The Kingdom of Heaven

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The “kingdom of heaven” stands for the good and truth present with a person,
and so for heaven present with him (Arcana Coelestia 5886:4).

The Lord has told us many things about His kingdom—the kingdom of heaven—in His Word. The Lord created us with the hope that we will all become angels in heaven. In Matthew 13 He compares heaven to finding treasure, planting seeds, making bread, and other activities to help us understand the process by which He leads us toward heaven.

The Story

There are seven parables about the kingdom of heaven in Matthew 13, starting with the parable of the sower and the parable of the wheat and the tares. Our focus is on the other five parables.

Read these portions of Matthew 13:

  • Kingdom of heaven like a mustard seed - Matthew 13:31-32
  • Kingdom of heaven like leaven - Matthew 13:33
  • Kingdom of heaven like treasure hidden in a field - Matthew 13:44
  • Kingdom of heaven like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls - Matthew 13:45-46
  • Kingdom of heaven like a dragnet cast into the sea - Matthew 13:47-48 (47-50?)

Kingdom of Heaven Family Worship (ages 3 and up)
Discussion ideas and some activities for five kingdom of heaven parables.

Ideas for discussion

  1. The Lord created us with the hope that we will all become angels in heaven, but this is a choice we make throughout our lives in the natural world. The kingdom of heaven parables can give us some insight about how we can gradually come to have the kingdom of heaven within us.
  2. How does the parable of the mustard seed give us hope along the journey to heaven? If a person applies whatever truth they have to life, they begin their spiritual development. Just as a mustard seed can grow into a tree, the Lord can use this beginning and help it grow.
  3. The parable of a woman using leaven (similar to sourdough starter or yeast) pictures the way spiritual struggles can help us recognize our evils and rise above them as we grow spiritually.
  4. How does the parable about treasure in the field help us understand the need to give up our own ways to embrace the Lord’s way of life?
  5. The parable about the pearl of great price also teaches us about true priorities in life. This beautiful pearl symbolizes ideas about the Lord our Savior.
  6.  The parable of the dragnet pictures the transition from this life to the next. The Lord wants to gather us all into heaven, but we determine our spiritual home by our choices in life. After death, good and evil people are separated and go to heaven or hell.
  7. What does it mean to have the kingdom of heaven within us? (To develop a heavenly character by receiving love and faith from the Lord.) When we receive love and faith from the Lord, heaven can dwell within us.
  8. The kingdom of heaven is not only a future state that we enter when we die. Heaven can be with us even while we are living on this earth, if we open our hearts and minds to its presence.
  9. “All who receive love and faith from the Lord have heaven residing in them. People who have heaven within themselves while they are living in the world enter heaven after death” (see Arcana Coelestia 10717).

Read about the kingdom of heaven

Projects and activities for various ages

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