Treasures: June 2019
Table of Contents
Treasures
“In the beginning God created.” As Creator, everything belongs to Him. All treasure is His. Light, life and love all come from Him. He is the giver of every good gift. God gave to His Son what His Son treasured – He gave you and me to Him. Then He came into this world as the good Shepherd of those who had been given to Him. When He came, “He was rich,” while you and I were poor, miserable, wretched and blind. Loving us and being our Shepherd, “for [our] sakes He became poor, that [we] through His poverty might be rich.” God gave for us His chief treasure, who became poor, that we might have Him as our treasure and be rich. From the fullness of Him who is our treasure we have received grace upon grace (gift upon gift), for we have been given life, rightousness, heaven, glory, a perfect bridegroom, rest, peace and most of all Himself – a perfect object to satisfy the heart for time and through eternity. May we be warned: Satan, by contrast, is a thief who has come “to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.” He has no treasure to give. He sought to steal and kill and destroy our Shepherd. He failed. While he cannot steal us from the Shepherd, our Treasure, he seeks to deceive our hearts to rob us of the enjoyment of our Treasure, to kill our desires for the true riches, and to destroy our fruitfulness for God. May we live each day right beside our Shepherd with our eye upon Him.
His Treasures - Heavenly and Earthly
In the Word of God, we find two expressions that refer to God’s people as treasures. In the Old Testament, we find the phrase “peculiar treasure” mentioned twice, in reference to Israel (Ex. 19:5; Psa. 135:4). There can be no doubt that Israel is the treasure to which Scripture refers, for the expression in Psalm 135 says, “The Lord hath chosen Jacob unto Himself, and Israel for His peculiar treasure.” Israel is also called “a peculiar people” (Deut. 14:2; 26:18). In both cases, the word “peculiar” has the sense of that which is of special value to the one who possesses it. In the New Testament, we find the expression “treasure hid in a field” (Matt. 13:44), and it is clear from the context that the Lord Jesus is referring to the church. The word “peculiar” is also applied to the church in Titus 2:14, again indicating that which is of special value. It is important to understand the difference between these two treasures, for they are not the same, but nor are they in competition with one another.
In the case of Israel, it is clear that they were chosen to be God’s peculiar treasure, but in the language of Exodus 19:5 we find these added words: “All the earth is Mine.” Israel was chosen as God’s treasure on the earth, and it was through them that God laid claim to the earth. When the nations were formed in the beginning, it is recorded that “when the most High divided to the nations their inheritance ... He set the bound of the people according to the number of the children of Israel” (Deut.32:8). In a coming day, when Israel is restored in millennial blessing, God will once again lay claim to this world through them.
“I Will Give”
And under what conditions were they His treasure? Another has put it very well:
As to His “covenant,” it was one of unmingled grace. It proposed no condition — it made no demands. His word to Abraham was, “I WILL GIVE.” The land of Canaan was not to be purchased by man’s doings, but to be given by God’s grace. He evidently had not promised the land of Canaan to Abraham’s seed on the ground of anything that He foresaw in them, for this would have totally destroyed the real nature of a promise. It would have made it a compact and not a promise, “but God gave it to Abraham by promise,” and not by compact — see Galatians 3.
Hence, in the opening of Exodus 19, the people are reminded of the grace in which Jehovah had hitherto dealt with them, and they are also assured of what they should yet be, provided they continued to abide in the “covenant” of free and absolute grace. “Ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto Me above all people.” How could they be this? Would they be “a peculiar treasure” when blasted by the curses of a broken law — a law which they had broken before ever they received it? Surely not. How then were they to be this “peculiar treasure”? By standing in that position in which Jehovah surveyed them when He compelled the covetous prophet [Balaam] to exclaim, “How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel. As the valleys are they spread forth, as gardens by the river’s side, as the trees of lign aloes which the Lord hath planted, and as cedar trees beside the waters. He shall pour the water out of his buckets, and his seed shall be in many waters, and his king shall be higher than Agag, and his kingdom shall be exalted. God brought him forth out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn” (Num. 24:5-8).
Why Was the Law Proposed?
But why, it may be asked, was the law proposed to Israel, when they had no strength to keep it? God saw that it would be good and wholesome for man to know the truth about himself and the nature and extent of God’s claims upon him, and for this end He gave the law. It was the perfect standard of what God required of man, of what man ought to be, and the prohibition of that to which he was strongly inclined. The ten commandments, for the most part, are like an interdict on the human will. “Thou shalt not” ... “thou shalt not” is the stern, prohibitory voice of the moral law.
The office of the law was to detect and register man’s deeds and put in evidence his character as a transgressor. “Wherefore then serveth the law?” says the Apostle Paul. “It was added because of transgression.” From the fall down to the giving of the law at Sinai, man had been left to prove what his fallen nature is without the restraints of law: after that period we see what he becomes when subjected to an authority which forbids and opposes the desires of the flesh and of the mind. Without law men were lawless, under law they are law-breakers, and when Christ came, full of grace and truth, Him they rejected and crucified.
C. H. Mackintosh (adapted)
God’s Peculiar Treasure
Israel was God’s peculiar treasure on the earth, chosen in sovereign grace. It is true that when they voluntarily put themselves under law, they forfeited the blessing on that ground. But God will not be frustrated in His purposes, nor will He fail to keep His promise to Abraham. In a coming day, foretold in the language of Psalm 135, God will bring His peculiar treasure Israel into blessing, but on the same ground as that on which He made the promise to Abraham — His sovereign grace. The finished work of Christ on the cross has already provided the means by which God can do this, and in the millennial day He will have His peculiar treasure displayed on this earth.
The Treasure Hid in the Field
But where does all this leave the “treasure hid in a field”? It is beautiful to see how that God, while not forgetting His earthly treasure, could also find a heavenly treasure hidden in that same world as His earthly treasure. Only His eye could see it, but in order to have it, He purchased the whole field. In that sense, the treasure in the field is still hidden, for although it is in the world, it is not of the world. It will not be seen in its true glory and beauty until it is displayed in heavenly splendor, when the holy city descends out of heaven from God (Rev. 21:9-27). Only then will that treasure be fully displayed, but that display will not be on the earth. Today, while Christ is rejected, it is still hidden in the field and not recognized by the world. But in that day it will be displayed above the earth and for all the earth to view. It is heavenly in character, not earthly, and thus its place is in the heavens, and all its blessings are in heavenly places.
But because of that treasure, God has purchased the whole field — the world — through the work of Christ on the cross. The world was His in right of creation, but Satan usurped that right, and because of the rejection of Christ, Scripture now calls him both the god and the prince of this world. But the day is coming when Christ will take His rightful place and lay claim to that inheritance which is His in a double way — by right of creation and by right of redemption.
Thus, we see that God is not inconsistent in having two treasures, for one is earthly and the other heavenly. On the earth, the blessing was ordained “from the foundation of the world” (Matt. 25:34), while the heavenly company was chosen for blessing “before the foundation of the world” (Eph. 1:4). Both are His treasures, but the church is His jewel — the bride of His beloved Son. She will have the first place and be closest to Christ’s heart, for she dwells with Him where He dwells. But God will not forget His earthly people; they will be His peculiar treasure in the millennial day.
W. J. Prost
Hidden Treasures
There is an enticing element about hiding and finding treasures; many are captivated by this allurement. This concept is not unknown to God, and He has hidden treasures for us to find. “It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honor of kings is to search out a matter” (Prov. 25:2). “Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow Me” (Matt. 19:21).
In the days of Jeremiah when the kingdom of Judah was breaking up, there were ten men that used hidden treasures in their fields to preserve their lives from death by those who were greedy of power and riches. These ten had hidden treasures in their fields; perhaps it was to keep them from the impending threat of Nebuchadnezzar. However it may have been, when Ishmael had slain Gedaliah and was going to slay these ten also for submitting to the Babylonians, they said, “Slay us not: for we have treasures in the field, of wheat, and of barley, and of oil, and of honey. So he forbare, and slew them not among their brethren” (Jer. 41:8). These men were prudent in making provision for the judgment of Judah pronounced by Jeremiah. They accepted the fact that God would not at that time raise up a king who would deliver them from Nebuchadnezzar, the Gentile king. They hid wealth from the impending judgment of God upon the nation of Israel, for God was going to take the rule of the earth from Israel and give it to the Gentiles. It is unlikely that they suspected that some from their own nation would greedily take it from them, yet having the treasures led to the preservation of their lives.
The Kingdom of Heaven
Turning now to the time when the Lord Jesus came to reestablish the kingdom to Israel, we find how He was rejected by His own people. This led Him to disclose another part of the kingdom of God. In Matthew we find 10 parables that are similitudes of the “kingdom of heaven”. They give us a view of how the Lord, while in heaven, is forming a kingdom during the present time. This kingdom is distinct from the kingdom that was promised to Israel in the Old Testament, which we know will be set up when the Lord comes to reign in righteousness. The early disciples did not understand this until after the Lord returned to heaven.
The following quotation from William Kelly explains how the early disciples came to understand the transition of their hope from the earthly kingdom to the heavenly:
The hope of Israel was the kingdom in power when Messiah should reign, and all classes were familiar with it. Thus, with the Messiah in the Person of Jesus at last really on earth, the appearance of God’s kingdom was looked for as close at hand. To correct this mistake, the Lord spoke the parable of the “pounds” (Luke 19:11). Yet how deeply engraven this thought was on the hearts of the Jews is evidenced by the question addressed to Him by the disciples in their last moments with Him on earth (Acts 1:6-9). Joseph of Arimathaea, who buried the Lord, waited for the kingdom of God, and the two disciples on their journey to Emmaus confided to the stranger (as they thought!) the once cherished hopes of their heart, now dashed to the ground by His death (Luke 23:51; Luke 24:21). His answer confirmed the correctness of their hopes and revived the anticipations of the nation’s future blessing. “Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into His glory?” His death, then, however startling and stumbling to His disciples, is no bar to the accomplishment of the prophecies recorded in the Scriptures, for, as Paul taught the assembled multitude in the synagogue at Antioch in Pisidia, the mercies of David would be made sure through the King reigning in resurrection (Acts 13:34).
All this, however, is yet future, though the kingdom exists on earth now. What then would characterize the epoch while this anomalous condition of matters should last — the kingdom in existence without the king’s power being everywhere really owned? The prophets can tell us nothing about it, so the Lord gave these parables, which are called similitudes of the kingdom to explain it, and they supply the link in the chain. Found in Matthew 13, 18, 20, 22 and 25, they appear only after His rejection by the nation has been unequivocally declared. “Therefore,” said the Lord, “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.” “Old things,” because he can speak of what the prophets predicted; “new,” because he can teach what the Lord revealed.
W. Kelly (adapted)
The following paragraphs relate how the kingdom of heaven involves “hidden treasures” that may be found and how they apply to us. The time is imminent when the Lord will transition from forming His heavenly kingdom to His earthly kingdom. We are to be faithful and prudent servants, watching for His coming, that is, discerning the time. (See Matthew 24:45-51.)
The Tares and Wheat
(Matthew 13:24-30,36-43)
The first likeness of the kingdom of heaven concerns the sowing and harvesting of wheat in a field. The sower sows good seed, but the enemy sows tares (weeds). The purpose of the enemy is to hinder and destroy, but God allows the guise of weeds to hide the true treasure — the wheat. There is a separating process at the end of the age that gathers the wheat into the barn and burns the tares. The wheat represents the children of the kingdom, while the tares are false professors. The Lord emphasizes the importance of understanding this parable in Mark 4:13 when He says, “Know ye not this parable? and how then will ye know all parables?” Understanding this first of the ten parables is necessary to live and work intelligently. The parable reveals how God is gathering a people on earth for heaven. When the Lord comes and the saints are raptured up with Him, the wheat is gathered into the barn, and afterward “the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear” (vs. 43).
The Mustard Seed and the Leaven
(Matthew 13:31-33)
The next two parables present how the kingdom of heaven develops in the hands of men. The mustard seed, which is the least of seeds, becomes a great tree for the birds of the air. The purpose and usefulness of the mustard herb is not to become a great tree, but men have made Christendom into a great system on earth. The real greatness of heaven is hidden from those who make Christendom a human system of earthly living.
The woman who hides the leaven in the three measures of meal corrupts the whole mass until it is useless. This pictures the internal evils within Christendom. They are hidden, but corrupt the whole public testimony. But out of the present ruin of Christendom the Lord will gather a purified people at His coming.
The Treasure Hid in the Field and the Pearl
(Matthew 13:44-46)
The next parable reveals what God sees hidden in the field. He loves and values His saints. They are the treasure He sees, and in order to get this treasure without others knowing of it, He buys the whole field (the world). So in John 17:9, the Lord prays for them: “I pray not for the world, but for them which Thou hast given Me; for they are Thine.”
The parable of the pearl that was discovered shows how the value of the pearl was specially known to the merchant man and which motivated him to sell all to obtain it. So “Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for it” (Eph. 5:25).
The Last Parables
While the first parables deal more with the hidden things of the kingdom of heaven, the last parables bring before us what can be seen. They also speak of the separating process at the end of the dispensation of the kingdom of heaven. That which is of great value is separated from the worthless. The net cast into the sea gathers fish of all kinds, both good and bad. So the preaching of the gospel gathers professors of the Christian faith as well as real believers. It is angels who separate the good from the bad at the end of the age.
The parable of the forgiven servant (Matt. 18:23-35) is an illustration of the use and abuse of those who find forgiveness in the kingdom of heaven. The parable of the householder hiring workers (Matt. 20:1-16) has to do with the difference between obtaining things by “works” in contrast to receiving God’s grace. In the kingdom of heaven, all is of grace. The parable of wedding feast of the king’s son (Matt. 22:14) illustrates how after the nation of Israel rejected the invitation of God, He would give an unconditional invitation to all. He would have heaven full. The last parable of the ten virgins (Matt. 25:1-13) is a description of how there will be a separation of real believers from mere professors when the Lord comes. Only those who have oil in their lamps will go into the wedding; the false professors will be left for judgment.
We find, then, that as the ten men in Judah had hidden treasures in their fields, which preserved their lives, so the Lord has a hidden treasure in the “kingdom of heaven.” We are that treasure to Him; as we “hear, and understand,” He becomes our treasure. The parables reveal what is about to take place when the Lord comes. May He help us lay hold of our true portion with Him as participants in His heavenly kingdom. “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matt. 6:21).
D. C. Buchanan
The Hidden Treasure
“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” (Matt. 13:44).
We do not doubt that the parable points to Christ as the One who finds a treasure in His people and for joy sells all that He has, that He may obtain possession of it. Thus we read, “Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame” (Heb. 12:2). “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. 8:9). Yes, as the parable says, He sold all that He had, and as the passage from Hebrews 12 proves, He kept in view the joy that was set before Him — the joy of which our parable speaks.
We must, indeed, look at who Christ was and the position He had both as Creator and as God from eternity. Then we must look at our Lord in His humiliation, His agony in the garden, and His shameful death, before we can get a glimpse of what it cost Him to purchase the field in which lay hidden the treasure of His heart.
But there is another point in the parable. It says not only that the man purchased the treasure, but also that he bought the field in which the treasure was hid. In the same chapter, our Lord, in explaining the parable of the sower, says, “The field is the world.” Then our Lord bought the world — all mankind — and here lies an important truth. It is like a rich man going to a plantation of slaves, and after paying down a price for all of the slaves, he sends forth a proclamation that whosoever will may be free. But, sadly, some of the slaves like their plots of ground and the security of the plantation, and they prefer to remain in slavery.
So our Lord in His death bought all mankind and has sent forth His ministers to beg men to be reconciled to Him. But sadly, men prefer the chains of Satan and the baits he skillfully lays for them.
This illustrates also the difference between “buying” and “redeeming.” Many are now deluding their fellow men with the thought of universal salvation, whereas there is a wide difference between the buying of slaves and offering them liberty and the actual bringing them out of slavery. We read of some (lost souls) who deny the Lord that bought them (2 Peter 2:1), whereas those who are redeemed are actually translated out of the kingdom of Satan and “into the kingdom of God’s dear Son” (Col. 1:13).
Such then is the parable of the hidden treasure. Christ is the purchaser; His saints are the treasure; all men are the field. It is called the hidden treasure, for none could have discovered that Christ had a treasure where all was sin and wickedness. The doctrine of the church too had long been hidden; Paul made known “the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations” (Col. 1:26). Then all were to see “what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God” (Eph. 3:9). Christ had then endured the shameful death of the cross — having become poor, sold all that He had — but He will soon have the treasure with Him — a glorious Church, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing! To His name be all the glory!
Christian Truth (adapted)
The Treasure and the Heart
“Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Luke 12:34). The moral principle here laid down by our Lord calls for our deep and constant heed, and the more, because the flesh always deceives, and struggles against it, to indulge itself under fair disguise. But we walk by faith, not by sight, and rightly so.
Where there is not faith, a present object engages the heart and becomes the treasure. It is self in one shape or another, whereby Satan is the master, and not God: What then must be the end for eternity? The most prevalent object is what our Lord calls “filthy lucre,” for money is the most ready means of gain for gratifying carnal lusts. Or it may be the heart abandoned to the pleasures of sin for a season. Power is the ambition of some, as fame is of others. Also it may take a religious direction just as readily, with a desire for worldly honor. In such ways men perish, even where no grossness appears, but rather the nicest refinement.
Christ alone delivers and preserves from all such snares. He is given and sent by God to win the heart by His ineffable grace, adapting itself to our guilt and misery and worthlessness through sin, to save the vilest from his evil, to reconcile unto God, to be life as well as righteousness to him who had neither, and to associate him with heaven. Thus He separates from the world, not only in all that is evidently bad, but in all that claims to be good or its best, that we should no longer live to ourselves, but to Him who for our sakes died and rose again. And as this is for the Father’s glory, so is it accomplished by the Spirit’s power who is here, sent forth now from heaven on and since Pentecost, to glorify Him who never sought His own will but rather that of God.
Christ Is the True Treasure
Christ is, therefore, the true treasure, and to the praise of the glory of God’s grace He will make us like Himself before Him, not only in nature but in relationship as far as this can be. But we have this treasure, meanwhile, in earthen vessels, that the exceeding greatness of the power may be of God and not from ourselves. “Wherefore we faint not; but though our outward man is consumed, yet the inward is renewed day by day. For our momentary and light affliction works for us in surpassing measure an eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things that are seen are for a time; but those that are not seen eternal” (2 Cor. 4:16-18 JND).
Hence our Lord urges our not laying up for ourselves treasures upon the earth where moth and rust spoil and where thieves dig through and steal, but to lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust spoils and where thieves do not dig through nor steal. “Where your treasure is, there also will your heart be” (Luke 12:34 JND). The heart follows necessarily the object of its affection; Christ, the treasure of the Christian, was not of the earth but comes from above, from heaven, and above all. “He that cometh from heaven is above all” (John 3:31).
Where Is Our Treasure?
It is not only, then, what the treasure is, but where it is that the Lord presses on our attention. And this truth of the treasure in heaven derives great force from our Lord’s ascending where He was before (John 6:62), no longer Son of God only as He came down, but Son of Man as He is now also in heavenly glory. This is the proper and full way in which the Christian knows Him. “Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we Him no more. Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature” (2 Cor. 5:16-17).
The Christian is united by the Spirit to Christ glorified, now that he rests on redemption accomplished, for “he that is joined to the Lord is one spirit.” Only then and there could it be. Hence having died with Christ and being raised together with Him, we are exhorted to seek the things that are above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God, to set our mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are upon the earth, for we died, and our life is hid with Christ in God. And we wait that, when Christ our life shall be manifested, we too shall then be manifested with Him in glory.
Our Heart
We may notice that in Luke 12 the connection of this truth is expressed more broadly (“Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also”), not only with the warning of the precariousness of everything but a treasure in the heavens, but with the Lord’s coming as a present hope. “Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning; and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their Lord, when He will return from the wedding; that when He cometh and knocketh, they may open unto Him immediately” (Luke 12:36). These words clearly indicate the call to be constantly looking out for Him.
Altogether the aim is unmistakable if we are walking in the Spirit. We are now “heavenly” in title (1 Cor. 15:48-49), and we expect on the surest authority to realize it even for our bodies at His coming. Let us see to it, meanwhile, that we live, serve, walk and worship consistently with our faith and our hope. Nothing short of this is the Christianity of the New Testament, when many things were known which the disciples could not bear till they had redemption through His blood and the gift of the Spirit. When the Spirit was come from Him on high, He did not fail to guide them into all the truth.
W. Kelly (adapted)
All the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge
Man has acquired a great deal of knowledge over the past few decades, and the modern world reflects the tremendous changes that have come about as a result of that knowledge. Whether man has the wisdom to use that knowledge in the right way is another matter; many today feel that increased knowledge has caused the course of this world to be out of control. We now have a world of greater openness, more complex and interconnected than ever before. Advances in technology and the increased use of social media have brought with them an interplay of various forces — social, economic, political — with which the world seems unable to cope. The use of modern technology in medicine coupled with the giving up of the Bible in many Western countries as the final moral authority have raised moral and ethical issues that are hard to address. A recent article in Time Magazine summed it up by saying, “Technological progress and globalization are blurring boundaries and upending traditional assumptions. The rise of emerging markets and developing countries is reconfiguring balances of power, while the international order of the last half-century increasingly struggles to accommodate itself to the new reality.”
Amid all the confusion that results from these developments, it is refreshing to turn to the Word of God and to read Paul’s words to the Colossians:
“I would have you know what combat I have for you ... to the end that [your] hearts may be encouraged, being united together in love, and unto the full assurance of understanding, to the full knowledge of the mystery of God; in which are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col. 2:1-3 JND).
Access to All Wisdom
What would men not give today, if they could have access to all the wisdom and knowledge necessary to meet the challenges they face! God has made this wisdom and knowledge available, but it is to those that belong to Christ and who have a desire to search it out.
First of all, this wisdom and knowledge is found in the “full knowledge” of the mystery of God. This is His world, and to understand its course, we must recognize what He is doing. Amid all the confusion in the purposes and movements of man, God is working out His purposes, and if we see what God’s purposes are, we can understand the secret of what is happening.
The Jewel in God’s Plan
The mystery of God is given to us in Ephesians 1:9-10 JND: “The mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself for [the] administration of the fullness of times; to head up all things in the Christ, the things in the heavens and the things upon the earth.” The confusion we see all around us is working to this end, for God has before Him the exaltation of His beloved Son as Head over all things. Today man is disposing of this world as he sees fit, and there are numerous discussions and arguments over things like climate change, global warming, and pollution, and their effects on plant, animal and human life. But it is all from man’s point of view, as he seeks to preserve this world, as he supposes, for future generations. In addition, we are already beginning to see “the sea and the waves roaring” (Luke 21:25) as nations compete with one another for dominance and influence in this world. God’s purposes in this world — the world He created — are not considered.
This mystery (or secret) was not made known in the Old Testament; it was hidden in God, but it is now a revelation made to the church, the jewel in God’s plan for His creature man. God not only has in His purposes the exaltation of His beloved Son; in this day of His grace He also is calling out a people from this world to form His church, as a bride for His Son. In understanding this mystery, our total outlook on this world is formed according to God’s thoughts and purposes — purposes that will surely be carried out.
A treasure is something on which we place a high value, and it is indeed of great value to be able to look out on this world and to find that in acknowledging the mystery of God, we can have the wisdom and knowledge to understand where everything is going and how to walk a godly path through it. But it is a hidden treasure — hidden wisdom. The natural man cannot find it, nor can it be obtained by human intelligence. It must be searched out, but the believer, indwelt by the Spirit of God, is equipped to do so. Also, in referring to the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, the Spirit of God uses the word “hid” for a purpose. It is not that God is unwilling to reveal His treasures, but He reveals them to those who value them. Even among believers, the precious truth of the mystery of God is not always well accepted. Satan has done an effective job of bringing Christianity down to the level of a worldly religion, and God does not reveal His treasures to worldly Christians. No, those treasures are for those who value them and who are willing to search them out.
Filled With Knowledge
Coupled with this thought is the fact that here wisdom is mentioned before knowledge. Normally knowledge must come first, and we find this order in Colossians 1:9: “That ye might be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.” But here, in chapter 2, the emphasis is on the accepting of Christ Himself as the wisdom of God, as we get in 1 Corinthians 1:24: “Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.” When we have been brought to the point of seeing Christ crucified in utter humility as bringing out the wisdom of God, we are ready to accept the wisdom and knowledge that is revealed in the understanding of the mystery of God.
To have this wisdom and knowledge was most valuable at any time in the church’s history, but it is a special treasure in the world of today. First of all, as we have already mentioned, we can look out on the turmoil and uncertainty around us and have God’s thoughts about it — why it is happening and, most important, where it will all end. This enables the believer to walk in peace, for while he is indeed burdened about what he sees around him and concerned for lost souls caught up in it, he himself is at peace in his Christian walk. “Through scenes of strife, and desert life, we tread in peace our way” (Little Flock Hymnbook #12).
The Application to Our Circumstances
Second, these treasures of wisdom and knowledge apply equally to our individual circumstances — our education, our work, our home and family life, our interaction with others, whether believers or unbelievers — all are governed by the wisdom and knowledge gained from the full knowledge of the mystery of God. It reaches into every aspect of the Christian life, and this is why Paul was so burdened for those believers in Colosse and Laodicea. There were those who would try to spoil them “through philosophy and vain deceit” and to bring them back to the “traditions of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ” (Col. 2:8). But Paul reminds us that “in Him [Christ] dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” (Col. 2:9). In understanding what we see in this world and in ordering our own pathway through it, nothing more than Christ is needed.
Christ’s Honor and Glory
Finally, and perhaps most important, the “full knowledge of the mystery of God” honors and glorifies Christ, the One who is the subject of all God’s purposes. The “rudiments of the world” exalt man; the mystery of God exalts Christ. In the first chapter of Colossians, He is the Head both of creation and of the body, the church, “that in all things He might have the preeminence” (vs. 18). When we acknowledge and understand the mystery of God, we acknowledge also that “in Him all the fullness of the Godhead was pleased to dwell” (Col. 1:19 JND). Our Lord Jesus Christ will be exalted and the mystery of God understood by all in a coming day. It is a privilege to understand that mystery and its hidden treasures and to exalt our Lord Jesus Christ now.
W. J. Prost
Treasure in Earthen Vessels
As we turn to 2 Corinthians 4, we find three things in connection with “this ministry.” They are in the seventh verse. He says, “we have this treasure,” it is “in earthen vessels,” and there is what is called “the excellency of the power,” or more accurately, “the surpassingness of the power.” These are three wonderful things to get before our thoughts.
“This treasure,” what is it? It is not so much the estimate that my heart forms of Christ, as the value that God has found in Him. Surely the Lord Jesus Christ is to be a treasure to His people, but here the treasure, which is of course Christ, is presented more as it is looked at from God’s side. Christ is His treasure. How did that treasure come into the vessel? We read, “Because it is the God who spoke that out of darkness light should shine who hath shone in our hearts for the shining forth of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6 JND). It is not that I have possessed myself of the treasure; it is the sovereign grace of God, both in its purposes and in its actions. In the beginning, “God said, Let there be light. And there was light” (Gen. 1:3 JND). Just so spiritually in our hearts: God, in His sovereign way of dealing, who commanded that out of darkness light should shine, is the God who has shone in our hearts. It is God Himself shining in a man’s heart, in all His blessed illuminating power, for, “the shining forth of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6 JND).
A Light From Heaven
We see this in Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus, a persecutor with nothing but hatred toward Christ. He suddenly saw “a light from heaven above the brightness of the sun,” and the Savior in glory was revealed in his soul. He is thus the living example of the way this blessed treasure is deposited in a man’s soul. The whole glory of God is thus expressed.
We cannot understand anything about the glory of God unless we see it in the face of Jesus Christ, and it is in the presence of that glory that conscience is dealt with. If we really see the whole glory of God shining in the face of Jesus Christ, we cannot help being challenged in the depths of our conscience. Then we are convicted, and the earliest expression of our heart in the presence of that glory must be, “I abhor myself.” And yet, this leads to confidence, for the glory seen in the face of Jesus Christ is God’s glory in redemption.
Earthen Vessels
Next, we read that “we have this treasure in earthen vessels.” In natural things, when man has anything valuable, he generally encases it in something that is (at least in appearance) also valuable. The casket is as beautiful as the jewel, but not so with God. He takes His treasure, the most valuable and precious to Him, and puts it in the most contemptible vessel that you could conceive — a poor, fragile vessel of clay.
But then He has a purpose in this; it gives Him the opportunity of doing two things. First His delight is to make everything of the treasure, and second, He is pleased to bring out the surpassingness of the power. There is not only the surpassing glory of the treasure, but the surpassing power with which He works in the vessel — the vessel broken to pieces. Indeed, it is not worth anything until it is broken to pieces, but behind this poor vessel there is surpassing power. The whole power of God goes along with the weak vessel, into which He puts this treasure. But we have not only to accept the breakings that God brings upon us; in addition to that, we must keep the sentence of the cross, the death of Christ, which has given us liberty from the condemnation to which we were exposed — must keep that death upon ourselves. God breaks the vessel, but we must keep the sentence of death upon it as well, in order “that the power may be of God and not of us” (2 Cor. 4:7).
Thus we have first, the vessel of clay, just what you and I are; secondly, a treasure placed in it of surpassing glory; and thirdly, a surpassing power that is behind it. That power is ever working in company with nothingness and weakness, as well as a thorough denial of the flesh and the world. We cannot have power otherwise; there is no shining forth of Christ, unless the vessel is entirely as clay in the hands of the Potter.
Gideon’s Army
The picture alluded to here is no doubt Gideon’s army. They put the light into the pitcher, but the light never shone out until the pitcher was broken. No doubt the Spirit of God alludes to that fact here. You have the shining in of the glory, and you have the surpassing power working that it may shine out. These two things go together.
How little affection there is in our hearts to enter into the purpose of God, that in a world which rejected His Son, there should be those who should be the manifestation of that One whom the world rejected, but whom God glorified. Do our hearts desire that? Can we say to Him, I have only one desire, that I should be upon this earth a vessel in whom the display of the glory of Thy Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, should be found in every circumstance here? God delights to help us, and we shall have the comfort of being in communion with His thought. It is most wonderful grace on His part to bring us into such a place that we can have like mind with Him, and to enable us by such surpassing power.
Surpassing Power
Suppose I see one turning away from everything in this world, who looks for nothing in it, nor would take anything from the world. I say, What surpassing power is displayed in that man! If I see a poor, feeble creature lying on a bed of sickness, racked with pain, who, instead of complaining, displays rest and quietness with the blessed manifestation of Christ in meekness and endurance, I say, What a surpassing power there is there! There is not a circumstance in life — whether sickness or health, pain or its absence, prosperity or loss, trial or ease — to many people there is not a single thing for the one who is satisfied to be clay in the hands of surpassing power. And more than that, it is in these very circumstances that Christ is endeared to us, for He alone is our sufficiency for all. Also, it is where we are, not where we would be, that God desires to have His Son seen in us.
This is the testimony that is really lacking at this moment. We may speak of doctrines and be clear about them, but perhaps there is little of the doctrines practiced, and little of the corresponding grace seen in the propounders of them. Oh, for the manifestation of the truth in love — that exhibition of Christ which would stop the mouth of the rejecter, and commend itself to the consciences of men! And hence, says the Holy Spirit, “by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God” (vs. 2). Men would be forced to say, Though I dislike those people because they are so narrow, yet at the same time my conscience is bound to give this testimony, that they seek to please God. This is the real manifestation of the surpassing power. May our hearts prize more than ever this blessed ministry, characterized as it is by such glories as we have had before us!
W. T. Turpin (adapted)
Treasure in Earthen Vessels
“God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us” (2 Cor. 4:6-7). What is that treasure and why call it a treasure? What is a treasure? It is something we value, something the heart is set upon. The blessed Savior said, “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also,” and when we have a treasure, we have that which is valued. The heart is occupied with it.
What is this treasure it speaks of? It says we have it in earthen vessels. The vessels, we find further down in this chapter, are these poor bodies — of the earth, earthy. Should the Lord not come to redeem them in a little while, they will return to the earth from which they were taken, in which case God’s power in resurrection will come in and bring them out of the dust again. In the natural course of things, the earthen vessel is simply these poor bodies.
This treasure is simply Christ as life and eternal life. Real Christians are those who know Christ as their Savior, Christ as their life, Christ as their righteousness, Christ now and Christ forever. In God’s sight, whatever you may be in the sight of this world, you are not a Christian if you do not know Christ as your Savior. What is a Christian? He is one that knows and confesses and follows Christ. The disciples or believers were first called Christians at Antioch, not Jerusalem, and that is what a Christian is. He is a confessor of and a follower (in some feeble measure, more or less, but a follower) of Christ. He owns Him as his Lord, as his Savior, as his Example.
How far, fellow-Christian, is the truth that Christ is our Savior and the truth that we have eternal life and shall never perish — how far is that a treasure to your soul? It is not a mere doctrine, not merely resting in the satisfaction that you shall never perish. In the way of Scripture, it does not ask what is that truth to your conscience, but to your heart. Is it a treasure? Dear fellow-Christians, in a very special way, the ministry of the truth of God among Christians should be ministry for the heart. God wants your heart! But His way of getting at the heart is through the conscience. God never stops His work in the conscience. It is conscience that makes us know what we are in the sight of God and that makes us know our need of His grace — our need of the Savior He has found for us.
W. Potter
The Recovery of Treasures
The “treasures of the house of the Lord” were the gold and silver vessels, dedicated by David and Solomon, and carefully preserved in the temple. From time to time, because of Judah’s sin, they were unable to keep these treasures, and three times they were taken away by others (Shishak king of Egypt, Jehoash king of Israel, and Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon). Worse still, four times it is recorded that they were given away, either to hire mercenary soldiers or to appease a foreign power. They were given away by Asa, Jehoash, Ahaz and Hezekiah — all kings of Judah. But God had His eye on them, and later, under Cyrus king of Persia, they were given back to the godly ones who returned to Jerusalem after the 70 years of captivity — see Ezra 1:7-11.
So it has been with the treasures which have been committed to the church — the treasures of Christ, and our heavenly blessings given to us through Him. At various times in its history, the church has lost those treasures through unfaithfulness, and, worse still, at times they have been bartered away by believers who wanted an easier path. Satan will readily make our path through this world more trouble-free, if we are willing to give up some of the treasures of our heavenly calling.
But again, as with Israel, God values that treasure, and He is willing to restore it to us. At the end of the dispensation of grace, God has raised up those through whom He has made those treasures available again. The pristine glory of the early church has not been restored, but those treasures, given by God at the beginning, may once again be enjoyed by those who wish to follow Christ with a full heart.
W. J. Prost
Our Own Things, or His Treasure?
One of the greatest proofs of the nearness of the Lord’s coming is (though with very much to praise and thank our gracious God for) the general low, lukewarm state of things among us — lukewarmness to Christ Himself, manifested in so many ways. And chiefly, I think I may say, this is manifested in the fact that (with exceptions that bring glory to God) most “seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s” (Phil. 2:21). That is, He has not His proper place in our hearts.
We seek our own things, and though they are not wrong things in themselves, perhaps, yet the heart is unduly occupied with them; then the Lord Jesus, as the object for which to live and serve, is lost. His presence is slipped away from, and the soul is, unconsciously, at a distance from Him. Spiritual discernment is dimmed and spiritual power is almost gone. There is little caring for the things of Jesus Christ, as there once was. Suffer me, then, dear brethren, to urge upon you, and myself too, the truth that we are “not our own,” but “bought with a price.” And what a price! He gave Himself for us — Himself! We are not left down here merely to live decent, moral and respectable lives, till the Lord comes, but to live unto Him. We are to be witnesses for Him, and in some little way to serve each other and souls around us, presenting our bodies a living sacrifice unto God — an all-day, every-day sacrifice unto Him, which is our reasonable service. “Be not conformed to this world, but ... transformed, by the renewing of your mind” (Rom. 12:2).
And what a happy thing this is! How we prove “what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God,” when we heartily and really yield ourselves up unto Him, as those that are alive from the dead! How self is practically gone too, when we give ourselves up “to God” and “for others,” and thus “walk in love” (Eph. 5)! What a sweet savor to God!
How can we have Christ as an object for our hearts as He ought to be? It is in seeing that His heart is always thinking of and caring for us — that we are His treasure. As one has said, “It is as true of Him, as it is of us, that where His treasure is, there His heart is also.”
Yes, dear children of God, to see that He is always thinking of, sympathizing with, watching over, caring for and loving us. Oh, to take it in more!
Let us judge ourselves for this, dear brethren, praying that prayer in Ephesians 3 which ends in asking that we may know the love of Christ towards us, which passeth knowledge, that we may be filled with all the fullness of God.
J. B. Dunlop (adapted)
Treasures
God in heaven has a Treasure,
Riches none may count or tell;
Has a deep, eternal pleasure,
Christ, the Son He loves so well;
God has here on earth a treasure,
None but He its price may know —
Deep, unfathomable pleasure,
Christ revealed in saints below.
Christ, the light that fills the heavens,
Shining forth on earth beneath,
Through His Spirit freely given
Light of life ’midst shades of death;
Down from heaven’s unclouded glory
God Himself the Treasure brought,
Closing thus His love’s sweet story
With His sweetest, deepest thought.
God, in tongues of fire descending,
Chosen vessels thus to fill
With the Treasure never ending,
Ever spent — unfailing still;
Still unwanted, undiminished,
Though the days of dearth wear on,
Store eternally unfinished —
Fresh, as if but now begun.
Earthen vessels, marred, unsightly,
But the Treasure as of old,
Fresh from glory, gleaming brightly,
Heaven’s undimmed, unchanging gold;
God’s own hand the vessel filling
From the glory far above,
Longing hearts forever stilling
With those riches of His love.
Author unknown