“Again, the kingdom of heaven [the heavens] is like unto treasure hid in a [the] field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth [hid], and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.”
THIS parable corresponds chronologically with the address to the Church in Sardis (Rev. 3:2-62Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God. 3Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee. 4Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy. 5He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels. 6He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. (Revelation 3:2‑6)), which Church is symbolic of the period of the Reformation.
The historical type is found in the history of Jehu (2 Kings 9, 10.), which was a time of outward reformation.
The MAN who found the TREASURE, as explained in the preceding parables, is the LORD JESUS, and the FIELD is the WORLD.
What, then, is the TREASURE? In the parable of the wheat and tares, "the good seed are the children of the kingdom," mingled together with mere professors, so as with difficulty to be distinguished from them. Here the same children of the kingdom are looked at as treasure hid in the world; that is, among the mass of mankind. After the Apostles' times, up to the period of the Reformation in the sixteenth century, there was no distinction made between those who were actually saved and those who outwardly belonged to the professing Church, whether the Greek or the Roman Church; and although the Reformation in the energy of the Holy Ghost brought again to light the great truth of justification by faith, there was no vigorous attempt made to separate those who were justified and in possession of everlasting life from the professors around—the distinction was simply between Protestants and Roman Catholics.
Nevertheless, the foundation of God stood firm; the Lord knew them that were His. From eternity He had foreknown them; they were His treasure-every individual soul being of more value than the world itself; and as at the first He would not suffer the tares to be gathered out from among the wheat, so at this period of the Church's history their separate and united testimony was in a great measure obscured by their surroundings.
“And for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath." These precious souls given to Christ by His Father, redeemed by His precious blood, quickened and sanctified by the Holy Spirit, were His joy as well as His treasure; the world knew them not, even as it had not known Him, and He was content that for a season they should remain in obscurity, even as He had been, in the anticipation of that time when He, the Son of God, shall be manifested, and they shall be manifested with Him in glory.
Though in the form of God, and thinking it not robbery to be equal with God, yet He emptied Himself, and for the joy that was set before Him endured the Cross, despising the shame.
The result of this surrender of Himself and all that He had was the redemption of the souls of His elect, and the remission of their sins, and not only so, but creation itself was ransomed, and the field which is the world became His by the double right of creation and redemption, all authority having been given to Him in heaven and on earth.
When David was commanded by God to go up and rear an altar to Jehovah in the threshing-floor of Ornan, the Jebusite, in order that the sword of the angel who was executing judgment might be put up again into its sheath, David not only purchased the threshing-floor as the site for the altar for fifty shekels of silver, the redemption price for one hundred souls, but he also purchased "the place"—that, is the surrounding field—for six hundred shekels of gold Chron. 21:25), whereon the temple was to be erected to Jehovah's praise.
The world is not purchased so much for its own sake, but because of the treasure contained in it. It is now a "purchased possession" (Eph. 1:1414Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory. (Ephesians 1:14)), but not yet redeemed by power from the hand of the usurper. The life of the believer is hid with Christ in God, and creation groans, waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God, when creation itself shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God (Rom. 8:19-2119For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. 20For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, 21Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. (Romans 8:19‑21)). Then Christ Himself shall be manifested, and His redeemed shall appear with Him in glory.