Who is the pearl of great price? (Matthew 13:45-46)

Who is the pearl of great price? (Matthew 13:45-46)

Not who. What. The pearl of great price is the Millennial Kingdom.

Let’s look at the scripture passage below.

Mat 13:43-46 Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear. (44) Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field. (45) Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: (46) Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.

The pearl of great price is part of an extended lesson Jesus spoke in parables. Before the pearl, we have a treasure in a field. Jesus informs us that, just like the pearl, the treasure is the Kingdom, in verse 44. Before this parable is the parable of the weeds, in verses 36–43. This is where we learn that there will be good seed and bad seed sown and harvested. The tares are gathered at harvest and thrown into the fire, but the harvest of good seed will enjoy the kingdom of their Father.

These parables were to encourage the followers of Jesus to seek after the Kingdom and not hold back anything in this life to find it. We see in the early Jewish church in Acts that the members sold all they had and brought the money freely to the apostles.

Act 2:44-45 And all that believed were together, and had all things common; (45) And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.

Act 4:33-35 And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all. (34) Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, (35) And laid them down at the apostles' feet: and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need.

Why did they do this? Well, according to these teachings of Jesus, it was demonstrating their faith in what Jesus said. If these Jews truly believed Jesus and the prophecies in the scriptures concerning the Kingdom, (see Isa.60); that they would be preeminent in the Kingdom, having no lack and only God’s blessings and the fulness of the portion of the Gentiles, they would show no fear in selling all they had. When the King came and ushered in His Kingdom, they would live as kings.

As we can see, this faith and response by these Jews was part of the Kingdom program. We do not do this in our dispensation of grace. We have different instructions provided to us by Paul. Nowhere does he instruct us to sell all our possessions in faith. Quite the opposite, Paul tells us to work with our hands so that we may eat, live in sufficiency, and bless others.

Eph 4:28 Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.

1Th 4:11 And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you;

2Th 3:10 For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat. … 12 Now them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread.

When we read the Bible, we must take note of these differences and understand that we are dealing with two different dispensations. We do not live for or practice the instructions of the Kingdom program. Selling our possessions is not our instructions. Though we too are waiting for Christs return in the clouds, it is clear that Paul teaches us to work and ensure we have sufficiency while we wait for our heavenly inheritance.

Rightly dividing the Word of truth between Israel's prophetic program and our mystery program will keep us in the right doctrine and allow our obedient application to it to be pleasing to God.