Parable of the Fishing Net, Matthew 13:47-50, continued.
A DESIGNATED CONCLUSION. When the shore is reached, the catch is examined. “Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away,” verse 48. Presently we are sailing homeward toward the shores of heaven. But when the journey ends, when the fishermen have finished their work, there will be a day of judgment for those in the net. See Hebs 4:1-2.
THE DIVINE AGENTS. “So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth,” verses 49-50. This concurs with Matt 24:30-31. “And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”
A DIVISION EXECUTED. In Matt 24 the angels gather the saints but in our parable the angels gather the wicked. In Matt 24 the Saviour is comforting His people. In Matt 13 He is preaching the gospel and warning the lost of their fate unless they get saved.
This word ‘world’, it is the Greek word aion, or AGE. At the end of this age there will a judgment of ‘Christendom’. This not the judgment of the ‘great white throne’, Rev 20:11-15. That is the judgment of the wicked. Here we are looking at the judgment of the professing church, Matt 25:31-46. Note the reference to the angels, Matt 13:49, 25:31. It is that day when: “God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel,” Rom 2:16. See 2 Cor 5:10; Matt 3:10 (Note HIS floor, HIS wheat); Ps 1:5; 1 Cor 4:5.
I ask the question the Saviour asked. “Have ye understood all these things?” verse 51. WELL, HAVE YOU??
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