Posted on 12/19/2025 10:01:20 PM PST by metmom
“‘Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it’” (Matthew 13:45–46).
Pearls were the most highly valued gems in the ancient world, often purchased as investments, much like diamonds or precious metals are today. With pearls, a person could keep and conceal a great amount of wealth in a small space. The Jewish Talmud said the pearl was beyond the value of any set price, and that some ancients actually worshiped it.
Elsewhere the New Testament uses the pearl as a representation of something of immense value and worthy of protection. When the Lord warns believers not to throw pearls before swine (Matt. 7:6), He underscores the priceless value of the gospel and its corresponding truths, which unbelievers despise as worthless. The apostle John envisions the New Jerusalem as a glorious city with twelve gates of pearl, and more precisely “each one of the gates was a single pearl” (Rev. 21:21).
In this parable the merchant obviously considered the valuable pearl so precious and worth more than all his other pearls combined, because he no doubt included them in the sale of all his possessions, which he did to buy the one pearl. Jesus again illustrates the immense value of the kingdom of heaven and clearly implies that the merchant’s transaction was one involving his salvation. Purchasing the great pearl—the kingdom—represents obtaining God’s saving knowledge through trust in His Son, the Lord Jesus, and experiencing all the blessings which that relationship brings. It is another example of the greatest transaction any of us can make.
Ask Yourself
It’s really all about one thing, isn’t it—giving our hearts to Christ without limitation or restriction. Consider today how the rest of your life is lining up under the one priority of walking boldly with Jesus.
Studying God’s Word ping
Very nice! We serve a living God!
Actually if you read the parable, the kingdom is not the pearl, it is the merchant. It is set with two other parables (three in all) in each where the kingdom is defined.
The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure.
The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant.
The kingdom of heaven is like a net.
24 Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25 But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. 26 When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.
27 “The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’
28 “‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.
“The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’
29 “‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’”
31 He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. 32 Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.”
33 He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds[b] of flour until it worked all through the dough.”
34 Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable. 35 So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet:
“I will open my mouth in parables,
I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world.”[c]
36 Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.”
37 He answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom. The weeds are the people of the evil one, 39 and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.
40 “As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. 42 They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears, let them hear.
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.
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 blazing 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 become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.”
God's Will could be exercised as long as His Messenger and Ambassador was alive. In that period, if the entire nation of Hebrew descendants of Jacob/Israel uniformly repented from their sins (a change of their minds to accept God's Will and reject the dominance of the perverted version of religion misrendering the Covenant given to Moses), to abandon their current political structure and corporately affirm and elevate Jesus of Nazareth as their Messiah, Supreme High Priest, and LORD Jehovah; He would have then overcome Satan and his ownership of the world's government, and put the Jews under His Viceroy (the resurrected and living King David) as Earth's Governor entrusted with the Kingdom of The Heavens brought to Earth for the purpose of reigning over the globe, with faithful Jews its administrators delegated to impose God's Will (not Satan's) on Earth.
That great priceless Pearl of God's Favor was rejected by the race of Israel's descendants when their earthly chief Herod the Tetrarch representing them, beheaded God's Ambassador and Prophet John Baptist, sending John;s soul to Paradise and his head on a platter to hos chosen adulterous queen.
From that time on, Jesus in referring to His Kingdom as "την βασιλειαν του θεου" (the Kingdom of God"); that is, His Kingdom, which was and is yet to this day "η βασιλεια η εμη ουκ εστιν εκ του κοσμου τουτου ει εκ του κοσμου τουτου" (not of this worldly system; John 18:36, cf John 8:23). And the Jewish nation of Israelites rejecting not only His ambassadorial prophetic identifier of the Messiah's Presence among them, but also rejected a moment later in time that Kingdom's Supreme Never-ending Sovereign and Messiah Jesus, which He anticipated but in the same breath announced the consequences having His Own mortal offense committed by tgeir insistent assent on Golgotha "η βασιλεια η εμη ουκ εστιν εντευθεν" (My Kingdom, of which I am the Supreme Authority, is herewith removed from you, and has left the temporal dimension henceforth).
Thus the Great Priceless Pearl had been in their grasp, but now (except for a few, perhaps 120 people) is eternally far away, attained only by obtaining by Spirit-birth the heritage into its Heavenly location "εκκλησια πρωτοτοκων" (the Church of The First-Born from the Dead Ones Hebrews 12:22-24). even now rejoicing in the everlasting life which is far greater in value than any, or all, of the gems of earth's supply.
So now, a happy, memorable Christmas, another rehearsal of the first God Incarnate's Birth from Mary, willingly hosted in her sanctified womb.
:
This misses the main point of the parable. This series of four parables are described as “what heaven is like”. The “man” who is searching is God, and the pearl is us (mankind). It cannot be an ordinary man, because no price can purchase entrance into heaven. And neither could God. The purchase price was the blood of His only Son, and with that He purchased a perminate (eternal) relationship with those who accept. THIS is what heaven is like.
No, the way the kingdom of heaven operates is symbolically illustrated by the happenings that occur to the subject of the marrative in that environment.
I’ve been told that this is a caucused devotional moment for meditation, reflection, or amplification, not for debating. While commenting, I try to remember that idea. Sometimes it works.
NOW you've done it!!!
But we ARE...
... meditationing, reflectioning, and amplifying!
Matthew 13:44-50 uses the “three” instructional device. Each is a simile. “Net” is obviously a different view than the other two, so it would make more sense that each was a different perspective- why would you have two almost identical perspectives, (if “pearl” and “treasure” had the same meaning) and one completely different one? It doesn’t make sense from an explanation perspective.
However, I believe that giving each simile a slightly different perspective, and that based on the actual wording, opens up the total understanding of the Kingdom considerably.
I believe you are correct.
So then, consider each subject (and then the object) of each simile.
Of course the examples are from a different perspective of the mysteries of the fullness of heaven:
1 Corinthians 2:9 niv
However, as it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived” — the things God has prepared for those who love him—
Much like the blind men inspecting the elephant.
Speaking figuratveky, eh?
Too many chocolates have messed up my figger.
figuratively
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.