Wow! Jesus Really Loves You…

If I had to choose one theme of the Bible as the greatest, I would have to say it is the love of God. Any study of the death of Jesus on the cross that doesn’t include some focus on the love of God is an incomplete study.

There are many possible ways of approaching the theme of God’s love. But I am going to approach it by one particular route. The approach I will take is that we can discover the extent of God’s love by the value that He set on us—and by the price that He paid for us. That is the way we will be looking at this subject. What was the price that God was willing to pay for you and me?

If you can receive this truth by faith, it will have a life-changing impact upon you. For example, it will do a great deal for your self-image. If you feel unimportant, unworthy, or in some way inferior, it is an indication that you have never understood the value God set upon you, which is the expression of His love for you. I believe it is important for us to recognize one basic truth: that the love of God is so great that it really can’t be measured.

Why He Loves Us

Actually, the love of God can also not be explained. Here is an interesting observation: nowhere in the Bible do you find an explanation of God’s love. Let’s begin with an interesting passage of Scripture in Deuteronomy 7, where Moses is trying to tell Israel why God loved them. (These words apply to you and me as believers in Jesus.) In Deuteronomy 7:6, Moses says:

For you are a holy people to the Lord your God: the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth.

Do you realize that you and I are God’s special treasure? After this initial statement, Moses attempts to tell Israel why God loved them. However, he never seems to reach a conclusion. Verse 7 says:

The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you, because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples.

That statement is also true of you and me. We were the least. We were the foolish, the base, and the despised of the world. So why did God love us?

The next verse continues:

…but because the Lord loves you…

God did not love you because you were this or that, but simply because He loves you. That seems to be the end of the explanation! You and I could search Scripture in vain for any explanation of God’s love. The unexplained love of God is the ultimate fact behind history.

Two Parables of Love

Let’s now examine some of the ways Scripture depicts the love of God. We will consider two parables found in Matthew 13. Right at the outset, let me state that the way I am interpreting these parables is by no means the only possible way. I know from the cross-references in the margin of my own Bible that whoever put them there interpreted the parables in a different way. It doesn’t worry me, and you shouldn’t let it worry you either. I would encourage you to consider what I am saying, because one of the features about parables is that they can be applied and interpreted in different ways in different contexts.

The two parables we are going to consider are the parables of the treasure in the field and the pearl of great price. They are both very short. The treasure in the field is just one verse. The pearl of great price is two verses. But the content is really measureless.

In Matthew 13:44-46, we read:

Again, 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.

There is one feature common to each parable. The man in question found something so valuable that in order to obtain it, he had to part with everything else he had.

The Treasure in the Field

First let us consider the picture of the treasure in the field. How did the treasure get hidden in the field in the first place? If you are familiar with the history of the Middle East, especially the land that was called Palestine, you will understand that it was frequently invaded by bands of marauders, all of whom came to plunder and steal.

We can picture a man with his house and all his valuables contained in it. News comes to him that marauders are on the way. He knows he can’t hide his house. So, he takes a big wooden chest and piles all his valuables, money, and jewels into it. Everything that is of great worth goes into the chest. Then the man goes out at night, digs a hole in his field, and buries the chest. He covers it over, hoping that no one will find it. Perhaps in the ensuing fighting, he gets killed—and he was the only person who knew there was a treasure buried in that field.

The treasure may lie there for centuries. Who knows? Then, another man is walking across the field one day and he stubs his toe on a hard object. At first, he thinks it is a rock. But he looks down and sees a piece of wood. Wanting to find out what it is, he starts to dig it up. As he does, he finds a rotting old chest. As he pulls up just one corner of the lid, his eyes see jewelry, pearls, and gold. In that moment, he realizes what has happened.

The story in the Bible says that he hid the treasure again. Why? Because he didn’t want anyone else to know there was treasure in that field. He wanted to keep that secret for one reason. What was it? The price of that field would have gone up significantly if anybody else found out about the treasure. Bear in mind this fact: The man didn’t really want the field. He wanted the treasure. But in order to have a legal right to the treasure, he had to buy the field.

When he inquired about the price, it was a very high price. Some of the neighbors might have asked, “Whatever does that man want that field for? Nothing ever really grew in it. Why is he prepared to spend so much money on that field?” He doesn’t tell anybody the real reason he wants it.

He knows the value of the treasure it holds, and he is very willing to pay the price.

The Pearl of Great Price

Let’s now examine the other parable of the pearl of great price. It is very important for us to see that the man in this parable was a merchant. He was not a tourist. He isn’t simply wandering through the streets of the town. He didn’t simply happen upon some pearls in a shop window and listen to the story the owner told him about the merchandise. Instead, this man was looking intentionally. When he found this one pearl, he knew immediately it was unique. No other pearl he had ever seen equaled it. Not only was he a merchant, but he really loved his business. Once he had inquired as to the price of the pearl, he sold everything he had to pay for it. After he has bought the pearl, he holds it in his hand. He looks down at it and says, “I paid a lot for you. But you’re worth everything I paid and more.”

Now that you have heard both of these parables, I would like to interpret them for you. Please bear in mind that this is the “Prince” interpretation.

Claiming the Treasure

The man in both parables is a picture of Jesus. Really, in a sense He is the only one in a position to buy. Because you and I have nothing with which we can buy anything when it comes to the spiritual realm.

The field is interpreted by Matthew 13:38 where it says: The field is the world.

I believe this meaning runs consistently through the parables about the Kingdom of heaven in Matthew chapter 13. Every time the field is mentioned, it refers to the world. As Jesus looked at the world with His divine insight, He knew that hidden somewhere in the world was this priceless chest full of treasure. What was the chest, what was the treasure? Here is what I would like to suggest. The treasure is God’s people whom He foreknew from eternity—the ones He chose for Himself.

Like the man in the story, in order to have legal right to the treasure, God had to buy the field. It wasn’t really the field that He wanted. Rather, His interest was always the treasure in the field. What is the treasure in the field? It is God’s people. People like you and me—and millions upon millions more. (In fact, there are a lot of those millions still in the field.)

Let’s picture ourselves as the Lord’s servants. God has paid the price for the field. What was the price? The precious blood of Jesus Christ. Our job now is to go out into the field and dig up the treasure. He has the legal right to it, but He gives us the privilege.

A lot of treasure remains under the earth to this day. It is all dirty and maybe it is corroded. A lot of work will need to go into getting the treasure out and making it what it ought to be.

Jesus paid all that He had for that field. That is the measure of His love.

The parable of the pearl, as I said earlier, can be interpreted in various ways. I believe it is legitimate to interpret the pearl as every redeemed soul. It is important to understand that if there had only been one soul to be saved, Jesus (as the merchant seeking that pearl) would have paid the full price. This realization can really help you to have a sense of your own worth as a redeemed soul. You are the pearl of great price. Sometimes I imagine the joy experienced by that merchant when he bought that pearl. He didn’t complain about the price. He was just satisfied he got the pearl.

Would you let your imagination run free for a moment? Would you allow yourself to picture that merchant with the pearl there in his hand? Imagine what he is saying as he talks to it: “Now you’re mine. You belong to me. You cost me a lot, but I don’t regret what I paid. You are the most beautiful pearl I have ever seen. You are altogether lovely. You are altogether perfect.”

If you have any problems at all with self-worth, would you, just for a moment, picture yourself in the nail-pierced hand of the Lord Jesus. Imagine yourself saying, “I am that pearl. He died for me. He paid that price for me. If there had been no one else in all the world to be saved, He would still have paid the price for me.”

Not One Blemish

Among the books of the Bible, there are some very beautiful words in the Song of Solomon. If you can, allow your imagination to think of the words of the Song of Solomon as the Lord speaking to a redeemed soul. Or, you may want to interpret it as the Lord speaking to the Church. But somehow, it is a little more exciting when you think about the Lord speaking to you personally. Listen to these words from Song of Solomon 1:15:

Behold, you are fair [or beautiful], my love! Behold, you are fair! You have dove’s eyes.

In Scripture, the dove is often a type of the Holy Spirit. Jesus is saying of you and me that we have eyes that see by the Holy Spirit. We can see Jesus as others can’t.

Interestingly enough, I have been told— though I am not an expert on birds—that the dove is the only bird who has two eyes that can focus on a single object. Every other bird looks with one eye or the other eye. But the dove can focus with both eyes. When the Lord says to His beloved, “you have dove’s eyes,” it means you can see by the Holy Spirit. You can see Jesus as the single focus of your sight.

Then in Song of Solomon 4:7:

You are all fair, my love, and there is no spot in you.

Isn’t that beautiful? Not one spot, not one blemish. That is how the Lord sees us—through His eyes of love—even when we are unlovable. “Someone exceedingly precious.” That is how He sees us.

The Price of Redemption

In various parts of the New Testament, the price of our redemption is stated very clearly. For our purposes here, we will only look at two passages. The first is Acts 20:28, where Paul is talking to the elders of the church at Ephesus:

Therefore take heed to yourselves, and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.

Please notice there that Paul gives to Jesus the specific title of God. He says God purchased the Church with His own blood. So, the purchase price was the blood of Jesus.

The second verse is in 1 Peter 1, beginning at verse 17:

And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear…

Some Christians have never heard that verse. Peter is not referring here to a slavish fear, but rather a deep sense of responsibility. What is the reason? It is because of the price that was paid to redeem us. We must never regard ourselves as cheap.

When speaking to young women, I will often quite frankly say, “Never make yourself cheap. You don’t have to cheapen yourself to get the right man. Generally speaking, a man will not value you more than you value yourself.” The same principle is true for all of us. When you and I realize that we have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus, we cannot afford to make ourselves cheap.

We see the answer for the reason to not cheapen ourselves in verses 18-19:

…knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible [or perishable] things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.

Please notice again that the price Jesus paid to redeem us is His precious blood. He is called the Lamb of God without blemish and without spot. A blemish, I understand, is something that a creature would be born with. A spot is something that would come upon it afterward. Jesus is without blemish in that He is without original sin. He is also without spot in that He is without personal sin. It is His blood that has redeemed us.

Abundant Redemption

For some added insight on the process of redemption, let’s turn to a reference from Psalm 130:7:

O Israel, hope in the Lord; for with the Lord there is mercy, and with Him is abundant redemption.

It is important for us to understand that redemption is buying back. Where this version says, “abundant redemption,” the King James Version said, “plenteous redemption.” The New Living Translation says, “His redemption overflows.” In light of these phrases, you and I must understand what abundant redemption means. It means that Jesus overpaid. He paid more than we were worth.

Jesus overpaid. He paid more than we were worth.

Once when I was preparing a week’s worth of Bible teaching for radio on this theme, I wanted to find a good word to describe the love of God that wasn’t worn out by religious clichés. After a while, I chose the word extravagant because that isn’t overused by religious people. Jesus was extravagant. He paid everything. He didn’t hold anything back. He actually paid more than the required price.

God’s love is extravagant! So many people picture the Lord as being stingy. But He isn’t stingy—He is extremely generous. When He sees something He wants, He will pay the full price and more.

Derek Prince