The City of God
I almost made it to Heaven one time. I was right there, I could see it. The massive pearl gates with a grayish, white glow. There were three gates on each wall. There were twelve angels by the gates with the names of the tribes of Israel written in them. I could almost touch the pure gold street that came out of the gates. My feet were longing to touch it, like a baby desiring a warm bottle of milk. There was twelve foundations of the city with names of the Apostles written in them. The colors in the wall were phenomenal, casting off light that drifted off into space. It reminded me of a quiet pond that a rock had been thrown into. The waves traveling peacefully outward until it smoothed out in the distance. Twelve distinct layers more wonderful than a rainbow. It was unlike anything I had ever seen on Earth. It was as if the colors had a life of their own. They exuded brilliance and royalty.
The gemstone wall was a festival to the eyes. The layered wall was of jasper, sapphire, a chalcedony, an emerald, sardonyx, sardius, chrysolite, beryl, a topaz, a chrysoprasus, a jacinth, and an amethyst. If you placed all the jewelers in the world on this project, they could not have built a wall like this in all of eternity. The Jasper was rare, clear like crystal. The sapphire had a beautiful blue hue to it. The chalcedony was grey in color with blue, yellow and purple scattered throughout. The emerald layer was green and drew me into it. The sardonyx had alternating bands of red and white in different shades and widths. The sardius was rich orange-red in shade. The chrysolite had a golden color to it. The beryl gleamed a little paler green than the emerald, but none the less striking. The topaz took me by surprise and was greenish yellow. The translucent golden green tint of the chrsoprasus was awe inspiring. I had never seen a jacinth before, but it was a powerful dark blue almost black. My eyes fell on the last layer, an amethyst. It was violet and purple in color.
I saw a crystal river inside the city flowing from a large throne. The water sparkled and twinkled to the eye as if it had millions of diamonds swimming in it. It looked so pure and clean. It seemed as if I had trekked my entire life throughout the desert and had finally found water. My soul desired it as if drinking it would exceed the marvelous thing I had known up to this point in my life. I could see people walking around and captivated by joy and wonder. The thought of pain, death, and sin was absent from their expressions. Their faces shone in a way that was impossible to describe. As I looked in earnest, I have suddenly swept away, sent back to Earth. Sometimes in the past, I would get caught up in the mundane things of this life. However, now my every thought is making it back there and telling others about this incredible city whose builder and maker is God.
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Carl Stanton
