Jesus: The Greatest Treasure

The Pearl of Great Price

by Mike Robinson

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).

Help us to recognize your voice, help us not to be allured by the madness of the world, so that we may never fall away from you, O Lord Jesus Christ (Albrecht Durer).

The enjoyment of [God] is our highest happiness, and is the only happiness with which our souls can be satisfied. To go to Heaven, fully to enjoy God, is infinitely better than the most pleasant accommodations here. Fathers and mothers, husbands, wives, or children, or the company of earthly friends, are but shadows; but God is the substance. These are but scattered beams, but God is the sun. These are but streams. But God is the ocean (Jonathan Edwards).

Jesus' birth in Bethlehem was a moment preceded by eternity. His being neither originated in time nor came about by the will of humanity. The Author of time, who lived in the eternal, was made incarnate in time that we might live with the eternal in view. In that sense, the message of Christ was not the introduction of a religion, but an introduction to truth about reality as God alone knows it. To deny Jesus' message while pursuing spirituality is to conjure an imaginary religion in an attempt to see Heaven while sight is confined to the earth. That is precisely what Jesus challenged when he said, "I have come that you may have life" (John 10:10). His life spells living. Your life or my life, apart from Him, spells death (Ravi Zacharias, Jesus Among Other Gods).

At the time of Jesus many pagans throughout the Roman Empire worshiped pearls and Roman emperors often wore them in their hair and ears. The Jewish Talmud considered them almost priceless. 

   The man in this parable sees the pearl of pearls and he must have it! He must possess it for it possesses his heart. Consequently, he sells everything he owns to obtain this pearl of great price. Likewise, the Kingdom of God in Jesus is worth more than everything in the universe collectively.

   Hence the Christian should have the attitude: “I must have Jesus. I have to have Jesus. Without Jesus I’m nothing. I need the Lord Jesus. I desperately want Jesus; He’s everything to me!”

Jesus Christ is not valued at all until He is valued above all (Augustine).

Jesus is Priceless

Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full (John 16:23-24).

During the course of time men have gone to great lengths, both legal and illegal, to obtain diamonds, gold, pearls, and money; yet all men die and they cannot take a dime with them. The Pearl of Great Price, Jesus as King of the Kingdom, never leaves us and we have Jesus forever. Jesus is utterly priceless; more valuable than all the wealth in the entire world. This King in His Kingdom is the source of true joy.

Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing (John 15:4-5).

see my new book Killing Christ: Contesting Trendy Critics Regarding Jesus HERE