Again, the kingdom of the heavens is like a seine which has been cast into the sea, and which has gathered together of every kind,
The seventh and last parable of Matthew 13 changes the picture. Fields and seeds give way to the sea, and sowing gives way to fishing. Two questions press hardest. What is the net? And why does it take in fish of every kind, not only good ones?
The Greek word for this net is not the usual one. It appears only in this verse, and it means fishing on a far bigger scale.
Amphiblestron occurs only in Matthew 4:18 and means a casting net. It was thrown around the object, which is where the term came from. The more usual word is diktuon... But the sagene (in Matthew 13:47 only), from sattein, to pack or load, was a dragnet or seine, on a larger scale.
A dragnet is not aimed at one fish. It sweeps everything in its path.
The net stands for the message that goes out, and the sea for the restless mass of humanity it is thrown into.
In this last parable the kingdom is presented as it is in its effects and purpose in the eye of God. It is His purpose to gather out of the world a people for Himself, and the means He uses is pictured as a net cast into the sea. The net is clearly the preaching of the cross of Christ — to the Jews a stumbling block, to the Greeks foolishness... The sea is the symbol of the inhabitants of the earth in a state of tumult and lawlessness. And that is very much the state of the world... Within the Christian world you find not only the greatest good on earth, but also the greatest wickedness. There are real and false disciples of Christ.
Another reading takes the sea as the nations — the peoples outside Israel.
If the sea speaks of the nations, then the fish speak of the people in them. In God's purposes, the kingdom of heaven has to do not only with Israel and the church, but with the Gentile nations too.
The net does not screen what enters it. So the catch is mixed. That marks a real difference from the earlier parable of the weeds sown among the wheat.
This is like the parable of the wheat and weeds. In both cases angels do the untangling at the end of the age... But there is also a clear difference. In the earlier parable the wicked are in the world as the result of Satan's sowing. Here "the word of the kingdom" goes out among the nations like a net, and people of all kinds profess to receive it.
"Every kind" is not the same as everyone.
This parable does not assume a work of grace in every soul gathered into the net. Yet the net only gathers a small portion of the fish in the sea. How foolish then to think the whole world will be converted, when a scripture as plain as this says otherwise!
When the net is full, someone must sort the catch. Who does that work?
Who are "they"? We never find the angels gathering the good. They always separate the wicked for judgment. The fishers were men, like the servants in the first parable... The angels' business is always with the wicked; the servants' with the good.
This shapes the work of anyone serving God now.
The Christian worker is busy with the good. He is an agent of the grace that saved him. He leaves the worthless aside for those angels who excel in might... There is no question of a good fish turning worthless or of the worthless rising to good.
Some take the net as the gospel going out today. Others place it at the close of the age.
This is not the gospel net, as it is often called. After the one pearl is taken up, the end of the age begins. This parable falls into the completion of the age. The dragnet is let into the sea, which represents the nations. The parable refers to the preaching of the everlasting gospel as it will take place during the great tribulation (Revelation 14:6-7)... All this cannot refer to the present time nor to the church, but to the time when the kingdom is about to be set up.
- Net. A seine is a wide dragnet, and the word appears only here in the New Testament. It pictures a message thrown out on a scale that catches everything.
- Sea. The water stands for a world in turmoil. The fish are people from the nations, not Israel or the church alone.
- Every kind. People of all sorts profess to receive the word of the kingdom. So the catch holds real and false disciples side by side.
- Not all. The net takes a portion of the sea, never the whole of it — which rules out the idea that the world will all be converted.
- Two hands. Servants gather the good into vessels; angels deal with the wicked. Commentators differ: does the net picture preaching today, or the close of the age?
which, when it has been filled, having drawn up on the shore and sat down, they gathered the good into vessels and cast the worthless out.
A net dragged through the sea catches whatever is in its path. The sorting comes later, on the shore — who does it, what they want, and what happens to what they reject.
The verse never names the people who draw the net and sit down to sort. One commentator answers it from what angels do elsewhere in Scripture. They are always given the opposite job.
Who are "they"? We never find angels gathering the good. They always separate the wicked for judgment. The fishermen were men, like the servants in the first parable. … The angels' business is always with the wicked; the servants' business is with the good. Separating the wicked from among the just is not the fishermen's work at all. And throwing the bad away is not the same thing as the furnace of fire.
The net brings in a mixed catch. Both kinds wear the Christian name, and one writer says telling them apart is a solemn responsibility.
The net has gathered in both good and bad. The good fish are those who have humbly admitted their guilt and ruin, and the Saviour's precious blood has cleansed them from their sins. The bad are those — and how many! — who "profess and call themselves Christians," but have no love for the Saviour's person and no living faith in the gospel. Mistakes in discernment are all too possible. Even so, everyone to whom Christ is more than a mere name carries a solemn responsibility to tell the good from the bad, in godly fear — keeping company with the one and avoiding the other.
So where does the mixture come from?
In the net the mixture came from the work of man. The kinds of fish were distinct, no doubt, but a single labour gathered them all into the net — and that labour was man's, the fishermen's. This is not here a work of the enemy, but the imperfect work of man.
Notice the order. The good go into something. The bad are only thrown out. One action is the aim of the work; the other only clears the way for it.
The fishermen are taken up with the good: they put them into vessels. The bad they only reject and set aside. What is the fisherman after? What does he care about? The good fish. To have them as he wants and intends, he must reject the others along the way. But he does that only so that he may have the good. Beyond that, he has nothing to do with the bad. They are not his concern. They are only in his way: the net was not cast for them. He gathers the good into vessels. Where they go after that is not his business either: his work is to catch them and gather them into vessels apart.
The verse ends their work not with the haul but with the storing. One writer sees in that the shape of serving Christ near the end.
Putting the good into vessels is the closing act of the fishermen. The Holy Spirit gives them the ability to tell the good from the bad. This wisdom was not withheld before. From the beginning, receiving souls into the Church is putting the good into vessels. But the energy of the Holy Spirit in the fishermen makes care for the "good" the mark of the close. Some travel about proclaiming the name of Jesus, then leave those who may have been converted to go wherever they like. They may be doing only what they have power for. But they are not the fishermen who give character to the kingdom of heaven at the close.
The verse puts the good into more than one container, or vessel.
The vessels would represent companies of saints, with nothing in them that points to different sects.
The fishermen do not pick the moment. And other hands handle what comes after.
The fishermen will draw the gospel net to shore when it is full. No one but God knows how soon that will happen, though everything around us suggests the end of the age is near. The fishermen simply throw the bad fish out of the net. They were not the fish they were looking for. And angelic power, not human hands, will deal out God's judgement on those who falsely claim the Christian name.
- Net — the imperfect work of man makes the mixture inside it, not an enemy sowing at night.
- Sorters — "they" are men, like the servants in the first parable. Angels never gather the good.
- Good — those who own their guilt and are cleansed by the Saviour's blood. The bad wear the Christian name with no living faith.
- Vessels — the good are the whole aim. The bad are set aside only so the good can be kept. The vessels picture companies of saints, not rival sects.
- Furnace — being thrown out of the net is not yet the fire; angels, not men, carry out that judgement.
Thus shall it be in the completion of the age the angels shall go forth and sever the wicked from the midst of the just,
The Lord has just told the story of the net full of fish, and now He explains it. Three questions follow: when is "the end of the age," who does the separating, and why are the wicked taken from the just, not the just from the wicked?
The older wording "the end of the world" makes many readers think of the earth burning up. The word is age, and what follows it is a new era, not the end of everything.
In Matthew 13 we find the expression "the end of the world" occurring three times. A reader might suppose that this refers to the end of the world, as the Apostle Peter describes it: "the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed" (2 Peter 3:10). But the correct translation is "the end of the age." So it refers to the close of this present age of God's grace. God will then pour out His judgments on this guilty world, leading up to the Lord setting up His kingdom on this earth for a thousand years, called the millennium.
The direction of the move matters here. The wicked go and the just stay. That is the reverse of what happens when the Lord comes for His own.
This is the clearance of the earth for millennial blessing. When the Lord comes for His own, which 1 Thessalonians 4 sets before us, He removes the saints. Then the wicked will not be severed from the just, but the just from the wicked. The righteous will be taken, and the wicked left. Here it is the reverse of this — the wicked taken and the righteous left... Here, on the contrary, the righteous are those not taken away to inherit heavenly blessing, but left behind to inherit earthly.
In the parable the men on the beach sort the fish. In the explanation the workers disappear and angels take over. They handle only one group.
At the end of the age, the angels will come out and sever the wicked from among the just. They do not gather the just from among the rest, as the fishermen did. They will cast the wicked into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Nothing here says the angels are busy with the just. Gathering them into vessels was not the angels' work, but that of the fishermen. The angels are in both parables occupied with the wicked.
The same event has two halves, and the motive behind each is not the same. One is preservation; the other is punishment.
The fishermen gather the good into vessels, to take care of and preserve them — an act of interest and value. The angels sever the wicked from among the just. The fishermen sought out the good. The angels seek out the bad for punishment, and "cast them into the furnace of fire" — an act of vengeance and wrath.
Not everyone reads the net the same way. Many call it the gospel net at work today. One writer denies that and places the whole scene at a later point.
This is not the Gospel net, as it is often called. This parable falls into the completion of the age... All this cannot refer to the present time nor to the church, but to the time when the kingdom is about to be set up.
If the severing belongs to angels at the end, it is not a task for believers now. People who claimed Christ's name have taken it up anyway.
Some who claimed to be Christ's servants handed over supposed heretics and other spiritual offenders for outward punishment. They did exactly what is forbidden for now... Destructive judgment on Christians in name only is not the servants' work. It belongs to the angels of the Son of Man.
- Age, not world. The phrase means the close of an age. What follows is Christ's kingdom on earth, not the end of everything.
- Views differ. Commentators split over the net: many call it today's gospel work, while another places the whole scene when the kingdom is about to be set up.
- Angels sent. Angels do the severing, and they deal with the wicked alone. Other hands gather the good into vessels.
- Wicked removed. The bad go out and the just stay in place. That is the opposite of the Lord's coming for His own, so it is not the same event.
- Ours meanwhile. Christ's servants are not to hand people over for punishment now. That judgment belongs to the angels.
and shall cast them into the furnace of fire; there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.
The last parable in this chapter does not end with the good fish safe in vessels. It ends with a sentence: a furnace, and a sound of grief. Who carries out that sentence? On whom, and when? Commentators also mark this act off from the work the Lord gives His servants now.
The sorting on the beach and the casting into the fire are two different actions by two different sets of hands. One commentator draws the line, and says what it leaves for Christians to do.
This was the fishermen's work of careful sorting. It is all the more striking because in the first parable the servants were forbidden to gather the weeds. In both parables, it is the angels who deal with the wicked. They are, as the interpretation goes on to say (not only explaining, but adding), to come out and separate the wicked from among the righteous. This is another truth, which must not be confused with the fishermen's work of gathering the good into vessels. Both are true, but they differ in what they are and what they aim at. We, the servants or fishermen, have to do with the good; the angels will carry out judgment on the wicked. The Christian is called to the work of grace.
A furnace was an everyday object, and Scripture uses it in more than one way.
People used furnaces for many purposes: smelting raw metal, refining it in crucibles, making lime and bricks, and baking as an oven... The furnace also pictures the oppression of Egypt, out of which God delivered the Israelites (Deuteronomy 4:20). It pictures too the afflictions God later brought them into, to purify them from their idolatry and sin (Ezekiel 22:18, 22). In the New Testament the furnace of fire refers to the place of eternal punishment.
Some argue that fire burning up weeds must mean the wicked stop existing. One writer answers that the weeping named here rules that out.
The explanation shows that the thought is not extinction, which is only a conclusion drawn from the effect of fire on weeds. The effect of the fire, as of the outer darkness, is weeping and gnashing of teeth. So the effect is not a ceasing to exist, as they claim, but suffering. It is suffering called everlasting (Matthew 25:46), in contrast with everlasting life.
The two words are not one idea repeated. Each carries its own attitude, and neither is repentance.
The weeping is only self-pity, not repentance. Wailing is the attitude of complaining, because faith is absent. Gnashing of teeth is a spirit of rebellion, not corrected even by the solemn judgment of God.
The phrase appears only in a few places. One commentator points to the pattern running through them all.
We call attention to this phrase. In the New Testament only Matthew uses it elsewhere (Matthew 8:12; 13:42, 50; 22:13; 24:51; 25:30). Always, you will notice, it refers to those who have treated the offer of grace lightly. Gentiles will accept grace and sit down in the kingdom with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Matthew 8:11). Natural descent from Abraham, which the Jews boasted of and gloried in so much, will count for nothing if they reject grace.
Commentators differ on how much of this parable belongs to the present. One writer is careful to say that the believer's hope is a different event, and an earlier one.
Angels will bind the weeds in bundles, and gather the wheat into the barn, and also separate the wicked from among the just. I hardly need to say that the catching up of the saints is not a separating of the wicked from among the just. It is a separation of the saints from among the wicked, and will have taken place before the end of this present age.
Another writer places the whole parable later, after the present period has closed.
This is not the Gospel net, as it is often called. After the one pearl is taken up, the end of the age begins. This parable falls into the completion of the age... The separating of the good and the bad is done by angels. All this cannot refer to the present time nor to the church, but to the time when the kingdom is about to be set up.
- Cast — in the first parable the servants were forbidden to gather the weeds; the mixture stands until the end.
- Sorted — the fishermen handle only the good; the Christian is called to the work of grace, not to judgment.
- Severed — angels separate the wicked from among the just. That is judgment, not the catching up of the saints, which comes earlier.
- Sentenced — the furnace of fire is the place of eternal punishment; the weeping shows the fire does not end existence but brings suffering.
- Stubborn — the weeping is self-pity and the gnashing is rebellion, never repentance; this phrase always falls on those who treated the offer of grace lightly.