PART 1: THE PEARL, CONT.
THE PERFECTION OF CHRIST IN HIS ATTRIBUTES
Have you known a man or woman who was always concerned to show to others the wealth they had accumulated? Perhaps they never had earned much income while working, but had made wise investments and over the years and multiplied that wealth many times over. As the years drew on and they grew older, they talked to you and whoever would listen of their wealth. After years of delighting in this wealth, they eventually drew their final breath and never spoke, saw, or experienced anything of that wealth ever again. Like a bird, it spread its wings and abandoned them.
The merchant found something very different when he found the Pearl of great price. He didn’t find a pearl like the many other pearls he had. He found one pearl. He found a special pearl. He found a unique pearl. He found a perfect pearl. We have seen that this pearl was perfect in its origin. For this pearl is Jesus Christ, who is from all eternity and to all eternity. He is from God and He is God. The Lord Jesus Christ is also a pearl with perfect attributes.
Christ’s attributes display His perfection, for His attributes themselves are perfect. As the most expensive pearl is free of blemishes, perfect in reflection of light, ideal in color, and great in size, so the Lord in all His ways, Words, and works is perfect.
Time would fail us in our short discussion to speak of God’s perfect attributes. But if we are to embrace this pearl that is Jesus Christ, the treasure that is more valuable than all else, we must know this treasure better than all else. For to have eternal life is to know Jesus Christ. Too many have an idea of Jesus. Too many have a concept of Jesus. Too many think they are best friends with Jesus because he is said to slay all their giants and help them all the time. But too many do not know Jesus Christ. They embrace an idea of Him but do not care to know Him. The merchant found the one pearl by searching out its attributes. From a distance it may have looked like most other pearls. But the merchant did not simply embrace the idea of a perfect pearl. It was close examination that brought its perfection into observance.
As we examine the Scriptures we find it full of the perfection of God’s attributes. We see the perfection of His work (Deut. 32. 4); the perfection of His knowledge (Job 37:16; Isaiah 40: 14); the perfection of His ways (Psalm 18:30); the perfection of his law (Psalm 19:7); the perfection of God manifested in each of the three persons of the Godhead; the Father (Matt. 5:48); the Son (Heb. 5:9); the Spirit (John 14:16); and the perfection of His beauty (Psalm 50:2); all just to name a few of God’s named perfections. Over and over in the Words of Holy Scripture we come face to face with the perfection of the Lord in all that He Is as God and our God and in all that He does.
Consider the summary of the perfection of Christ – His beauty. “Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us…” (Psalm 90:17); “Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come before him: worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.” (I Chronicles 16:29); “…he appointed singers unto the LORD, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the LORD; for his mercy endureth forever. (II Chronicles 20:21)”
The perfection of the Beauty of the LORD is also described in His holiness. He Himself is perfect in Beauty because He Himself is perfect. This beauty is displayed in many ways but perhaps above all else, in His Mercy. When the Moabites and the Ammonites came against King Jehoshaphat to battle against him, the king called out on his smaller army to praise the Lord, namely to praise the beauty of Lord. And they did this by praising the Lord for His mercy that endureth forever. God is not a god of change. He is the unchangeable God and His mercy knows no end.
One way to see a merchant in the Kingdom of Heaven who has found the pearl of great price is to see his love of Christ’s perfect beauty. Consider the Word’s of the Psalmist, “One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple.(Psalm 27:4)
My friends, what is your greatest desire of the LORD this day? Is it for treasures of the world? Is it for success in this world? Success in your work? Success in your family? Or do you, like the Psalmist, desire above all else to dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of your life, so that you may behold the beauty of the LORD and enquire in His temple? David is the greatest and most loved of all Israel’s kings. David is blessed with riches uncountable. And this king of Israel desires one thing above all else – To gaze upon the beauty of the Lord! Why? Because the Lord is perfect in beauty, His mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations. When the merchant found the one pearl of great price – he found a pearl perfect in all its attributes. Perfect in Beauty. Have you found Him? Do you like the idea of the pearl, or is it your one desire above all else to know Christ and to gaze upon His beauty?
Ben Stahl, Elder