During my lunch hour, I was trying to catch a quick catnap and instead received a direct (Heaven-to-Earth) HtE data connection. I grabbed a pen and on the back of an old church prayer list started scribbling stuff down as quickly as it began to fill my mind. Now that I’m back at the office, I’m typing those insights out in more detail and clarity.
Matthew 13:45 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls:
Matthew 13:46 Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.
Folks, we are all merchants in life. We’re always buying and selling. Buying the good things of life, trying to sell the bad things of life. The stuff of life is always changing, like the waves and tides of a vibrant, living sea.
As much as we are always buying and selling, we are also seeking. Seeking for something better. Something fulfilling. Something precious. Something special. Something that can mean everything to us.
And here we find the merchant man - Joe, the merchant. Seeking and searching. With a willingness to buy and sell. Look deep into his eyes and you will see your own. Seeking, searching; buying, selling.
And as sure as he sought for something valuable, he found it. The greatest find. The Pearl of Great Price.
Let me tell you a little about this Pearl; some of that HtE data I received this afternoon.
A pearl is formed when a foreign, unnatural object lodges itself into a oyster’s inner body and cannot be expelled. To address the irritation, the oyster starts to secrete a substance (nacre/mother-of-pearl) around the irritant which eventually over time encases it completely, forming a pearl. This could be a grain of sand, a small particle, parasites or a handful of other possibilities.
I can think of another irritant – one that entered our world many, many years ago.
It happened back in a perfect garden, where God daily walked with man. Where a sly serpent tricked Adam and Eve to partake of a forbidden fruit. Where a pollutant entered our world. A parasite known as sin. Introduced into humanity, never since expelled.
The introduction of sin into the Garden of Eden upset and irritated the perfect communion that God was enjoying with humanity. Adam and Eve’s willful act of sin couldn’t be expelled out of them, so Adam and Eve were expelled from God’s presence and the Garden instead.
But God had a plan. He always does.
He expelled Adam and Eve from the Garden due to sin not being able to co-exist among God’s perfect holiness and righteousness, but like a pearl He began to address the culprit of sin. Throughout the Old Testament and into the New Testament, His immeasurable love and long-lasting patience was secreted into the midst of humanity, covering the sin pollutant with layer and layer of mercy. In the Old Testament, this mercy was extended through sacrifice, as the people’s sins were pushed forward year after year through time until the ultimate sacrifice would be offered for the sins of the world.
With each labored step, the pains of his scourging surged through His body. Fighting past the pain of being whipped and beaten, His life-long purpose was going to forever address the pollutant of sin and its power over humanity. Surrounded by two thieves on either side and mocked by a crowd, He hung on Golgotha hill as a sacrificial lamb, without spot or blemish. He knew He had been born to die. He understood the importance of His willing sacrifice. Moments after He spoke, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do…” with his last weakened breath, Jesus spoke out to eternity and proclaimed,
“It is finished!”
Victory over the power of sin was finally secured. Since the fall of man in the Garden, God’s magnificent plan of salvation and redemption had been forming and developing. Prophets and holy men had divinely spoken of this purposed act of mercy and gr ace. The sins of the world, of all humanity, had just been nailed to His cross. The battle was won. The redemptive work of Calvary was bought and paid for.
Just like a pearl, redemption had taken on it’s final shape. The shape of Calvary. The shape of a cross.
Though the contaminant of sin has never been expelled from the midst of humanity, Christ took the stains of our sins and turned our worthlessness into something of beauty and worth. Friend, the precious blood of Jesus is what saves us; it is what paid for the redemptive work of Calvary. Though sin has never been expelled, it has been overcome. Overcome by the power of the blood of Jesus!
Folks, the Pearl of Great Price is the kingdom of heaven. An eternal promise paid for by the redemptive work of Calvary. Paid for by the blood of the Lamb.
Just now when reading about the proper care for pearls, I read this, “Try to wear your pearl necklace as often as possible as your skins natural oils help to keep them lustrous.”
Folks, your salvation experience, your promise of heaven, your Holy Ghost power isn’t meant to be a one-time experience. Certainly, a lady whom has paid much money to purchase a pearl necklace would be sure to wear it and care for it to ensure those pearls kept their shine and luster. If not worn and handled on a regular basis, pearls will begin to lose their elegant beauty. The pearl’s owner gives the pearl something it cannot maintain by itself – it’s continued beauty. This is why it has been said that wealthy and established museums / banks from time to time hire a person for the sole purpose of wearing the valuable pearls in their possession – so the pearls won’t lose their natural luster.
Yet there are those among us that have bought the Pearl of Great Price and haven’t worn or handled it in years, long since forgotten it on some bookshelf or buried in some closet. To them and the people around them, the Pearl has lost its appearance of luster and beauty. The composition properties of the Pearl have never changed, but the Pearl which was rarely worn or held has lost its natural appeal and become dull.
Have the promises of heaven eternal become lack-luster and boring to you?
When was the last time you pondered the power and workings of the cross of Calvary?
When was the last time you experienced anointed Holy-Ghost power working “through” you?
If it’s been a long time, you need to get the Pearl out and wear it around for awhile. Take hold of it and show it to a friend. The more exposure and contact the Pearl has with your everyday life, the more it’s appearance will begin and shine and glow.
Why is this the key? Because the Pearl has to daily be in contact with the oil in your life.
Remember what the pearl care recommendation said? “…your skins natural oils help to keep them lustrous”
The “oil” is the anointing power of the Holy Ghost abiding in your life. Acts 1 described this power as, “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you…” The Holy Ghost brings power and anointing into your life. In the Old Testament, the anointing is described as like the thick oil that was poured out upon Aaron the priest. It covered him from the top of his head to the sole of his feet.
When the anointing oil, that Holy Ghost power, is poured out on your life, you are empowered to do the Lord’s workings (just has the priests did on a “daily basis”). There’s that “daily” thing again. When you speak and act according to God’s will, that oil is secreted “through” you, making you a vessel to do His work. And not just any vessel, but one acting and speaking with God’s power and might!
So now those “oils” come through you and back in direct contact with the Pearl of Great Price. Those oils then rejuvenate it’s luster and enhances it’s appeal.
You are a person of power in possession of God’s greatest gift and promise – the promise of heaven and the redemptive work of Calvary!
Now, when you consider that spiritual connection between the power of the anointing oil and power of the cross or when you ponder the great price Jesus paid for our redemption and the promise of heaven – that Pearl shines brighter than ever before. You further treasure the greatest Treasure.
When others recognize you as a person working and speaking with the power of God (that oil) and they hear you speak of the redemptive work of Calvary and the promise of heaven – that Pearl which you possess will appeal to them as it shines in your life. It’s luster is not cold and darkened like so many others who claim the same thing – but never connect the Oil with the Pearl.
Folks, sell everything to be able to buy the Pearl of Great Price.
Daily connect the Oil with the Pearl.
Love it and treasure it!
God is Good!
References:
Genesis 3:
Psalms 103:11-12
Colossians 2:13-14
Luke 23:34
Isaiah 64:6
1 Peter 1:18-19
Psalms 133:1-2
Acts 1:8
I Corinthians 15:21-22
II Timothy 3:5
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