The Secret of the Pearl of Great Price
Introduction
Jesus said, “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it”, Matthew 13: 45- 46.
I. The Evaluation of a Pearl
It is my understanding that in Bible days that pearls were considered more valuable than all other precious stones, including diamonds. That’s way the Apostle Paul mentioned that women who wore pearls when they went to worship would be dressing extravagantly and would bring to much attention to themselves, 1 Timothy 2:9. Only the very wealthy wore pearls. It was a sign of extravagates.
II. The Acquisition of a Pearl
The most valuable pearls were sought by merchants on distant shores and brought back to the Middle East and sold to the highest bidder. In the parable of the pearl of great price Jesus is the merchant seeking beautiful pearls. When He finds one pearl (the church) of great price He is willing to purchase it at any cost, even if it cost Him His life.
In 2 Corinthians 8:9, the Apostle Paul tells us that Jesus was willing to give up everything He had and become poor that He might purchase us and make us rich in His grace. Again, Paul says, “For you are bought at a price”, 1 Corinthians 6:20. In Acts 20:28, the Apostle Paul tells us that the church was purchased with the blood of Christ on the cross.
III. The Explanation of the Pearl
A pearl is unlike all other precious stones. A pearl is formed by a living organism. A grain of sand, or some other foreign object like a grain of sand, gets in an oyster. The oyster by nature responds to the iteration the grain of sand causes, and begins to send out a secretion that gradually coats over the foreign object until a beautiful white pearl is formed.
A pearl cannot be cut, divided or improved on in any way. So it is with the true church. The Bible says, “We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus”, Ephesians 2:10. We cannot improve on the work of God in our life. Any attempt to do so is self righteousness, Romans 10:2-4. After we are baptized into the body of Christ by His Holy Spirit, He begins a work in our life, washing us with His word, dissolving the spots, and ironing out the wrinkles so He can present us to Himself as a glorious church, Ephesians 5:26-27.
The church is described as the bride of Christ in the form of New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven, Revelation 21:2. The New Jerusalem is not only a people but a place. When I speak of Dallas, Texas I’m talking about a place with city limits and a population of people. So it is with New Jerusalem. In our Revelation Bible Studies we talk about the difference between the New Heaven, the New Earth and the New Jerusalem. The New Jerusalem is not heaven, but it is part of the heaven of heavens. Heaven is vastly larger than New Jerusalem. I’m not going to discuss whither the New Jerusalem should be taken literally or symbolically here. I have my beliefs on it, but it really does not matter in the big picture. What ever it represents is going to be awesome and beyond human description, 1 Corinthians 2:9.
In additional to a beautiful, detailed description of the New Jerusalem, the Bible tells us that this city had twelve foundations named after the Twelve Apostles, and twelve gates named after the twelve Tribes of Israel, representing Jews and Gentiles who have been born again and together make up the body of Christ, the church, Galatians 3:26-29. It is no coincidence that each of the twelve gates was made of one large pearl. I believe that the one pearl represents the pearl of great price, the complete church, after the Lord has dealt with her at the Judgment Seat of Christ, and presented her to Himself holy and without blemish, Ephesians 5:26-27.
Since all numbers in the Bible are significant, the number twelve is no different. The number twelve signifies a complete government. It is found as a multiple in all that has to do with rule. The sun which “rules” the day, and the moon and stars which “govern” the night, do so by their passage through the twelve signs of the Zodiac which complete the great circle of the heavens of 360 degrees (12 X 30) or divisions, and thus govern the year. The Old Testament had the governing twelve tribes of Israel and the New Testament had the governing twelve apostles. Together they will make up the government of God’s eternal kingdom. The Bible makes it plan that the New Jerusalem will have a government, Revelation 21:24-27.
Heaven is not pie in the sky by and by where we sit on cloud forty nine shinning our hallo two or three times a day under a big shade tree eating all the ice cream we want. Heaven is a real place, with real people living in real bodies that have been glorified, with a real government where all kind of exciting activities takes place. What a wonderful place! All our tears will be wiped away. There will be no more sorry or crying. There will be no more pain. There will be no more getting old and dying. All the curses of Geneses will be reversed, Revelation 22:3.
This pearl of great price is so precious to the Lord, He is going to get us out of harms way before He brings the last seven judgments on earth, Revelation 3:10. He told Noah and his family to “get in”. He told Lot and his family to “get out”. One day soon He is going to tell us to “come up”, and we are going to be raptured, translated, kidnapped by the angels to heaven, 1 Thessalonians 3:13-17. The pearl (the church, the body of Christ) are the true Christians who will be taken out of the Kingdom of Heaven (Christendom) at the rapture. Let’s be packed up, prayed up, perked up and ready to go!