Notice again, not a word as to failure is found in this short but incomparably beautiful parable. The merchant man is seeking goodly pearls, when finding one pearl of great price which eclipses everything else, he sells all that he has and buys it.
In this we see a picture of the Lord Jesus. He seeks goodly pearls, and will find THEM. By this we believe are indicated different classes of believers—the Jew in the day to come, for instance, the Gentile nations blessed in view of the Kingdom in display.
But one pearl of great price eclipses everything, and nothing more is said about the goodly pearls He was seeking. The pearl of great price we believe to represent the Church, that peculiar treasure for the heart of Christ, that mystery of members gathered from both Jew and Gentile united to Christ as the living Head in heaven—a mystery hid from all ages, but now revealed in God's word.
The true Kingdom in mystery in this dispensation is only composed of those who are members of Christ. A Jewish believer today finds himself as much in the Church of God as a Gentile believer.
Whilst Kingdom principles and Church principles run on different lines, yet it is true that the Kingdom in its outward profession is to be found in Christendom; whilst in its reality its true members are likewise members of the Church of God.
And this modifies some things as to the Kingdom. For instance, we do not preach “the Gospel of the Kingdom” (Matt. 4:2323And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people. (Matthew 4:23))—the Kingdom Gospel, which was preached by Christ and the Apostles before the day of Pentecost, and which will be preached again after the rapture. We preach “the Gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:2424But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God. (Acts 20:24)), which takes people morally out of the world, giving them heavenly hopes and destiny.