Recently I have been reading the parables of Lord Yeshua recorded in Matthew chapter 13 and have been blessed in revisiting previous thoughts from the different representations of the kingdom of God presented in it. Reading portion by portion, the passage that day began from Matthew 13:44.
I am so glad that on this occasion it came to mind to see what a couple of bible commentaries (Guzik’s and later also Schofield’s), which happened to be more readily available than others, said on this. When I got to the commentary on Matthew 13:44 I was so struck and deeply moved by what I read there. The Scripture at Matthew 13:44, Lord Yeshua, as recorded, said this: “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” Guzik’s commentary (Schofield being in general agreement) on this says:
‘The field is the world, but the man does not represent the believer because we have nothing to buy this treasure with. Instead, Jesus is the man who gave all that He had to buy the field.’
I had not seen this verse in that light before – in my Bible, at some earlier time of reading I had annotated beside the verse the words ‘see e.g. Philippians 3:8’. As I pondered on the commentator comments, words from Hebrews 12:2 (underlined) came to mind: ‘looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.’
Previously, I had viewed Matthew 13:44 in the light of the man depicted in the parable as one who comes to genuinely believe upon Lord Yeshua, being born-again, and therefore turning from sin and the world in order to turn to God and His kingdom. The Scripture reference I had noted beside the bible text, underlined in the contextual passage it comes from shows from where these thoughts had arisen:
‘But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.’
I see both illustrations of the precious joy referred to at Matthew 13:44 – but undoubtedly the joy being that of the Lord Yeshua is to be preferred! Consider: the Saviour of the world, Yeshua the Messiah, Son of the Living God gave His life – His all – that we, impoverished and destitute sinners that we are, could in and through Him gain all, that is, eternal life! The prophetic words concerning Yeshua spoken by the Spirit of God through the prophet Isaiah, said to be some seven hundred years before the birth of Messiah explains this wondrous truth in these terms:
Who has believed our report?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant,
And as a root out of dry ground.
He has no form or comeliness;
And when we see Him,
There is no beauty that we should desire Him.
He is despised and rejected by men,
A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
Surely He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted.
But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He opened not His mouth;
He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,
And as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
So He opened not His mouth.
He was taken from prison and from judgment,
And who will declare His generation?
For He was cut off from the land of the living;
For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.
And they made His grave with the wicked—
But with the rich at His death,
Because He had done no violence,
Nor was any deceit in His mouth.
Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him;
He has put Him to grief.
When You make His soul an offering for sin,
He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days,
And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.
He shall see the labour of His soul, and be satisfied.
By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many,
For He shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great,
And He shall divide the spoil with the strong,
Because He poured out His soul unto death,
And He was numbered with the transgressors,
And He bore the sin of many,
And made intercession for the transgressors.
(Isaiah 53)
The redeemed of Israel together with all those who will be joined with them through the New Covenant by the grace of Almighty God the heavenly Father, through faith in His Son Yeshua the Messiah are ‘the joy that was set before’ Him. Why? Because it was the Father’s joy.
The word of truth through Paul the Apostle, recorded at Ephesians 2:8-10, underlines this for us:
And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.
But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.’
What precious joy! Almighty God our heavenly Father, we thank You for Your Son, Yeshua the Messiah our Lord.
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