Years ago, I was in a dance band and one of our favorite ‘jump tunes’ to play was "A String of Pearls". There was a unique trumpet solo in this arrangement that I practiced and practiced on until I overcame it and was able to perform it. This ‘jump tune’ was written for Glenn Miller and didn’t have a title until after they had rehearsed it. Glenn Miller had given his wife a present of a ‘string of pearls’ and someone suggested that they title the arrangement "A String of Pearls".

What is a pearl? A ‘pearl’ is a smooth, lustrous, variously colored deposit, formed around a grain of sand or other foreign matter in the shells of certain mollusks, which includes oysters, and valued as a gem.

An eighteen inch strand of pearls has forty pearls on it. An eighteen inch strand of 10 mm (almost 1/2 inch in diameter) natural God created pearls would cost approximately $76,000 with each pearl costing $1,900. These pearls are created totally by the oyster that God created. This must not be confused with the popular cultured pearls that are man assisted, by a man putting a bead in an oyster and the oyster putting a thin coating on it. An eighteen inch strand of 9mm (largest size available) of cultured pearls would cost approximately $6,400 with each pearl costing $160. My son-in-law, who is a jeweler, passed the following thought on to me: "Man’s wisdom is like a surface coating of a cultured pearl and isn’t permanent, but God’s wisdom is like the natural pearl, it will last an eternity."

In the Bible, Jesus Christ mentions ‘pearls’ on a couple of occasions. Matthew records Jesus as saying: "Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces" (Matthew 7:6).

Now let’s look at a physical spiritual analogy. Physically, no one in their right mind would cast a string of pearls that could cost around $76,000 to a bunch of muddy slop invested hogs that would not appreciate such a valuable gift and of which would trample the pearls under their feet and you with them. Even your pet dog would not find a ‘string of pearls’ of any value.

Spiritually we see that these pearls represent something holy. God is holy (Revelation 4:8) and only God can make something holy. God has made the Sabbath holy (Genesis 2:2-3, Exodus 20:8-12), His seven annual Sabbath Festivals are holy (Leviticus 23:2), the Ten Commandments are holy (Romans 7:12), Jesus is holy (Acts 4:27), the Holy Spirit is holy (Acts 2:38), God’s prophets are holy (Acts 3:21), the angels are holy (Matthew 25:31) and the Scriptures are holy (Romans 1:2),

Since the Scriptures are holy then we can logically say that the truths of God as found in the Bible are holy and are like a ‘string of pearls’, each truth being like one pearl, and on this Biblical string is many pearls of truth that Jesus says is ‘holy’.

A few years ago, in 1995, in my previous church affiliation, the string of our ‘string of pearls’ of God’s truth was broken. The spiritual pearls, these precious truths of God, bounced all over the spiritual floor. We were challenged to pick up one pearl, one truth, at a time and re-examine it. As we re-examined each truth from the Bible, with prayer and humility, and reconfirmed in our minds that these truths were still valid, we then put that spiritual pearl back on our ‘spiritual string’.

Now let’s look at the other parable (or riddle) that Jesus talked about regarding pearls: "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, {46} "who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it" (Matthew 13:45-46).

One point to clarify is that Matthew wrote to the Jews and he used the term ‘kingdom of heaven’ instead of the term ‘Kingdom of God’ so as not to offend the Jews. Matthew is NOT talking about going to heaven. For more information on this topic, request our free article: Are You Going to Heaven?

A parable can have different meanings. One way that we could interpret this parable is that Jesus is the merchant who is seeking the beautiful pearl (Malachi 3:17) and that is those whom God calls (John 6:44), who repent and are baptized (Acts 2:38), of whom Jesus sold all that He had, He laid down His life for us (1 John 3:16) and bought us with the price of His life (1 Corinthians 6:20), in order to give us eternal life (John 3:16) so that we can live and reign with Him in the Kingdom of God for one thousand years (Revelation 20:6), on the earth as kings and priests under Him (Revelation 5:10), to be married to Him (Revelation 19:7-9) and to be forever with Him (1 Thessalonians 5:17.)

Another interpretation of this parable is that we are the merchant and we find the beautiful pearl of great price, the beautiful truths of God from the Bible that will lead us into the Kingdom of God and eternal life. Are you willing to sell all that you have to buy God’s truth, these pearls of great price? Are you willing to sell the pagan holidays and fables (2 Timothy 4:4) to buy God’s Holy Day Festivals (Leviticus 23)? Are you willing to sell the first day of the week Sunday tradition and buy the seventh day of the week Saturday Sabbath that is declared to be holy in your Bible? Are you willing to keep the Ten Commandments when your church says that they have been done away with? What price are you willing pay for God’s truth and the Kingdom of God?

Jesus said: "Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you (Matthew 6:33.

Search the Scriptures daily to find the pearls of great price (Acts 17:11) and prove all things and hold fast to that which is good (1 Thessalonians 5:21).

Start stringing your ‘string of pearls’ with God’s pearls of truth as soon as possible.