The Kingdom of Heaven

by Jesse Lyman Hurlbut


Then to his disciples, not to the crowd, Jesus gave three more parables.

The first was "The Hid Treasure." He said,

"The kingdom of heaven is
like a heap of money which a man found while he was working in a field. He hid it again, and told no one about it; but went home, sold all that he had and gladly bought that field, that the treasure might be his own."

The next parable was that of "The Pearl."

"There was a man who went into
many places to find pearls, which he bought to sell to others. In one place he found a pearl of great price, far more precious than any that he had seen before. He went and sold everything that he had, and with the money bought that pearl."

The last of these parables was "The Drag Net."

 "Once more," said Jesus,
"the kingdom of heaven is like a large net that was cast into the sea and took in fishes of every kind, large and small, good and bad. When the net was full they drew it to the shore. There they sat down and took the fishes out, one by one. They looked them over and put the good fish, those that were fit to be eaten, into baskets, but those that were useless they threw away.

So will it be at the end of the world. The
angels will come and will take out the people that are wicked from among the good, and shall fling them into the furnace of fire; there men will weep and gnash their teeth."

After Jesus had finished telling these parables to his disciples, he said to them, "Have you understood all these?"

They said to him, "Yes, we have."

And he said to them, "Every teacher who has been made a learner in the kingdom of God is like a man who brings out of his store some things that are new and some that are old."