mar their beauty; so do faults in Christians.
2. Of the strength of that character. Jewels are not easily broken, do not wear, do not fade. The religion of true Christians is not a fancy or a fashion, but principle, habit, power. Tried by sorrow, sickness, temptation, persecution, it yields not.
3. Of the preciousness of that character. Jewels are of exceeding value, so are God’s people. They are precious in their influence upon society, and society sometimes knows it. The saints are ever precious to God. Who shall tell how much He loves His people?
II. Let us observe in what sense the saints are called the Lord’s jewels. “My jewels.”
1. Because by Him they were rescued from a condition of impurity and darkness. A jewel may well be called his who risked his life to secure it.
2. Because to Him they owe their purity and glory. True saints feel that Christ has washed and perfected them, and they rejoice to give Him all the glory.
3. Because to Him they owe their protection and security. God takes care of His jewels (Job_1:10). “I give unto them eternal life, and none shall pluck them out of My hands.”
III. The future glory and distinction of the righteous. “They shall be Mine.”
1. They shall be His confessedly. Now we return, and cannot discern between him that serveth God and him that serveth Him not, but God shall then acknowledge us openly. He shall take the gem that may have been counted a mere offscouring, andset it in His crown.
2. They shall be His unitedly. “Make up.” God’s people are scattered now, but then they shall be gathered together.
3. They shall be His everlastingly. “Made up.” All trial over, and their state for ever settled in heaven. (W. L. Watkinson.)
The Redeemer’s jewels
Little or nothing is known historically of the prophet Malachi. The time, the place, the circumstances of his birth are all unknown. We know nothing of his ancestors and nothing of his descendants, if he had any. Like a meteor he starts up suddenly in the horizon of the Church, and after running a brief career of exceeding brightness he disappears as suddenly, leaving no trace behind except the few pages of thrilling prophecy with which the Old Testament closes. His name signifies the messenger of Jehovah. It was a period of fearful religious degeneracy. But not all of the captives who returned from Babylon had corrupted themselves; there were some noble exceptions; a remnant was preserved, a few remained faithful to their covenant with Jehovah. To this faithful remnant our text refers.
I. The jewels. Where shall we search for them? Not above in the garnished heaven of sparkling worlds; not below in the mines of hidden wealth of gold and silver, where men toil hard and long to gain what they deem precious; not where the topaz, the coral, and the diamond sparkle; not in our national galleries thronged with rare products of nature and art; not in the museums, with their vast collection of valuable antiquities; not in the wardrobes and chests where the rich and noble lock up their lustrous gems and jewels, to be seen and worn only on high festivals. Not there must we look for Jehovah’s precious treasures. We must look for them in souls that have put on Christ, men who have become partakers of the Divine nature, who have been created anew after the image of His Son. God estimates men not by their physical structure, not by their mental qualities, not by their learning or wealth, but by their harmony or disharmony with His will, by their sympathy or want of sympathy with His character and authority, by their dominant thoughts and feelings concerning Himself. “They feared the Lord”--not that guilty tormenting fear which drives man away from God, that shudders with remorse in His presence, that trembles beneath His frown, but that holy fear which reverently approaches God, that devoutly yearns for His fellowship, and yet is awed by a sense of His nearness, that fear which covets His favour, and whose highest heaven is to live in the light of His approval, that fear which remembers His covenant and submits to His kingly authority. “They thought upon His Name.” Twice He had revealed that Name to their fathers; once to Moses as the “I Am,” and once to Abraham as “I am God All-sufficient.” To Moses He proclaimed what He is in Himself, the “I Am,” the Self-contained, the Self-Existent, the Absolute, the Source of life and being. To Abraham He proclaimed what He is to His people, “God All-sufficient.” The All-satisfying portion, the All in All. This Great Name was ever in the thought of the faithful remnant; they pondered over it as revealed to their fathers; they gloried in its infinite superiority to the gods of the heathen. “They spake often one to another.” They not only thought about God in solitude and silence, but they cheered and strengthened one another in evil times by rehearsing together the wonderful things which God had done for them and for their fathers. It was no empty idle talk; it was so good that Jehovah hearkened and heard.
II. The counting up of His jewels. The text implies that a period is coming when the Lord of hosts will make up or count up His jewels. But why number them?
1. That the Redeemer may have the satisfaction of knowing how many. Of all the works of God, the great redemption by Christ is the greatest and costliest. He upholds all things by the word of His power. But He cannot redeem a lost race by a word of command or a fiat of His will. To redeem will cost Him an effort, a sacrifice, even the greatest sacrifice that God can make. On earth, under the pressure of an infinite sorrow, He was cheered by a glimpse of His future reward. For the joy set before Him He endured the Cross, despising the shame. He shall see His seed, a holy multitude which no man can number, and as He surveys them He will rejoice in them as witnesses that He has not laboured in vain.
2. Hewill count His jewels, that the intelligent universe may know how many, that Jesus Christ may give to hell as well as heaven, to demons as well as holy angels, to the lost as well as to the saved, evidence that redemption has not been a failure, but a complete success, a splendid triumph. When He makes up His jewels it will be found that there are more men in heaven than in hell. Jesus will have the majority. The minority would scarcely satisfy the great heart of Him who endured the Gethsemane agony and the shameful death of the Cross.
3. That Jesus Christ may be assured that all the faithful are there, and that not one is wanting. The King whom the saints serve has His book of chronicles where the name of every faithful one and all his noble deeds are minutely recorded (Est_6:1-3). We find frequent allusions to this book of records in the Scriptures (Psa_56:8; Heb_6:10; Rev_3:5; Luk_10:20). When the Lord of hosts makes up His jewels there will be something analogous to the calling of the roll. Jesus Christ has covenanted with the Father that He will keep all those committed to Him. There must be no ground for the Father in that day to charge the Son with unfaithfulness, with having lost one through inability or neglect. Jesus Christ has also covenanted with us that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. There must be no room in that day for a single soul to say, I believed in His Name, and yet He has not saved me.
III. The exhibition of His jewels. Having called the roll and ascertained that all the faithful ones are there, He will exhibit them, hold them up as His most magnificent trophies, His greatest, noblest work. Some of us are old enough to remember the first Great Exhibition of the Industries of all Nations in 1851. On the first entering that “Palace of all Nations” how impressive, how overwhelming the scene! We have had similar exhibitions since in Paris, Chicago, and elsewhere. Jesus Christ is going to have the greatest exhibition the universe has ever known. Throughout the centuries He has been preparing for it. In China, India, and Japan, on the continents of Europe, Africa, America, and Australia, in the islands of the sea, in northern latitudes among the Esquimaux and Laplanders, God’s agents are building up characters and beautifying souls for the great exhibit. All nations will be represented in that vast gathering. On the Cross He made a public exhibition of the enemies He conquered “Having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a show of them openly.” “But when He comes on His throne of judgment He will exhibit His friends, make a show of them openly, that the intelligent universe may behold and admire His workmanship in the innumerable multitude He has saved and sanctified, the jewels He has burnished and made to flash with the beauty of God. There are the children of sorrow and afflictions on whom God has employed the chisel, the hammer, and the file to beautify and glorify them. Millions more of all climates and countries, of all nations and ages, will be there. Their names may not be registered in the chronicles of earth, or carved in enduring marble, but they are written in the chronicles of the King of saints, and He will publish them in high places in the hearing of the principalities and powers in,, that day when He makes up His jewels.
IV. The appropriating of them. “They are Mine.” Under Roman law when a man received into his family a stranger and adopted him as a son two ceremonies were necessary; the one domestic the other legal, the one private the other public. The ceremony of adoption was first observed in the family, where the stranger was formally received and acknowledged as son in the presence of the entire household. But in order to make the new relation between the adopting father and the adopted son legal, the ceremony must also be observed publicly in the presence of civil authorities and witnesses. The saints here on earth are brought into the family of God, become members of the household of faith, receive the Spirit of adoption whereby they cry Abba, Father. This adoption is private; the knowledge of it is limited at first to God and the adopted believer. Afterwards it becomes known only to a limited circle of kindred spirits, to whom the adopted may communicate the joyful fact. It is not an event that the world cares to hear, or that awakens interest in any beyond the select few. But our text points to a period when there will be a public recognition of them as the sons of God. “In that day.” This will not take place in this life, not at death, and not on the entrance of each soul into the heavenly world, but at the general resurrection. Until then only a fragment of the saintly nature will be glorified. The Old Testament saints are not to be perfected without us or before us; the New Testament saints are not to be perfected before the saints of the Old Covenant: we are to be perfected together. Abel, Abraham, Isaac, Joseph, Noah, Moses, etc., will not be made perfect without us. See how changed, how transfigured they all are, how old things have passed away and all things have become new; they owe it all to Me and to My dying love, therefore they are all Mine. To-day they are to be crowned kings for ever. (Richard Roberts.)
Touchstones of character
Cornelia’s noble answer to the haughty princess who, on one occasion, visited her, is worthy of remembrance. Proudly displaying her own flashing jewels, her royal guest said, “And where are yours?” upon which the mother of the Gracchi, as proudly calling her children, said, “These are my jewels.” And He who sits upon the sapphire throne, and has round about Him a rainbow like unto an emerald, and who created all earth’s riches for His own pleasure, yet places the highest value on the humble man, who, by faith in Christ Jesus, becomes a son of God.
1. Jewels are rare. In comparison with common stones there are very few of them. De la Bruyere says, “Next to sound judgment, diamonds and pearls are the rarest things to be met with.” But rarer still are the true children of God. Not one man in fifty the world over is a true Christian. As, after all the search of the ages, there are not now more than one hundred great diamonds--a very small number when we think of the efforts put forth to discover them--so those who live the life more abundant are still in a very meagre minority.
2. For jewels are precious. “The richest merchandise of all,” says Pliny, “and the most sovereign commodity throughout the world, are these pearls.” In recent days, for the Arabian Pearl, £1,10,000 was offered and refused: and almost fabulous sums have been paid even for one precious stone. After the pearl, the ruby is far and away the most valuable, in proportion to its size; but never being found except in comparatively small fragments, has not had that halo of romance associated with it which has surrounded some diamonds. For instance, the Great Mogul Diamond, that “ meteor amongst gems,” which was lost in the Tartar invasion, was valued at £600,000; the Regent of Portugal is worth £400,000; the Orloff, £370,000; the Matan of Borneo, £269,000; the Koh-i-Noor, £140,000; while from Africa alone there come diamonds to the value of £5,000,000 each year. In the light of these things let us ponder the value God sets upon His chosen. Nothing is so excellent in the eyes of men but God compares His people to it. As precious stones are the aristocracy of minerals, Christians are the aristocracy of men.
2. Jewels, moreover, are pure. This, indeed, is the chief part of their value; for the degree of impurity in any stone is just the measure of its depreciation. The initial act of their formation is separation. Keep thyself pure, thou child of God.
4. And jewels are brilliant. The only difference between a black object and a brilliant one, say between a coal and a diamond, is in their disposal of light. The one receives the light, sucks it up, and selfishly keeps it. It thus becomes black. The other receives the light, but to reflect it back again from a hundred facets. This is the brilliant. And the worldly man, receiving the blessing of God, which He sends upon the just and the unjust, seeks not the glory of the Great Giver; while the true child of God, getting greater grace, finds his chief end in glorifying God and enjoying Him for ever. “This people,” saith the Lord, “I have formed for Myself; they shall shew forth My praise.” Sometimes we hear of a diamond shining in its own lustre, which is very considerable nonsense, for a diamond has no lustre of its own in which to shine. It is undoubtedly true that there are a few--a very few--diamonds which are phosphorescent for a little while in the dark; but even this cannot be called the inherent quality of the diamond; while the vast proportion of both diamonds and other jewels only flash forth in the “infallible lustre of crystalline beauty” when the light shines upon them. And though for many years it was thought that iridescence resided in the pearl, Sir David Brewster has clearly shown that the delicate striations on the pearl’s surface are the sole cause of its radiance. Here the analogy lies close at hand. No light have we, and no brilliance, no lustre and no grace, until we come into the light of the Lord.
5. And with brilliance there is beauty. That is to say, in addition to the beauty of brilliance, there is the beauty of colour and form. Let the beauty of our God be upon us, O Lord, let the beauty of our God be upon us!”
6. Jewels are durable. In a standard work this definition is given: “A gem is a real possession capable of affording pleasure to the wearer and spectator, and retaining an intrinsic and marketable value, undiminished by the lapse of time.” Diamonds outlast dynasties, and seem as if nothing will impair their lustre. So gems, and not dewdrops, are chosen to represent the righteous who still hold on their way.
7. The seventh quality of perfection in jewels is that they are useful. They are used forboring through the rock; for cutting glass; for setting pivots; for pointing watches. But when thus working their beauty is hidden, while it is the triumph of a Christian to be most beautiful when most useful. (W. Y. Fullerton.)
Christians rarely combine all excellencies
It is a rare thing for a Christian, as it is for a gem, to combine all excellent qualities. Few jewels have more than two orthree marks of distinction. If large they are lacking in lustre; if pure they are probably small; if well-coloured they may be of an awkward shape; if beautifully formed may not be very heavy. Perfection in precious atones is almost unknown, and there axe flaws even in the lives of the best Christians. (W. Y. Fullerton.)
Varieties of Christian character
Andif there are different shapes in gems, there are various forms of Christian life and development. And if there are different colours in gems, there are also varieties in the attainments exhibited in personal conduct. Each Christian has his own place and power, and all exhibit the manifoldness of the grace of God. The gentle, tender believers having the graces of the Spirit most fully developed, are like the pearl; and you will remember that it is the pearls which get the place of honour at the entrance to the New Jerusalem; most valuable and most perfect, others enter by them. The enthusiastic disciples, full-blooded in their aggressive eagerness, are like the blushing ruby; while some live so far above earth and earthly things, and so near the sky that they resemble the deep velvety sapphire, “that stone like solid heaven in itsblueness.” Others with spiritual insight, the seers of the Church, are akin to the most costly chrysoberyl or cat’s-eye, with its beautiful moving line of light; while the diamond, “fair as the star which ushers in the morn,” is the apt emblem of those who have clear and definite views of truth. Men with a fresh and constant Divine life are represented by the emerald, with its soft, clear green; and the royal magnificence of exalted Christian character by the purple amethyst. Where there is the rapture of intimate communion with God, we think of the golden jasper; and of the opal, “which hath in it the bright, fiery flame of the carbuncle, the fine refulgent purple of the amethyst, and a whole sea of the emerald’s green glory, and every one of them shining with an incredible mixture, and with much pleasure, where there is the fully developed manhood of faith. While for simplicity, the onyx; and for solidity, the agate is the natural symbol. And if deficient in all these characteristics, there is still the long list of unmentioned jewels, where, without doubt, every true heart may find a place. It may be the blue lapis-lazuli, so much used in Italian churches; or the green malachite, so often met with in Russia; or the turquoise, which finds its home in Persia; or the chrysolite, now called peridot; or the bloodstone, or jade, or tourmaline, or hyacinth, or cairngorm, or coral, or crystal, or any other of the score still unnamed. Natural temperament very often determines the line of Christian development. A man with a delicate constitution is most likely to display thegentle side of Christianity; while the strong and vigorous, other things being equal, should be most energetic and enthusiastic. (W. Y. Fullerton.)
