Through figurative language, God helps us transpose the glories we now see and understand into glimpses of future greater glories.īut I believe there is a more important reason God doesn’t give us more details: Eternal life is more about a Person than a place. One reason is that we simply are not yet equipped to comprehend the reality we will experience in the new age, for “no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9). When the Bible does describe eternal life, it often uses similes, metaphors, and symbols. Now, when the man bought the field and obtained the treasure of eternal life, what specifically did he get? This is an important question, because the Bible makes eternal life a central focus for the Christian, yet provides few descriptions about what it will be like. He would have been a fool not to do whatever was necessary to buy that field. It didn’t take him long to realize that selling all his possessions was going to make him wealthy beyond his wildest dreams. Standing in the field, the man did a quick cost-benefit analysis. But viewed another way, the cost was very small. Viewed one way, the cost seemed high - it cost him everything he owned. Now, there was a cost to obtaining the treasure. The rich young man, blinded by short-term worldly wealth, could not see the treasure, but the man in the parable did, and he jumped at it. It was the same “treasure in heaven” that Jesus promised the rich young man if he would sell his possessions, give to the poor, and follow Jesus (Matthew 19:21). The treasure in this parable is the resurrection to eternal life. The treasure restructured his values and priorities. This man suddenly found something that transformed his whole outlook on life. But fifteen minutes after finding the treasure, he was off to do it with joy. Even if it had, it would have seemed ludicrous. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field (Matthew 13:44).įifteen minutes before this man’s discovery in the field, the thought of selling all that he owned to buy it wouldn’t have crossed his mind. ![]() ![]() The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. ![]() One of Jesus’s most powerful parables is also one of his shortest:
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