How many of you boys and girls have ever dreamed of finding hidden treasure? The man in our story had real treasure hidden in plain sight—right in his backyard, and he didn’t even realize it for several years!
Before we tell you this story, try to remember these verses. The Bible tells us that there is something more valuable than gold! “Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold . . . but with the precious blood of Christ” (1 Peter 1:18-1918Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; 19But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: (1 Peter 1:18‑19)). This simply means that silver and gold are items that over time will rust away. It is only the precious blood of Christ that can wash away our sins and make us fit to enter into heaven. The value of the blood of Christ will never perish or fail over time!
Mr. Emanuel lived on Staten Island, New York. He and his family had moved into their home in 2011. It had a nice backyard with lots of trees in it. Behind the trees was a rusted metal box that they could see from their deck and from the sofa in their family room. But they thought nothing of it. Mr. Emanuel assumed it was just an electrical box or maybe a cable box. Besides, it was partly buried in the ground and there was poison ivy growing all around it. Occasionally, he would throw mulch on it to make it blend in with the surroundings.
In the spring of 2018, Mr. Emanuel decided to plant bamboo in his backyard for more privacy. The winter had been harsh, and the deer had eaten the leaves off the lower branches of his trees. This made the rusted, ugly box very visible, so he decided to totally redo his backyard. He called a man who specialized in unusual plants and had years of experience working in yards, gardens and zoos in the New Jersey and New York area. He went by the nickname of Bamboo Bob.
Walking through the backyard for the first time, Bamboo Bob noticed the rusted box buried in a few inches of dirt. He and his workers looked it over and realized that it was not an electrical or cable box. They helped the homeowners dig the box out of the ground and discovered that it was actually a safe with a dial on it! It was about 2 feet wide and 1-1/2 feet deep. It was also heavy! They estimated that it weighed between 80 and 100 pounds. Mr. Emanuel shook the safe to see if he could hear jingling, and when he couldn’t, they moved it to the back deck. Then Bamboo Bob and his workers went on with their job in the backyard.
Are you curious about what was in the box? I don’t know how Mr. Emanuel waited until the end of the day to open the safe, but he did! Then he pried it open with a pick, and what do you think he found? The first thing he saw were $100 dollar bills, stacked three inches deep! There were also bags of gold, earrings and other jewelry. Wow! What a find!
Because the safe had been out in the weather for so long, it had a few rusty holes in it. This caused the money to be wet and stuck together. Mr. Emanuel spent the next few days carefully peeling the money apart and drying it out. It totaled about $1,600.00. There was so much gold that he began to weigh it on his kitchen scale. It weighed around a pound! Boys and girls, it takes a lot of gold to weigh that much!
At first, Mr. Emanuel thought that he would keep this treasure, but then he found an address in the safe. Looking online, he discovered that it belonged to a neighbor whose house he passed every day when he walked his dog.
So what do you think he did?
He walked around the corner to his neighbor’s house and asked the lady if she had ever been robbed. When she said “Yes,” he told her, “I think I have your stuff.”
The two of them walked back to Mr. Emanuel’s house. When she saw the safe, she was amazed! She and her husband had been robbed at the end of 2011, nearly seven years ago. Police had told the couple that they would never see their life’s savings again!
When the robbery happened, they had reported it to the police. A very wicked man had been robbing their neighborhood and other nearby neighborhoods for several years. When he was finally caught in 2016, he said that he had stolen over $4 million worth of property and was responsible for more than 100 burglaries! The police believed that he was responsible for stealing this couple’s life savings, as well. When the safe was stolen, it was reported to have about $40,000 in cash and jewelry, with a value of $52,000!
When Jesus lived and walked on this earth, He spoke about treasure. This is what He said: “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal” (Matthew 6:1919Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: (Matthew 6:19)). This is exactly what happened to the treasure in this story. Because a thief stole the safe and threw it into someone’s backyard, much of the money had been rain damaged and was destroyed, greatly decreasing the value of the treasure.
But Jesus then went on to say, “But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal” (Matthew 6:2020But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: (Matthew 6:20)). What did Jesus mean? He meant that when we ask Him to forgive our sins and we put our trust in Him for our salvation, we will have treasure in heaven.
This is what it means to be “redeemed [or bought] . . . with the precious blood of Christ” (1 Peter 1:18-1918Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; 19But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: (1 Peter 1:18‑19)). Every time we do something for Jesus, we are laying up treasure for ourselves in heaven! God tells us what pleases Him in His Word, the Bible. “I rejoice at Thy word, as one that findeth great spoil [treasure]” (Psalm 119:162162I rejoice at thy word, as one that findeth great spoil. (Psalm 119:162)). Do you love the Lord Jesus? Are you laying up for yourself treasure in heaven? Read your Bible every day, and you will find great treasure for yourself!