The Life of Christ in the Synoptic Gospels
THE WORTH OF THE KINGDOM
The Life of Christ in the Synoptic Gospels
THE WORTH OF THE KINGDOM
Lesson Setting:
Time: The autumn of 28 A.D. On the same occasion as the other parables by the sea.
Place: In a
house probably in Capernaum; alone with His disciples.
How to Gain the Unsearchable Riches of the Kingdom of Heaven. Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard. Neither have entered into the heart of man. The things which God hath prepared for them that love Him. But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit. (1 Cor. 2:9)
Scripture Reading: Matthew 13:44
1. Parable of the Hidden Treasure
v 44 ... “The kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field.” The hiding of treasure is necessary where there are no banks, where the country is frequently overrun by marauders and robbers, where no one can trust another to hold his treasures or to use them in business, and where the rulers are rapacious to obtain the wealth of their subjects. In the unsettled state of the country often the owners never returned, and all knowledge of the treasure was lost. (The story of Captain Kidd is surely familiar to many.)
Illustration: On February 17, 1906, a building in Aintab, Turkey was destroyed by fire. The next year, when excavations were being made for the foundation of a new building, replacing the one burned, workmen came upon a large iron pot, of European rather than Oriental design, filled with about twelve hundred silver coins. Over a thousand of these were about the size of a silver dollar, the remaining being of varying smaller sizes. The coins were sold to aid in the rebuilding of the burned building in Aintab, which is near the Cilician Gates through which Paul passed on one of his journeys to Asia Minor. One chief cause of poverty in these nations lies in the fact that treasures worth hundreds of millions are lying idle, while in the more civilized countries all such money is put to use. The land of the parables is, in fact, undoubtedly full of such buried treasures. It is not uncommon to hear of such findings from time to time.
v 44 ... “Which when a man hath found, he hideth,” from others, both the place and the fact of hiding. Nothing is said about the morality of this act, for it was a mere part of the natural customary framework of the parable and had nothing to do with the parable itself. To dwell on this point is like chasing motes in the sunbeam, instead of the light which the beam sheds.
v 44 ... “And for joy thereof,” because of the great value of the treasure, worth much more than all his possessions “selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.” Interpretation:
First: The Treasure is the infinite value to man of the kingdom of heaven. It includes all that makes the kingdom of heaven what it is, i.e., the treasures of character, usefulness, happiness, and peace; treasures of eternal life, growing more and more in every good quality of the soul till we become angels excelling in strength with all the glories, external and internal, that are portrayed in the description of heaven. The unsearchable riches of Christ. Christ prayed for His disciples “that my joy may remain in you.” The same kind of joy that I have, and to be obtained in the same way. This joy is: (a) The joy of a free activity in doing right, like the joy of motion in health, like the song of a bird in the morning. (b) The joy of entire consecration and submission to God. (c) The joy of doing good, of self-denial for others. (d) The joy of perfect faith in a wise and loving God, committing everything to His care. (e) Joy in the conscious love of God to us, communion and friendship with Him. (f) The joy of loving others. (g) The joy of seeing others saved. (h) The joy of victory. (i) In the end, outward delights and pleasures to correspond with the inward joy.
Second: These treasures are sufficiently apparent to all who will open their eyes, and if sought can be found. They appeal to the human heart and the human need as real treasurers, abounding in attraction, as water to the thirsty, and food to the hungry, sight to the blind, healing to the sick. The preciousness of Christ and the true religion may be likened to the sun which brings life, light, cheer, warmth, health, to everyone. And yet there are powers and glories and blessing, in the sun far beyond these. It may be likened to education, the value of which is plain to all, in order that people may realize it sufficiently to obtain it; but what the young can see is but a very small part of the treasures of learning and culture. Note: Seekers may find this treasure in connection with their daily duties and experiences, as the man in the parable found the treasure while working on the farm. He that would possess this treasure must prize it above all other things; he must give up everything that is inconsistent with it, even as a man would willingly fling down pebbles and mosses, which hitherto he had been gathering, and with which he had filled his hands, if pearls and precious stones were offered him instead.
Third: There are vast hidden treasures in the kingdom of heaven, beyond all “that we can ask or even think.” “The unsearchable riches of Christ” (Eph. 3:8). “And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us” (Eph. 3:19, 20). All the inventions of modern civilization, countless treasures, were hidden from almost everyone a century ago. So even to those who know something of the kingdom of heaven there are vast realms of blessings still unseen. New experiences and deeper study reveal new preciousness in the church and in Christ, as space travel, the telescope, and microscope reveal wonders in the world wholly unseen by natural eyes. Can science create a new world? Or does science only reveal more treasurers in the old? We do not need a new Gospel any more than we need a new world, but only a fuller vision of the treasures in the Gospel of Christ. A child in his ABC’s has no concept of the glories and powers of the literature written by means of those letters.
Illustration: Consider electricity. Not too many years back, anyone could see the lightning, and feel the effects of a storm in revivifying air, but who at that time could even dream all that electricity is doing today? This is but an illustration of the progress of our knowledge of the kingdom of God, of the Bible, of applications of the Gospel, of foreign missions and the world wide spread of the Gospel of Christ. Note: (a) Blessings of the kingdom can only be obtained by making that kingdom first in our lives; by intense seeking. (b) We must progress step by step. (c) It is a great blessing that there is no limit to our progress. There is always something better farther on.
Scripture Reading: Matthew 13:45, 46
2. Parable of the Pearl
This parable differs from that of finding the hidden treasure in several respects. Different people have different ways of seeking and receiving the same blessings.
First: It presents the great value of the kingdom of heaven from another point of view. The worth is always intrinsic, and wholly dependent on its own properties. Money is valuable chiefly for the use that can be made of it. The pearl is a thing of beauty in itself. Farrah says, “Of all the objects employed as ornaments, the pearl is almost the only one which derives nothing from art.” We cannot increase the love of God, or the gift of His Son, or the truths of the Gospel, or the blessedness of heaven. But we can learn more of their value; we can see them more clearly, as we can a landscape when the mists are blown away.
Second: The Pearl differs from the Treasure in the way it was obtained. It was not found in the ordinary experiences of life, because one felt the need of the Gospel in the trials and temptations, the hungerings and thirstings of daily existence; the merchant represents the sincere inquirer after truth; the ‘goodly’ pearls, wisdom, knowledge, philosophy, religious truth, things with which to satisfy the cravings of man’s higher spiritual nature; the ‘pearl of great price,’ the kingdom of God in the heart, which may be expressed by eternal life, or by the knowledge of God, and of Jesus Christ whom He has sent (Jn. 17:3), or by Christ, who is to be received and formed in the heart (Col. 1:27). The pearl was deliberately chosen as the choicest gift of God among many other good things. No gem, in the estimation of the ancients, surpassed the pearl in value. The old writers speak of it as altogether wonderful, and to be honored above all jewels that the eyes of man have beheld. Nothing else was so pure, so rare, and so exquisite. A pearl of the first quality is unquestionably the most beautiful object in nature. However brilliant the hard and cold diamond may be, it cannot approach in loveliness the bright but delicate luster of the pearl. The precious pearl of the parable does not preclude there being in the world many other beautiful and costly gems which are worth seeking and possessing. It only enjoins the search for the one pearl which will be worth presenting to the king, implying that the knowledge of all true pearls, instead of hindering, assist even more in finding this greatest of them all. The merchantman deliberately set out to find the best thing in the world, the Summum Bonum, the chief good. The highest experiences, the noblest character, the greatest usefulness, the truest wisdom, the loftiest and clearest truths, the best of the kingdom of heaven, are never found accidentally, but are the reward of long and patient search. He traveled through various countries, examined the treasures of dealers to find what was in the market. And among all the good things in the world, all sources of delight, all the comforts, joys, blessings, that make life worth living, he chose the Pearl of Great Price, which really included all. “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you” in their fullest degree of blessing.
Third: Certain facts about the Pearl we should notice – (a) The Pearl is the direct product of a living organism. Can this be said of any other precious stone? (b) The Pearl is the result of injury done to the life producing it. A grain of sand intruding, something that hinders and injures and harms, is the root principle of the pearl. But that is not the pearl. What then is it? The pearl is the answer of the injured to the injury done. The pearl is the injuring element transmuted by processes of covering until the injurious thing is turned into a precious jewel, by layer after layer of mother-of-pearl exquisitely wrought; until at last the thing that hurt and harmed and injured has been made the basis upon which this whole pearl, a rare and beautiful jewel, is built up. (c) What is the use of the Pearl? It is to us wholly a thing of beauty, but in Eastern thought it is emblematic and symbolic, an ornament symbolizing innocence and purity. That which worked an injury, and which was impure and harmful, has been so dealt with by the very life that it has injured, that it has been transformed into a thing of glorious beauty, standing forever as a flashing illustration of essential purity. It stood for the triumph of purity over impurity, of good over evil. Note: The Pearl of Price belongs to the living. It is a growing, living thing, belonging to life here and hereafter. The Pearl in its owner is always a triumph over evil. It makes the very trials, failures, sacrifices, burdens, and hindrances we meet in life become a means of becoming better, larger, holier, more precious, more useful, and more valuable.
Fourth: The price to be paid is the same in both parables. The Treasure and the Pearl can be obtained only by choosing them before all things, the highest, the supreme good. They must be sought as the Wise men of the East sought the promised King, leaving their home and following the guiding star over mountains and rivers, through perils of robbers, and perils in the wilderness, in weariness and painfulness.
Fifth: The possession of the Treasure and the Pearl is the means of helping others to gain possession of them. Whatever may be the first motive in seeking these treasures, no one really finds them without desiring to give them to others. And the degree in which we value them, and realize their fullness of blessing, is the measure of our desire to have other possess the same. Thanking God for what He has done for us, is not selfish, but an inspiration and power to save.
Sixth: Another Interpretation is that Christ is the seeker after the Treasure and the Pearl, representing the precious souls of men. The treasure is often hidden, like the lost sheep from the ninety and nine, hidden in publicans and sinners and unbelievers. It is not the search for good men, but for the lost, for human nature in its moral quality and in its spiritual capacity. To find this treasure, this costly pearl, Jesus gave up all, made His whole life subordinate to His finding the treasure. The parable teaches the infinite worth of a single soul, and the recoverableness of a man at his worst. Note: “The riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints” (Eph. 1:18).
Scripture Reading: Matthew 13:47-50
3. Parable of the Net
This last parable Jesus spoke calls attention to the final success of the kingdom. The sea represents the circumstances in which the kingdom of heaven exists. The people whom it has gathered into its influence and organization prove to be of all kinds of goodness and badness; even its teachings by imperfect men, its ideas, its principles, are a commingling of good and evil. This is true of the all regions where the kingdom of heaven has been and is being preached. It is true of every kind of organized work for making men better in body and soul. It is true of every church, Bible school, and individual.
v 49 ... But at “the end of the world,” i.e., the age, the kingdom, completion of the work of God on earth, there must be a severing of “the wicked from among the just,” the righteous. All evil must be burned up in ...
v 50 ... “the furnace of fire,” together with those in whom the evil is so embodied that they cannot separate themselves from it. When the evils and imperfections are destroyed, then and only then “shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father” (v 43). Are there any signs in your life that God’s fires of justice, the working of His laws, and the fires of His Spirit, are consuming wickedness and wicked men? Are you one of His ministers of law and the Gospel? Are you allowing God to work through you?
Scripture Reading: Matthew 13:51-53
4. Parable of the Householder
v 51 ... “Have ye understood all these things? Yea, Lord.” They did understand much of this teaching, by the aid of Jesus’ own interpretations. We should not suppose, however, that they understood completely and in depth. Who even yet has thus exhausted or comprehended all that our Lord revealed in His parables? But they saw light streaming through them. It was light from heaven; it would increase; and by and by they would be able to see more and more clearly, more and more minutely, more and more comprehensively, farther up, farther down, farther out, and farther in.
v 52 ... “Therefore, (because you have understood) every scribe (student and teacher of the Bible and religion, which is instructed (discipled, made a disciple or learner) unto the kingdom of heaven” (in distinction from the scribes of the Jewish law).
v 52 ... “Is like unto a man that is an householder (at the head of Christ’s household) which bringeth forth (flings out throws forth with vigor and zeal) out of his treasure (treasury, store- house, as water bursts forth from a full vessel). Things new and old.” Some of the new things are far better than the old. Sometimes the old are better. Both are needed. As the disciples grew in experience, were led by the Holy Spirit, met new emergencies, entered upon new duties, they would learn many things which it was impossible for them to understand now. “My own experience is probably very like that of all earnest students of the Bible. Like so many of you, I have studied the Bible, always finding new meanings, new visions, and new aspects. The great old doctrines that have been the foundation through all the ages have not changed in their essence; but as I grow older they have new meanings, new application, new depths and glories” (Dr. James E. Priest).
As the song says: “And when in scenes in glory, I sing the New, New Song, ‘Twill be the Old, Old Story, That I have loved so long.”
