The treasure and the pearl have been accepted by many, down the years, as pictures of the Lord Jesus Christ; and the sinner, discovering the beauty and worth of the Saviour, willingly gives up all to obtain Him. The idea found its way into our hymnology, and we sometimes sing,
I’ve found the Pearl of greatest price, My heart doth sing for joy.
Such an interpretation, however, presents difficulties. Christ is not hidden in the field; the sinner is not seeking the Saviour; the sinner does not sell all that he has in order to obtain the Saviour; and the treasure is not again hidden by the sinner.
We have seen that the preceding parables reveal certain features of this age of grace. In the parable of the Sower we have the work of God, broadcasting, by His servants, a message for the obedience of faith among all men. In the parable of the tares (and the net), we have the work of Satan introducing tares as counterfeits of God’s wheat, and bad fish as counterfeits of God’s good fish. In the parables of the the leaven (and the mustard tree), we have the work of humanity, introducing evil into God’s work. Here in the parables of the treasure and the pearl we have the work of Christ, searching for sinners, redeeming them at infinite cost, and preparing them for future glory.
The field, as we have seen before, is the world, and the great truth here taught is that the Son of God came into the world seeking. This confirms His own words: “The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which is lost.” What was He seeking?
Treasure and a pearl. How can we explain these as pictures of the sinner? In view of the many Scriptures which clearly teach the depravity, repulsiveness, and bankruptcy of the sinner, how can we, by any stretch of imagination, be likened to a treasure or a pearl? The answer lies in the love of God. What the Scriptures say of us is true, but God’s love for us transformed us into something most desirable to Him, something He gave His Son to possess. God loves us in spite of our unloveliness, and His love saw us as we should become in Christ. We became His treasure and His pearl. We have illustrations of this in everyday life. A young man takes a young woman to be his treasure and his pearl, while the rest of the world asks, “Whatever did he see in her?” Love transformed her in the eyes of the young man.
Are the treasure and the pearl one and the same? I should like to suggest that the treasure speaks of the true Israel and the pearl is the true Church, both included in the kingdom of heaven. These two were the objects of the love of Christ. Simeon termed Him “a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of Thy people Israel,” and Caiaphas prophesied that “Jesus should die for that nation,…and the children of God that were scattered abroad.” God had said that His earthly people would be “a peculiar treasure unto Him” and Christ died to produce a glorious church, holy and without blemish.
How did the Seeker make the treasure and the pearl His own? To obtain the treasure He “goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.” Israel is God’s earthly people and His promises to them will be fulfilled on the earth, albeit “a new earth.” So Christ in order to obtain the treasure bought the field. Treasure is an accumulation of possessions, and this coincides with the tribes and families of the nation of Israel.
A pearl, on the other hand, is a single item, a unit, and this, of course, is descriptive also of the Church, “one body.” It is not stated that the merchant purchased the field to obtain the pearl, but “when he had found a pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.” The pearl is formed around an irritation or wound; the oyster coats the grain of sand with a glutinous secretion and the pearl grows and develops through the oyster coating it, over and over again, with a covering of nacre. The Church was formed by the wounds of Him who “was wounded for our transgressions:” it develops and grows by drawing strength and sustenance from Him.
To purchase the treasure and the pearl, the seeker had to “sell all that he had.” At what infinite cost we have been purchased! It surely humbles us to realize that we cost God His Son, and the Son of God all the agonies and shame of the death of the Cross. Yet, how willingly He paid the price, so great was His love for us.
Having found the treasure, the seeker immediately hides it again. Christ died for the nation of Israel, but the results are not yet made manifest. God’s plans for Israel are certainly hidden during this age of grace, but one day soon all God’s promises to His earthly people will be fulfilled. “Blindness in part is happened unto Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob” (Rom. 11:25-26). Christ died for Israel, and in that day God will demonstrate that He “hath chosen Israel for His peculiar treasure” (Ps. 135:4).
We are not told what happened to the pearl after the merchant had purchased it, but, being a merchant, he would know just how to treat and polish the pearl until its beauties and perfections were manifest to all. “Christ … loved the Church, and gave Himself for it; that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word, that He might present it to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish” (Eph. 5:25-27).
There are serious implications in this for you. The purpose of Christ cannot be fulfilled in you without your active co-operation. The claimant demands upon each of us issuing from the teaching of this parable, are summed up in masterly fashion by Paul in I Corinthians 6:19-20: “Ye are not your own! For ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in ,your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”