The Merchant Who Finds the Pearl of Great PriceBible World
13:45Matthew 13:45
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls:
The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant searching for fine pearls who finds one pearl of surpassing worth and gives up everything he has to make it his own. The pearl is Christ Himself, in whom are gathered the fullness of God, all wisdom and righteousness and redemption, and it is also pure truth, Christ's righteousness, salvation and eternal life, and heaven itself. The merchant represents every humble, sincere seeker who feels his need and searches with contrite heart, while Christ Himself is also the merchant who left all to seek and redeem lost humanity as His precious jewel. It is not bought with gold or wealth or advantage, but by selling all, giving self wholly to Jesus in willing obedience, abandoning sin and self and the world. Finding it brings rest, peace, joy and a new heart with Christ formed within, and one who has found it proves it by earnest labor and cheerful testimony to seek and save other lost souls for Him.
Parable Picture and Setting
The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking valuable, fine, goodly pearls, who finds one pearl of great price and sells everything he owns to buy it. The picture sets forth supreme worth on the one side and total commitment on the other, for the heavenly good is of such great value that gaining it is worth giving up all worldly possessions. Only those who prize it above all and value it enough to sacrifice all for it can have it, and the investment calls for wholehearted surrender. Unlike worldly mining ventures that carry risk and often disappoint, investing all in this pearl brings a sure reward without disappointment.
The lesson is drawn from familiar daily life and ordinary surroundings, taking the earthly to illustrate the heavenly. The merchant and the pearl, the search for a valuable pearl, are a familiar fact of daily life and experience used to teach immortal, spiritual truth. By gathering spiritual teaching from the surroundings of daily work, the parable gives something to interest every mind and appeal to every heart. In this way the daily task is brightened and uplifted by constant reminders of the spiritual and the unseen.
The verse stands alongside the parable of the hidden treasure as a lesson about the kingdom, presented in a sermon calling hearers to respond to Christ and the truth. Together they teach that the kingdom is a treasure worth seeking at any cost, whose knowledge is found by searching God's word. Every soul may find it by giving all to obtain it. The instruction in Matthew 13 is to be read as for life and heeded with self-examination, because it bears on the future destiny of those for whom Christ gave His life and on standing acquitted without spot or stain before His judgment seat. Those who are saved must form characters without fault in the sight of a pure and holy God by doing the work given to every person, by cooperating with Christ, wearing His yoke and learning His meekness and lowliness, and by gaining a daily experience in the meaning of the divine beatitudes, since at the great day of judgment every person will be judged according to deeds done in this life.
What the Pearl Is
The pearl of great price is Christ, in whom the glory of the Father and the fullness of the Godhead are gathered, perfect and spotless beyond any human improving. In Him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and He is made unto the seeker wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, meeting every need and longing of the soul so that all else is counted loss beside Him. He is possessed as a personal Saviour as the highest riches, surpassing every earthly treasure, with all the treasures of heaven in Him to be received by giving self wholly in willing obedience and consecration of being, talents and capabilities. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, set in contrast with error as light in moral darkness, though many do not appreciate His value because their attention is taken by things of minor importance.
He is unchangeable, the same yesterday, today and forever, and He is salvation whom all may seek and succeed in finding. He was given as the ransom for a fallen world, and in that giving His worth as the supreme treasure of redeeming love is shown. Those who find Him know His value without being told, count all things but loss to win Him, feel all wants satisfied, and receive a new heart and new spirit as the reward of obedience.
The pearl is God's promised gift declared in Eden before the heavenly universe, before unfallen worlds, and before satanic agencies, that the seed of the woman would bruise the serpent's head while the serpent would bruise His heel. That declaration opened a plan of infinite magnitude which commenced at the fall and was fulfilled when Christ came forth from the tomb proclaiming Himself the resurrection and the life. This is the vital all-absorbing truth on which mankind in all ages is to fix attention, with the death of the Son as the great center of attraction.
The pearl is truth, pure unadulterated truth, including the saving truths for this time. It is precious truth as it is in Jesus, unchangeable and eternal, able to set men right and keep them so, revealed with certainty and authority in God's Word as a sure word of prophecy. It lies as priceless jewels hidden in God's Word, and the exceeding preciousness of the truths Jesus taught is illustrated by the pearl. What is deemed wisdom apart from it is vanity, and what is found is of God only as it better enables the finder to reveal Christ in teaching and example.
The truths together form a harmonious whole of priceless value, recovered from superstition and error and offered as pearls of great worth. Finding them may require earnest searching with prayer, tears, trial, opposition and hardship, and those who so seek find them as valuable as tried gold. The truths in the life of Christ are rich and glorious precious pearls, precious to the seeker, to be brought out and laid forth for acceptance by the Saviour.
The pearl is Christ's righteousness and the salvation provided through the sacrifice of God's only begotten Son, received by faith. Like a pure white pearl it has no defect, guilt or stain, and God's precious truths are flawless, unmixed with error, and cannot be improved by human work.
The pearl represents the riches of Christ's love and grace, open to all, so that as peace with God is found the desire for righteousness, love and deeper blessing grows. Gaining it calls for devoting talents, means and energies to please God and setting aside anything that hinders eternal welfare, with obedience to God's will as the condition of success. Christ's teaching itself is an inestimable pearl, more valuable than earthly riches, whose full meaning must be sought with strenuous diligence as men dig for hidden treasure, because error can cover glorious truths.
The pearl is salvation in Christ, eternal life and the heavenly treasure of the kingdom, the true riches of hope, faith and peace with God, sure to be found by those who seek. It secures sanctification, honor and eternal riches, and is worth more than earthly ornaments or pleasures, so that to reject it for such things is to despise the Saviour and cast away immortal life and the unfading crown. It is freely offered without money and without price from the opened treasury of truth, clothing the poor, wretched, blind and naked with Christ's righteousness, washing robes of character white in the blood of the Lamb, cleansing the heart, renewing the mind, giving rest to the heavy-laden, forming Christ within as the hope of glory, with power to become sons of God and with good works following.
Heaven itself is the pearl of great price, cheap enough and yet requiring all, with nothing too dear to give up for Jesus in order to enter the kingdom. Only those who prize it above all and sell all to obtain it will come into possession of it. Possessing it calls for lifelong, persevering and untiring effort, working constantly and earnestly to perfect Christian character instead of remaining wayward with crippled energies, contracted capacities and worldly selfish desires, because Christ made infinite sacrifice that man might have eternal life.
Who the Merchant Is
The merchant seeking goodly pearls is the humble, sincere seeker after truth and righteousness and Christ Himself. Seeking begins when a person sees himself as he really is, feels deeply his need of Jesus, and seeks with a contrite heart as God directs. When Christ is revealed to such a seeker, he is received gladly, and what is found is genuine only if it better enables the finder to reveal Christ in both teaching and example. Finding Him means finding the pearl of great price and receiving the mind of Christ, seen in working and speaking as Christ did so plainly that others have no doubt the treasure has been found.
Christ is also the merchant seeking His lost inheritance, seeing in sinful humanity the possibility of redemption and valuing those rescued from Satan's power through love as precious. He gives up the riches of the universe to redeem them and makes the redeemed His own as jewels set in His crown. As that merchantman He gives all to purchase the pearl of lost humanity, while the sinner in turn gives up all to share the divine nature and be joined to Christ by abiding in His love through keeping His commandments, as Christ abides in His Father's love.
To recover His lost jewel He left heaven's joys to seek the human soul, for which He paid so great a price. He gave all He had to gain the lost and perishing, undertaking the work Himself and risking His life in the conflict. He spared nothing however costly, withholding not even heaven itself, but gave His own blood and life and passed through death and the gates of death, making His soul an offering for sin to meet the conditions necessary for man's salvation. The soul is precious because of that price, all heaven rejoices when it is found, and it must be conscientiously guarded from being lost and secured for Him.
He still seeks souls as goodly pearls, even a perverse, betraying sinner who confides in unbelievers, feeds on human praise, and crucifies Him afresh and puts Him to open shame. He does not cut such a one off nor separate him from His presence, for having been tempted in all points as men are He knows how to succor the tempted. He commissions holy angels to minister to him still, and stands before the Father pleading to spare him for His sake, to win him, to take his sin and impute His own righteousness to him, showing His wounded hands for his transgressions, that Satan shall not triumph in sifting him as wheat, and to show him things now dark.
The lost pearl is a human soul and lost humanity, purchased at the cost of all He gave. Its value is known only through diligent, earnest seeking, for even people buried beneath darkness, ignorance, perverse iniquity, and the sin and neglect of cities are worth seeking. Hunting for pearls means earnest, persevering exertion to hunt up souls and gather them to Christ, searching mountains and cities for the stray, with many prayerful workers laboring where Satan suggests no good can be done. Those made tender and sympathetic by Jesus' love will find precious pearls for His casket, and the pearls finally shine in the courts of the Lord, placed and adorned as treasures in the heavenly cabinet of glory, which is not yet furnished. That value calls His followers to deny self, sacrifice, live humbly, and work earnestly with Him to help recover others, and those who share His sufferings and labor faithfully may share His glory and receive His approval.
Price and Full Surrender
Gaining the pearl requires giving up all, selling everything to obtain it and meeting the conditions of God's word for heaven. Unlike worldly mining ventures that send treasure seekers out at risk and often fail, investing in the heavenly pearl brings a sure reward without disappointment. As the merchant gives all he owns to obtain the one pearl, so talents, means and energy are to be devoted to gaining the riches of Christ's love, setting aside what hinders eternal welfare, with obedience to God's will as the condition of success.
The pearl is not represented as a gift received without surrender but as bought at the price of all the merchant had. The seeker must give self, soul, body and spirit to Jesus without reserve, living in willing obedience to all His requirements. This is consecration of all being and all talents and capabilities lent by God to His service and glory. Many who think they walk toward heaven walk in strange paths because they have not made this full surrender.
Salvation is a free gift and yet is to be bought and sold in the market managed by divine mercy without money and without price. There all may obtain the goods of heaven lent on trust from the opened treasury of the jewels of truth. An open door is set before all that no one can shut, with no sword guarding the way and voices saying Come. There Christ earnestly counsels all to buy from Him gold tried in the fire that they may be rich, and white raiment that they may be clothed, and eyesalve that they may see.
Its price is not gold or silver, worldly wealth, education, or temporal or spiritual advantage, which can never secure it, so the poorest are as able as the richest to purchase it. The price is willing obedience, zealous repentance, abandoning sin, opening the door to let Christ in, overcoming as He overcame, and seeking as earnestly and perseveringly as if abandoning everything in the world for it. Only thus is the priceless gem obtained, clothing the poor, wretched, miserable, blind and naked with Christ's righteousness unto a title to a celestial crown.
Complete surrender means abandoning wrong habits, dying to self so Christ may live within, and overcoming unholy ambition and love of worldly attractions. Finding the pearl means taking up the cross and following Christ in self-denial and sacrifice. Without this surrender there is no inward rest or joy. To be almost saved, to come near the kingdom without wholly giving self to Christ, is to be lost and unable to enter.
Many who think they walk toward heaven walk in strange paths and build on shifting sand because they have not given all. An unchanged heart accepts Satan's counterfeit righteousness, which the storm of test and trial will overthrow. Many almost gain possession of the pearl but fail in the end for lack of purity of heart, thorough consecration and close relation with divinity. Seekers must therefore be thoroughly earnest, on guard against the errors of the wicked, and take heed lest they be deceived into accepting the spurious counterfeit for the genuine.
Choosing present worldly gain over immortal riches barters the pearl away. Earthly jewels like diamonds cannot save a soul or lead anyone to accept truth. Money spent to gratify vanity with jewelry and adornment brings no return to God. Means saved and used with an eye single to God's glory for Christ's honor, in good works and souls won, lays hold of eternal riches and eternal life.
Rejecting the pearl for earthly things despises the Saviour and casts away immortal life and God's gift of sanctification, honor and eternal riches. Many set gold, silver, diamonds and bodily ornament above Christ and the unfading crown of glory, forget God days without number, remain ignorant of what is worth seeking, and leave the pearl unsought and unesteemed. This makes two classes in the world, the obedient who keep His commandments and words and abide in His love with full joy, and the disobedient who refuse.
Eternal life is a treasure of infinite value, worth earnest effort, conflict, toil and every sacrifice, as valuable earthly things must be gained through effort and sometimes painful sacrifice. No cost for gaining heaven can be too great, since Christ made infinite sacrifice for it. Securing it calls for earnest, zealous, wide-awake watching unto prayer with personal intense interest, for eternal destiny is decided by life practice. The kingdom is a kingdom of continual progress, constructive and not destructive, like the sun shedding mild beams in the east and increasing in strength until the perfect day.
Seeking Earnestly and Finding
Seeking the pearl must be earnest, zealous and wide-awake, with watching unto prayer and personal intense interest, not in worldly marts or by worldly ways, but as perseveringly as if abandoning everything in the world and selling all to obtain a treasure above price, without giving up or becoming discouraged. The kingdom is one of continual progress, constructive and not destructive, where following on to know the Lord is as the sun shedding mild beams in the east and increasing in strength until the perfect day, and its pearls of salvation, precious jewels of truth, and the righteousness of God are now opened to view to be tested while opportunity can still be lost. To listen with weariness, listlessness, lack of interest, and countenances that do not glow with animation when precious pearls are presented shows failure to realize that eternal destiny is being decided by life practice. Seeking means accepting Christ as all and in all, with daily self-denial and deliverance from sin and not salvation in sin, which gives an invaluable experience in which good works surely follow and the true, strong, joyous life of the soul begins when Christ is formed within as the hope of glory and believers receive power to become sons of God.
Seeking is gathering and cherishing every divine ray of light, digging for truth as for hidden treasures with the habit of deep attention, for grace gives every asking soul a deep and increasing interest in the knowledge of the Word, spiritual things are spiritually understood, and what once held no special interest opens to the diligent seeker until hidden pearls reward faith. It is a question of eternal importance on which salvation depends, calling for hearing Scripture rightly, purifying the heart from selfishness, and receiving the word with meekness and careful receptive attention. So understood, seeking the pearl is seeking the gospel and its saving truth, and seeking Christ's meekness and lowliness, who took humanity that human beings might become partakers of the divine nature, sought through prayerful study of Scripture and practiced by rejecting condemnation, unkind speech, self-exaltation and disparagement of others and by speaking courage and hope to those without Christ.
The treasure in the Word is worth securing at any cost, and God commands giving up all if need be to obtain it, for minds impressed by the worth of priceless jewels of truth hidden in the Word and found by earnest searching will sell all to buy the field and come into possession of them. Even the most lowly may possess this hidden treasure and impart it to others, while what is deemed wisdom apart from it is vanity. Finding Jesus as the pearl comes when His excellencies, matchless love and power are kept before the mind, when a person sees himself as he really is, feels deeply his need of Jesus, and seeks God as God directs with a contrite heart. Then the Sun of Righteousness rises in the heart, lukewarmness is repented of, and the Merchantman's offer of gold tried in fire, white raiment and eyesalve is accepted, bringing a new song, joyful testimony of His love, heartfelt confession of wrongs and restitution.
In Him the heart finds peaceful rest and strength and hope, no longer longing restlessly for harmful substitutes or restless distractions, for the pleasures found in Christ are pure, heavenly, peaceful and healthful, leaving no remorse and strengthening rather than harming body and mind. Finding the pearl means finding Jesus and receiving the mind of Christ, seen in working and speaking as Christ did so clearly that others have no doubt the treasure has been found. Those who find this gem, gift, and treasure for whom the world should be surrendered know its value without being told, will sell all to possess it, and count all things loss to win Christ, for none seeking peace and rest can succeed unless they find Him as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. The soul that finds Jesus feels all wants satisfied, for in Him is fulfilled the giving of a new heart and new spirit as the reward of obedience, and He who is not changeable but the same yesterday, today and forever is salvation all may seek and succeed in finding. Those who keep seeking without giving up find peace and rest in the Lord, and Christ clothes them with His righteousness and gives them a clean heart and renewed mind, blessings that cost the life of the Son of God yet are freely offered to those for whom He died.
The pearl is found by those with no earthly treasure when the gospel is brought in its loveliness and power to the most needy and destitute regions, to hovels and rude cottages, where its light shines with clearest radiance and greatest power. The poor, ignorant, sick, suffering, loathed and abandoned, black and white, poor and neglected, find it there as truth from the Word enters their dwellings, angels are present, rays from the Sun of Righteousness bring gladness, and simple faith makes a crust of bread and a cup of water a banquet of luxury. Through faith and pardon they welcome the sin-pardoning Saviour, eat the bread from heaven, drink the water of life, are raised to the dignity of sons and daughters of God and of the Most High, and, lifted above the world and above any position earth can give, sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
At Pentecost sinners joined Christians in seeking the pearl when the truth about Christ and the risen Saviour was proclaimed and the Spirit was poured out, and converts flocked to the church from all directions, backsliders were reconverted, opponents became champions, and the bitterest opponents became champions of the gospel. This shows the kingdom and its truth in Jesus draws people to conversion and unites them in shared spiritual purpose, for finding the pearl means receiving Christ and being animated by His Spirit, which makes believers of one heart and one soul, with one interest and one object, seeing the divine similitude of benevolence and love in one another, beating in healthy concert. Their only ambition becomes revealing most perfectly the likeness of Christ's character and doing most for the enlargement of His kingdom, and those who find Him are united in seeking Him with the shared purpose of revealing His character and working for the growth of His kingdom. Seeking it means becoming a Christian and giving the whole heart to God, as unconverted youth seek it by coming forward, confessing desire for Christ, and receiving prayer, bringing joy in heaven, while those who stay away to attend foolish social parties and pleasures for amusement fail to seek it, serve God with a divided heart, and follow the enemy's diversion from the life-and-death work of seeking the Lord.
The whole Christian life is to be a preparation for the future immortal life by being true to God, seeking above all else the hidden pearl and jewels of truth, for money cannot bring the peace Christ gives. Seeking means not letting worldly ambitions ruin prospects of heaven and not giving Satan the supreme affection of the heart in exchange for his worldly bribe and attractive earthly objects, but choosing truth and righteousness so heavenly prospects are not ruined.
Fruit Borne and Mission Shared
Finding the pearl is finding Jesus and entering the gladness and joy of the Christian life and the higher way. It is gaining an experience in His service, sitting at His feet and learning precious lessons from His Word, with blessing and gladness coming to the soul. That receiving makes Christ all and in all and gives an invaluable experience, for to all who receive Him and believe on His name is given power to become sons of God. The true, strong, joyous life begins when Christ is formed within as the hope of glory, and good works will surely follow all who receive Him. Those who have found it are equipped to speak warmly and convincingly to win others to Christ, and their personal witness helps others see its value and awakens them to seek Him.
The sinner also must lay down all to gain Christ and become a partaker of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world through lust. One united to Christ has life hid with Christ in God, joined to Him by the bands of love and continuing in His love by keeping His commandments, as Christ abides in His Father's love. That union transforms character and bears witness to the world, while the test of truly loving Christ is keeping His commandments and His words. By this those who love Him are loved by the Father, receive Christ's manifestation, abide in His love as He abides in the Father's love, receive the abode of Father and Son with them, and have full joy. Humanity itself is the one lost pearl of great price, regained when Jesus gave His life to redeem people from eternal ruin, and its value calls His followers to deny self, sacrifice, live humbly, and labor earnestly with Him to help recover others. Those who share His sufferings and labor faithfully may share His glory and receive His approval.
One who has found the Pearl proves it by warm, fervent, cheerful, encouraging words telling others how Jesus was found and how blessed life with Him has been since. That telling is joined with humble prayer, witness against intemperance, folly and worldly amusements, and proclamation of present truth, using voice, influence and time as gifts from God for winning souls. Such testimony convinces others that the higher way has been found and arouses men and women from spiritual insensibility, waking many as from a dream, and this personal witness is genuine missionary work. Ministers are to bring the precious truths to people through personal ministry and introduce hearers to a sin-pardoning Saviour, not limit their work to preaching sermons.
Believers themselves become merchants seeking goodly pearls in lost souls, and the value of the pearl is known only through diligent seeking. The lost pearls are people buried in the rubbish of the cities teeming with iniquity, and the cities are sadly neglected because Satan suggests it is impossible to do any good within their borders, yet valuable souls are there. Finding them calls for sacrifice to place them in the Saviour's hands, for diligent, prayerful seeking with intense interest, and for one hundred workers where there is now but one. That earnest search for those gone astray is pictured as searching mountains and cities for the pearl Christ bought at the cost of all He gave. Seeking is proved by the life, not by lip service in praise and thanksgiving alone. The one who loves God brings gifts and offerings to the treasury so laborers may be sent forth to sow the precious seed, which is God's husbandry and God's building where God and man combine their efforts. Earthly wealth should be given freely to help others learn and live the truth, because each soul saved for eternal life is worth more than a world.
The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant searching for fine pearls who finds one pearl of surpassing worth and gives up everything he has to make it his own. The pearl is Christ Himself, in whom are gathered the fullness of God, all wisdom and righteousness and redemption, and it is also pure truth, Christ's righteousness, salvation and eternal life, and heaven itself. The merchant represents every humble, sincere seeker who feels his need and searches with contrite heart, while Christ Himself is also the merchant who left all to seek and redeem lost humanity as His precious jewel. It is not bought with gold or wealth or advantage, but by selling all, giving self wholly to Jesus in willing obedience, abandoning sin and self and the world. Finding it brings rest, peace, joy and a new heart with Christ formed within, and one who has found it proves it by earnest labor and cheerful testimony to seek and save other lost souls for Him.
Parable Picture and Setting
The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking valuable, fine, goodly pearls, who finds one pearl of great price and sells everything he owns to buy it. The picture sets forth supreme worth on the one side and total commitment on the other, for the heavenly good is of such great value that gaining it is worth giving up all worldly possessions. Only those who prize it above all and value it enough to sacrifice all for it can have it, and the investment calls for wholehearted surrender. Unlike worldly mining ventures that carry risk and often disappoint, investing all in this pearl brings a sure reward without disappointment.
The lesson is drawn from familiar daily life and ordinary surroundings, taking the earthly to illustrate the heavenly. The merchant and the pearl, the search for a valuable pearl, are a familiar fact of daily life and experience used to teach immortal, spiritual truth. By gathering spiritual teaching from the surroundings of daily work, the parable gives something to interest every mind and appeal to every heart. In this way the daily task is brightened and uplifted by constant reminders of the spiritual and the unseen.
The verse stands alongside the parable of the hidden treasure as a lesson about the kingdom, presented in a sermon calling hearers to respond to Christ and the truth. Together they teach that the kingdom is a treasure worth seeking at any cost, whose knowledge is found by searching God's word. Every soul may find it by giving all to obtain it. The instruction in Matthew 13 is to be read as for life and heeded with self-examination, because it bears on the future destiny of those for whom Christ gave His life and on standing acquitted without spot or stain before His judgment seat. Those who are saved must form characters without fault in the sight of a pure and holy God by doing the work given to every person, by cooperating with Christ, wearing His yoke and learning His meekness and lowliness, and by gaining a daily experience in the meaning of the divine beatitudes, since at the great day of judgment every person will be judged according to deeds done in this life.
What the Pearl Is
The pearl of great price is Christ, in whom the glory of the Father and the fullness of the Godhead are gathered, perfect and spotless beyond any human improving. In Him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and He is made unto the seeker wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, meeting every need and longing of the soul so that all else is counted loss beside Him. He is possessed as a personal Saviour as the highest riches, surpassing every earthly treasure, with all the treasures of heaven in Him to be received by giving self wholly in willing obedience and consecration of being, talents and capabilities. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, set in contrast with error as light in moral darkness, though many do not appreciate His value because their attention is taken by things of minor importance.
He is unchangeable, the same yesterday, today and forever, and He is salvation whom all may seek and succeed in finding. He was given as the ransom for a fallen world, and in that giving His worth as the supreme treasure of redeeming love is shown. Those who find Him know His value without being told, count all things but loss to win Him, feel all wants satisfied, and receive a new heart and new spirit as the reward of obedience.
The pearl is God's promised gift declared in Eden before the heavenly universe, before unfallen worlds, and before satanic agencies, that the seed of the woman would bruise the serpent's head while the serpent would bruise His heel. That declaration opened a plan of infinite magnitude which commenced at the fall and was fulfilled when Christ came forth from the tomb proclaiming Himself the resurrection and the life. This is the vital all-absorbing truth on which mankind in all ages is to fix attention, with the death of the Son as the great center of attraction.
The pearl is truth, pure unadulterated truth, including the saving truths for this time. It is precious truth as it is in Jesus, unchangeable and eternal, able to set men right and keep them so, revealed with certainty and authority in God's Word as a sure word of prophecy. It lies as priceless jewels hidden in God's Word, and the exceeding preciousness of the truths Jesus taught is illustrated by the pearl. What is deemed wisdom apart from it is vanity, and what is found is of God only as it better enables the finder to reveal Christ in teaching and example.
The truths together form a harmonious whole of priceless value, recovered from superstition and error and offered as pearls of great worth. Finding them may require earnest searching with prayer, tears, trial, opposition and hardship, and those who so seek find them as valuable as tried gold. The truths in the life of Christ are rich and glorious precious pearls, precious to the seeker, to be brought out and laid forth for acceptance by the Saviour.
The pearl is Christ's righteousness and the salvation provided through the sacrifice of God's only begotten Son, received by faith. Like a pure white pearl it has no defect, guilt or stain, and God's precious truths are flawless, unmixed with error, and cannot be improved by human work.
The pearl represents the riches of Christ's love and grace, open to all, so that as peace with God is found the desire for righteousness, love and deeper blessing grows. Gaining it calls for devoting talents, means and energies to please God and setting aside anything that hinders eternal welfare, with obedience to God's will as the condition of success. Christ's teaching itself is an inestimable pearl, more valuable than earthly riches, whose full meaning must be sought with strenuous diligence as men dig for hidden treasure, because error can cover glorious truths.
The pearl is salvation in Christ, eternal life and the heavenly treasure of the kingdom, the true riches of hope, faith and peace with God, sure to be found by those who seek. It secures sanctification, honor and eternal riches, and is worth more than earthly ornaments or pleasures, so that to reject it for such things is to despise the Saviour and cast away immortal life and the unfading crown. It is freely offered without money and without price from the opened treasury of truth, clothing the poor, wretched, blind and naked with Christ's righteousness, washing robes of character white in the blood of the Lamb, cleansing the heart, renewing the mind, giving rest to the heavy-laden, forming Christ within as the hope of glory, with power to become sons of God and with good works following.
Heaven itself is the pearl of great price, cheap enough and yet requiring all, with nothing too dear to give up for Jesus in order to enter the kingdom. Only those who prize it above all and sell all to obtain it will come into possession of it. Possessing it calls for lifelong, persevering and untiring effort, working constantly and earnestly to perfect Christian character instead of remaining wayward with crippled energies, contracted capacities and worldly selfish desires, because Christ made infinite sacrifice that man might have eternal life.
Who the Merchant Is
The merchant seeking goodly pearls is the humble, sincere seeker after truth and righteousness and Christ Himself. Seeking begins when a person sees himself as he really is, feels deeply his need of Jesus, and seeks with a contrite heart as God directs. When Christ is revealed to such a seeker, he is received gladly, and what is found is genuine only if it better enables the finder to reveal Christ in both teaching and example. Finding Him means finding the pearl of great price and receiving the mind of Christ, seen in working and speaking as Christ did so plainly that others have no doubt the treasure has been found.
Christ is also the merchant seeking His lost inheritance, seeing in sinful humanity the possibility of redemption and valuing those rescued from Satan's power through love as precious. He gives up the riches of the universe to redeem them and makes the redeemed His own as jewels set in His crown. As that merchantman He gives all to purchase the pearl of lost humanity, while the sinner in turn gives up all to share the divine nature and be joined to Christ by abiding in His love through keeping His commandments, as Christ abides in His Father's love.
To recover His lost jewel He left heaven's joys to seek the human soul, for which He paid so great a price. He gave all He had to gain the lost and perishing, undertaking the work Himself and risking His life in the conflict. He spared nothing however costly, withholding not even heaven itself, but gave His own blood and life and passed through death and the gates of death, making His soul an offering for sin to meet the conditions necessary for man's salvation. The soul is precious because of that price, all heaven rejoices when it is found, and it must be conscientiously guarded from being lost and secured for Him.
He still seeks souls as goodly pearls, even a perverse, betraying sinner who confides in unbelievers, feeds on human praise, and crucifies Him afresh and puts Him to open shame. He does not cut such a one off nor separate him from His presence, for having been tempted in all points as men are He knows how to succor the tempted. He commissions holy angels to minister to him still, and stands before the Father pleading to spare him for His sake, to win him, to take his sin and impute His own righteousness to him, showing His wounded hands for his transgressions, that Satan shall not triumph in sifting him as wheat, and to show him things now dark.
The lost pearl is a human soul and lost humanity, purchased at the cost of all He gave. Its value is known only through diligent, earnest seeking, for even people buried beneath darkness, ignorance, perverse iniquity, and the sin and neglect of cities are worth seeking. Hunting for pearls means earnest, persevering exertion to hunt up souls and gather them to Christ, searching mountains and cities for the stray, with many prayerful workers laboring where Satan suggests no good can be done. Those made tender and sympathetic by Jesus' love will find precious pearls for His casket, and the pearls finally shine in the courts of the Lord, placed and adorned as treasures in the heavenly cabinet of glory, which is not yet furnished. That value calls His followers to deny self, sacrifice, live humbly, and work earnestly with Him to help recover others, and those who share His sufferings and labor faithfully may share His glory and receive His approval.
Price and Full Surrender
Gaining the pearl requires giving up all, selling everything to obtain it and meeting the conditions of God's word for heaven. Unlike worldly mining ventures that send treasure seekers out at risk and often fail, investing in the heavenly pearl brings a sure reward without disappointment. As the merchant gives all he owns to obtain the one pearl, so talents, means and energy are to be devoted to gaining the riches of Christ's love, setting aside what hinders eternal welfare, with obedience to God's will as the condition of success.
The pearl is not represented as a gift received without surrender but as bought at the price of all the merchant had. The seeker must give self, soul, body and spirit to Jesus without reserve, living in willing obedience to all His requirements. This is consecration of all being and all talents and capabilities lent by God to His service and glory. Many who think they walk toward heaven walk in strange paths because they have not made this full surrender.
Salvation is a free gift and yet is to be bought and sold in the market managed by divine mercy without money and without price. There all may obtain the goods of heaven lent on trust from the opened treasury of the jewels of truth. An open door is set before all that no one can shut, with no sword guarding the way and voices saying Come. There Christ earnestly counsels all to buy from Him gold tried in the fire that they may be rich, and white raiment that they may be clothed, and eyesalve that they may see.
Its price is not gold or silver, worldly wealth, education, or temporal or spiritual advantage, which can never secure it, so the poorest are as able as the richest to purchase it. The price is willing obedience, zealous repentance, abandoning sin, opening the door to let Christ in, overcoming as He overcame, and seeking as earnestly and perseveringly as if abandoning everything in the world for it. Only thus is the priceless gem obtained, clothing the poor, wretched, miserable, blind and naked with Christ's righteousness unto a title to a celestial crown.
Complete surrender means abandoning wrong habits, dying to self so Christ may live within, and overcoming unholy ambition and love of worldly attractions. Finding the pearl means taking up the cross and following Christ in self-denial and sacrifice. Without this surrender there is no inward rest or joy. To be almost saved, to come near the kingdom without wholly giving self to Christ, is to be lost and unable to enter.
Many who think they walk toward heaven walk in strange paths and build on shifting sand because they have not given all. An unchanged heart accepts Satan's counterfeit righteousness, which the storm of test and trial will overthrow. Many almost gain possession of the pearl but fail in the end for lack of purity of heart, thorough consecration and close relation with divinity. Seekers must therefore be thoroughly earnest, on guard against the errors of the wicked, and take heed lest they be deceived into accepting the spurious counterfeit for the genuine.
Choosing present worldly gain over immortal riches barters the pearl away. Earthly jewels like diamonds cannot save a soul or lead anyone to accept truth. Money spent to gratify vanity with jewelry and adornment brings no return to God. Means saved and used with an eye single to God's glory for Christ's honor, in good works and souls won, lays hold of eternal riches and eternal life.
Rejecting the pearl for earthly things despises the Saviour and casts away immortal life and God's gift of sanctification, honor and eternal riches. Many set gold, silver, diamonds and bodily ornament above Christ and the unfading crown of glory, forget God days without number, remain ignorant of what is worth seeking, and leave the pearl unsought and unesteemed. This makes two classes in the world, the obedient who keep His commandments and words and abide in His love with full joy, and the disobedient who refuse.
Eternal life is a treasure of infinite value, worth earnest effort, conflict, toil and every sacrifice, as valuable earthly things must be gained through effort and sometimes painful sacrifice. No cost for gaining heaven can be too great, since Christ made infinite sacrifice for it. Securing it calls for earnest, zealous, wide-awake watching unto prayer with personal intense interest, for eternal destiny is decided by life practice. The kingdom is a kingdom of continual progress, constructive and not destructive, like the sun shedding mild beams in the east and increasing in strength until the perfect day.
Seeking Earnestly and Finding
Seeking the pearl must be earnest, zealous and wide-awake, with watching unto prayer and personal intense interest, not in worldly marts or by worldly ways, but as perseveringly as if abandoning everything in the world and selling all to obtain a treasure above price, without giving up or becoming discouraged. The kingdom is one of continual progress, constructive and not destructive, where following on to know the Lord is as the sun shedding mild beams in the east and increasing in strength until the perfect day, and its pearls of salvation, precious jewels of truth, and the righteousness of God are now opened to view to be tested while opportunity can still be lost. To listen with weariness, listlessness, lack of interest, and countenances that do not glow with animation when precious pearls are presented shows failure to realize that eternal destiny is being decided by life practice. Seeking means accepting Christ as all and in all, with daily self-denial and deliverance from sin and not salvation in sin, which gives an invaluable experience in which good works surely follow and the true, strong, joyous life of the soul begins when Christ is formed within as the hope of glory and believers receive power to become sons of God.
Seeking is gathering and cherishing every divine ray of light, digging for truth as for hidden treasures with the habit of deep attention, for grace gives every asking soul a deep and increasing interest in the knowledge of the Word, spiritual things are spiritually understood, and what once held no special interest opens to the diligent seeker until hidden pearls reward faith. It is a question of eternal importance on which salvation depends, calling for hearing Scripture rightly, purifying the heart from selfishness, and receiving the word with meekness and careful receptive attention. So understood, seeking the pearl is seeking the gospel and its saving truth, and seeking Christ's meekness and lowliness, who took humanity that human beings might become partakers of the divine nature, sought through prayerful study of Scripture and practiced by rejecting condemnation, unkind speech, self-exaltation and disparagement of others and by speaking courage and hope to those without Christ.
The treasure in the Word is worth securing at any cost, and God commands giving up all if need be to obtain it, for minds impressed by the worth of priceless jewels of truth hidden in the Word and found by earnest searching will sell all to buy the field and come into possession of them. Even the most lowly may possess this hidden treasure and impart it to others, while what is deemed wisdom apart from it is vanity. Finding Jesus as the pearl comes when His excellencies, matchless love and power are kept before the mind, when a person sees himself as he really is, feels deeply his need of Jesus, and seeks God as God directs with a contrite heart. Then the Sun of Righteousness rises in the heart, lukewarmness is repented of, and the Merchantman's offer of gold tried in fire, white raiment and eyesalve is accepted, bringing a new song, joyful testimony of His love, heartfelt confession of wrongs and restitution.
In Him the heart finds peaceful rest and strength and hope, no longer longing restlessly for harmful substitutes or restless distractions, for the pleasures found in Christ are pure, heavenly, peaceful and healthful, leaving no remorse and strengthening rather than harming body and mind. Finding the pearl means finding Jesus and receiving the mind of Christ, seen in working and speaking as Christ did so clearly that others have no doubt the treasure has been found. Those who find this gem, gift, and treasure for whom the world should be surrendered know its value without being told, will sell all to possess it, and count all things loss to win Christ, for none seeking peace and rest can succeed unless they find Him as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. The soul that finds Jesus feels all wants satisfied, for in Him is fulfilled the giving of a new heart and new spirit as the reward of obedience, and He who is not changeable but the same yesterday, today and forever is salvation all may seek and succeed in finding. Those who keep seeking without giving up find peace and rest in the Lord, and Christ clothes them with His righteousness and gives them a clean heart and renewed mind, blessings that cost the life of the Son of God yet are freely offered to those for whom He died.
The pearl is found by those with no earthly treasure when the gospel is brought in its loveliness and power to the most needy and destitute regions, to hovels and rude cottages, where its light shines with clearest radiance and greatest power. The poor, ignorant, sick, suffering, loathed and abandoned, black and white, poor and neglected, find it there as truth from the Word enters their dwellings, angels are present, rays from the Sun of Righteousness bring gladness, and simple faith makes a crust of bread and a cup of water a banquet of luxury. Through faith and pardon they welcome the sin-pardoning Saviour, eat the bread from heaven, drink the water of life, are raised to the dignity of sons and daughters of God and of the Most High, and, lifted above the world and above any position earth can give, sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
At Pentecost sinners joined Christians in seeking the pearl when the truth about Christ and the risen Saviour was proclaimed and the Spirit was poured out, and converts flocked to the church from all directions, backsliders were reconverted, opponents became champions, and the bitterest opponents became champions of the gospel. This shows the kingdom and its truth in Jesus draws people to conversion and unites them in shared spiritual purpose, for finding the pearl means receiving Christ and being animated by His Spirit, which makes believers of one heart and one soul, with one interest and one object, seeing the divine similitude of benevolence and love in one another, beating in healthy concert. Their only ambition becomes revealing most perfectly the likeness of Christ's character and doing most for the enlargement of His kingdom, and those who find Him are united in seeking Him with the shared purpose of revealing His character and working for the growth of His kingdom. Seeking it means becoming a Christian and giving the whole heart to God, as unconverted youth seek it by coming forward, confessing desire for Christ, and receiving prayer, bringing joy in heaven, while those who stay away to attend foolish social parties and pleasures for amusement fail to seek it, serve God with a divided heart, and follow the enemy's diversion from the life-and-death work of seeking the Lord.
The whole Christian life is to be a preparation for the future immortal life by being true to God, seeking above all else the hidden pearl and jewels of truth, for money cannot bring the peace Christ gives. Seeking means not letting worldly ambitions ruin prospects of heaven and not giving Satan the supreme affection of the heart in exchange for his worldly bribe and attractive earthly objects, but choosing truth and righteousness so heavenly prospects are not ruined.
Fruit Borne and Mission Shared
Finding the pearl is finding Jesus and entering the gladness and joy of the Christian life and the higher way. It is gaining an experience in His service, sitting at His feet and learning precious lessons from His Word, with blessing and gladness coming to the soul. That receiving makes Christ all and in all and gives an invaluable experience, for to all who receive Him and believe on His name is given power to become sons of God. The true, strong, joyous life begins when Christ is formed within as the hope of glory, and good works will surely follow all who receive Him. Those who have found it are equipped to speak warmly and convincingly to win others to Christ, and their personal witness helps others see its value and awakens them to seek Him.
The sinner also must lay down all to gain Christ and become a partaker of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world through lust. One united to Christ has life hid with Christ in God, joined to Him by the bands of love and continuing in His love by keeping His commandments, as Christ abides in His Father's love. That union transforms character and bears witness to the world, while the test of truly loving Christ is keeping His commandments and His words. By this those who love Him are loved by the Father, receive Christ's manifestation, abide in His love as He abides in the Father's love, receive the abode of Father and Son with them, and have full joy. Humanity itself is the one lost pearl of great price, regained when Jesus gave His life to redeem people from eternal ruin, and its value calls His followers to deny self, sacrifice, live humbly, and labor earnestly with Him to help recover others. Those who share His sufferings and labor faithfully may share His glory and receive His approval.
One who has found the Pearl proves it by warm, fervent, cheerful, encouraging words telling others how Jesus was found and how blessed life with Him has been since. That telling is joined with humble prayer, witness against intemperance, folly and worldly amusements, and proclamation of present truth, using voice, influence and time as gifts from God for winning souls. Such testimony convinces others that the higher way has been found and arouses men and women from spiritual insensibility, waking many as from a dream, and this personal witness is genuine missionary work. Ministers are to bring the precious truths to people through personal ministry and introduce hearers to a sin-pardoning Saviour, not limit their work to preaching sermons.
Believers themselves become merchants seeking goodly pearls in lost souls, and the value of the pearl is known only through diligent seeking. The lost pearls are people buried in the rubbish of the cities teeming with iniquity, and the cities are sadly neglected because Satan suggests it is impossible to do any good within their borders, yet valuable souls are there. Finding them calls for sacrifice to place them in the Saviour's hands, for diligent, prayerful seeking with intense interest, and for one hundred workers where there is now but one. That earnest search for those gone astray is pictured as searching mountains and cities for the pearl Christ bought at the cost of all He gave. Seeking is proved by the life, not by lip service in praise and thanksgiving alone. The one who loves God brings gifts and offerings to the treasury so laborers may be sent forth to sow the precious seed, which is God's husbandry and God's building where God and man combine their efforts. Earthly wealth should be given freely to help others learn and live the truth, because each soul saved for eternal life is worth more than a world.