Lecture 7

Parable of the Hidden Treasure (Matthew 13:44). The first key to this parable is that it was spoken by Christ after he had dismissed the crowds and taken His disciples into the house. They must have been dismayed at the gloomy picture portrayed by Christ in the form of deterioration of the Kingdom in the world after His departure. So Jesus took them aside and spoke in parable form of the Hidden Treasure and the Pearl of Great Price, to reassure them of His great loving purposes. Though the outward form of Christendom would develop so tragically, there would be no failure on God’s part to save a Body and Bride for His Son, the true Church. In fact there are two elect peoples, inexpressively precious in His sight – two realms of His dominion, earthly and heavenly. Two distinct companies – one, the Treasure symbolising the literal nation of Israel, hidden in the field. The other, the one pearl symbolising the one Body which has a heavenly calling, citizenship and inheritance. The order of these next two parables is: ‘to the Jew first and also to the Greek (Gentile)’. The Hidden Treasure in the field, the symbol of Israel is given before the Pearl, the figure of the true Church.

Remember, in the first four parables, the Kingdom is as it appears in the world, seen by the world. The last three parables of the Kingdom, is the Kingdom seen from God’s point of view. We have God’s thoughts upon it. We are shown what God has in His Kingdom – a Hidden Treasure and a Pearl of Great Price and worth.

The second key is the dividing line of four parables and then three parables.

Hidden Treasure. Exodus 19:5 is God’s voice to Israel. ‘If you will obey my voice, indeed, and keep my Covenant, then you shall be a peculiar treasure to me above all people, for all the earth is mine.’ Deuteronomy 14:2 says, ‘you are a holy people to the LORD your God, and the LORD has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.’ (NKJV). Psalm 135:4 says, ‘the LORD has chosen Jacob for Himself, Israel for His special treasure.’ (AV and NKJV).

These passages have no reference to the saints of this Age, or to the Church of this Dispensation – the Church Age, but speak of an earthly Israel according to the flesh. In Isaiah 44:7 we read that ‘the LORD has appointed the ancient people and the things that are coming and shall come’. Israel is God’s Treasure on earth, His earthly elect people. Never once in the 21 Epistles of the New Testament is the word ‘Treasure’ used of the Church. The Treasure is hidden in the field, earthly inheritance, the world. Believers in the true Church, Jew or Gentile, are God’s heavenly people. The Church is called ‘ to seek those things that are above’ (Colossians 3:4). God found Jacob ‘in a desert land and in a waste howling wilderness: He led him about, He instructed him, He kept him as the apple of His eye’ (Deuteronomy 32:10). Israel had a lowly origin, hidden, buried in a field, especially throughout all her dispersions in the world of nations. The finding of the Treasure by Christ refers to the days of His earthly ministry to Israel, the Jewish people. Jesus said, as recorded in Matthew 15:24, ‘I am sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel’. Christ the Man, came to Israel and the Jewish people. His ministry was confined to them initially. Then the link was broken temporarily, to be forged again at the end of the Church Age, for the remnant of the nation according to Election. The remnant according to Grace are individual Jews saved now & added to the Church, the Pearl of Great Price.

So, we have the Treasure hidden again when the link between Christ and Israel as a nation is broken, for a time. Christ is rejected by Israel for the time of the Church Age. The nation is indeed hidden in the field, ‘scattered and peeled’ among the nations of the earth – but they are coming ‘home’ to Israel from the four corners of the earth today. Oh, that the Jewish people – Israel – could see their latter end, greater than the first. Deuteronomy 32:28-29 says, ‘Israel is a nation void of counsel, neither is their any understanding in them. O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!‘ Oh, that Christians would also see the latter end of Israel whose glory will be greater than at first (Haggai 2:9 says, ‘the glory of this latter house shall be greater than that of the former, says the LORD of Hosts: and in this place will I give peace, says the LORD of Hosts’). In Deuteronomy 28:20 we read, ‘their Rock had sold them, and the LORD had shut them up.’ Christ, their Rock, has given them up for a time, temporarily. He is also the Rock of the true Church. The Treasure is hidden again. Consider the text of the parable again. He purchases the field after the Treasure is hidden. Remember, the term ‘bidden’ implies judgment and dispersion temporarily, throughout the whole earth. Now the Jewish people are returning to a reconstituted Israel – the new nation – again, though they are regathered in unbelief In John 11:50-54 we have the staggering statement of Caiaphas, the high priest. ‘It is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, that the whole nation perish not… he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation. But not for that nation only, but that He should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad. From that day on his enemies took counsel together to put Him to death. Jesus therefore walked no more openly among the Jews, but went into the country near to the wilderness, into a city called Ephraim, and there continued with His disciples. Jesus died for two quite distinct companies, Jews and Gentiles (Acts 15:14-18). Jesus bought the field because the Treasure was hidden in the field, the whole world. The Treasure is Israel dispersed throughout the world, but now being regathered back home to Israel. He sold all – He who was rich became poor and bought the field, gave His life’s blood. God gave His life in the flesh. He gave it in order to buy the field. How precious must all humanity be in His sight, Israel and Gentiles. The Jewish people do not enter into the value and benefits of Christ’s Atonement collectively until after this Age is over. It is not until the Millennial Kingdom – the Kingdom of Heaven – Christ’s rule on earth, that Israel will enjoy the benefits of that purchase of His. When He has completed the Church Age He will pick up and continue His plans again for Israel as His ‘peculiar Treasure’, no longer hidden but displayed in the world, like the Church will be then, as His Bride. Israel will be Jehovah’s restored Wife. Both are redeemed by the Lord – the Treasure, no longer hidden, and the Pearl.

The logical completion is the Man possessing what He has purchased. The Treasure has value when it is owned, displayed & used. Christ the King hid it, purchased it, then plans to return to own it and possess it. Yet in Matthew 13 this obvious completion is omitted. Why ? It lies outside the scope and object of the teaching of Matthew 13. This chapter deals with the mysteries of the Kingdom – the history of Christendom. It describes the cause of Christ on this earth during His absence. Nothing. Therefore, is relevant in this parable about the restoration of Israel and the Lord coming to possess His earthly Treasure. Only its redemption is highlighted. The possession of His purchase comes after this Dispensation is over, after the history of Christendom is over and complete, wound up and the Kingdom Age is inaugurated, called the Millennium. See Isaiah 62:1-4 and Ezekiel 28:25-26; Amos 9:14 & 15.

The Pearl of Great Price (Matthew 13:45-46). The Merchantman had his heart set on buying this Pearl. The Lord Jesus Christ desired to form a Church to be His Bride. He who was rich became poor for our sakes, that we may become rich. He seeks us sinners afar off, Ephesians 2:17, to bring us near. He brings peace to those who are far off (Gentiles) and to those who are near (Jewish people). In the first of this pair of parables, the Treasure was found, it did not need seeking. It was already in the land when Christ became incarnate. The Jewish people were already there in outward Covenant relationship with God, with the Word of God in their hands; the Temple present in their midst and the Word of God made flesh dwelling among them in their midst as the Redeemer Messiah King. The Gentiles needed to be sought for, they were so far off! O, the minute accuracy of Scripture!

The Merchantman bought the Pearl. The Church was ‘redeemed with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish’ (1Peter 1:18 & 19). The Pearl is beautiful – consider the accuracy, beauty and fullness, the completeness of the Pearl. Christ used this object for portraying His Church in its ultimate beauty and completeness, becoming a Bride for Him. Remember that a pearl is the product of living creature, but as a result of suffering. Even the Church must enter the Kingdom of God through many tribulations (small ‘t’), Acts 14:22. The Church is formed as the fruit of Christ’s suffering, anguish and travail of soul. A pearl is formed slowly and gradually. So likewise the Church, has a long time to become complete. The pearl has a lowly origin – the bottom of the sea in the mud and mire. Yet a precious gem is being formed and hidden too, unseen by the eye of the man of the world. Colossians 3;3 says, ‘your life is hid with Christ in God.’ The Pearl is formed in the ‘sea’ of the Gentiles, a point already discussed above. Isaiah 57:20 says, ‘the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt’. In the eyes of God the Church is an object of beauty and value, the object of His love, to be transformed into Christ’s likeness of character quality. Ephesians 5:27 says, ‘that he might present a glorious Church to Himself, not having sport or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish’. The true Church will be splendidly displayed to the world when the Church comes back with Christ as His Bride. The Church is not ‘her own’ she is bought with a price (1Corinthians 6:20).

Parable of the Dragnet (Matthew 13:47-50) This parable determines who enters the Millennial Kingdom of Heaven. Remember that the last three parables are seen from God’s standpoint. In the Hidden Treasure – the Man bought the field. In the Pearl parable a Man sought for the Pearl.

If these seven parables give us a prophetical outline of the course of the Age of Christendom – the history of professing Christianity throughout this Dispensation during the time of Christ’s absence from the earth, one more parable is needed to complete the picture. In the fifth and sixth parables Christ must work alone to purchase, but in the seventh parable He is pleased to call His saints to work with Him, in the ‘sea of the Gentiles’. The net is cast, many kinds are gathered but it is the good, the chosen, the elect are sought out. 2Timothy 2:10 says, ‘I endure all things for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory’. The net is cast at large, but with particular design in so doing. God’s elect are hidden in the ‘sea’ unseen and unknown by man, God knows. In the net they are seen, but in the net are all kinds, profession only in addition to the true (Jude 12). At the beginning of this Age, the Tares with the Wheat. At the end – the Bad with the Good fish Matthew 15:13 says, ‘every plant which my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted’. Romans 16:17 & 18 say, ‘now I urge you, brethren, note those who cause division and offences contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them. For those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple.’ 2 John 10 says most strongly, ‘if anyone comes to you and does not bring this (true) doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him’. The good fish are gathered for fellowship and separation out from the world. The final destiny of good and bad is not mentioned, neither in the Wheat and Tares parable. Execution of judgment is omitted. It is not for this Dispensation while the Church is on earth. God’s judgments descend after the true Church is taken up. Tares are left in the field, the Bad fish are left on the shore. Judgment occurs later, indicated by Christ’s interpretation given the parable itself. The fishermen have nothing to do with the judgment. At the end of the Age, angels come and sever the wicked from the just, but note the Good fish are gathered into vessels. Angels are occupied with the wicked. The ‘just’ are the godly Jewish remnant (v49), who will be on the earth after the Church Age. Note that the verse says, ‘the end of the Age’. The Church will be removed just before the end of the Church Age, because Apostate Christendom will still be left behind upon the earth. Angels are committed to judging professing Christendom without Christ’s salvation in their lives, having been left behind unsaved – religious maybe, but not born again or redeemed and ransomed by the purchasing power of the blood of Christ.

Matthew 13 contains seven parables. This means a completeness of plans and the carrying out of those plans. It is also the total history of the Christian profession on earth throughout the Age.

So, contrary to popular Evangelical teaching the history of Christendom gets worse and worse until Christ spues out the whole system that bears His name – the Laodicean Apostate system (Revelation 3) which has been developing from the beginning.

We have a complete outline picture of the planning of God through this Age and the history of professing Christendom, deteriorating the whole time, but the Lord has never left this earth without a witness, however small that witness becomes, especially in these End Times of this Age. We see around us today a great falling away from the Truth of the Word of God, people believing a lie (2Thessalonians 2:10 & 11).

The Kingdom for Israel was postponed for a time when Israel rejected her King. He temporarily rejected them for a time until the Church Age becomes completed. Christ will come for His true Church and Bride, then seven years later He will come to stand on the Mount of Olives and become King of the Jews, Israel (Zechariah 14). Time has stood still for Israel because God’s ‘prophetic clock’ has stopped for this Age. It will begin to tick again when the final seven years countdown begins and on into the Millennium.

There will be a Theocratic Kingdom ruled by Christ the King and Himself, not by man. The promises of the Old Testament prophecies will be literally fulfilled, concerning this Kingdom of Heaven, on earth. Prophetic promises given to Israel promise a golden age to come – a Millennium of Christ’s rule and reign here as King of all kings on the earth, reigning from Jerusalem and over the nations. We pray ‘thy Kingdom come’. The Millennial reign of Christ is to come. Acts 1:6 question will be positively answered. The Kingdom is only postponed and never cancelled. The Church is not the Kingdom, yet the parables of the Kingdom in Matthew 13 are an illustration of God’s overruling sovereignty, even though Christendom moves towards failure, Apostasy and judgment. God is still King and sovereign ruler over His universe and earth in particular.