Is the Kingdom Really our Treasure?
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. 45 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, 46 who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it. (Mt 13:44-46)
These parables illustrate the excitement of finding something of great value and the logic of paying any price to buy it. The differences in the parables reflect the differences in how each finds the kingdom of heaven. Some, as Israel, had been seeking it their entire life and found it as one seeking a pearl of great price. Others, as Gentiles, had no knowledge of God or a kingdom (Eph. 2:11-13) and stumbled on it as hidden treasure.
Considering a treasure, first something catches the eye. A glint of gold or silver, the sparkle of a precious stone, a depression in the ground and the realization there is a fortune hidden in the earth. Then a “for sale” sign on the property! In an instant the field changes from common to priceless! The owner is sought and the price is higher than the means. Only after selling home, furnishings, and all possessions can the money be raised. Finally it is done. All original possessions have been sold. Nothing is left but the newly purchased field. Some thought it was folly and tried to dissuade. But now as the owner of the field (and the treasure) the wisdom and foresight are evident to all. All that was sold is now replaced with things infinitely better.
Sounds wonderful! Yet the spiritual reality far exceeds the parable itself. Dead in sin, living in “aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers,’“in the futility of their mind” and “by nature children of wrath” (1Pet. 1:18; Eph. 2:3; 4:17-18). What did God ask us to sell? All that was selfish, evil, and doomed to failure. He asked us to sell what brings death and sorrow and unhappiness to buy life and joy and peace.
As we extricate ourselves from a tangled life of ungodliness, other things must also be sold. Paul “suffered the loss of all things” because even his job, family and nation were so placed in his life that he could not keep them and be a devout Christian. He was one of many who lost job, family, possessions, or even life. Yet no matter how steep the price to gain the kingdom of heaven, we gain “every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places” and a “living hope” (Eph. 1:3; 1Pet. 1:3-5).
Moses sold everything he had when he “refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin” (Heb. 11:24-26). But as in the parable, he gained far more than he sold. He never felt cheated because he was “esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward.” Think of his awe at the value of his purchase when he “appeared in glory” to speak with Jesus at his transfiguration (Lk. 9:28-35)! Truly “the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed” (Rom. 8:18). Moses got a lot more than he bargained for!
All who sell all are by grace given eternal life, including a spiritual body and a new home in new heavens and a new earth. When we sell the wisdom of this world, we purchase the wisdom from above that improves marriages, trains children in the way they should go, and creates better workers. What we sell brings us the right to be children of God who in praying to our Father in heaven are blessed with power and providence. If we must lose friends and family for his name’s sake ,we receive a hundredfold with friends and family among the greatest men and women who have ever walked this earth. Truly “godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life which now is, and of that which is to come” (1Tim. 4:8).
It is wise to “anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see” (Rev. 3:18). It is easy to lose sight of the spiritual gold and precious stones we possess in the kingdom. We are part of the masterpiece of God’s eternal purpose manifesting his multifaceted wisdom both to angels and to a lost and dying world (Eph. 3:9-10). No matter what we “sold”, it was a small price to be the “apple of his eye,” an “elect race,” “royal priesthood,” and “holy nation” (Deut. 32:10; 1Pet. 2:9). For all that was “sold” we gained “mercy,” “forgiveness,” “love,” “compassion,” “honor” and “power” from God. We are now “more than conquerors” “of whom the world is not worthy” (Rom. 8:37; Heb. 11:38). Finally in renouncing this world “our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body” (Phil. 3:20-21).
As Israel entered the Promised Land, they were the greatest conquering army the world had ever known with the power of God behind them. Sadly they only saw themselves as grasshoppers. What about us? We sold all we had to buy that field. We now possess the greatest treasures on earth. Moses saw this clearly, Do we?
These parables illustrate the excitement of finding something of great value and the logic of paying any price to buy it. The differences in the parables reflect the differences in how each finds the kingdom of heaven. Some, as Israel, had been seeking it their entire life and found it as one seeking a pearl of great price. Others, as Gentiles, had no knowledge of God or a kingdom (Eph. 2:11-13) and stumbled on it as hidden treasure.
Considering a treasure, first something catches the eye. A glint of gold or silver, the sparkle of a precious stone, a depression in the ground and the realization there is a fortune hidden in the earth. Then a “for sale” sign on the property! In an instant the field changes from common to priceless! The owner is sought and the price is higher than the means. Only after selling home, furnishings, and all possessions can the money be raised. Finally it is done. All original possessions have been sold. Nothing is left but the newly purchased field. Some thought it was folly and tried to dissuade. But now as the owner of the field (and the treasure) the wisdom and foresight are evident to all. All that was sold is now replaced with things infinitely better.
Sounds wonderful! Yet the spiritual reality far exceeds the parable itself. Dead in sin, living in “aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers,’“in the futility of their mind” and “by nature children of wrath” (1Pet. 1:18; Eph. 2:3; 4:17-18). What did God ask us to sell? All that was selfish, evil, and doomed to failure. He asked us to sell what brings death and sorrow and unhappiness to buy life and joy and peace.
As we extricate ourselves from a tangled life of ungodliness, other things must also be sold. Paul “suffered the loss of all things” because even his job, family and nation were so placed in his life that he could not keep them and be a devout Christian. He was one of many who lost job, family, possessions, or even life. Yet no matter how steep the price to gain the kingdom of heaven, we gain “every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places” and a “living hope” (Eph. 1:3; 1Pet. 1:3-5).
Moses sold everything he had when he “refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin” (Heb. 11:24-26). But as in the parable, he gained far more than he sold. He never felt cheated because he was “esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward.” Think of his awe at the value of his purchase when he “appeared in glory” to speak with Jesus at his transfiguration (Lk. 9:28-35)! Truly “the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed” (Rom. 8:18). Moses got a lot more than he bargained for!
All who sell all are by grace given eternal life, including a spiritual body and a new home in new heavens and a new earth. When we sell the wisdom of this world, we purchase the wisdom from above that improves marriages, trains children in the way they should go, and creates better workers. What we sell brings us the right to be children of God who in praying to our Father in heaven are blessed with power and providence. If we must lose friends and family for his name’s sake ,we receive a hundredfold with friends and family among the greatest men and women who have ever walked this earth. Truly “godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life which now is, and of that which is to come” (1Tim. 4:8).
It is wise to “anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see” (Rev. 3:18). It is easy to lose sight of the spiritual gold and precious stones we possess in the kingdom. We are part of the masterpiece of God’s eternal purpose manifesting his multifaceted wisdom both to angels and to a lost and dying world (Eph. 3:9-10). No matter what we “sold”, it was a small price to be the “apple of his eye,” an “elect race,” “royal priesthood,” and “holy nation” (Deut. 32:10; 1Pet. 2:9). For all that was “sold” we gained “mercy,” “forgiveness,” “love,” “compassion,” “honor” and “power” from God. We are now “more than conquerors” “of whom the world is not worthy” (Rom. 8:37; Heb. 11:38). Finally in renouncing this world “our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body” (Phil. 3:20-21).
As Israel entered the Promised Land, they were the greatest conquering army the world had ever known with the power of God behind them. Sadly they only saw themselves as grasshoppers. What about us? We sold all we had to buy that field. We now possess the greatest treasures on earth. Moses saw this clearly, Do we?