Precious stones are included in the description of New Jerusalem in Revelation 21.
We are the stones for God’s building but we were originally men of clay (or dust). The change from clay to stone is portrayed with the name Simon Peter. He was originally named Simon but the Lord Jesus said he would be Peter, a name that means stone°. This change of name indicates a change of constitution.
God desires to have the New Jerusalem worked and built into us. We all are parts of the New Jerusalem. You are a part, and I also am a part. All the saved ones throughout the generations are stones in the New Jerusalem….We who are saved were not originally stones. We were not “Peters” but “Simons.” We were originally clay….We used to be clay, but because the life of God has entered into us and is changing us inwardly, we are being transformed from clay into stones.*
Why does God transform us into stones? First Peter 2:5 has the answer: “You yourselves also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house…” God transforms us so that He can build us into His spiritual house now on His path towards New Jerusalem.
Why does God want a spiritual house? The answer is in Revelation 21:11. New Jerusalem is a city “having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, as clear as crystal.” God’s purpose is to gain New Jerusalem as His corporate expression to display His glory; clay is not appropriate for this, precious stones are needed.
°The Greek word for Peter is the root of the English word petrify, meaning to convert into a stone.
*An excerpt from The Way for a Christian to Mature in Life, chapter 4, Witness Lee, © LSM. For more about this, please click on the book link in this note and select chapter 4, then go to section 3.
New Jerusalem - the Consummation 
Linda Vogt Turner
/ April 26, 2021I like this analogy. The New Jerusalem is dressed like a bride for her bridegroom. The friend of the Bridegroom and all those invited to attend the wedding have faith in her. They like Simon get behind her, they embrace her and they lift her up as the BRANCH that is forever lit. They no longer call her whore or pick up stones to throw at her. Simon the Black carried her, the Cross of Jesus (Mark 15:21)…and truly became her living ROCK, the living Rock that the chief builders rejected…the foundation stone, the building block of eternal life. Coal is pure Carbon and Carbon is the building block of life here on earth and in space. Carbon has been called the KING OF THE ELEMENTS. Diamond, which is pure carbon, is the only gemstone formed from one element, Carbon, and it is older than Coal. All the other minerals that we classify as gemstones are compounds–they are minerals that include atoms from more than one element. Diamonds are not formed from Coal so say geologists today because Diamonds are older than the vegetation of the earth and Coal is formed from the decomposition of vegetation and creatures. As Paul and the scriptures maintain, the dead do rise for if they didn’t Christ (the Bride and the Bridegroom) did not [and therefore will not come again] 1 Corinthians 15:15-17. So the Bride and her Bridegroom are waiting for the dead to rise, to wake up and come fully alive in Christ (the Bride and Bridegroom) and realize they are gemstones, living stones that have lived for centuries and will live for ever.
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Don
/ April 29, 2021In Ephesians 5 husband and wife are a clear picture of Christ and the church. In verses 23, 24, 25 it is very firm that the church corresponds to the wife. Christ is sanctifying the church (because we, the members of the church, need sanctifying) so that He may present the church to Himself “glorious, not having spot or wrinkle or any such things, but that she would be holy and without blemish.”
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