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The Kingdom of Heaven Is Like…
By Mike Taylor
[Jesus said,] “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” (Matthew 13:45-46).
Many within God’s church read the parables spoken by Jesus in this chapter, which are parables pertaining to the kingdom of God. In this chapter of Matthew, Jesus gave several examples pertaining to the kingdom of God. The prior parable before the title of this message is about a man who finds treasure in a field hidden:
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field” (Matthew 13:44).
The traditional view of most believing Christians is that Jesus is speaking of the newly converted Christian, that when he believes in Jesus Christ as his personal Savior, he or she gives up everything to obtain salvation from the Lord Jesus. Understandably, we do give up much of the life we were living to become new creatures in Christ Jesus. We are commanded to turn away from the evil of this world and follow Him taking up our cross daily. But is that what Jesus was talking about when He was talking about the treasure in the field, or the pearl of great price? Let’s see.
Ephesians 2:8-9: “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”
We know that it is not anything that we have done or could ever do that deserves forgiveness of sin. No amount of tithing, church attendance or charity to the poor can rid us of the stain of human sin. Only Jesus can do that.
Titus 3:4-7: “But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Spirit; which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; that being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”
Jesus taught in parables and to a lot of folks, they are hard to understand. Parables are an analogy. They are messages in story form and they illustrate truths drawn from the natural, material world to testify of a spiritual and eternal truth. They can teach eternal truths only because a unity exists between the material and spiritual. If the material world had no similarities with the spiritual, it could not convey truth about the spiritual realities. Remember, a parable suggests side-by-side comparison. An earthly truth is the similitude of a heavenly one. Biblical parables thus show that the external, visible material world is a mirror through which we may understand the internal, invisible spiritual realm.
Many times, the disciples came to Jesus to ask for the interpretation of the meaning of the parable He had just spoken to the people.
Matthew 13:10-13: “And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” He answered and said to them, “Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.
For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.”
But do we as Christians understand what Jesus was talking about? Only the Holy Spirit can reveal truths to you, not the traditions of men, as traditions can, even in good intentions lead a person to believe in something that is not true. (Like good works can save the sinner) not so, my reader. Remember what Jesus told the Pharisees.
Mark 7:9, 13: “And he said unto them, ‘Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.’ ‘Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.’”
We as Christians must look to the deeper meaning of Jesus was talking about in the parables He spoke of….This is an example of the traditions of men concerning the pearl of great price and not discerning what the Lord was driving at.
Isaiah 64:6-7: But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. And there is none that calleth upon thy name that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee: for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities.”
Romans 3:11: “There is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God.”
Paul wrote that we are at enmity with God:
Romans 8:7-8: “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.”
We do not search for God. He searches for us….not the other way around.
So how can we buy this “pearl of great price” if we have nothing to purchase it with? Did you purchase your salvation through your many good deeds and charitable giving? Of course, we did not! We have nothing to offer our God that would allow Him to pardon us for sins committed against His Holy Name.
continue at Rapture Ready.com:
You’re right, a “Christian” should look into a deeper meaning of Jesus. They would learn that “Jesus” is an imaginary name. They would learn no language on earth even had a letter “J” until the 17th century. They would learn that the true Hebrew name of their Savior literally means “Yah (God) saving us.” Why would the scribes and clerics obscure His name, and substitute something Pagan sounding like the name of the horned Druid sun god, or worse yet, “LORD” – a word that means “BAAL” in ancient Hebrew.
“Only the Holy Spirit can reveal truths to you, not the traditions of men, as traditions can, even in good intentions lead a person to believe in something that is not true.” Indeed, now go back and read the preceding paragraph again!
The Council of Nicea (325 AD)
In 325 AD Emperor Constantine made changes to the bible contents, deciding what was legitimate content and what was inappropriate.
Who was Constantine, what was the climate of the times, what would have been the motivation for inventing Jesus.
A Startling Revelation of What Really Occurred at the Council of Nicea, Called by the Degenerate Roman Emperor and Homicidal Maniac, Constantine, When Apollonius of Tyana, the True Founder of Essenian Early Christianity, was replaced by a Fictitious Figure Put in His Place, More Pleasing to Constantine, Whereupon He Made the Doctrines of the Persecuted Essenes the Imperial Religion of Rome and Turned his Legions from Putting to Death the Early Christians to Massacring All who Refused to Accept Christianity in its New Romanized Form.
This manuscript also contains the Life and Private Correspondence of Apollonius of Tyana, The Teacher of Righteousness of the First Century Essenes and the Unknown Founder of Essenian Early Christianity.
http://members.iimetro.com.au/~hubbca/religion.htm#Nicea
Apollonius of Tyana the Nazarene
http://www.davidicke.net/religiousfrauds/christianity/apollonius.html
http://www.humanunderground.com/archive/apollonius.html
I notice the author fails to mention the essential criteria where Jesus preaches to sell everything you own, give the proceeds to the poor and follow him like a disciple,..
that’s provided you actually want to gain entry into heaven, I suggest you start selling and giving and stop the procrastinating to side step the issue.
The truth is there is no such thing as a Christian because, no a single person practices what Jesus preached.
Somethings I agree with you one and others I don’t.
We can “eat” the fruit of our labor.
Jesus didn’t say a rich man couldn’t go to heaven, just its not as easy.
“For it is easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.”
As we can parallel this to modern life, rich people get too full of themselves and forget where their blessings flow.
A lot of them are either non religous/atheist. And while many are not bad people, they simply forgot him.
He was challenging that mans faith, he’s trying to say “yeah you’ve done a good job so far now lets see if you can give up your riches.” (as he was a rich man) The man was shocked as he know he couldn’t.
This doesn’t mean he won’t be saved. Remember at the end of what you’re talking about says
“And they that heard it said, Who then can be saved? And he said, The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.”
So basically keeping God in your life, at least attempting to do right, he’ll make a way for you. Rich or Poor, Black or White, yadda yadda. The message is can you put aside all you’ve accumulated in this world for the next? A greedy rich man wouldn’t.(Some people go to the grave still trying to hold on to what ever they have in this world) A wise rich man would.
(Also when you’re dying you tend to not really care/give up all that stuff anyways.
)
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Also I think you are saved by Grace, but awarded for Works.
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:”
“For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.”
I added the bottom part because, think about it
No amount of works could really make it so you get into heaven. There’s always someone who will have done more good works than you have, Heck there are people that don’t even believe and still do good works.(that doesn’t mean they’re getting in) At the end of the day its Jesus being a nice guy, like with the thief. What good works did he do?
Of course through faith in Christ, good works should come naturally. Being nice, charitable, a senses of justice, helping the poor, etc…
Christians contradict themselves… Why would a Jew preach about the pagan after life? There is no after life in Judaism at all, the Torah was given for the living. Why did Jesus preach baptism as one the eight essential criteria for entry into heaven, when baptism is pagan in origin? There is no baptism in Judaism. The only ceremony involving cleansing in water is where women have to bath after their monthly period, or they are untouchable.
So there he is, a strict aesthetic Jew preaching to other aesthetic Jews on one breath to practice all the old Jewish laws better than the law keepers, and on his next, to practice paganism? They would have stoned him to death for blasphemy.
-There is no after life in Judaism at all…
False. Daniel states some will be renewed to everlasting life others abhorrence. Plenty of other mentions of a life after death/resurrection too. While not as described in lets say the New Testament they certainly believed in an afterlife. (The World to Come,etc, etc)
-The only ceremony involving cleansing in water is where women have to bath after their monthly period, or they are untouchable.
False. What is the Tevilah… There are tons of other ritual washing in Judaism, even one quite similar to a baptism. Its not pagan at all.
In fact this made the water baptism easier to accept as it was similar to the Tevilah.
-They would have stoned him to death for blasphemy.
True however, that didn’t happen, the pharisees didn’t like him so they eventually had him killed.(You know the story
)
-There is no after life in Judaism at all… “Daniel states some will be renewed to everlasting life”
Having a renewed everlasting life, is not the same as having an after life in some mythical heaven. Their reward is an ever lasting life on Earth, which is clearly codswallop and comes straight from the eg. Technically when cells can’t die its called ‘cancer’ and kills it’s host. If people stopped dying Earth would run out of room rather rapidly.
Fact; There has never been any kind of baptism in Judaism. Baptism is 100% pagan in origin and practiced by all pagans from native American indians to native Siberians, from African bush men to Australian aboriginals, they all practice some form of rebirth ceremony involving immersion in water.
Rebirth by washing away the old you, is a pagan concept.
What is the Kingdom of Heaven like? Well, the two witnesses have an entire reading on the Kingdom of Heaven. You might appreciate this! http://testimonyofthetwowitnesses.com/The-Kingdom-of-Heaven.php