Matthew 6:19-23
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in Heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also!
“The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!”

Introduction

Ezekiel Hopkins begins by stating that every person – whether he has an abundance of possessions or few possessions – has something he counts precious as his soul’s treasure. In dangerous and difficult times, it is everyone’s first and chief care to make sure their treasure is safe from corruption and violence. They want to put their treasure somewhere safe. But what are we supposed to count as our treasure? And where do we store it in order for it to be safe?

In Matthew 6:19-23, Jesus shows us that there are 2 places a person can store his treasure, or 2 Common Treasuries: earth and heaven.  Any treasure has to belong to one of these; you must deposit it in either earth or heaven. Hopkins explains next the difference between earthly treasure and heavenly treasure.

What is earthly treasure?

Jesus tells us what types of treasure are stored in Earth’s Treasury in 1 John 2:16, “For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world.” So there are:

• The lust of the flesh: pleasures, suiting the evil propensities of the flesh
• The lust of the eye: riches, for the greediness of the eye; riches are considered to fulfill the lust of the eye because the enjoyment of its owners is the beholding of the riches with their eyes, and
• The pride of life: honor and dignity, that airy, good thing, that puffs up

Worldly pleasures, riches, and worldly honor and dignity are earthly treasures.

Hopkins explains that Jesus teaches in Matthew 6:19 that earthly treasures are not lasting and certain; moths and rust corrupt them, and thieves can break in and steal them. Jesus then tells them that there is another treasury in heaven, where you can store your treasure in “a sure and safe place, where no corruption infects, nor does any violence intrude: therefore, lay up your treasure there: lay up your treasure in Heaven.”

Hopkins will explain a little later in this chapter what heavenly treasure is. Right now, Hopkins explains that in these words of Jesus we are given a command, or exhortation: Lay up your treasure in heaven. And the enforcement of this command is from several considerations.

1) Because your treasure will be secure when it is laid up in Heaven.

There it is completely safe – nothing can destroy it and no one can steal it. It is out of reach of the corruptions of earth. For all threats to a person’s treasure proceed from either:

a. Inward principles of corruption.

Hopkins says, “Thus it is with all Earthly Treasures. They are, of themselves, fading and perishing. Riches perish with the using: they rot out and wear away, while we are using them. All earthly manna, the sweet and luscious things of this world, breed worms that eat upon and devour them. All the riches and treasures of the world have rust, that attends on them, and consumes both them and their beauty and substance.

But spiritual manna never turns into worms: treasure, laid up in Heaven, is never eaten with rust. No, says Christ, there rust does not corrupt: that is, they are free and safe from all inward decays and perishing, from their own inward principle and nature.”

Threats to a person’s treasure also proceed from

b. Outward accidents that might consume them. And this happens either

1. “Insensibly, through a secret blasting curse of God, wasting them by little by little, and unperceived decays; so that, while we hold them in our hands and look upon them, then they perish!” And this is here compared to the way a moth eats something. A moth does not make a sudden tear in a garment; but slowly over time, by unseen degrees, the moth eats away at a garment until it is destroyed. And that’s how it often happens with earthly treasures – if they are not torn away from us, yet they are “moth-eaten” comforts; the moth gets into them and destroys them imperceivably. Or,
2. By sudden violence. And this is here compared to thieves breaking in and stealing earthly treasure. Hopkins says, “An unexpected turn of providence does, at once, many times snatch away all that men here prize and set their hearts on: and then, where is their treasure?” Hopkins says, “But, treasures laid up in Heaven are secured, both from insensible decays, and also from sudden violence; secured, both from the corruption of the moth, and from the stealing of the thief. It is rich and sure treasure, that is laid up there.“

Hopkins says that now, during your life on earth, is the time to lay up your treasure in heaven. When you get to heaven, your heavenly treasure chest will be opened before your eyes and you will see that there is more treasure there than you could imagine. Hopkins says you will wonder and question with yourself, “Is this glory mine, and that glory mine? Is this throne and that brightness, this diamond and those stars, this robe and that sunbeam, all this precious and inconceivable treasure, are they mine? I cannot remember that ever I laid up so much and such precious treasure: my faith sometimes pried through a crevice into this treasure, and it told me that there were great and glorious things stored up, and it told me also that they belonged to me; but, O my dim-sighted eyes, that could not reveal to me the one half of that glory, wherein I am now lost and swallowed up!” Hopkins says that, “Thus a Christian will then admire how he came by so much treasure, when he comes to the possession and enjoyment of it …Though a Christian knows not how much he has, yet he shall lose none: it is safe, being laid up in Heaven: every star is as a seal set upon the treasure-door, that none may break in and violate it.”

So the first consideration as to why we should store up our treasure in heaven is because it will only be safe there. The second consideration is

2) Because by laying up Treasure in Heaven, you lay up your Hearts in Heaven also: for, where your treasure is, says Christ, there will your hearts be also; and where your hearts are, there are you.

Hopkins asks, “Would you send all your thoughts and all your desires, as spies into the Land of Promise, to discover the riches, and beauty of it? Then lay up your treasure there.” By doing so, you will center all your thoughts and set all your affections on heaven; and, although now you are on earth and walk on earth, yet your heart and mind will be set on Heaven, if your treasure is there.

Hopkins says, “It is impossible that you and your treasure should be at a distance. If your treasure is on earth, your minds will be [on earth] also. But, if your treasure is laid up in Heaven, it will attract and draw up your hearts unto it; and make them heavenly hearts, as itself is a heavenly treasure.”

The third consideration is

3) You will be laying up treasure for yourself – “Lay up for yourselves treasures in Heaven.”

Hopkins says that while you can indeed store up treasures on earth, you can not be certain that you are storing them up for yourself. On earth, people sweat and toil to build estates, but they don’t know who will enjoy and possess them.  He says, “[People] labor all their days to purchase a few uncertain riches; while, usually, by that time they purpose to reap the fruit of them, death comes and snatches away their souls; and the greatest use they can make of them is, only to bequeath them unto others.” Only the person who is rich towards God lays up treasure for himself. Hopkins says, “A Christian is his own heir; and, what he himself has gotten, he himself shall eternally enjoy and possess.”

So to summarize this beginning part of the book, every person has something they value as their treasure. There are 2 Treasuries that you can deposit your treasure in: earth and heaven. Jesus commands us to store up our treasures in heaven. Jesus gives 3 considerations as to why we should store up our treasure in heaven 1) Because your treasure will only be safe in heaven, 2) Because by laying up Treasure in Heaven, you lay up your Hearts in Heaven also, and 3) it is only in heaven that you can lay up treasure for yourself with certainty.

In the next part of the book, Hopkins explains what treasure is and what it means to lay it up in heaven. And he will explain the doctrine that states that Heavenly and spiritual things are, and ought to be, of the greatest value with every true Christian. We will pick up there in my next post.

Links: Hopkins Heavenly Treasures