(Read Matt. 13:44-5344Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field. 45Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: 46Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it. 47Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: 48Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. 49So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, 50And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. 51Jesus saith unto them, Have ye understood all these things? They say unto him, Yea, Lord. 52Then said he unto them, Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old. 53And it came to pass, that when Jesus had finished these parables, he departed thence. (Matthew 13:44‑53).)
I SHOULD like to press upon you, my reader, that these words fell from the lips of the blessed Lord Jesus, the eternal Son of God, become a man, and found in this scene, that He might reveal the love of God to man, and bring man to the knowledge and enjoyment of God. The truth which He brings out here in parabolic form is most precious and wonderful.
In the first two parables―the treasure hid in the field, and the pearl of great price―He brings out the action on His own side, in order to unfold God’s eternal thoughts, purposes, and counsels. God had counsels and purposes of blessing for poor sinful men upon this earth, and these have come out in the Person, and above all in the death of His beloved Son. What the Lord unfolds here is something absolutely new, the like of which never was before. We are permitted to find ourselves the objects of perfect and eternal love. What a wonderful thing it is when a man finds himself to be the object of love deeper and stronger than death! I know many a person will say, “But I do not love God, although I try to.” My friend, do not try it. The activity of His love, really discovered, will soon make you return it. Believers praise and love Him simply because they cannot help it, when the love of His heart fills theirs. Oh, let us give all thanks and praise to Him!
Turn now to this scripture and see what God is doing. What a refreshing thing it is to turn aside from the responsibility of man, and look at what God is doing. Here was Jesus Himself at this moment the full revelation of God. The disciples got near Him in the house, and He says, I will let you see some of the secrets of my Father’s heart. “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth the field.” You may say to me, “Well, I suppose that is a sinner seeking the gospel.” Impossible! I am quite sure that is not its meaning. The interpreter of this parable had not got the mind of the Lord when he told you that.
You talk of a sinner selling all that he hath. What can a sinner sell? What have you got to sell? All that a sinner has is his sins, and they can only bring him into judgment, not blessing. Salvation, moreover, cannot be purchased. Money cannot buy it. The scripture says, “Ye know ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold,... but with the precious blood of Christ” (1 Peter 1:1818Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; (1 Peter 1:18)). It is the Saviour―the heavenly merchant man―who sells “all that he hath,” not the sinner. The field is the world, and what has Christ found in the world? A treasure.
Well may you say, Then who are the treasure? What all amazing thing when a man finds out that he is part of the treasure. Here in the field, owned and governed by Satan, and full of sinners in their sins, walking under hid power, we now discover a heavenly Stranger, intent on His Father’s business, and this is the One, whose eye, in the midst of all the world’s confusion, detects a treasure in that world. His own are His treasure, and you will never make Christ your treasure until you find out that you are His treasure. Are you His? It is He who bought you; it is He who died for you. I am His treasure, that I know. He had the deep conviction that the treasure was in the field somewhere. It filled His heart with joy, and He gave up all to possess it.
Oh, there will be a glow in your heart that will never die out, when you learn that you are His treasure.
But the Lord bought the field for the sake of the treasure. Do you know that this world belongs to Him? There is a Man at the right hand of God, at this moment, in Glory, and the world belongs to Him, and He is yet going to possess the world, because He bought it.
His wonderful death in obedience, and grace, has given Him title over everything, hence He could say, “Thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him” (John 17:22As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. (John 17:2)). That “many” is the treasure hid in the field, and for that He gave up all. There are two sides to that which He had to give up, in order to get the treasure―His Church. Then the point is this, What did He give up? That treasure had got such a claim upon Him―such a hold on His heart―that He gave up everything for it. If you get saved, your Saviour will be far more joyful than you. Do you not know that it is written of Him, “Who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame”? (Heb. 12:22Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:2).) Do you ever think of the joy that the Lord Jesus has in the salvation of the lost? Who but He could or would have acted as He has?
He was the eternal Son of the Father, and ever dwelt in the bosom of the Father, but He wanted our hearts to enjoy what He enjoyed, and to share His Glory, so He stooped to death, to lift us into life, as it is written, “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich” (2 Cor. 8:99For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich. (2 Corinthians 8:9)). His leaving of His first estate―Godhead glory―and stooping to manhood and death was His perfection. Adam left his first estate in an endeavor to “be as gods, knowing good and evil” (Gen. 3:55For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. (Genesis 3:5)). What was apostasy in the first man, was the perfection of the second man, the last Adam He was God, but He became a man. He laid aside His Godhead glory, and He, who was the Word, was made flesh (John 1:1414And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)). He had also earthly rights as a man, and as King of the Jews, but He laid them all aside, gave all up, and went down into death to take you and me out of it. Praise His name forever! Hallelujah! what a Saviour!
Christ’s treasure consists of a great many poor, wretched, lost, undone, and hell-deserving sinners, all saved because He Himself has come down and done a work in virtue whereof they can be blessed. Selling all―includes the sufferings of the cross, and all that the blessed Lord Jesus went through as a voluntary victim. God cannot save at the expense of His character. If He save, He must save righteously. The revelation of the light shows me that I am a guilty sinner; but God, in the love of His heart, sent His Son into this world, and He drank the cup of judgment, due to us, so that now God can come out and save righteously, and, if you let Him have His way with you, He will bring you into association with His own Son. He went back to heaven as man―as the man who had glorified God. He had borne sins, not for Himself, but for others. Do you know how many sins He had on Him? No tongue can tell. He says, “Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me.... They are more than the hairs of my head” (Psa. 40:1212For innumerable evils have compassed me about: mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of mine head: therefore my heart faileth me. (Psalm 40:12)). Again, “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness; by whose stripes ye were healed” (1 Peter 2:2424Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. (1 Peter 2:24)). By His sufferings and death He bought the treasure. Tell me, are you part of the treasure? My friend, have you never got that question settled yet? Have you never learned, and said, “Jesus has died for sinners, therefore He died for me.” If so, my fellow-believer, you are of the treasure.
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly (or beautiful) pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it” (vs. 45). This merchant man is indeed a man in very serious earnest. He did not want pearls merely, he must have beautiful ones. He had discrimination; he knew exactly what he wanted. The Father did not want His Son to be alone, and therefore, just as Abraham sent to seek a bride for Isaac in the far country, so this blessed Son of God comes to seek His bride. The pearl of great price manifestly is not Christ, but His bride, His Church, looked at in her united state. The “treasure” presents the individual side, the “pearl” the unity and beauty, to His eye, of the Church. To win it He will endure anything and everything, and for her “sold all that He had.”
Oh, think of His agony in the garden, and what came from His lips: “Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless not as I will; but as thou wilt.” If this parable is to be wrought out to fruition, He must drink that cup; and He must know what it is to be forsaken of God. Oh, think of all the billows and waves that passed over His holy and gracious soul (see Isa. 53.). He could have moved away, escaped all, and saved Himself; but how then could the Scriptures be fulfilled, and His people be saved? To save them He surrenders all that was dearest to His heart. He will even give up communion with His God and Father, and He it was who did ever those things which pleased God. He would even bear that God should turn from Him, turn His face away, so that His people might be saved and redeemed. Such was the penalty of sin-bearing; and if He bear not their sins, and all the judgment due to them, they could not be saved. But He will bear all. Such is His love— “the love of Christ which passeth knowledge” (Eph. 3:1010To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, (Ephesians 3:10)).
Great, indeed, is the price the Saviour has paid. Did you ever think of it? Think of Jesus: think of all He passed through, and your heart will be melted. May God, by the Holy Ghost, lead your soul to ponder these wondrous realities.
But perhaps you ask―Does He love me? Ah, have you never learned that He loves you? How do I know that He loves me? Scripture simply assures me, and I believe it. It must be personal. It is no use in the world for you to know that He loves me, if you do not know that He loves you. “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:1313Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. (John 15:13)). He was more than man, He was God here in human form, and “God commends his love toward us, in that while we were yet, sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:88But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)). I know He loves me, because He died for me. Would He have died for you if He did not love you? When it says, “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us,” I say that includes me then, for I am a sinner, and I can say with Paul, “He loved me, and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2:2020I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)). He and me. And what is between? Love. Thank God for it. That will do, I want no more. The soul rests in this, He has loved me, and given Himself for me.
Again, “Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor” (Eph. 5:22And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savor. (Ephesians 5:2)). Again, “Christ also loved the Church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word; that he might present it to himself a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy, and without blemish” (Eph. 5:25-2725Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; 26That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 27That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. (Ephesians 5:25‑27)). Here we have three aspects of Christ’s love. Past―He gave Himself. Present―sanctifying and cleansing. Future—presenting to Himself the Church spotless. He has died to save us. That is love. How often now He gives the very word that helps and brings blessing to the soul? That is love. It is the Lord, in His love, from the glory, who ministers the very word you need, and by it He washes you. In the future He will present you to Himself without a spot.
He is going to present us to His Father, by-and-by, in His own likeness. Do you know, beloved fellow-Christian, that you and I are going to be exactly like Jesus in glory by-and-by? Oh, you say, that will be glorious. You are right. Love suggested and carried all this out.
It was the late Dr Hawker, I think, who quaintly said, that the Father showed the Church to Jesus in the looking-glass of eternity, and she was so beautiful that He said, I will give up everything and die for her, to make her My own forever. He did not mean man’s church―mere profession―but that which really belongs to Jesus, and He will have her home by-and-by.
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Jesus saith unto them, Have ye understood all these things? They say unto him, Yea, Lord” (Matt. 13:47-5147Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: 48Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. 49So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, 50And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. 51Jesus saith unto them, Have ye understood all these things? They say unto him, Yea, Lord. (Matthew 13:47‑51)). The net is the gospel going out to the many―its aspect is towards multitudes of people. Every kind are in the net. When it was full the fishermen drew it, and separated its contents. They did, their work in a very deliberate manner. They sat down, and “gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away.” We have no business to put the bad into vessels. And what do you mean by the good? The good are those who belong to Christ. Put them together. What about the unconverted? Leave them alone: do not put them with the good in vessels. They should be made to feel what, and whose they are. Today God is doing this: the Spirit of God is getting the good fish out of the meshes, and putting them together. Happy is it for all believers who have enough energy to come out boldly for Christ. The saints are to walk with each other as such. Whether worship or work be in question, the unconverted have no part in either.
When the Lord comes the action is reversed; then the angels will separate “the wicked from among the just.” When I talk about the wicked I mean the unsaved. Today we are to put the saved together―excluding the godless, that they may feel their condition. If they do not, their day is coming―a day of judgment. Your day is coming, sinner, mark that, when the angels shall come forth, and, touching only the wicked, “shall cast them into the furnace of fire.” Unsaved reader, get hold of this clearly. You are nothing but a wicked sinner on your road to hell. May God save you ere it be too late. Oh, may God in His grace so use His Word that the sense may be awakened in many souls as to what is due to Christ! I fervently invite you to come to that Saviour now, and taste His love. Slight that love, and you will surely taste His judgment. Which then shall it be―love or judgment?
“CHOOSE YE THIS DAY.”
W. T. P. W.