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Matthew 13:45-46 says, “Again, the kingdom of the heavens is like a merchant seeking fine pearls; and finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.”
In Matthew 13 the Lord spoke seven parables. The parable concerning the pearl of great value is the sixth. These seven parables give us a full picture of this age until the Lord comes back. In this picture we can see where the church should stand. By these parables we can see the position of the church.
In order to help us understand the parable of the pearl of great value, we have to read Ephesians 5. Let us begin with verse 25: “Husbands, love your wives even as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her.” That merchant found a pearl and went and sold all that he had. This merchant signifies Christ who loved the church and gave Himself up for her. Verse 26 goes on to say, “That He might sanctify her, cleansing her by the washing of the water in the word.” The washing of the water in the word is the washing of life, the divine life, the Spirit of life, the life-giving Spirit.
Then verses 27 through 32 say, “That He might present the church to Himself glorious, not having spot or wrinkle or any such things, but that she would be holy and without blemish...Because we are members of His Body. For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall be one flesh. This mystery is great, but I speak with regard to Christ and the church.” This portion of the Word helps us to see the pearl of great value for which the Lord gave all that He had. This pearl of great value refers to the church. In the eyes of the Lord, the church is a pearl of great value.
Now we want to remind you of the eleven items which we saw in the previous chapter. First, in the Old Testament there are seven items: the man, the wife, the house, the tabernacle, the temple, the city, and the army. Then in the New Testament there are four items: the Body, the fullness, the vessel, and the lampstand. Eventually, the New Jerusalem is the twelfth item. The entire Scripture is a record of these twelve items. Actually, these eleven items added together equal the twelfth item, the last item, the New Jerusalem. The New Jerusalem is the ultimate consummation of the eleven items; it is the all-inclusive item.
Of course, the whole Scripture speaks about Christ as the embodiment of the Triune God (Col. 2:9). There is no doubt about this. This divine, heavenly book gives us a full revelation of the Triune God. It tells us that the Father is the source, the Son is the embodiment and the expression of the Father, and the Spirit is the transmission of the Son, the fellowship of the Father in the Son. It reveals to us the Triune God as life and everything to us. We will need our whole life, even all of eternity, to know and experience the Triune God, to experience God in Christ as the Spirit as life and everything to us.
However, we have to realize that for us to experience the Triune God in a full way, we need the church. This is just like saying that a life needs a body, a husband needs a wife, a dweller needs a house, a commander needs an army, a ruler needs a city, the head needs a body, the reality needs the fullness, the content needs a container, and the lamp needs a lampstand. In the universe all things are of two sides. There is heaven and there is earth. There are men and there are women. There is the front and there is the back. There are the head and the body, the masters and the servants, the parents and the children, etc. Everything in the universe is always of two sides.
My point is this. The problem today is not with the Triune God or with Christ. The problem today is with the church. The problem today is not with the Head but with the Body. With Christ as the divine, eternal, heavenly Husband, there is no problem. But what about the church as the wife? With Christ as the Head, there is no problem. But what about the church as the Body? There is no problem with the Triune God as the Dweller, but what about the church as the house? Even we have to ask, “Where is the house?”
If you read the Scriptures thoroughly, from the beginning to the end, you will realize that the Triune God is trying His best to gain something for Himself. This is like gaining a man for the life, a wife for the husband, a house, a tabernacle, and a temple for the dweller, a city for the ruler, an army for the commander, a body for the head, the fullness for the reality, a vessel — a container — for the content, and a lampstand for the lamp with the light.
The first chapter of the Scriptures deals with man, and the second chapter deals with the wife. The section from the third chapter up to the beginning of the second book, Exodus, deals with the house. Then all the books from Exodus to the Chronicles deal with the tabernacle. The section from Chronicles to Malachi deals with the city, including the temple with the army. This covers the thirty-nine books of the Old Testament. If you want to understand the Old Testament, you need to have a thorough realization of these seven things: a man, a wife, a house, a tabernacle, a temple, an army, and a city. Then in the New Testament four things are dealt with: the Body of Christ, the fullness, the vessel, and the lampstand. Eventually, the seven items in the Old Testament plus the four items in the New Testament equal the New Jerusalem. This is the whole Scripture.
By going through the whole Bible in this way we can see what is in God’s plan, God’s economy, God’s arrangement, God’s administration. This is the very thing that the enemy of God hates so much. Throughout all the generations, the enemy has done and is still doing his best to frustrate, to damage, to spoil, and even to disrupt this very matter.
What Satan, the enemy of God, has always been doing is of two steps. First, if possible, he would hinder, frustrate, and prevent people from coming to the Lord Jesus to receive Him as their Savior. Next, if he could not do this, he will allow people to believe in Christ, but he will try to frustrate them from being built up together with others as the church.
The old enemy Satan considers the second matter more serious than the first. He knows that God’s intention in the whole universe is to have a house, a Body, a corporate container. As long as he can frustrate God from having His house, Satan is satisfied. Regardless of how much material and how many precious things there are, as long as the house is not there, it is all right with Satan. Look into the history of Christianity and the situation today; then you will realize what the enemy’s intention is. The goal, the intention, of Satan is to spoil, to frustrate, and to hinder the building which God desires to accomplish.
I have the full assurance that in these last days the Lord is doing something to recover the church life, the building of His Body, the building of His house. The present age is the age of the church, and God’s aim, God’s goal, is to have a church, to have a bride.
Many read the Gospel of John and realize that it says Christ came that we may have life (3:16; 10:10b). But they do not know that this life is for the forming of the bride. John 3:29 mentions the bride. John the Baptist recommended the Lord not only as the Lamb of God (1:29) but also as the Bridegroom who has the bride (3:29). Christ came as the Lamb in order that He might obtain a bride.
We often say that Christ loved us and died on the cross for us. Galatians 2:20 does tell us that Christ, the Son of God, “loved me and gave Himself up for me.” But do you know that there is also Ephesians 5:25, which says that Christ “loved the church and gave Himself up for her”? Christ gave Himself up not just for you but for the church. Christ loves you for the purpose of the church. His intention is to have the church.
We need to spend more time to learn about the twelve aspects of the church which we have pointed out. Learn to know the church as the universal new man with Christ as the appearance, form, and expression without and with Christ as the life within. Then learn to know the church as the wife, the counterpart of Christ. Learn to know the church as the wonderful house, the wonderful tabernacle, the wonderful temple, the wonderful city, and the army fighting for the kingdom and interest of God. Furthermore, you have to learn to know the church as the Body of Christ, the fullness of Christ, the corporate vessel, and the corporate lampstand. Eventually, you have to know the magnificent city, the New Jerusalem. If you desire to know Christ, you have to know these twelve items. Otherwise, you cannot know Christ in a full way.
In this chapter my burden is to share with you about the church in another way. Do you know that the church in the eyes of the Lord is a pearl? As we have pointed out in the beginning of this chapter, the Lord likened the church to a pearl (Matt. 13:46). A pearl is something transformed in the death waters; it is not something created by God. This indicates that the church is not something natural; it was not there in God’s creation. The church is something transformed in the death waters. The transformation of the church is something of life. Most of us know how a pearl is produced. Originally, a pearl was just a little rock or a grain of sand. One day an oyster is wounded by this little rock, and it secretes its life-juice around the little rock. This secretion transforms the little rock into a wonderful pearl. This is also the story of how the church is produced. Christ came to the world which was filled with death, and He was wounded by the sinners. He secreted His life-juice around the sinners to make them into a pearl of great value, which is the church.
I wish to remind you of all the parables in Matthew 13. The first parable is the parable of the sower going out to sow the seed (vv. 3-8, 19-23). This sower is Christ Himself, who comes to sow His life as the seed into us.
The second parable is the parable of the tares, the false wheat (vv. 24-30). The Lord came to sow the good seed with the intention of getting the real wheat. But the enemy of the Lord came and sowed tares in the field; these tares grew up as the false wheat. This means that the Lord comes to give us His life with the intention of regenerating us as the true believers, the true Christians. But the enemy Satan comes to bring into existence on the earth a great number of false believers, false Christians. So not too long after the day of Pentecost, we see the wheat as well as the tares growing together in the field, that is, the true believers as well as the false believers existing together on this earth.
The third parable is the parable of the mustard seed (vv. 31-32). The mustard is an annual herb. It is small, lowly, and temporary but good for food. However, its nature was changed so that it became a big tree. This indicates that the church must be an herb on this earth, small, lowly, temporary, full of life, and good for food. However, the nature of the church has changed. The church has become a big tree — Christianity. Look at the Vatican and St. Peter’s Cathedral. What a tremendously big tree this is! When an herb becomes a tree, it is no longer good for food. It is good for the birds to lodge in. The birds in the first parable signify the evil one, Satan (vv. 4, 19), and the birds here refer to the evil persons, the sons of the devil, the false Christians, who lodge in today’s Christianity as the biggest organization on this earth.
Where are you today? Are you in the little herb or in the worldwide, great tree? In the eyes of the world, as the church we should be nothing. We should be just like an herb, so small, lowly, and temporary on this earth but really good for food. With the big tree, there is the vainglory of this age. If you want to do something for the church, you have to do it in a lowly way, in a small way. Do not try to do it in a big, tremendous way. Always keep in mind that the church is a small herb.
Then in the fourth parable we see a woman taking leaven and adding it into the meal, the flour (vv. 33-35). This woman, who is the same as the woman Jezebel mentioned in Revelation 2:20 and the great harlot mentioned in Revelation 17:1-5, signifies the Roman Catholic Church. This evil woman added leaven, signifying evil things (1 Cor. 5:6, 8) and evil teachings (Matt. 16:6, 11-12), into the fine flour, signifying all the teachings concerning Christ and, in particular, the truths concerning Christ as food. Leavened bread is easy to eat. The Roman Catholic Church put a lot of evil things into the truths concerning Christ to make them easy for people to take.
Do you know that Christmas is a kind of leaven? The birth of Christ is the meal, but Christmas is the leaven. In the Bible there is the birth of Christ but not Christmas. Christ was not born on December 25; He was probably born in the spring, not in winter. In ancient times people worshipped the sun as their god and celebrated December 25 as the birthday of the sun god. After the Roman Empire accepted Christianity, the people were unwilling to drop this celebration on December 25. So the Roman Catholic Church simply adopted this practice and told people that since Christ is the sun, December 25 is the birthday of Christ. Thus, they began the celebration of the so-called Christmas. The Catholic priests admit that Christmas is something false, but they also claim that it helps people to believe in the birth of Christ. This is an example of the “leaven” added into the truths concerning Christ.
Let me tell you a story as another example of the leaven added to the meal. Five years ago some of us went to Jerusalem for a visit. One day our tour guide took us to the Mount of Olives. He showed us a big rock on the top of that mountain and told us that it was the very spot where the Lord ascended. He also showed us a big footprint which is supposed to be the footprint of Jesus. After I revealed to him that I am a person who knows the Scriptures, he admitted that all the stories he told us were superstitions. Yet so many people from far away places would go there on Easter Sunday to kneel and kiss that footprint. This is the leaven added to the ascension of Christ as the meal.
A number of Catholic cathedrals have a statue of Jesus placed at the entrance. The Catholics admit that that is not the real Jesus, but they say that it can remind people to receive Jesus. Again, this is the leaven mixed with the meal.
In the first four parables we see the line of the seed. The seed is of life and is good for food. In the first parable the seed is sown, in the second parable the seed grows up, in the third parable the seed grows up into something with its nature changed, and in the fourth parable something evil is mixed with the meal that comes out of the seed.
We may also say that with the first four parables there is the line of life. Christ came as the seed of life to be sown into us with the intention of growing something real. But at a certain point, there was a change in nature and consequently, there was a great change in appearance. Not only so, there was a corruption in element. The Lord came with the intention to sow Himself as the good seed of life, to grow as the true wheat, and to produce the pure meal. But the enemy came in to change the nature and appearance and to corrupt the element.
The fifth parable is that of the treasure hidden in the field (Matt. 13:44). The treasure must consist of gold and precious stones. Then in the sixth parable in Matthew 13:45-46, which we read at the beginning of this chapter, we have the pearl of great value. Both the treasure, consisting of gold and precious stones, and the pearl are not something created by God but are something transformed.
Here I wish to point out that first, the church is produced out of Christ as life, and second, the church is produced out of the transformation of life. In the first four parables, the life is sown into us, and then in the fifth and sixth parables, there is the transformation of life. Now you can understand why in the New Jerusalem the city proper is of gold, the gates are of pearl, and the foundations of the wall and the wall itself are of precious stones (Rev. 21:18-21). This is what the Lord is seeking — a building of gold, pearls, and precious stones.
I look to the Lord that in these days He will grant you the grace that you may see the intention of the Lord, the desire of the Lord, and the goal of the Lord. If you want to practice the church life, you must have a clear understanding of all these parables concerning the church.
In summary, Christ as the seed of life is sown into us for the transformation of life. We have nothing to do with the big tree and the leaven. Today we are under the transformation of life to become gold, precious stones, and beautiful pearls as materials for God’s building. The Lord sacrificed all that He was and all that He had to obtain the precious materials for His building. He gave Himself up to buy the pearl of great worth. So today it is worthwhile for us to sacrifice everything and pay the price to realize the church life.
