The Color of Worship - Dark Green, Emerald

 

    Revelation 4:3 The One seated there looked like jasper and carnelian, and a rainbow that gleamed like an emerald encircled the throne. 

    The darker the shade of green in an emerald, the more valuable it is. Shaded or lighter colored emeralds are usually referred to as beryl, not emerald.  

We are used to seeing cut emeralds,

 but imagine, if you will, an emerald rainbow. Many Christian artists have attempted this, some known (Botticelli, Dore, Chagall), most unknown. 

Ezekiel 1:28

The appearance of the brilliant light all around Him was like that of a rainbow in a cloud on a rainy day. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of The LORD. And when I saw it, I fell facedown and heard a voice speaking. 

    The closer we get to the living presence of God, the deeper our walk, the stronger our covenanted relationship is with Him. The emerald rainbow surrounding God's throne is reminiscent of the covenant He instituted in Genesis 9:12-16, in which He created a rainbow and set it in the first heaven: the sky and the clouds. 

    The emerald is the fourth stone in the ephod of the priestly garment. While there is much conjecture as to which tribe it represents, the Bible states that the names of the sons of Jacob are engraved on each in the order of their birth, read from right to left. Therefore, emerald represents the tribe of Naphtali, Jacob's fourth son. Also, in Revelation 21:19, the fourth foundation of the new Jerusalem's walls is covered in emeralds. 

    Psalm 52:8 But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God: I trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever. Here emerald green testifies of trust in God's mercy because I have made God my Refuge, not material wealth and possessions (verse 7). Emerald green here is Abundant Living through Faith in God; a deep, expansive life in The Tree of Life: Jesus Christ. 

    

    

The Green Fir Tree

 

Hosea 14:8

"..... I am like a green fir tree, from Me is your fruit found.'

God is the source of all our blessings and benefits. We are to turn to no other entity in prayer for communion with wood/crystals/metals/nature cannot answer our prayers, cannot speak with us. 

God created the universe and everything in it but the universe cannot communicate with us either. Only in God can we find everything our heart desires for He is our desire.

When we grasp hold of His outreached hand and cling to Him, He will take us with Him wherever He goes. 

But why does He compare Himself to a green fir tree? The fir/juniper/cypress tree is home to birds, who nest in their branches or use their needles for nest building. It's shadow spreads across the land and covers all who live under it, not just draw near for shelter from the heat of the day. 

Psalm 91:1

He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. 

Both Israel and the Church are God's extension of Himself to a lost and dying people who need saving, saving on God's terms. We are not here to judge each other's sins, nor to condemn each other for sin. John 3:17

For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

As representatives of Christ we are to be like Christ. God is Judge, we are not. We are the body of Christ: His hands, His feet, His eyes, His heart, etc. With our hands we hold, with our arms we cradle or embrace, with our legs we stand and lift, with our eyes we see what He sees, with our heart we love with His love.

John 13:34

A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you also must love one another.

Only then will our families, our friends, our strangers and our enemies know that there is, indeed, a God who loves them. We are not to hate each other, for in hate there is no love; therefore the love of God cannot be extended to another when it is not in us in the first place.

1 John 4:20

If anyone says, “I love God,” but hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.

We cannot love each other properly unless we have the Holy Spirit, for it is only through the power of the Holy Spirit that our love is truly an extension of God's love and mercy towards all of us. Think of Him as being the sap in the fir tree.  God is the Gardener: He not only created the Tree, He planted it. Christ is the Trunk. We are the branches.