MYSTERIES OF THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN-THE SEVEN PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM. Matt. 13:1-57

October 1, 2019

Key: SCHAFF: “When the Lord open his mouth, we should open our ears and hearts”

THE PARABLE THE PEARL OF GREAT PRICE.  Matt. 13:45-46

This parable is similar to that of the hidden treasure in the field. ‘A merchant man seeking for a goodly pearl.’ “A pearl is a hard glistening object produced within the soft tissue of a living shelled mollusk or another animal such as conularid. A pearl is composed of calcium carbonate in minute crystalline form, which has been deposited in concentric layers” –Wikipedia. It is ‘fine’ ‘beautiful’.

  1. Matt. 13:45-46. “The kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls. Who, when he found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.”
  2. ‘A merchant man’ “The Greek word denotes not a mere shopkeeper, but one who travels to procure what he sells.” Broadus John A. The Lord Jesus Christ often use such languages like this, as in a certain nobleman who went to a far country to receive a kingdom…Lk. 19:12 and a certain man planted a vineyard…and went to a far country…Lk. 20:9. Christ is the merchant man, who bought the land and paid the price. Act. 20:28, 1Cor. 7:23; 6:20, 1Pet. 1:18-23. Remember, redemption is “To deliver by paying a price” Three words are translated redemption: 
  3.  agorazo “to purchase in the market”. The underlying thought is of a slave-market. We were “sold under sin” Rom. 7:14 and are under the sentence of death Ez. 18:4, Jn. 3:18-19, Rom. 3:18, Gal. 3:10.  The purchase price is the blood of Christ who died in our stead. Matt. 20:28, Mk. 10:45, 1Tim. 2:6, 1Pet. 1:18.
  4.  exagorazo, “to buy out of the market”. The redeemed is never again to be exposed for sale, and lutroo, “to loose” “to set free by paying a price” Jn. 8:32. 
  5. ‘Seeking for a goodly pearl’ Pearl is a valuable treasure that needs no polishing or cutting by man. It comes to us complete and lustrous created by God.
  6. ‘He found one pearl of great price’- ‘the true Church in the time of the Gentile’. The mystery of the Church covering the same period as the mystery of the kingdom. Rom. 16:25-26, Eph. 3:3-10; 5:32, Col. 1:26-27. C. I. Scofield say, “The true Church a pearl is a perfect symbol of: 
  7. A pearl is one, a perfect symbol of unity. 1Cor. 10:17; 12:12-13, Eph. 4:4-6
  8. A pearl is formed by accretion, and not mechanically, but vitally, through a living one, as Christ add to the Church Act. 2:41, 47; 5:13, Eph. 2:21-22, Col. 2:19.

Christ having given Himself for the pearl, now is preparing it for presentation to himself. Eph. 5:25-27. The kingdom is not the Church, but the true children of the kingdom during the fulfilment of these mysteries, baptized by the Holy Spirit into one body, 1Cor. 12:12-13 compose the true Church, the pearl.”