give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” We are further admonished “. . . now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light . . .” These verses are written to you and me as believers. When Christ comes into our lives He gives a sheen and luster, a brilliancy that outlasts all others. Another characteristic of the sardius stone is. that, it sometimes has a most remarkable transparency — how like our Lord! He had nothing to hide. He had no dark secrets in His bosom for He was pure through and through. It is wonderful to read the words of this quotation, “Never a breath of scandal ever touched the Lord Jesus Christ. His whole life was as sweet as the winds of the morning across the Ju daean hills.” With this beauty of life in Him, He turns to us and says, “Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.” Dr. Hoag gives us this thought in his studies — that the sardius stone was much in demand for the making of seals for the stamping of important documents. First of all our Lord spoke of Himself as being sealed by His Fa ther. Then He said, “Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Fa ther sealed.” And what security and comfort this verse in II Timothy gives us! It is found in chapter 2 and it is the 19th verse: “. . . the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his . . .” The subject of the seal of God has always been of paramount interest to me because the sealing of the Holy Spirit in His ministry declares a fin ished work. Then, too, the seal always denotes a genuineness of the things that are sealed, and so you and I have the stamp of Christ in our lives. Have we been sealed by the Holy Spirit? As we leave this particular study we are grateful that the magnificent sardius stone which stood for Judah and which represented Jesus Christ . 10
The Sardius Stone (continued) word that recalls the city of Sardis, one of the great cities of Asia Minor.” In Revelation 3, there is a stirring mes sage for the church from that particu lar city of Sardis. In effect it is, “You have the name of heing alive, but you are surely dead. Wake up, says John, in the Book of the Revelation, rally what is still left of you, though you are oh the very point of death, for if you wake not up I shall come upon you. You still have a few souls living in Sardis who have not soiled their garments, they shall walk beside me in white because they deserve to.” Then in verse 5 we read: “He that over- cometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Fa ther, and before his angels.” What a message to a church, and how deep was the need of those in Sardis for the power that lies in the atoning blood of Calvary. And those in Sardis had the symbol of this pow er of the atonement in the sardius stone! The Encyclopaedia Britannica yields an interesting thought on this sardius stone, it tells us that it is valued be cause it takes on a very high polish and retains that polish longer than any other gem we know anything about. In looking at this stone symbolically, it is one of the great commendations of our Lord Jesus Christ and of the men and women whom He redeems. God gave Jesus a singular brilliancy, it ex celled in Him all others who have ever lived. Dr. Barr said, “Every word He spoke, every deed He did served to heighten His glory and His bright ness.” The perfection and grandeur of His walk and every act were climaxed in the magnificence of Calvary! The brilliance of His words on the Cross, His understanding suffering, His sym pathetic heart and pure love toward mankind have beamed down through the centuries and II Corinthians 4:6 has this to say, “For God, who com manded the light to shine out of dark ness, hath shined in our hearts, to
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