Parable - Treasure

Just a quick reminder of a scripture that I may have overused somewhat in the past… It contains what I call ‘the Father’s objectives for His son’. YHVH sent a messenger to Miriam, to inform her of His intention to fulfill and accomplish His purposes for His people Israel, saying to her, "Do not be afraid, Miriam, for you have found favor with YHVH, and behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Yeshua. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and YHVH will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end" (Luke 1:30-33).

After Yeshua was anointed with the Spirit, He began to teach about the kingdom that He was to restore to Israel. One of the ways in which He presented the kingdom of heaven/of God from the Torah and the Prophets was in parables. Yeshua was not making up something new, but was expounding on the Word of His Father. He taught that, "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. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it” (Math. 13:44-46).

As we know from previous teachings, YHVH’s kingdom order has been in the family of Adam and Noah from the beginning, but because of sin it has not been fully realized. Thus, when Yeshua taught His disciples to pray, the first thing He declared was that His Father’s kingdom would come and that His will would be done on earth, as it is in heaven. It is apparent that there is no problem in the heavens, but the problem, if you will, exists here on earth.

The everlasting kingdom that Yeshua was to restore to the house of Ya’acov, on this earth, was the very same kingdom that He described in the parables.

If we look again at the parable of the hidden treasure, and reflect back on the Tanach, in search of a source for Yeshua’s symbolism, we will notice that YHVH calls His people Israel “His treasure”. “Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine” (Ex. 19:5). "For you are a holy people to YHVH your Elohim, YHVH your Elohim has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth” (Deut. 7:6). “For YHVH has chosen Jacob for Himself, Israel for His special treasure” (Ps. 135:4).

Just as the sown seed is buried in the field until it germinates and the new growth appears out of the earth, so must YHVH’s people be hidden for a season, as is also the case with the anointing of His kingdom-order, which is hidden within them. This anointing has been imparted to the seed by YHVH’s Word, which He spoke to the forefathers. Thus Israel is YHVH’s special treasure that He Himself hid in the field of His earth. Yeshua knew that the Father had sent Him to be the payment for reinstating His treasure in His home, Mount Zion. Following on the heels of the Parable of the Treasure, is the Parable of the Pearl of Great Price.

In the book of Revelation the gates of the New Jerusalem are named after the tribes of Israel, (see Rev. 21:12), and are described as made of one pearl each. “The twelve gates were twelve pearls: each individual gate was of one pearl” (Rev. 21:21). In this parable (of the pearl of great price), Yeshua is pointing directly at Israel as the Father’s special jewel. YHVH says about Ya’acov that he is His “bavat-a’yeen”, which is translated as the “apple of His eye”, but in actuality means the opening of the eye or the pupil, which has several ramifications. It can mean that they (Israel) are always the focus of YHVH’s vision (He does not see them from the periphery, but rather is looking at them directly). It can also mean endearment, or fondness, such as new parents would have toward their firstborn baby, hence the expression, “apple of His eye”. “For YHVH’s portion is His people; Jacob is the place of His inheritance. He found him in a desert land and in the wasteland, a howling wilderness; He encircled him, He instructed him, He kept him as the apple of His eye” (Deut. 32:9-10). "Up, Zion! Escape, you who dwell with the daughter of Babylon; for thus says YHVH – Elohey Tzva’ot [God of the Armies]: ‘He sent Me after glory, to the nations which plunder you; for he who touches you touches the apple of His eye’” (Zech 2:7-8). Yeshua is also pointing at Himself in this parable as the one whom the Father has invested (that is, used as payment), in order to buy back this incredible jewel.

There are many reasons why it is so important to know who we are as Israelites (in the natural), but none so wonderful as the way in which our heavenly Father views us. We have been so abused, degraded and put down that our countenance has fallen to an all time low. We no longer see ourselves as special and unique, or unconditionally lovable. So many of us have our heads bowed down and the lies, that is, those unscriptural thoughts of unworthiness and worthlessness, are rolling around in our ‘hard drive’. But if we would hop up on YHVH’s scale, we would find Yeshua balancing us out as the weight on the other side. We must stop bearing false witness, and start believing what YHVH says about us. Through the pupil of His eye He sees us as precious as the treasure and the pearl of great price, not because of any of our own doings, but because of the rock that we have been hewn from: ”Listen to Me, you who follow after righteousness, You who seek YHVH: Look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the hole of the pit from which you were dug. Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who bore you; for I called him alone, and blessed him and increased him." (Isa. 51:1-2). This ‘rock’ was blessed with multiplicity and became like the sand of the sea. As we know, when one little grain of sand happens to be in the right conditions, it will ultimately become a pearl of great price.
21/02/2003