History is full of the rich and wealthy who have showered themselves and others with expensive luxuries. In flipping around, I’ve noticed several VH1 shows that go into exquisite detail about the prodigalities of the extremely wealthy. But for pure extravagance, it would be hard to beat the Roman emperor Elagabalus (or Heliogabalus), who ruled Rome from 218-222. The Rome of Elagabalus has been called a dream aflame with gold, a city of triumphal arches, enchanted temples, royal dwellings, vast porticoes, and wide, hospitable streets. The dining-halls had ivory ceilings, from which flowers fell, and wainscots that changed at every service. The walls were alive with the glisten of gems and with marbles rarer than jewels. In one hall was a dome of sapphire, a floor of malachite, crystal columns and red gold walls; about the palace were green savannahs; before it was a lake, eight acres of which Vespasian had drained and replaced by an amphitheater. Elagabalus devised garments more splendid and more bizarre than any that the Romans had found outside the temple at Jerusalem. He loved wearing a tunic of purple and gold silk gold, or an even more resplendent vestment which was woven throughout with fine gold and encrusted with gems.
Encircling his curls was a diadem of heavy gold, studded with jewels, one made after a Persian design, and rich, splendid, and brilliant with the numbers of rubies, sapphires, and emeralds which he thought became him. Unfortunately, his taste for precious stones did not stop here. He wore numerous bracelets, rings and necklaces, all as rich and costly as could be made: his shoe-buckles, complete with engraved cameo and intaglio, were the wonder of the beholder. Even in the relief of natural functions he was magnificent, using only vases of gold and onyx.
Once when a friend asked him whether he was not afraid that his prodigal lifestyle would bankrupt him, he replied with an astounding self-complacency, "What can be better for me than to be heir to myself?"
An emperor who gave himself over to such extravagance and who sought pleasure at all costs was not a fit ruler, and in the end he was killed by the Praetorian Guard. His corpse was mutilated and thrown into the Tiber River.
Elagabalus was a king with many jewels of light, but his kingdom was a kingdom of great darkness.*
In Colossians 1, Paul speaks of a great kingdom of light. It is, of course, the New Jerusalem of Revelation, the Church of Jesus Christ, in which God Himself dwells as the sun. This God who is the Light of lights has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light (verse 12) and has delivered us out of the kingdom of darkness (verse 13) and into His kingdom of Light.
While to the eyes of a decadent Roman or VH1 culture, Elagabalus’ jewels bewitch the eyes, in Colossians 1 St. Paul mentions 5 precious stones in the Kingdom of Light that will dazzle the godly soul with their light.
But they only reveal their glory as Jesus Christ, the Light of the World, shines
through each of them into your life. More than just wearing these jewels, as Elagabalus did, you are to be them.
The first is what I call the ruby of faith, red because a zealous faith is a glowing red thing of beauty. Paul commends the faith of the Colossians and gives thanks to God because of it. Such faith as Paul perpetually commends in his letters is indeed a rare and precious thing. It reflects the beauty of its Creator and inspires all who behold it. How beautiful it must be to God, the very definition of Beauty, to behold the people made in His image responding with a lively, glowing faith to His grace!
“While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light” (John 12:36.)
The second precious stone is the diamond of love, white because of its purity. It is the most valuable of stones and is to be the most sought after. It is the pinnacle of any collection of godly attributes and adorns all the others. Paul has also heard of the love of the Colossians and gives thanks for it as well. As we behold the dazzling brilliance of God’s love reflected in our lives, we are privileged to behold God Himself in action. In the diamond of love, we see the utilitarian and the aesthetic wedded because like a diamond, love is the hardest substance known to man and also the most beautiful.
The third precious stone is the onyx and ivory of hope. Hope is black and white because it comes from the word of the truth of the gospel (verse 5), which is God’s plain truth. It is the black ink and white paper of the Bible that we read and through which God brings us His message of eternal hope. Through the onyx and the ivory of hope we understand that God has indeed qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. It’s right there in black and white in Colossians 1:12.
The fourth precious stone is the emerald of fruitfulness, green because it represents the growth which all in the Kingdom of Light are to manifest. We are not the dead precious stones of the earth but are the precious living stones of heaven, with which God builds His Temple. God desires us to be fruitful in every good work and to increase in the knowledge of Him (verse 10.) We are to do the truth, and such truth is beautiful.
“But he who does truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God” (John 3:21.)
The fifth and final precious stone is the blue sapphire of prayer. It represents our looking up into heaven to see the sapphire sea that is the footstool to God’s throne. It is the sky, the upward call of Christ Jesus, and the place where heaven and earth meet. Prayer is, like the atmosphere, the environment that is to surround our lives. At the beginning of Colossians, Paul thanks God for the precious stones of the Colossians, and then he proceeds to pray for the things they already have! Maybe they have it because they and Paul prayed for it. The sapphire of prayer reminds us that all of these stones are worthless and will, in fact, vanish - unless we see them in the light of heaven.
With 5 smooth stones, young David defeated the enemy giant Goliath. With these 5 precious stones of light, you – God’s holy temple - are to be filled with the glory of the God who is light.
With the red ruby of faith, the white diamond of love, the onyx and pearl of hope in God’s inheritance, the green emerald of good fruit, and the blue sapphire of prayer – God shows His glorious light to the world. They are God’s inheritance of the saints in light, for they are part of the inheritance that comes through being adopted into God’s family through Jesus Christ.
Welcome to the Kingdom of Light! With these 5 jewels of light may we so adorn ourselves that the world may see God through us, and give Him glory.
* This information was taken from a 1911 work by J. Stuart Hay on Elagabalus.
Prayer: Thank You, Father, that You have qualified me to be a partaker of the inheritance of the saints in light. Thank You for delivering me from the kingdom of darkness and adopting me into the Kingdom of Your Son. Make me a worthy heir of Your kingdom by giving to me the precious stones of faith, love, hope, fruitfulness, and prayer, through Jesus Christ Your Son. Amen.
Resolution and Point for Meditation: I resolve to consider what things I most treasure in life. Have I, like Elagabalus, valued too much the things of the earth? Choose one of the precious stones of God’s kingdom to meditate on throughout today. Consider of what value it is to you and to others.
© 2009 Fr. Charles Erlandson
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