The Pearl: Matthew 13:45-46

Matthew 13:45‑46
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IT is such a common notion that the pearl of great price is the Saviour Himself that it seems almost irreverent to challenge it. Yet the popular interpretation is open to serious objection for two reasons: (1) it would put this parable entirely out of harmony with the teaching of its context; (2) it represents the sinner as sacrificing something―all, indeed―in order to acquire Christ. But Christ cannot be purchased. He is God’s unspeakable gift to man, and all the blessings which are the fruit of His atonement―eternal life, etc.―are gifts also. Peter severely denounced the man who thought the gift of God might be purchased with money. Moreover, the sinner is represented in Scripture as having “nothing to pay” (Luke 7:4242And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most? (Luke 7:42)). He who cannot meet his just obligations is surely in no position to buy costly pearls. And it should be remembered that it is the Saviour who seeks the sinner, rather than the sinner the Saviour.
The parable runs thus: ― “The Kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchantman seeking goodly pearls; who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it” (Matt. 13:45-4645Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: 46Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it. (Matthew 13:45‑46)). As in the case of the hidden treasure the purchaser is Christ. The pearl is the Church, which, in Scripture, is the aggregate of all believing persons from the descent of the Holy Ghost until the coming of the Saviour into the air (Acts 2; 1 Thess. 4:15-1815For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 16For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 18Wherefore comfort one another with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4:15‑18)). The hidden treasure may have consisted of hundreds of pieces of gold and silver, and thus suitably represents believers in all ages, who have been, and will yet be, saved out of the wreck of Adam’s world by the infinite grace of God. But the pearl represents the saved of the Christian period specifically. The Church holds a very special place in the ways of God. The divine purposes concerning it were retained as a secret in the divine bosom until Paul was raised up as a chosen vessel to communicate them to men (Eph. 3:3-43How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words, 4Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) (Ephesians 3:3‑4)). He was in a peculiar sense the minister of the Church, and from him we learn that the Church is Christ’s body now, and will be His bride throughout eternity. In these special relationships the saved of the preceding and following ages have no part, though the everlasting home of all God’s saints is one― “the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem” (Heb. 12:2222But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, (Hebrews 12:22)).
The single pearl shows the unity and beauty of the Church as Christ sees and estimates it. The joyful finder of the earlier parable is the toilsome Seeker in the parable before us. To have the pearl for His own He sacrificed His all. He left heaven’s glory, and accepted in lieu thereof the lowly circumstances of earth. His earthly throne, as David’s Son and Heir, He also surrendered, and accepted instead the cross and the tomb. All this was in order that He might possess Himself of the pearl upon which He had set His heart. As the Spirit elsewhere puts it: “Christ loved the Church, and gave Himself for it” (Eph. 5:2525Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; (Ephesians 5:25)). Surely the affections of all the objects of His favor should be set upon such a Saviour forever.