The Parables of the Hidden Treasure and the Pearl
44 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.
45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. 46 When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.
The Parable of the Net
47 “Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. 48 When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away. 49 This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous 50 and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
51 “Have you understood all these things?” Jesus asked.
“Yes,” they replied.
52 He said to them, “Therefore every teacher of the law who has been instructed about the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.”
In the parables of the hidden treasure and the pearl we see that the kingdom is priceless and worth whatever price we have to pay to get it.
One minor point - when the man found the hidden treasure, it would've been completely ethical for him to simply take it. That's what their law was then - finders keepers. It obviously didn't belong to the man selling the field anyway, because he would've taken it out before selling it. But the man wanted to do things totally ethically, and so he sold everything he had in order to be able to buy the field that contained that valuable treasure.
In those days, just like now, you were supposed to diversify your investments. You would bury some of it, invest some in pearls (comparable to diamonds nowadays), some in land. But you didn't invest in just one thing. And yet, in both these parables, that's exactly what these men do. The treasure, the pearl, was that valuable.
The kingdom is, quite simply, priceless. Value beyond compare.
The kingdom is also hidden. It's not just lying around, obvious to everyone. Even when presented with the truth, not everyone recognizes it for the valuable treasure that it is. We need to search for it, and dig beyond the superficial to find the truth.
Becoming part of the kingdom is also a personal choice and decision. You have to find it and you have to recognize it's worth, and pursue it yourself, personally. You need to recognize the real treasure and not go chasing after the fake stuff.
The kingdom is also the source of joy. Nothing else in all the world will bring you the joy that comes with discovering the kingdom that comes with relationship to Jesus Christ.
The kingdom can, however, be entered by different circumstances. Some are purposefully seeking the kingdom (like the pearl seeker) and some stumble upon it almost "by accident" (like the man who stumbled upon the treasure in the field). Some people become Christians almost in spite of themselves (Saul, for one!).
The kingdom also needs to be "purchased". No, you obviously can't buy your way into heaven. But you have to be willing to exchange everything you have and everything you are, in exchange for everything He has and everything He is. MacArthur explains it this way...
do you get saved by giving your money to the poor? No, you come to Christ and you are saved when you are willing to abandon everything to affirm that He is the Lord of your life. That's the transaction ... that's the transaction. We exchange ourselves, our sin, our will, our control of our lives for Christ's leadership. Now, I don't think that people who are saved at the moment they're saved, understand all the ramifications of that. I don't think they understand all the elements of that. But I believe true salvation is marked by a willingness to do that as that understanding unfolds.
Like Paul in Philippians 3, his Judaism, his lineage, his status as a Pharisee, his self-righteousness - it was all counted as loss. He gave that all up and exchanged it for faith in Christ, the power of the resurrection and sharing in His suffering.
The treasure is priceless, and worth any cost.
The kingdom is precious. The kingdom is hidden. The kingdom is personal. The kingdom is joyous. The kingdom is entered from different circumstances, but always the price is to abandon myself to receive the supreme sovereignty of Jesus Christ.
And then we have this last parable, and it is a warning about the inevitable judgment that is coming and the horror of hell that awaits those who did not find the treasure to be worth the cost.
And Jesus explains this in a parable about fishing, and a particular type of fishing at that. MacArthur explains....
One end of this large net was attached to the shoreline. The other end was attached to a boat. As the boat left the shore, it pulled the net into a form where the net was stretched between the boat out in the lake and the net hooked to the shore. And then the boat would begin to move in a circle. And as it moved in a circle, it would sweep into this massive net, all the life in front of the net. It would complete an entire circle, come all the way back to where it was attached, and would have gathered into that entire net, all the life that was in the sea covered by that net.
Because the top of the net had floats, it floated on the surface of the water. The bottom of the net had weights, it sunk to the bottom so that the net moved through the sea like a vertical wall capturing everything. Now what our Lord wants us to understand in this net is basically two things ... one, is the immense size of the net. And two, is the fact that it brings in everything... a conglomerate inclusive catch. Now once this has happened and the boat has moved through the sea, this great vertical wall has swept up everything, living and dead, it sometimes drug the bottom and pulled up all kinds of things, seaweed, every form of life that would be there would be caught in that net, then it comes back to the shore...And then begins a very slow, deliberate careful, patient, unhurried, accurate, knowledgeable, skillful process of sorting out the good from the bad. They sat down. It was something they did very carefully ... very patiently...
You see, all along in this era, as we've been learning, the good and the evil go together and God tolerates the evil. But the time is coming when He will make a separation ... between those who know the King and are subjects of the King and know the Lord Jesus Christ, and those who do not. And that separation is inevitable and it is ultimate. And little by little, imperceptibly and silently, that net moves through the sea of time drawing all men to the shores of eternity for that inevitable separation. That is the principle. The net draws in all kinds of fish. It is indiscriminating, in the sense, that it just catches everything in its way. And so it is it says in verse 47, the kingdom of heaven is like that net, it moves silently through the sea of life, drawing men, almost without them knowing it, to the shore of eternity. And by the time they awaken to what is happening, it is too late ... they're already there. They are drawn to the separation.
And, once again, the angels are the separators, the executioners. Just like the parable of the wheat and the weeds.
If the two parables are similar, why is this one here?
The parable of the wheat and the weeds was more to emphasize the fact that good and evil would remain on earth together for a time, whereas this parable emphasizes the separation. Also, our Lord is compassionate and He adds another warning, because He is patient, He is gracious, He does not want anyone to go to hell and He delays the inevitable separation and punishment, but it can only be delayed, it will come, and this is the warning.
Men may not perceive the kingdom, they may not see God moving in the world, but He is moving. And men very often when touched by the gospel of Jesus Christ, or threatened by the threat of judgment, dart into the freedom they think is ahead of them but sooner or later they run right back into the same net because there's no freedom there. And they are inexorably moving toward inevitable judgment.
All men are gathered in the net. The kingdom will ultimately engulf them all. And God with His angels will separate.....
[v50] is a fearful verse. And I confess to you that it affects me just as it affects anybody. It is a horrifying, fearful verse. And if there's any doctrine in the Bible that you wish were not there it is the doctrine of hell, but that does not eliminate it. It is there. And this is the heart of the matter. --Cast into the furnace of fire -- those are terrifying words from our Lord. And yet He spoke more of hell than anybody else. And I think there's a reason.
Do you know what I think? I think that if Jesus hadn't taught us about hell, we wouldn't believe whoever did. It had to be Him. It is so inconceivable, so causes us to be revulsed. We cannot conceive of eternal damnation. And it had to be our Lord who said this or we never would have been able to accept it. It was His own special emphasis. And He was a preacher of hell. More than anything else, He threatened men with hell. And if you don't think He did then you haven't been carefully noting His ministry.
Here are just a few of Jesus' teachings on hell:
Matthew 5:22, 29, 30
Matthew 7:27 and Matthew 12:36 allude to judgment.
Matthew 8:12
Matthew 11:20-24
Matthew 18:8-9
Matthew 21:43-44
Chapters 23, 24, 25 all talk about hell. It just goes on and on.
Hell is a place of unrelieved torment. It's a pit of impenetrable darkness with no hope of light. It's a torturous and unrelieved type of fire, with no relief from the suffering, agony or pain ever. It's agony of both body and soul. The suffering will be endured with a transcendent body (just the opposite of how we will receive a resurrected and perfect body in heaven), so that though it is constantly being consumed, it is never consumed. And this torment will be in varying degrees for different people. It will be horrible for everyone, but it will be even worse for some (Hebrews 10:29-31, Matthew 11:20-24). And it is all endless (Matthew 25:46). Endless. That is hell.
God never prepared it for people. He prepared it for the devil and his angels ... but people choose to go there....You avoid hell only by the ... receiving of Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. If you don't appropriate the kingdom, you see, if you don't take the treasure, if you don't purchase the pearl of great price, there's no way out.
And in v51 Jesus asks the disciples if they got it.
Have you got this all put together in your minds? That this form of the kingdom has good and evil going together? That the good is going to continue to permeate, continue to grow, continue to influence? That in order to be a part of the kingdom you have to purchase by giving all you have for all Christ is? Have you put it all together? And do you see that it's going to go along like this with good and evil until the end and then comes a final separation? Do you have it?...Are you ready to go out and be those warners in the harvest? Are you ready to go out with the message?
And in v52 Jesus tells them that they've been trained, they've been prepared, and now they need to go out and dispense the Old Testament truths and the New truths in perfect balance.
Why? Because the world is going to hell. And the only thing that will stop that is if they choose the truth. But they can't choose truth if they don't hear it.
And if the fearful reality of the awfulness of hell doesn't get you worked up enough to share the gospel, what will?!
I feel beyond convicted right now.
Tomorrow's scripture focus: Matthew 13:53-58
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