Today’s Christianity boasts the finest experts in sin detection. Preachers, theologians and laymen alike have mastered the Law for diagnosing sin better than any health care professional with their X-rays, MRIs and CAT scans for diagnosing disease. These sin specialists hint at this beautiful, glorious, wonderful Jesus beyond their examination room, but don’t actually take you in. In vain I search their websites for even one message devoted to marveling at who this stunning Jesus truly is.
Now, don’t get me wrong. The parable of the leaven reminds us of the three measures of dough within that need this penetrating examination. But there’s much, much more to the kingdom of heaven than repentance. We need the diagnostics room, but that’s not our destination.
What in the world is God doing in His kingdom? The first kingdom of heaven parable features the Son sowing the children of the kingdom all over the world. Secondly, the Father shows the Son to the world. The King is like a mustard seed whose extraordinary increase attracts mankind’s attention and praise. Thirdly, the Holy Spirit hides the Son within for transformation. The King is like leaven, converting our thoughts and desires little by little until we’re like Him. Like the brass laver of the ancient tabernacle where the priest had to first wash, the Spirit cleanses us to prepare us for entering the true holy place. We’ve now arrived at a pivotal turning point. What is the kingdom of heaven like behind the door?
Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples came to him, saying, “Explain to us…”
Matthew 13:36 ESV
Going “into the house” signifies more than just a change of setting. In the privacy of the home, away from the crowds, Jesus reveals what’s nearest and dearest to His heart. Earlier Jesus affirmed to His disciples, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven”—secrets “hidden since the foundation of the world” (Mt 13:11, 35). The house is where Jesus reveals these mysteries—God’s eternal purpose for the kingdom of heaven. The last three kingdom of heaven parables are an advance on relational intimacy with God, all centered in Jesus as King of this kingdom.
“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.”
Matthew 13:44 ESV
Matthew offers no explanation, but that’s OK because its meaning is obvious by our general knowledge of the Gospel. The King of heaven is like treasure. Because the man recognizes Jesus to be such extravagant treasure, “he goes and sells all that he has.” Paul the apostle fully agrees, testifying, “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (Phil 3:7-8 ESV).
Some object to “buying Jesus,” for salvation is a free gift that cannot be purchased. True! But Scripture elsewhere employs buying as an analogy to faith, not earning by works or money. For example, Isaiah 55:1 heralds, “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.”
The kingdom of heaven parables emphasize end results. They sketch out general principles, de-cluttering detailed processes along the way. So although this parable reads as a one-time event, it’s really a starting point that gets repeated over and over. “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him” (Col 2:6 NKJV). Walking out our faith involves finding and buying this Treasure again and again. When we first encountered Christ, we saw Him as a treasure worth giving up everything for. As we grow spiritually, the Spirit opens our eyes wider and wider in amazement just how exceedingly valuable this Jesus truly is! “Though you have not seen him,” Peter declares, “you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory” (1Pe 1:8 ESV). This verse merits a whole study of its own, but at heart it’s treasuring Jesus as He is revealed to us from Scripture.
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.”
Matthew 13:45-46 ESV
Many treat this parable like it’s exactly the same as the previous one. I used to. There are obvious similarities—a seeker, a treasure, a purchase price of selling everything. But pay close attention to Jesus’ words; there is a subtle difference. The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant, not a pearl, the treasure. This puts a dramatic twist into its interpretation.
In the former we sell everything to obtain Jesus as treasure. Here Jesus sells all that He had to obtain the treasure, the pearl (you and me!) “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich” (2Co 8:9 ESV). In Jesus’ eyes this pearl has an incomprehensible, off the charts preciousness! The King of heaven is the merchant who sees the pearl not as she is now—perishable, weak, dishonorable, and natural—but what she will be in resurrection life—imperishable, powerful, glorious, and spiritual (1Co 15:43-44).
Satan astutely observed, “A man will give up everything he owns and exchange for his life” (Job 2:4). Jesus not only gave up everything he had, but His own life as well. He whose train filled the temple with the forever cries of angels’ “Holy! Holy! Holy!” set aside that exquisite glory, humbled Himself to become like us, even unto the death of the cross. Jesus laid down His life for this pearl. Breathtaking! What transcending love!
The billionaires of this world are treasure pursuers. “For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits” (James 1:11). Jesus is the rich merchant who never fades away in His pursuits, for having died, He will never die again! He will not fail in His pursuits—to win His bride, the pearl of great price! The Sower of good seed will collect all His reward at the end of the age, when His harvest will shine like sun in the kingdom of His Father!
God’s kingdom is not an impersonal government bureaucracy. Nor is Jesus some dispassionate CEO in the boardroom of heaven. The grand narrative of the Bible is a love story between the Bridegroom and the Bride! Genesis opens with a bridegroom (Adam) and bride (Eve), foreshadowing Jesus and the Church (Eph 5:32). The greatest song of all, the Song of Songs, extols the passionate love of a king and his one true love. What was Jesus’ first miracle? Providing wine for a wedding, which pointed to Himself as the true bridegroom (Jn 2:1-11). How does the Bible end? “And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband” (Rev 21:2 ESV). The heart of the kingdom of heaven is this love story.
The kingdom of heaven is not about ivory tower theologians marshaling the Scriptures to win the battles of Calvanism or Arminianism (or fill in the blank). Nor is it about charts and graphs about end time prophecy, fascinating as that may be. Yes, biblical doctrine is important, for wrong thinking about God has destructive consequences. But Jesus doesn’t want us to miss what’s chiefly on His heart: this love story. It is the greatest commandment, after all. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind. God’s kingdom is filled with wonderful “its”—salvation, forgiveness, healing, spiritual gifts, service, evangelism, etc. But first and foremost the kingdom of heaven is “Him”—Jesus! The Bible is unabashedly Jesus-centered. “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself” (Lk 24:27 ESV).
Over the years I’ve spelunked many, many theological rabbit holes, searching for treasure. I’ve been a masterful sin diagnostician, a theology debater, and end times prognosticator. A great Pharisee, too! In 2005 the Lord rescued me using an unsung Bible teacher, Ed Miller, to fix my eyes on Jesus. He redirected my focus to an indispensable principle of Bible study: total reliance on the Holy Spirit to see Jesus’ glory. This has become my life’s verse: “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2Co 3:18 NKJV). Jesus’ glory is the treasure hidden in the field that I pursue now. I see the Bible now as a vast unexplored ocean inviting me to discover more of the preciousness of who the Lord Jesus truly is.
Technology wonderfully supplies us with a plethora of Bible translations, study tools, sermons and podcasts (and I regularly use all of these). But we can’t abandon daily dependence on the Spirit to show us Jesus as the treasure! One can approach Bible study as a botanist or an artist approaches a flower. The botanist dissects it all up, accurately explaining every specific detail. But when he’s all done, all that’s left is a dead flower. The artist, on the other hand, treasures the beauty of the Lord Jesus. The Spirit gives the botanist an artist’s eye, and that makes all the difference. David was called a man after God’s own heart because he got the parable right. “One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple” (Ps 27:4 ESV).
Glory Unveiled: Discovering Jesus 