What are the foundations of the New Jerusalem made of?
They are made of precious stones, garnished with gemstones including jasper, sapphire, chalcedony, emerald, sardonyx, sardius, chrysolite, and topaz. The city is described as garnished with all manner of precious stones, and these beautiful gems adorn its foundations. They are not ordinary stone but precious gems.
Les teaches that the beautiful city is garnished with all manner of precious stones. He walks through the foundations: the first foundation is jasper, the next sapphire, then chalcedony, the fourth emerald, then sardonyx, sardius, chrysolite, and topaz. He calls them all beautiful gemstones and says these foundations are going to be garnished with them. He contrasts this with the gates of pure pearl—each gate a single pearl—and the street of pure gold, transparent as glass, but the foundations themselves are adorned with these precious stones.
And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald;