THE HIDDEN TREASURE AND THE PEARL

HOW DID THE TREASURE BECOME LOST, HIDDEN OR CONCEALED?

Unfortunately Israel did not remain faithful to Almighty God. Even the great King Solomon who presided over Israel at the height of its power allowed his many foreign wives to turn his heart away from the true and living God to practice their multi-faith idolatry. As a result of this we read:-

“And it came to pass at that time when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem that the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite found him in the way; and he had clad himself with a new garment and they two were alone in the field. And Ahijah caught the new garment that was on him and rent it in twelve pieces. And he said to Jeroboam, Take thee ten pieces; for thus saith the Lord the God of Israel, Behold I will rend the Kingdom out of the hand of Solomon and will give ten tribes to thee. But he shall have one tribe for my servant David’s sake, and for Jerusalem’s sake the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, because they have forsaken me and worshipped Ashtaroth the goddess of the Zidonians . . . howbeit I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand but I will make him prince all the days of his life for David my servant’s sake ... but I will take the kingdom out of his son’s hand and will give it unto thee even ten tribes.” - I Kings 11:29-35

Sure enough this remarkable prophecy of judgement and disintegration was fulfilled in the days of Solomon’s son Rehoboam. The Ten Northern Tribes rebelled and formed a separate Kingdom of Israel ruled by Jeroboam. Rehoboam retained the tribes of Judah, Benjamin and Levi to form the Southern Kingdom of Judah. Henceforth they are spoken of in history and prophecy as Two Kingdoms, Two Houses, Two Families, Two Nations, Two Sticks, Two Sisters and Two Sons.

Rehoboam assembled a great army to march north, subdue the rebels and reunite the Israel Kingdom but was expressly forbidden by God to do so.

“Thus saith the Lord. Ye shall not go up nor fight against your brethren the Children of Israel: return every man to his house FOR THIS THING IS FROM ME!" - I Kings 22:24

Some two centuries later the Northern Kingdom of Israel became so wicked and apostate that God allowed them to be conquered by the Assyrians, together with an estimated two hundred thousand Judahites from the Southern Kingdom as well. They were deported into exile from 745-676 BC never to return to Palestine. Thus we read:-

“And the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them out of His sight . . . and the Lord rejected all the seed of Israel and afflicted them and delivered them unto the hand of the spoilers until He had cast them out of his sight.” - II Kings 17:18-20

“In the ninth year of Hoshea, the King of Assyria took Samaria and carried Israel away into Assyria and placed them in Halah and in Habor by the River of Gozan and in the cities of the Medes.” - II Kings 17:6

“And the King of Assyria did carry away Israel unto Assyria and put them in Halah and in Habor by the River of Gozan and in the cities of the Medes because they obeyed not the voice of the Lord their God, but transgressed His covenant and all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded and would not hear them nor do them. Now in the fourteenth year of Hezekiah did Sennacherib King of Assyria come up against all the fenced cities of Judah and took them.” - II Kings 18:11-13

Thus was fulfilled the prophecy of Hosea that God would give the House of Israel, His National Bride, a Bill of Divorcement and put them out of His House which was Palestine so that they would become LO-AMMI or NOT MY PEOPLE (Hosea 1:9). Thus was the Israel Treasure lost and hidden even as the Lord had spoken by Hosea saying:-

“Therefore behold I will hedge up thy way with thorns and make a wall that she shall not find her paths" - Hosea 2:6

But that was not the end of the story for the same God had declared through the prophet Amos:-

“For lo I will command and I will sift the House of Israel among all nations like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth." - Amos 9:9

So it came to pass that these lost, divorced Israelites, hidden to the world, unrecognised by the masses of humanity, but known to their God, migrated across the steppes of modern Russia, into Europe as Khumri, Gimira, Scythians, Sarmatians, Galatians, Gauls, Celts, Angles, Saxons, Jutes and Normans, to settle in Holland, Scandanavia and the British Isles, the isles and coast lands North and West of Palestine where ultimately they would receive the Christian Gospel, the Open Bible and the Reformed Faith.

The Eternal God who had declared that none of His precious Israel treasure would be lost, promised to come and seek and find them.

“For thus saith the Lord God; Behold I even I will both search my sheep and seek them out. As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered so I will seek out my sheep and deliver them . . . I will seek that which was lost and bring again that which was driven away and will bind up that which was broken and will strengthen that which was sick." - Ezekiel 34:11-16

And come He did, in the person of His lovely Son, our Lord Jesus Christ who declared:-

“I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the House of Israel.” - Matthew 15:24

the word lost, in this instance meaning “to be put away in punishment."

To save these lost sheep of Israel, the Lord Jesus had to die, for He declares: -

“I am the Good Shepherd, the Good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep." - John 10:11

In like manner the man in our Parable had to give all that he had to purchase the field which contained the prize, even Israel, the Hidden Treasure, and so this brings us to.-

THE PURCHASE PRICE

Israel having once been cast away and divorced, the Law of God made it clear that the only way to be restored and released from this penalty was by the death of the husband.

“For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law as long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.” - Romans 7:2

Thus it becomes crystal clear that the redemption and restoration to favour of the House of Israel could only come about by the death of Him who wrote the Bill of Divorce. This brings us to Calvary, the greatest act of love that the world has ever witnessed, for there upon that cruel tree the Lord Jesus Christ, perfect God, yet perfect man, in whom the scriptures declare ‘dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily’, our Kinsman Redeemer, poured out the life that was in His blood to annul the bill of divorce, to purchase redemption for Israel, and salvation and healing for the ‘whosoever will’. He died that Israel might go free, His matchless atonement procured pardon and release and He initiated a New Covenant by His death at Calvary. Hence the writer to the Hebrews could declare:-

“Without the shedding of blood there is no remission.” - Hebrews 9:22

The highest possible price - the Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ was paid for Israel, the Hidden Treasure.

Looking forward to that great transaction of the ages, God Almighty speaks to Israel through the prophet Isaiah and states:-

“Thus saith the Lord, where is the bill of your mother’s divorcement whom I have put away? Or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold for your iniquities have ye sold yourself, and for your transgressions is your mother put away. Wherefore when I came, was there no man? When I called, was there none to answer? Is my hand shortened at all that I cannot redeem? or have I no power to deliver?” - Isaiah 50:1-2

Where is the Bill of Israel’s Divorce? Underneath the blood on the tree of Calvary. The price is paid, the Hidden Treasure has been purchased, and so we come to look at the reason the Lord Jesus came:-

REDEMPTION HIS COMMISSION

Here are some of the many Scriptures which speak of our Lord coming to Redeem the Israel people:-

1) “Let Israel hope in the Lord: for with the Lord there is mercy and with Him is plenteous redemption. And He shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities." - Psalm 130:7-8

2) “And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call His name JESUS for he shall save His people from their sins.” - Matthew 1:21

3) “Even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many.” - Matthew 20:28

4) “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel for He hath visited and redeemed His people.” - Luke 1:68

5) “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us; for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.” - Galatians 3:13

6) “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold. . . . but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish or spot, who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you." - I Peter 1:18-20

Thus did our Lord Jesus Christ purchase Israel with His own blood upon that cruel tree at Calvary. To get Israel, He also bought the field or the whole world and so the Redemption of Israel made Salvation available to the “whosoever will” that the Scripture might one day be fulfilled

“For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” - I Corinthians 15:22

So also as God had promised Abraham, through his seed all the families of the earth would be blessed (Genesis 12:3).

Before leaving the treasure we must look at one more point:-