Your “Forever” Home

A magazine issue on real estate during Easter? Yes, those two things go together. Don’t believe me? Go to Matthew 13:44: “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” 

Jesus taught in parables, or stories that taught a lesson. This two-sentence story is the most important message in the history of all humanity. Jesus has been talking about how people respond to the Good News. Jesus gives the picture of a man walking in a field owned by someone else. As the man is walking, he spots something just under the dirt. He gets closer and starts to brush away the dirt and discovers a treasure. It’s a magnificent treasure that is worth far more than everything the man could possibly own. 

After covering it back up, he starts his plan. He’ll sell all he has, run to the property owner, and hand it over to purchase the land. Surely after he purchases the land the man wouldn’t do anything other than run right back to where he found the treasure. Once the land is his, the treasure is his. Whatever possessions he had pales in comparison to what he now has in the treasure. His possessions looked like poverty compared to the treasure he now owns.

This is the value of the Gospel. While we were dead in our trespasses and sin, God being rich in mercy sent His Son, Jesus, to come and live the perfect life you and I could not live. Where we disobeyed, Christ obeyed perfectly. So, to pay the penalty for our disobedience, Jesus bore the cross and shed His blood for the forgiveness of sins. 

After His death upon the cross, He was placed in a borrowed tomb (He only needed it three days). On that Sunday morning, Jesus rose from the dead. He defeated sin on the cross and death through His resurrection.

So, the sacrifice of Christ bore the wrath of God towards sinful humanity and the resurrection of Jesus proved the sacrifice was acceptable. This Good News declares that Jesus Christ is Lord of all. You and I can now possess the treasure of the Gospel, the Good News, if we would repent of our sin and put our faith in Jesus as Lord and trust in His finished work. The bad news of our sinfulness and eternal separation from God is met with the Good News that Jesus Christ took our punishment, and we can go from rebels to God’s very own children.

That’s why the Gospel is a treasure. And when the Holy Spirit opens our eyes to the value of this beautiful treasure, we’ll give all we have to possess it, even when all we have is filthy rags. We’ll sell out to it, even give our life for it. That’s the message of Easter. Jesus paid it all, and the resurrection got the receipt. When the Spirit shows us, it’s the easiest purchase of real estate we’ll ever make. What makes it sweet is that this land is eternal.