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Matthew Chapter 13 Pearl of Great Price

by Paul George  
8/11/2008 / Bible Studies

Matthew 13:45-46

Jesus said, "The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all he had and bought it."

The popular and current interpretation of this parable claims Christianity is like a man who earnestly desires and diligently seeks salvation, his efforts rewarded by his finding Christ, the Pearl of great price. Having found Him, as presented in the Gospel, the sinner sells all that he has; that is to say, he forsakes all that the flesh holds dear, he abandons his worldly companions, he surrenders his will, he dedicates his life to God; and in that way, secures his salvation. The awful thing is that this interpretation is the one taught and preached in almost every church today.

What is wrong in this interpretation? First, no man has taken the initiative in seeking salvation. He ought to seek salvation because he needs it more than anything else he desires. He ought to seek salvation because God commands him to forsake his wicked way and evil thoughts and return to the Him. He should seek the Lord while He may be found. However, fallen man in his natural state never does and never will seek the Lord or His salvation.

When Adam sinned, and in the cool of the day he heard the voice of the Lord in the garden what did he do? Did he cast himself at His feet and cry for mercy? He did not seek the Lord he tried to flee from the Lord. He did not seek the Lord the Lord sought him. Did Abram seek the Lord? There is nothing in the Scriptures to indicate that Abraham sought the Lord, the Lord sought him. When the Savior came here He declared, "The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost" (Luke 19:10). He did not come because that which was lost was seeking Him.

There are Christians who say there was a time when they sought the Lord and found Him. What caused them to seek the Lord? It was the wooing of the Holy Spirit. The sheep do not seek the Shepherd, the Shepherd seek the sheep; and finding the sheep, He creates in the heart of that sheep a desire for the Shepherd then it begins to seek Him.

The claim this parable teaches the natural man, an unconverted sinner, seeking Christ, the Pearl of great price, is contrary to Scriptures. In Romans 3:11 we are told, "There is none that seeks after God." There are multitudes that seek after pleasure and wealth, but none that seeks after "God." He is the great Seeker.

According to the popular interpretation of this parable after finding the Lord, the Pearl of great price, the sinner sells all that he has and buys it. How can this be true? He has nothing to sell. He has no righteousness, Isaiah 64:6 says that all our righteousness is as "filthy rags." In him, there is no goodness. Romans 3:12 tells us "There is none that does good, no, not one." He has no faith. Faith is God's "gift" (Ephesians 2:8). The sinner has nothing to sell. If there is one thing clearly taught the Scriptures it is that salvation cannot be purchased by man: "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us" (Titus 3:5). It is a "gift" it is not to be sold or bartered.

The first thing we need to do is identify the merchant. The merchant is the man that sowed the good Seed in the field in the first parable. He is the landowner who had tares sowed among His wheat. He is the man who found the treasure hidden in the field. The "man" referred to in verse 24 at the beginning of the second parable is Christ, and the "man" in this parable, the "merchant" is the Lord Jesus.

The parable begins by telling us a Merchant set His heart upon this pearl. The pearl represents the Church in its entirety. This is something the human mind cannot comprehend. What is there in poor, fallen, depraved, sinful creatures the Lord Jesus would desire from sinful man, love? He expressed His love when He died on a cross and He wants sinful man to express his love by accepting the gift of salvation.

The second thing Jesus tells us about the pearl it is a pearl of great value. When we consider our natural state, it is beyond our comprehension how it is possible our Lord Jesus sees us as having great value in His sight. His suffering and death on the cross reveals the great value He has put on us. The Merchant not only desired the pearl, and considered it one of great value He sold all that He had to purchase the pearl. He who was rich for our sakes He became poor, poorer than any of us have ever been. So poor that He occupied a manger, that one day we might occupy a mansion. So poor that He had nowhere to lay His head, in order that you and I, might rest our heads forever on His sacred bosom.

In the fifth parable, the man found a hidden treasure. In this parable, the merchant seeks fine pearls. The distinction between the two is one represent the chosen people of God, Israel the other the "taking from among the Gentiles a people for His name" (Acts 15:14). Paul told the Ephesians, "And He came and preached peace to you who were afar away, and peace to those who were near" (Ephesians 2:17). Spiritually Adam's entire race enters the world separated from God. Through Abraham, the Jews were brought near to God but both the Jews and the Gentiles need the Word of peace preached to them. The Jews had an outward covenant relationship with God, they had the Word of God in their hands and the temple of God in their midst. In this parable of the pearl, the Gentiles need to be brought near to the Lord.

When the Merchant found the pearl of great value, He purchased it with His precious blood as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. At the Cross He bought the pearl, and the price that He paid was His own precious blood.

In this parable, the focus is on the unity of the saints of God in this present age. "In Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, bond nor free, male nor female, for we are all one. (Galatians 3:28). The pearl is used in this parable to represent unity because it is the only gem whose unity cannot be broken without destroying it. A diamond can be cut into several pieces. A lump of gold can be divided into several pieces. If a pearl is divided, the pieces are worthless. The pearl is destroyed.

Unlike diamonds and other gems as well as gold, a pearl is the product of a living creature. It is also the result of suffering. Down in the depths of the ocean there lives a little animal encased in a shell; we call it an oyster. One day a foreign substance, a grain of sand, intrudes, and pierces its side. God has endowed that animal with the faculty of self-preservation, a slimy substance called nacre and it covers the wound repeatedly, one layer after another of that nacre or mother-of-pearl is put on the wound by that little animal until there is built up that eventually becomes a pearl. The pearl, we may say, is the answer to the injury inflicted upon the animal. The offending particle that injured the oyster becomes a precious gem. The very thing that injured the animal, the little grain of sand that intruded, is ultimately clothed with a beauty that is not its own and covered with the comeliness of the one that it injured. The Author of the Bible and the Savior of our souls the Regulator of everything in nature saw to it when He created the oyster, that it should furnish an appropriate type and figure of His Church. The saints of this age are the fruitage of the suffering of Christ.

The pearl is an object formed slowly and gradually. It does not come into existence in a single day. There is a tedious process of waiting while the pearl is being slowly but surely formed. For twenty centuries that which the pearl is the figure and type, has been in process of formation by the power and grace of God. Just as the oyster covered the wound in its side and that which pierced it with one layer after another of the beautiful nacre, constantly repeating the process, so out of each generation of men on earth God has called a few and added them to that Church which He is now building for His Son.

Who would imagine the Lord would use something that had a lowly origin as a pearl to be a symbol of His Church. That beautiful pearl originally had its home in the depths of the sea, amid its mire and filth where oysters congregate. This should remind us of the lowly origin of the Church. It should humble us we, who have by sovereign grace been made members of the body of Christ, had by nature our origin in the filth and mire and ruin of the fall.

The eyes of man do not see the forming of the pearl. It is a secret formation; none but God witnesses its building up. In like manner, the Church that Christ is now building, that body of His that is now in process of formation, is unknown and unseen by the world. I am not speaking of the visible churches, I am talking about that Church, which is now being built (Ephesians 2:21; 4:16), and which as it is being formed, like the oyster, is unseen by the eye of man. In the eyes of God the Church is an object of value and beauty, an object hidden from the eyes of men. It is being fashioned into a precious gem, which shall reflect the light of heaven and become an object of beauty and admiration in the eyes of all who see it (2 Thessalonians 1:10). The Lord Jesus will "present to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing; but it shall be holy and without blemish" (Ephesians 5:27). When He returns to the earth, He will bring with him His complete and beautified Church will be an object of admiration to all who behold it. To a wondering universe, Christ will display His glorified Church.

The symbol Jesus selected to represent the Church. That little object in the ocean's depths, unseen by the eye of men and gradually becomes a pearl of great value has a position and a place in the diadem of the king. "When Christ shall appear, and then shall we also appear with Him in glory (Colossians 3:4). In the ages to come He will show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us (Ephesians 2:7). Many of God's people today may be poor and despised and hated by the prominent and great of this world, but just as surely as the pearl of great price of lowly origin is put in a position of dignity, honor and glory, so those who now are last shall be first.

This parable shows us once and for all the utter impossibility to purchase our salvation, of seeking to win God's approval by some works and doings of our own. The pearl in this parable is not a Savior whom the sinner has to buy but by grace are we saved through faith and that not of ourselves, it is a gift of God, not of works lest we should boast. By the grace of God, we are saved. We are the purchased property of another. We are "bought with a price" (1 Corinthians 6:20). We belong to Christ. Are we living day by day as though we realize it? Is it true that we have only one aim, only one desire, only one ambition; all our efforts concentrated on the honoring, obeying, magnifying of Christ? May God help all His people to realize in their souls that they are not their own: no longer free, no longer have the right to plan their own life, to say what they will do or what they will not do.

Our answer to these ought to be, "For to me to live is Christ."

Retired pastor,Church of the Nazarene

Author of web site Exploring God's Word

www.thewordofgodonline.net

New American Standard Bible

King James Version

The World English Bible

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