There once lived a king of the oysters, he was affectionately known as the Great Oyster King. He was the son of the first and the Greatest Oyster King. All creatures in the ocean knew, the Great Oyster King had a special, magical power that no other creature had. That is why he was King of the oceans. He could create a pearl, one pearl of singular beauty … out of nothing! He was the envy of all the oceans, from the mighty whale to the tiny shrimp. They all knew no one could create a thing of perfect beauty except the Great Oyster King. No one could and no one dared.

With every passing year, his magnificent shell fortress grew and grew, strongly anchored onto the rocky ocean reef. Then, one day, rumours started circulating among the coral reefs and kelp forests, that the deep magic of the Great Oyster King is going to be finally revealed, just as the folktales of old had predicted. Everyone was so excited. He was going to show the ocean world the pearl he had been busy creating for so many, many years.

Then it happened. The Great Oyster King dislodged Himself from the oyster reef and fell down, down down and he fell and fell and fell into the depths of the dark waters beneath. And his great shell body smashed on the ocean floor, in the dark depths of the ocean the Great Oyster King died. His shell body shattered and his flesh was torn apart by the impact. All were in shock.

Where was the great magic of the Great King of Oysters? Where was the-thing-of-beauty he alone could create? But the oceanfolk did not understand. They mourned the tragic death of the Great Oyster King. Many asked why did he have to die? Many of the sharks where very angry (some even just bit the dolphins tails just because they were so sad-mad). The tuna king even agreed not to eat the sardine families during the mourning time. And did the ocean mourn.

Then something wonderful happened. From the shattered body of the oyster, from his broken and bleeding flesh, a pearl of such magnificence manifested that even with the faint light from the ocean sky above, the pearl shone luminous. It was pure-white-innocent-beauty. Not a scratch, not a blemish, so smooth and highly polished – simply exquisite. There was a hushed silence in all the ocean, even the waves laid down and became still. The Oyster King had revealed the hidden pearl inside of him. She was stunningly beautiful. Their mourning soon turned to joy for seeing such a pearl of matchless beauty.

Then, suddenly the unexpected happened, a great light bolted through the ocean from the throne of the Great Father and the Father healed his oyster son. Miraculously, the son took a deep breath as he came up from the dead. He was alive. The Father healed everything, he fixed his broken shell and healed his flesh, every last piece of it.

Then, the Great Oyster King, now all brand new, beheld The Pearl that was hidden inside of him for so many years. That, that was inside of him, was now outside of him and she … was … beautiful. The Pearl blushed at his gaze. Their love was not new, it was familiar, the very substance of who he was and who she now was. She was made from him. She was made in his side. She knew that love. They were a perfect match. The Great Father Oyster King wasted no time to arrange a gigantic wedding banquet. They married the next day and what a feast it was!

At the great banqueting table, the friend of the Great Oyster King asked the question that was on everyone’s lips; “How did the Oyster Queen first meet the Great Oyster King?” She simply said, “I was once a simple grain of sand being tossed by the waves on the seashore, then the Great King gave me shelter and I have lived under his love and care my whole life. I am what I am because of his showers of love. I was a lost piece of beach sand but now I am the Pearl Bride of the Great Oyster King!” And all the oceanfolk gasped, they said in unison “You were only a grain of sand?” “Yes”, she said confidently, with the confidence one would expect of the Wife of the Great Oyster King. And they lived happily ever after, really happily.

Meaning of our little Story

Pearls are things of great beauty. Pearls form on the inside of an oyster, in complete darkness at the bottom of the ocean. The scriptures speak only well of pearls, the humble product of the slow pain of the oyster. Pearls form when a foreign body enters the oyster, an irritation, often a grain of sand. The oyster then produces from its own body a substance called nacre, which covers the foreign body, to make it smooth so it does not hurt the tender insides of the oyster. Generally, the bigger the pearl, the greater its value. The greater the pearl, the longer the oyster suffered with it.

Jesus is the Oyster and we are the Pearl. We are the reward of His suffering. We are like that rough, alien and foreign piece of sand that was lost among trillions of other pieces of sand … but He chose us, we did not choose Him. We are like Ruth the Moabitess, who lay at the feet of the Great Boaz. She was like that piece of sand, she was the poor girl without a husband, without love and protection.

We were nothing. We were outside the safety of the Oyster, we were shardy sand, but He took us in. The Great Oyster received us into His very body. We were adopted and treasured and protected by the Great Oyster. He covered our sharp ends with His love, layer upon layer of His grace filled love, He formed us into something entirely other. Our sand nature changed to pearl. We became Christlike with every grace upon grace covering. The Christ-substance covered us.

We were like the sand on the seashore, tossed by the waves, lost in the waves too powerful for us. We were made from the dust of the earth, from clay and sand. The waves eroded us, deformed us and smashed us on the satanic rocks of indifference. We were trapped in forces too strong for us. But He took us in, the Gracious Oyster opened His side, with blood and water and He received us into Himself. We are IN CHRIST! Hallelujah. And through much l o n g s u f f e r i n g, He shaped us and grew us and converted us into a bride-friend comparable to Him. Bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh, the Last Adam re-created a New-Eve from the left overs of the Sin Holocaust of Eden.

He laboured over us, He built us up with layers of His very own substance. Over many patient years he reduced are defenses, He completely won our heart. God is love and God layered us over with Himself. And we grew! This is how we partake of His Divine Nacre, oops Nature 🙂 Our ugliness was transformed into beauty, from our ashes he fashioned beauty. From our nothingness came our everythingness. We became be-loved. And His kindness made us great, ontologically, in essence, in substance, he gave us a new nature. It is what He done, we received His very nature, one layer at a time. He converted a humble grain of sand into a pearl of great price! God could not find one holy or just, so He sent his only son, to do what man could not do. God devised an ingenious plan, since he could not find a pearl, in Israel or other, He made one new man for Himself, from His own rib. We are New Creations, we are Pearls of His Suffering, we are neither Greek nor Jew, we are Pearl in substance. A third race, a heavenly race of Jesus Pearls. Hallelujah!

“I am very fond of the oyster shell. It is humble and awkward and ugly. It is slate-colored and unsymmetrical. Its form is not primarily beautiful but functional. I make fun of its knobbiness. Sometimes I resent its burdens and excrescences. But its tireless adaptability and tenacity draw my astonished admiration and sometimes even my tears. And it is comfortable in its familiarity, its homeliness, like old garden gloves when have molded themselves perfectly to the shape of the hand. I do not like to put it down. I will not want to leave it.”

Anne Morrow Lindbergh

“For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him.” Is 53

“It is through many afflictions that we must make our way into the Kingdom of God.” it says in Acts 14 and we know that the entrance to the New Jerusalem is through gates made of a single pearl. The portal into heaven are Pearl Portals! The message of purposeful suffering cannot be missed as you enter the Great City.

Now, the only way to release the pearl from His side was to die, just like with an oyster. No pearl is released without the oyster who formed it, dying. And Jesus died for us so that we could become His Pearl.

The Oyster’s King’s Great Father miraculously resurrected him back to life. He then took the Pearl to be his Eternal Bride. The Oyster King married what he created within Himself! The New-Eve rejoiced at seeing the Last-Adam. Paradise Regained. Amen.

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.

Matthew 13:45-46

For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

Colossians 3:3-4