Jesus went into the temple to teach. The chief priests, elders and Pharisees were there. After some discourse He said, “Therefore I say unto you, The Kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.” Matthew 21:43
Though these (un)worthies represented God’s people, Christ told them that they would not be in His Kingdom. Why? The answer can be found in the parables Christ used as He was teaching the Kingdom in Matthew 13: 44-46. “…the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found …hides, and for joy thereof goes and sells all that he has and buys the field.” The treasure is the elect nation, Israel. But the elect nation, The Wife, was unfaithful.
Verses 45-46. “Again the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man seeking goodly pearls: who when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.” Here the elect remnant out of the elect nation is portrayed as the pearl of great price.
Psalm 83:3-4 seems to indicate that there is a group who would like to cut Israel off “from being a nation”. But here the label of the remnant is THY HIDDEN ONES. These are the “pearl” of . They are further labeled in Isaiah 1:9, 7:3, and 10:21as“a remnant”. In 7:3 God speaks to Isaiah of his son Shear-Jashub which means “the remnant shall return.” The pearl clearly represents the remnant, but there is time involved, Luke 19:11-17. Daniel says, “Until (notice time element) the Ancient of Days came, and judgment was given to THE SAINTS OF THE MOST HIGH and the TIME CAME that the SAINTS POSSESSED the kingdom.” Dan. , 35, “And they that understand among the people…” Notice their persecution, Verse 35. “And some of them of understanding shall fall, TO TRY THEM, and to purge, and to make them white, EVEN TO THE TIME OF THE END: it is yet for a time appointed.”
Do these verses not bring to mind the situation of the pearl which goes through a long period of agitation?
Romans says, “Esaias also cries concerning Israel, ‘Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved.’” This remnant is the true Israel which was the nation spoken of by Christ in Matthew . Romans 11, 5, “Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.” Many of the Pharisees, Sadducees, Elders, Scribes, and rulers of the people on this earth did not value their heritage, but God’s “pearl”, the remnant, shall inherit “The Kingdom of Heaven”.
Truth for Today
Through our paper and this website, we make available the writings of Bible teachers such as Dr. E. W. Bullinger, Mr. Charles H. Welch, Mr. Stuart Allen, and other men of God who have lived and labored faithfully, honoring the Lord's command in II Timothy 2:15 and Philippians 1:10 to "Rightly Divide" the Word of Truth.
