Dragnet
Matthew 13:47-50
Matthew 13:47-50, “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet that was cast into the sea and gathered some of every kind, 48 which, when it was full, they drew to shore; and they sat down and gathered the good into vessels, but threw the bad away. 49 So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come forth, separate the wicked from among the just, 50 and cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.” Seventh Parable.
The first two parables are about the nature of the mystery form of the kingdom. The kingdom being hidden from those generations past and now revealed to us. The parable of the soils: In this kingdom there will be those who believe and there will be those who do not. So, this part of the kingdom has believers and non-believers.
The parable of the wheat and the tares: The believers and the nonbelievers will grow together until the harvest that comes in the end. The second two parables about the power of the kingdom. In spite of the good and evil are growing together, the good will triumph in the end.
The parable of the Mustard seed: The small mustard seed planted in the field, which ultimately grows to massive proportions so that though the kingdom began very small with just the Apostles, when Jesus comes to establish His kingdom, it will fill the whole earth.
The parable of the leaven: The leaven represents the kingdom, buried as it were in the dough of the world which, ultimately, will penetrate, permeate, and influence the whole earth. The parable of the leaven shows the internal permeating influence of the kingdom which touches every dimension of human life.
The third 2 parables about the appropriation or entering of the kingdom.
Parable of the Treasure the person finds the treasure accidently and sells everything to buy the field. Parable of the Merchant searches for the one pearl and sells everything and gets it. First 2: The nature of the Kingdom.
Second 2: The Power of the Kingdom. Third 2: Entering the Kingdom. Seventh Parable: Judgement of the Kingdom. Jesus known as the Hell preacher. He spoke about Hell more than anyone else. Jesus spoke about hell more than,
- Love,
- Any other preacher,
- All the preachers put together in the New Testament.
Normally most of the Christians don’t associate Jesus Christ and Hell. Modern-day Christendom portrayed as love and not on punishment.
Matthew 23:33, Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell?
Parable
V 47, “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet that was cast into the sea and gathered some of every kind, Three ways of fishing which was in place in Israel.
- i) Fishing hook
Use the fishing hook to catch the fish.
Matthew 17:27, Nevertheless, lest we offend them, go to the sea, cast in a hook, and take the fish that comes up first. And when you have opened its mouth, you will find a piece of money; take that and give it to them for Me and you.”
ii) Using the net
Cast the net of large circle then pull the cord and catch the fish.
Matthew 4:18, And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen.
iii) Large dragnet
Which is mentioned here in this verse. The tie the one end in the shore and the net will be about mile and a half, they take the other end in the boat. Make circle come to the shore. Then collect what is in the net. Lord wants us to understand this net.
The immense size of the net. It brings in everything. V 48, which, when it was full, they drew to shore; and they sat down and gathered the good into vessels, but threw the bad away. They would take the good and put it into some vessels, very often water-contained vessels, to keep the fish alive if they were to be transported.
If they were immediately to be used in some form, they could be put in another vessel. The bad was just thrown away. Principle of the Parable.
V 49, So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come forth, separate the wicked from among the just, Lord is only interested in one element and that is the separating process that went on in the shore as a picture of the angels separating them in judgment.
Separation is inevitable and its ultimate! Same principle our lord used in the Wheat and Tares Parable. V 41, The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, When man’s day is over and Jesus returns to set up His glorious kingdom, then comes the judgment.
Angels are the separators. We can see that in verse 41 and as well as in verse 49.
Matthew 25:31-34, “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. 33 And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My
Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the
foundation of the world
We can see that in Revelation chapter 14 as well. Lord let the wicked and righteous to live and co exits. But the parables of wheat and tare and dragnet. But gave us the warning not to take our sin lightly because we don’t know the hour in which He will come.
Ezekiel 18:23, Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?” says the Lord God, “and not that he should turn from his ways and live?
2 Peter 3:9, The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. V 50, and cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.” If there is any doctrine in the Bible that you wish were not there it is the doctrine of hell, but that does not eliminate it.
This is the heart of the matter. Cast into the furnace of fire. Those are terrifying words from our Lord.
If Jesus hadn’t taught us about hell, we wouldn’t believe whoever did. It had to be Him. It is so inconceivable. We cannot conceive of eternal damnation. Jesus was preacher of Hell and He threatened people more than anyone else.
Matthew 5:22,
Matthew 5:29-30,
Matthew 7:27,
Matthew 8:12,
Matthew 11:20,
Matthew 12:36,
Matthew 18:9,
Matthew 21:41, Matthew chapter 23 full of it. Matthew chapter 24 and 25 all the parables are about Hell.
What is Hell? 1. Place of unrelieved torment. It is a place of unrelieved torment and misery. The Bible defines it as darkness, deep-pit darkness, darkness that’s way out from the light, impenetrable darkness.
Darkness without the hope of light forever. Have you ever been in the darkness and longed for the daylight? To be in that encroaching, encompassing, moving kind of darkness and know that for all the eons of eternity, you will never see light is how our Lord describes hell.
Unrelieved darkness forever, with no hope of the light, no hope of the dawn. Bible also calls Hell as a fire. It is not a fire that we would know as fire, to burn something in this world. But fire is God’s way of describing it because it is a tortuous, unrelieved kind of fire, more terrible than any fire that we would ever know.
No relief from the suffering, the agony, and the pain, forever. Only twice in the Scripture that we have any insight into how people respond to hell.
- a) Luke 16 Parable
Richman and beggar Lazarus.
Luke 16:24, “Then he cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his
finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.’
- b) Jesus’ statement
Matthew 13:42, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
Matthew 8:12, But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
Luke 13:28, There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and yourselves thrust out.
It is weeping, crying, wailing, screaming and grinding of teeth in pain. Hell is a place of unrelieved torment. 2. Unrelieved torment for body and soul. Soul being the inner part. When a person dies, their soul goes out of the presence of God, into the torment of hell. It may not be the full final lake of fire that comes after the judgment
in the great white throne, for that needs a transcendent body to endure it. But it is a torment just as well as illustrated by the rich man who in hell was tormented. When a person dies now, their soul descends into that torment.
In the future, there will be a resurrection of the bodies of the damned. They will be given a transcendent body that will then go into a lake of fire. It will be a body not like the body we have now. It will be a very different one. They will be resurrected just like we will, as Christians.
We will be resurrected because this body could never live eternally in heaven. We have to have a transcendent body, a glorified body, a different body, and so do the damned.
John 5:28-29, Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice 29 and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.
The Bible says that they will be tormented forever. They have to have a body to fit that eternal torment.
Matthew 10:28, And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. With the present body, man couldn’t endure hell. The body that we have now would be consumed in a moment. So as God fits the redeemed with new bodies for heaven, He fits the damned with new bodies for hell.
We know a little about that from two things the Lord said.
Mark 9:43-44, If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed, rather than having two hands, to go to hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched— 44where ‘Their worm does not die And the fire is not quenched.’
- a) The worm does not die.
When a body goes into the grave, into decay, worms descend into that body. They begin to consume that body, and the worms will die when the food is gone. So once the body is consumed, the worms die. But in hell, the worms never die because the body, though it is continually being consumed, is never consumed. So, the worm never dies.
- b) The fire is not quenched. 3. Level of torment varies.
Now a fire always goes out when the fuel is gone. But the fuel will never be gone. Though the burning goes on, the fuel is never consumed. So, you have unrelieved torment of body and soul. In hell torment of body and soul in varying degrees, in varying degrees.
For some people, hell will be worse than others. For all who are there, it will be horrible. It will be ultimate suffering. There will be no relief for that, but there will be even more severe degrees of suffering for some.
Hebrews 10:29, Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? People who have stepped on Jesus Christ, who have rejected his cross, will know a greater hell than those who have not.
There will be degrees, just as there will be degrees of reward in heaven.
Matthew 11:22, But I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. It’s only relative. It isn’t going to be tolerable for anyone, but it will appear to be more tolerable for them than for you because of what you have experienced.
They had Jesus Christ in their city, but they didn’t. They rejected Him with more light and hence, hell will be more severe for them.
Luke 12:47-48, And that servant who knew his master’s will, and did not prepare himself or do according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. 48 But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more.
4. Torment of body and soul endlessly
Hell is a place of unrelieved torment for body and soul in varying degrees endlessly.
The light never breaks, worm never dies, the fire never goes out, the relief of death never comes. Endlessly. The only way in which we in this life can even make it through trials, pain, suffering, and disease is because we believe there will be an end to it.
But they won’t have that! It’s just as everlasting as heaven is!
Matthew 25:46, “These shall go away into everlasting punishment, the righteous into everlasting life.” Whatever everlasting life is in terms of its length, so is everlasting punishment.
God never prepared it for people! God prepared it for the devil and his angels. But people choose to go there. Inconceivable misery. Some people have been in this kind of torment in their souls waiting for that body for thousands of years, and they’re no closer to the end then they were when they began. No wonder Jesus had to teach this doctrine.
Conclusion
How do you avoid hell? You avoid hell only by the receiving of Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour. If you don’t appropriate the kingdom, if you don’t take the treasure, if you don’t purchase the pearl of great price, there is no way out.
Matthew 22:1-14, our Lord gives a very similar illustration.
There is a wedding. Many people show up at the wedding. When the king comes in, whose who gathered he sees this person who doesn’t have a wedding garment.
Matthew 22:12-13, So he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. 13 Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ You got caught in the net of the kingdom, but you are not really one of the real ones. You don’t have a wedding garment.
The man had nothing to say and no claim to make. The same principle.
The kingdom net catches a lot of people, but not all that are caught are going to be part of the kingdom. Every year about 67 Million people die in the world. Every day about 183,561 people die. Every hour about 7,700 people die.
From the time our service started about 15,000 people are already dead. How many would make it to heaven to be with our Lord? Jesus died for every one of those who died. It is God’s will that none should perish but people choose to go to hell.
What are we doing? We have a tremendous responsibility.
2 Corinthians 5:11, Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are well known to God, and I also trust are well known in your consciences.