In the 1850s gold fever gripped Australia. People from all over the country, and many from overseas, rushed to Victoria in their thousands with high hopes of striking it rich. They were mostly poor, battlers struggling to make a good life for themselves and their families. For this opportunity people were prepared to give up everything they had and come to the Victorian goldfields, excited by the prospect of finding a nugget that would set them up for life.
The discovery of gold caused a population explosion. Ballarat’s population increased from 500 to 20,000 within three months. The government was stretched to the limit to provide the services required while paying its officials. Taxation through licences was seen as the solution, but there was such a demand for Gold Licenses that the number of printed licenses to issue soon ran out and officials had then to write them by hand.
In 1855 the Gold License was replaced with the Miner’s Right. For a fee of £1 per year, it gave miners the right to a parcel of land on which they could build a cottage and establish a garden. They were also permitted to graze animals on vacant Crown Land. Importantly it also gave them right to dig for gold. By the end of the year, 50,000 Miner’s Rights had been issued[1].
At the height of the gold rush, John Deason, a tin dresser in Cornwall, England, arrived in Australia with his wife, and colleague Richard Oates in 1854. Deason purchased one of these Miner’s Rights by which he was lawfully able to own 50 acres of land in section 42—Moliagul, Victoria. Seven years later, Deason was breaking up the ground when his pick struck what he thought to be a stone just an inch under the surface. It was in fact gold! Deason concealed his find until dark, when he and Oates dug the nugget out and brought it back on a wagon to Deason’s hut under the cover of darkness. There they put it in the fireplace and stayed up all night, breaking quartz off for 10 hours to reveal the gold. Deason had discovered real treasure indeed. At 66kg, the gold remains the largest nugget ever discovered and would later be named ‘The Welcome Stranger’[2].
In recent weeks we have heard how God chose Israel for a special purpose, that they would be a “kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” God had told Moses: “For you are a people holy to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.” (Deuteronomy 7:6).
Israel was the Lord’s “treasured possession,” not because of their own value, but because God had simply chosen them out of all the nations of the earth to be his own. They were his to bring him glory before the nations when they saw his mighty salvation of his people. In Isaiah 49, Israel is personified as ‘The Servant of the Lord”:
“Listen to me, you islands;
hear this, you distant nations:
Before I was born the Lord called me;
from my mother’s womb he has spoken my name.
He made my mouth like a sharpened sword,
in the shadow of his hand he hid me;
he made me into a polished arrow
and concealed me in his quiver.
He said to me, “You are my servant,
Israel, in whom I will display my splendour.” (Isaiah 49:1-3).
Yet this text is also about a coming Saviour of Israel, and all the nations:
And now the Lord says—
“It is too small a thing for you to be my servant
to restore the tribes of Jacob
and bring back those of Israel I have kept.
I will also make you a light for the Gentiles,
that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”
This is what the Lord says—
the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel—
to him who was despised and abhorred by the nation,
to the servant of rulers:
“Kings will see you and stand up,
princes will see and bow down,
because of the Lord, who is faithful,
the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.” (Isaiah 49:5-7).
This is a prophecy of the promised Messiah Israel was waiting for, fulfilled by the coming of Christ. Jesus was the One before whom noblemen, rulers, and centurions knelt, also the magi when they brought gifts for him at his birth. Jesus was the One despised; the One abhorrent to the nation as the crowds cried out: “Crucify him!”
And he was crucified, to bring salvation not only to Israel, but the whole world. Where Israel failed to obey the Lord’s voice, Jesus did. Where Israel did not keep God’s covenant, Jesus established a new covenant of forgiveness of sins by his blood. Where the Great High Priest at the Temple sprinkled blood in the Holy of Holies to pay for the nation’s sins, Jesus is our Great High Priest who sprinkled his blood and entered the heavenly sanctuary to open the way there for all of God’s faithful people; all of those he has chosen. All of those in Christ are God’s chosen people, royal priesthood, holy nation, and God’s special possession.
John Deason gave up everything he had in his homeland in Cornwall to come to a new country, When John Deason found the ‘Welcome Stranger’ it was his own treasured possession. He concealed it and kept it safe so that he could bring it to his hut as his own. He paid a price for the Miner’s Right, so that the ‘Welcome Stranger’ was legally his, and no-one else’s.
Similarly, God the Father gave up everything for you, when he sent his Son Jesus. Jesus gave up everything he had in heaven when he came to earth. He came to search for, and find you, and reconcile you to God as God’s own. The price he paid to do this was not silver or gold, but his holy and precious blood. As Luther explained in the Small Catechism:
“I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary, is my Lord, who has redeemed me, a lost and condemned person, purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil; not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death, that I may be His own and live under Him in His kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, just as He is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity.”
What does it mean for us to be God’s treasured possession? There are many things in my possession but not all are treasured. The things I treasure and don’t want to lose I keep close to me. The things I treasure and therefore want to prove I have ownership of—so that no-one else can make a claim on them and have them—I put my name on.
So it is with God and you. In Isaiah 43, we hear God say: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. And in Isaiah 49:16 God who engraved his law on two stone tablets with his finger, says that he has engraved us on the palm of his hands. We are etched into his hand for his safe-keeping. Jesus put it this way: “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.” (John 10:27-29). Being God’s treasured possession describes God’s love, faithfulness, and covenantal loyalty toward us.
This identity as God’s treasured possessions says something about God, and it also asks something of us. This identity requires of us that same love, faithfulness, and loyalty to God and to one other. If God sees us as treasures set apart, this means we also must see and relate to each other as being God’s treasured possessions.
Jesus said: “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21). In the bible, the notion that the “possession” was special was because it was purchased or redeemed at great cost to the owner. So the reverse is also true: that where God’s treasure is, there God’s heart is also.
We see that when we look to the Cross, where God the Father did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all. God sent his Son into the world to seek you out. He invested everything into you; sending his own Son to take your place and shed his blood for the forgiveness of all your sins. Now that must mean that you’re worth a fair bit to God…for the price he paid to own you was way beyond any cash amount. It was worth Jesus’ own holy and precious body and blood.
Did any of us deserve it? No. But because God loves each person so much, he graciously and freely did it for all people—even those who reject him—to reconcile them to himself. And so what a treasure Jesus is! He came that we would have overwhelming joy in our lives, just like those who found the welcome stranger, to set us up for life, eternally. Because through trusting in the shed blood of our risen, living Lord, the God of the universe is with us and keeps us safe in his hand as his treasured possession, so that all who trust in him will receive God’s grace and favour in this life, and live with him in heavenly glory for all eternity. Amen.
[1] https://ballaratheritage.com.au/article/miners-right/
[2] https://freepages.rootsweb.com/~ricksmith61/genealogy/scilly/ps06/ps06_023.html