July 13

I will make your pinnacles of rubies, your gates of sparkling jewels, and all your walls of precious stones. — Isa 54:12 BSB

While Zion is in this world, “the Sun of righteousness” does not shine upon her in all his brilliance. Her view of him is filtered, like sunlight passing through windows of agate—tempered and softened. Even her spiritual perspective isn’t always bright and clear. As the Apostle says, “We see through a glass, darkly.” Our glimpses of God, Christ, and heavenly glory are only partial, clouded, and streaked, much like a window of agate rather than clear glass. But just as Daniel opened his windows toward Jerusalem, looking by faith at what he couldn’t see with his eyes, so too should we aim to look toward the heavenly Jerusalem, to “see him who is invisible” through the eyes of faith.

The Lord also speaks of Zion’s gates, saying, “Your gates shall be of carbuncles.” The carbuncle, a blood-red stone, seems to point us toward the blood of the Lamb. Just as scarlet wool was used by Moses to sprinkle the people, and a scarlet thread marked Rahab’s house, there seems to be a deep significance in the color of these gates.

These gates serve both as exits and entrances. How does God hear and answer prayer? Only through the “gate of carbuncle.” Prayers rise to God through Jesus, and answers come down through him as well. Groans enter the ears of the Almighty through Jesus, and answers of mercy descend through the same bleeding gate. Our self-righteous hearts struggle to grasp this; we think we need a good frame of mind or good deeds to make our prayers acceptable to God. But that’s just the pride of self-righteousness. The gates of carbuncle—Christ’s wounds—are the only way our prayers ascend and the only way God’s answers reach us. Any other way, any reliance on human merit, is an affront to the Spirit of God and a rejection of the grace and blood of the Lamb.

“All your walls shall be made of pleasant stones.” God’s providential dealings with us, which often form the outer layers of his inward mercies, are like these pleasant stones. Every direction—north, south, east, and west—Zion’s walls are made of precious material. The events of daily life, family, work, success, and struggles, the ties of love and relationships—these are the outer courts of our spiritual experience. Though these circumstances may seem mundane or even difficult, they are pleasant stones when viewed through the eyes of faith. For Zion, the king’s daughter, even the outermost courts of her experience are made of precious stones. Of wisdom, which is true godliness, Scripture says, “Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.”