A Peculiar Treasure
One of the five crowns that we can earn as rewards in the Christian life is the crown of rejoicing. These are the people that we have won to the Lord by sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with them. While this reward may also be physical (ie. a literal crown we earn in service to the Lord) - these crowns are also the people we had a part in the salvation of, part of the people we will spend eternity with.
1 Thessalonians 2:19-20 For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming? For ye are our glory and joy.
Philippians 4:1 Therefore, my brethren dearly beloved and longed for, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved.
In eternity, we will forever be rejoicing in these loved ones. But did you know that the Lord Jesus Christ also rejoices in those He has saved, and we become His crown, and we also become jewels in His crown. Both descriptions are used of us.
Malachi 3:16-17 Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name. And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.
Isaiah 62:3 Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the LORD, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God.
Zechariah 9:16 And the LORD their God shall save them in that day as the flock of his people: for they shall be as the stones of a crown, lifted up as an ensign upon his land.
The people of God - whether in the Old Testament (ie. the nation of Israel), or in the New Testament (ie. the Bride of Christ, the church) - are God's peculiar treasure, a treasure He has made His own.
Exodus 19:3-6 And Moses went up unto God, and the LORD called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel; Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself. Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.
1 Peter 2:9-10 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
In Exodus, Israel is declared to be God's peculiar treasure, and in 1 Peter, the church is called His peculiar people. The passage in 1 Peter basically applies the same terms to us today that God used for Israel. (In eternity, the people of God will be one.)
Webster's 1828 Dictionary defines peculiar as:
One's own property. Appropriate; belonging to a person and to him only. Exclusive property; that which belongs to a person in exclusion of others.
Consider the following parable on the kingdom of Heaven:
Matthew 13:44 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.
According to Matthew 13:38, the field is the world. The Lord Jesus Christ found a treasure in this world and for joy went and bought that field (see Hebrews 12:2), and therefore purchased that treasure and made it His very own.
Just like the nation of Israel, we are God's peculiar treasure and God's peculiar people that the Lord Jesus Christ paid everything for.
Adam sinned and lost his dominion over the earth. Jesus Christ, the Second Adam, is the Kinsman Redeemer that paid the price to buy back what was lost through sin. The book of Revelation is about opening the book with seven seals. That book is the title deed to the earth. Only the Saviour Himself has paid the price to claim this world as His own.
Revelation 5:1-10 And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof? And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon. And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon. And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof. And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne. And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints. And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.
It is important to note that God loves Israel and loves the church because He is love, not because of anything we have done or any personal value we could give Him. See 1 John 4:8, 16. In fact, the Lord Himself says this about Israel:
Deuteronomy 7:6-8 For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth. The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: But because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
We could say the same about all God's people throughout history - whether Israel, the church, or other Gentiles who were saved in the Old Testament - none of us could ever be worthy. The Lord Jesus Christ did not go to the cross and die for us because we were worthy. We could never be worthy apart from His work in our lives.
Romans 5:6-8 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
When we were at our worst, the Lord Jesus Christ gave His best for us - shed His precious, sinless blood for our sins. While we could never be worthy in ourselves, the love of God is what gives us worth in His sight. His love makes us worthy.
Ephesians 1:6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
Psalm 45:11 So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty: for he is thy Lord; and worship thou him.
Any beauty we have is only because we are in Him - yet God Himself delights in the changes wrought in us through His Holy Spirit.
This is so eloquently expressed by Matthew Henry in his comments on Song of Solomon 4:
The great delight Christ takes in his church and in all believers. He delights in them, As in an agreeable bride, adorned for her husband (Revelation 21:2), who greatly desires her beauty, Psalm 45:11. No expressions of love can be more passionate than these here, in which Christ manifests his affection to his church; and yet that great proof of his love, his dying for it, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, goes far beyond them all. A spouse so dearly bought and paid for could not but be dearly loved. Such a price being given for her, a high value must needs be put upon her accordingly; and both together may well set us a wondering at the height and depth, and length and breadth, of the love of Christ, which surpasses knowledge, that love in which he gave himself for us and gives himself to us.
Observe, (1.) How he is affected towards his spouse: Thou hast ravished my heart; the word is used only here. Thou hast hearted me, or Thou has unhearted me. New words are coined to express the inexpressibleness of Christ's surprising love to his church; and the strength of that love is set forth by that which is a weakness in men, the being so much in love with one object as to be heartless to every thing else. This may refer to that love which Christ had to the chosen remnant, before the worlds were, when his delights were with the sons of men (Proverbs 8:31), that first love, which brought him from heaven to earth, to seek and save them at such vast expense, yet including the complacency he takes in them when he has brought them to himself. Note, Christ's heart is upon his church; so it has appeared all along. His treasure is in it; it is his peculiar treasure (Exodus 19:5); and therefore there his heart is also. "Never was love like unto the love of Christ, which made him even mindless of himself, when he emptied himself of his glory, and despised all shame and pain, for our sakes. The wound of love towards us, which he had from eternity in himself, made him neglect all the wounds and reproaches of the cross;" so Bishop Reynolds. Thus let us love him. (2.) What it is that thus affects him with delight.
[1.] The regard she has to him: Thou hast ravished my heart with one of thy eyes, those doves' eyes, clear and chaste (which were commended, Song of Solomon 4:1), with one glance of those eyes. Christ is wonderfully pleased with those that look unto him as their Saviour, and through the eye of faith dart their affections to him, above any rival whatsoever, and whose eyes are ever towards him; he is soon aware of the first look of a soul towards him and meets it with his favours.
[2.] The ornaments she has from him, that is, the obedience she yields to him, for that is the chain of her neck, the graces that enrich her soul, which are connected as links in chain, the exercise of these graces in a conversation which adorns both herself and the doctrine of Jesus Christ, which she professes to believe (as a gold chain is an ornament to persons of quality), and an entire submission to the commanding power of his love... She had said of Christ's love, It is better than wine (Song of Solomon 1:2), and now Christ says so of hers...
[4.] The ointments, the odours wherewith she is perfumed, the gifts and graces of the Spirit, her good works, which are an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to God, Philippians 4:18. The smell of thy ointment is better than all spices... Love and obedience to God are more pleasing to Christ than sacrifice or incense. The smell of her garments too, the visible profession she makes of religion, and relation to Christ, before men, and wherein she appears to the world, this is very grateful to Christ, as the smell of Lebanon. Christ having put upon his spouse the white raiment of his own righteousness (Revelation 3:18), and the righteousness of saints (Revelation 19:8), and this perfumed with holy joy and comfort, he is well pleased with it.
[5] Her words, both in her devotion to God and her discourses with men (Song of Solomon 4:11): Thy lips O my spouse! drop as the honeycomb, drop that which is very sweet, and drop it freely and plentifully. If what God speaks to us be sweeter to us than the honey and the honeycomb (Psalm 19:10), what we say to him in prayer and praise shall also be pleasing to him: Sweet is thy voice. And if out of a good treasure in the heart we bring forth good things, if our speech be always with grace, if our lips use knowledge aright, if they disperse knowledge, they then, in Christ's account, even drop the honeycomb, out-drop it. Honey and milk (the two staple commodities of Canaan) are under thy tongue; that is, in thy heart, not only reserved there for thy own use as a sweet morsel for thyself, but ready there for the use of others. In the word of God there is sweet and wholesome nourishment, milk for babes, honey for those that are grown up. Christ is well-pleased with those that are full of his word.
Matthew 13:45-46 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.
Again, we see the Lord Jesus Christ giving all He had to buy that one pearl of great price.
How is a pearl made? A grain of sand or some other irritant gets inside the oyster shell and injures the oyster. The oyster then basically sheds its blood (nacre, mother of pearl) to coat the irritant. Over time this mother of pearl coating transforms what had once hurt the pearl into a valuable treasure, worth so much more than it ever was before.
We are that pearl of great price. Jesus Christ bought the church with His precious blood:
Acts 20:28 Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.
1 Peter 1:18-19 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
The grain of sand that once injured the oyster was transformed into a beautiful pearl. The people of God - whose sins once crucified the Saviour - are now transformed into a beautiful treasure in His sight.
Yes, we were once a people that had hurt Him by our sins, injured and crucified Him, wandered and rebelled against Him - BUT NOW are transformed into vessels of mercy, into beautiful treasures in the eyes of the only one that truly matters - we are changed by the touch of the Master's hands, molded by the hands of the Heavenly Potter.
Isaiah 64:8 But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.
Jeremiah 18:2-6 Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words. Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it. Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.
Even though our past may have broken us, even perhaps shattered us into pieces in the eyes of the world, when we come to the Lord Jesus Christ by faith, He remakes our vessels into a work of honour - a work He can take great pleasure and satisfaction in. (See Revelation 4:11.)
2 Timothy 2:19-21 Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work.
We are His peculiar people - yeah, His peculiar treasure, if you will.
Psalm 68:13 Though ye have lien among the pots, yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold.
January 3rd, 2025
Jerry Bouey
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