Grace Thoughts
Deep Magic – Song of the Supernatural – Chapter 3
Courtesy NASA
" data-image-title="Universe Eye Photo NASA" class="attachment-rowling-post-image size-rowling-post-image wp-post-image" data-orig-file="https://gracelifethoughts.files.wordpress.com/2019/10/universe-eye-photo-nasa.jpg" data-image-description="" height="510" width="816" data-medium-file="https://gracelifethoughts.files.wordpress.com/2019/10/universe-eye-photo-nasa.jpg?w=300" data-permalink="https://gracelifethoughts.com/2021/05/20/deep-magic-song-of-the-supernatural-introduction/universe-eye-photo-nasa/" alt="" srcset="https://gracelifethoughts.files.wordpress.com/2019/10/universe-eye-photo-nasa.jpg?w=816 816w, https://gracelifethoughts.files.wordpress.com/2019/10/universe-eye-photo-nasa.jpg?w=150 150w, https://gracelifethoughts.files.wordpress.com/2019/10/universe-eye-photo-nasa.jpg?w=300 300w, https://gracelifethoughts.files.wordpress.com/2019/10/universe-eye-photo-nasa.jpg?w=768 768w, https://gracelifethoughts.files.wordpress.com/2019/10/universe-eye-photo-nasa.jpg?w=1024 1024w, https://gracelifethoughts.files.wordpress.com/2019/10/universe-eye-photo-nasa.jpg 1440w" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-large-file="https://gracelifethoughts.files.wordpress.com/2019/10/universe-eye-photo-nasa.jpg?w=616" />Courtesy NASA
God chose to share His Song with beings other than Himself. However, since there were no other beings in existence when God made His choice to share, He Created them. He took from the Brightness of His Own Supernatural Substance and made beings that shared in His Substance – they were also Supernatural. They were large and powerful – beautiful and bright. God gave them amazing voices to sing His Song. He shared Himself with those He made. God called them angels (angelos – a messenger).
Creation of Heaven and Angels
First, God Created Heaven (ouranos – to lift, heave). It would be His Throne and home to His most beautiful creatures. Then, He Created the great angelic host. Angels are referred to in Scripture as “excelling in strength” and “mighty” (Psalm 103:20; 2 Thessalonians 1:7; 2 Peter 2:11; Revelation 10:1; 18:21) A single angel is described in Scripture as having the Supernatural Power to easily destroy great portions of our planet (Revelation 8). No magician on earth has ever been able to replicate the Deep Magic of Creation. Not even the most powerful angels can create more angels. Only God has Knowledge and Wisdom to Create something from nothing.
Heaven is a beautiful place described as being above the earth (Deuteronomy 5:8; 1 Kings 8:23;). God is the Light of Heaven (Rev. 21:23 – 22:5) and calls Heaven His Throne and the earth His footstool (Isaiah 66:1; Matthew 5:34). He surrounded Himself and His Throne with angels – millions of them (1 Kings 22:19; Revelation 5:11; 7:11). God taught His angels to sing an important part of the Song of the Supernatural. It is the angels’ Song of Worship and Praise.
“Praise Him, all His angels; Praise Him, all His hosts!”
Psalm 148:2
“And one cried to another and said: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!”
Isaiah 6:3
“The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying: ‘Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!”
Revelation 4:8
The simplicity of the Song the angels sing is based on the deep idea of God’s Worth. He is Worthy to be Praised. He is Holy, Righteous and True. Angels worship and serve God day and night. People often say that someone has the “voice of an angel.” Only a small number of people in history have ever heard angels sing, so no one really knows how they sound. However, we know from Scripture that God Created angels for the purpose of worshiping Him and singing His praise in Heaven. We can be sure that their voices are beautiful to hear. In fact, I imagine that the voice of just one angel would quickly bring us to tears with the power and sweetness of their song of praise for the God they’ve known and worshiped for thousands of years.
What’s the largest group of singers you’ve ever seen in person? Dozens? Scores? Hundreds? Thousands? Tens of thousands? Do you remember how thrilling it was hearing all those voices singing together in harmony? Imagine a choir of tens of millions of angels singing songs of praise to our God in Heaven. What do you think that would sound like? Would it inspire you to worship God as well? I believe it will! In fact, the voices of millions of angels will help inspire the voices of billions of people God has saved to sing with them in Heaven. That will be amazing!
What God did in Creating Heaven and the angelic host was a feat of Deep Magic that is far greater than anything any magician in history has ever accomplished. However, God was not finished. In fact, He was just getting started.
The Building Blocks of Heaven
Have you ever thought about what God used to Create Heaven? Heaven is not what most people think of when they hear the word. Heaven is not filled with “fairy dust” where little creatures flit from place to place. Heaven is not people sitting on clouds floating in the air. Heaven is a real place of great size, volume and weight. It might surprise some to know that elements we think of as being part of the earth, were first part of Heaven. We learn a great deal about the building blocks of Heaven by learning what God used to build His Holy City – The New Jerusalem.
Gold – a basic building material in Heaven … the New Jerusalem that comes out of Heaven from God is made from pure gold, like clear glass (Revelation 21:18) … the wide street of the city is made with pure gold, like transparent glass (Revelation 21:21) … an angel measured the city of gold using a gold measuring reed (Revelation 21:15) … the seven bowls that carry God’s wrath are made of gold (Revelation 15:7) … the seven angels with the seven plagues have their chests girded with golden bands (Revelation 15:6) … the Son of God wears a large crown made of gold (Revelation 14:14) … the large altar that is before the Throne of God is made of gold (Revelation 9:13) … angels carry censers made of gold (Revelation 8:3) … the four living creatures and 24 elders in Heaven carry incense bowls made of gold (Revelation 5:8) … the crows those elders wear are made of gold (Revelation 4:4). God used gold in His Creation of Heaven the way people on earth use wood, granite and limestone to build things. Another thing about gold – it is a very heavy element. Its gravity specific weight is 19.32 Gold is twice as heavy as lead and more than twice as hard. In the air, gold weights almost 7 times as much as gravel or sand. In water, gold is about 11 times as heavy. Yet, at the same time, gold has the highest malleability of all metals God has Created. It can be hammered to a thickness of just 0.0001 millimeter. It can be so thin that light can penetrate the metal. How much would it cost a man to build a city of that size out of pure gold and pave its street with pure gold? The current market price of gold is $1,343 an ounce. A pound of gold (based on a Troy ounce) would cost almost $20,000. That’s almost $40,000,000 for a ton of gold at current prices. How much gold would it take to build a city 1,500 miles by 1,500 miles by 1,500 miles and pave its wide street with pure gold? The answer is that it could not be done because there is not enough gold on earth to build a city of that size. In fact, it’s estimated that all of the gold on the earth piled together would only be about the size of a small office building. That’s nothing compared to a city of gold the size of the majority of states in the United States reaching up to more than half the distance from the earth to the moon. A city of that size would be measured in trillions of trillions of metric tons – not ounces and pounds. Think about that! God used one of the heaviest and most expensive metals lavishly in His Creation of Heaven. Gold existed in Heaven before God used it in the Creation of earth. He took a very small portion of Heaven’s pure gold and sprinkled it lightly on the earth.
Jasper – another basic building material in Heaven … the construction of the great wall of the New Jerusalem is jasper (Revelation 21:18) … the wall is 144 cubits thick, which is about 216 feet (large enough to support a 24 lane super highway) … the wall surrounds a city that is 12,000 furlongs long and high on each of four sides (about 1,500 miles long, deep and high) … the foundations of the wall of the city are adorned with all kinds of precious stones and the first foundation is jasper. Think about the enormity of jasper as a building material in just the wall of the New Jerusalem – 1,500 miles by 1,500 miles by 1,500 miles and 216 feet thick. On top of that, jasper is the first precious stone in the foundation of the great wall (Revelation 21:19). Is that not amazing? Jasper is generally red, yellow, brown or green in color, and easily polished to a beautiful shine. Can you see that in Heaven? A great and high wall made of highly polished red, yellow, brown and green jasper hundreds of miles long and high? How beautiful it is to behold. But there’s more! The light of the New Jerusalem coming down out of Heaven is like a precious jasper stone, clear as crystal (Revelation 21:11). Do you see the vision of it? The great city of God with a light like clear jasper with an outer wall made of polished jasper. The red color will be such a beautiful reminder of the blood of the Son of God that ran from His Body for the salvation of every person who lives in the New Jerusalem. Unlike gold, jasper is not expensive to purchase on earth, unless it is specially cut and polished by a gem expert – the same way God forms and polishes those for whom the Son of God gave His Life. Others may not see anything special about a broken human life, but God sees deep inside the inner man and knows how to bring out the very best in each of us. That is Deep Magic, indeed!
Sapphire – the second foundation of the wall surrounding the New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:19) … sapphire has great value on earth, based on grade and clarity … everything in Heaven is pure and of the highest quality, meaning that the value of the sapphires that are part of the enormous wall … on earth, sapphires come in many shades of blue and a 1-carat sapphire can cost anywhere from a few hundred dollars to tens of thousands of dollars … large sapphires (more than 3 carats) are very rare and far more expensive per carat than smaller sapphires … can you imagine how large God’s sapphires are to be a major part of the foundation of the Holy City? The value on earth would be staggering – God uses them as a foundational building material for a wall 1,500 miles high and thousands of miles in length.
Chalcedony – the third foundation of the wall surrounding the New Jerusalem … chalcedony is any form of microcrystalline or cryptocrystalline quartz … the stones come in many colors, shapes and sizes, are usually semi-transparent or translucent, and are popular as jewelry … varieties of chalcedony include agate, moss agate, bloodstone, onyx, mocha, prase, chrysoprase, plasma, and heliotrope … chalcedony is priced based on grade, quality, cut and polish and can cost several dollars, hundreds of dollars, or even thousands of dollars per gemstone.
Emerald – the fourth foundation of New Jerusalem’s wall … like so many gemstones the value of an emerald is based on cut, carat, color and clarity … emeralds can cost from several dollars to thousands of dollars based on their quality … the most valuable emeralds are those that are large, perfectly cut, clear, and a deep, vivid green in color … the emeralds of Heaven would certainly be of only the highest quality in all categories and be of extreme size as a prominent foundation of the Great Wall of Heaven.
Sardonyx – the fifth foundation of the wall of the Holy City … sardonyx is a cryptocrystalline form of quartz that has been popular for jewelry for thousands of years … it is a variety of the silica mineral chalcedony … the word onyx means “claw” and sard means “reddish brown” … the sardonyx stone has reddish brown colored bands rather than black bands … it is affordable, but looks valuable.
Sardius – the sixth foundation of the New Jerusalem … the sardius gemstone is reddish in color … it is a semi-precious stone.
Chrysolite – the seventh foundation of the City of God … it is a magnesium iron silicate that is greenish gold in color with white streaks … it held great value in ancient times, but is less expensive to purchase today.
Beryl – the eighth foundation of the New Jerusalem … pure beryl is either colorless or yellow (sometimes called golden beryl) and is from the same family of gems as emerald, morganite and aquamarine … many beryl gems are green in color (green beryl) … beryl gemstones are often used for larger jewelry pieces because of the size of the stones … the value of beryl depends on color and quality, but are not expensive when weighed by carat.
Topaz – the ninth foundation of God’s Holy City … topaz is a silicate mineral of aluminum and fluorine … pure topaz is colorless and transparent … most topaz on earth are reddish-orange, yellow, pale gray, blue brown, green, pink, white, or wine colored … topaz gems are used as precious stones for jewelry.
Chrysoprase – the tenth foundation of the New Jerusalem … chrysoprase is in the quartz family and is a variety of chalcedony … it is green in color and one of the more valuable chalcedony gems.
Jacinth – the eleventh foundation of the Holy City that comes down from God out of Heaven … jacinth is a red transparent variety of zircon and can also be reddish blue and deep purple … it is used as beautiful and relatively inexpensive jewelry.
Amethyst – the twelfth foundation of the New Jerusalem … amethyst is a quartz variety that is violet in color … amethyst was highly valued for thousands of years until large deposits were found in the 18th Century A.D.
Pearl – the wall of the New Jerusalem has twelve gates, and each gate is made from one pearl (Revelation 21:12, 21) … the gates will always be open because it will always be light and never be night … quality pearls on earth are made within the soft tissue of a shelled mollusk … the best pearls are hard and perfectly round and smooth … they are extremely valuable on earth and the high grade quality pearls can cost thousands of dollars … God Created pearls in Heaven that are so large that one pearl stands as a gate into the Holy City.
Water – water flows through the New Jerusalem as a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the Throne of God and of the Lamb, Jesus Christ Revelation 22:1) … Jesus also told the Apostle John that He would give of the fountain of the water of life freely to people who were thirsty (Revelation 21:6) … God Created the water of life in Heaven.
Glass – God’s Throne is in Heaven and before His Throne the Apostle John saw “a sea of glass, like crystal” (Revelation 4:6) … John saw the sea of glass again in Revelation 15 where those who have victory over the beast stood on the sea of glass (Revelation 15:2) … glass on earth is a non-crystalline solid material made from a mixture of silica, sodium oxide, calcium oxide and other additives … God Created a sea of glass to appear before His Throne in Heaven – a place where His people stand before Him.
No city ever built by man can compare with the beauty and glory of the New Jerusalem. As the Apostle John described it – “prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” (Revelation 21:2) God made it crystal clear in His Revelation that the New Jerusalem and those who will live in it are the bride of Christ.
“Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came to me and talked with me, saying, ‘Come, I will show you the bride, the Lamb’s wife.’ And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God.”
Revelation 21:9-11
I’ve often closed my eyes to get a vision of the beauty and magnitude of this amazing city – 1,500 miles in all directions, built of pure gold, surrounded by an enormous wall made of precious gemstones of every imaginable color. I know I will one day walk on the great golden street and enjoy the vivid colors that are made even more beautiful by the glorious light from our Great God and Savior, Jesus Christ! “The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light.” (Revelation 21:23)
People are quite taken by the beauty and value of gemstones, which is understandable. However, it’s important for us to remember that God Created these colorful gemstones to reveal important aspects of Himself to us. God dwells in “unapproachable light” and that light is filled with every part of the color spectrum. It’s estimated that the human eye can see about 10,000,000 different colors. Computers can display almost 17,000,000 colors. However, lighting conditions affect the hue and shading of colors, so the true number of different colors is much higher. The fact is that the true number of colors that God sees is most likely infinite.
[You can read the Introduction to this special eBook series here.]
“Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.”
Published by gracelifethoughts
Founder & Director of GraceLife Ministries View all posts by gracelifethoughts