Summary: We start a very interesting Parable, that of the Dragnet that has great application to this time we live in. In the 6 or 7 parts we will examine the Parable itself; the Revelation church that matches the parable; and the relevant time in Church History. Now we look at the Dragnet gathering.

25. THE KINGDOM PARABLES – THE SEVENTH - THE PARABLE OF THE DRAGNET - PART 1 of 6

[1]. INTRODUCTION

This is the last of the Kingdom Parables. Often called, The Parable of the Dragnet, it is about a large net that sweeps up everything and sends it to be sorted. It the final gathering and distribution and shortly we look at that Parable, but firstly, let us consider this Parable in context.

As we progressed through all six of the previous parables, we saw remarkable things. Most significantly, these parables were in a definite exact order that matched the progress of Church History in the past 2 000 years. Additionally, each parable matched one of the churches in Asia Minor in Revelation 2 and 3, but also in exact order. The last church there is Laodicea and we will see also a perfect match with that church and the Dragnet.

The first Parable was that of the Sower when the good seed was sown in the world. It is the Lord who is the Sower, and that represents the beginning of the gospel. The remaining 5 parables saw the progress of the initial preaching, through difficult times; times or corruption; times of refreshing, but in the last parable we see the net being drawn up to close this whole 2 000 year period at the end of the age.

[2]. THE PARABLE OF THE DRAGNET

Matthew 13:47 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea and gathering fish of every kind,

Matthew 13:48 and when it was filled they drew it up on the beach, and they sat down and gathered the good fish into containers but the bad they threw away.

Matthew 13:49 SO IT WILL BE AT THE END OF THE AGE. The angels shall come forth and take out the wicked from among the righteous,

Matthew 13:50 and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”}}

[A]. WHAT IS THE END OF THE AGE?

In every part of God’s word we must look for the key pointers. God expects us to do that, otherwise we are lazy and lack discernment. The parable here tells a story, so to obtain the correct understanding we must be certain of the setting.

I have highlighted the setting in capitalised letters. The setting is “at the end of the age”. The word “age” is used a lot in the bible and, depending on context, it can have various applications and settings, but in this case it is very clear.

The parable is so precise as to what will happen, and therefore we are in no doubt what the end of the age will be. Let us go forward a bit in Matthew to a most important question – {{Matthew 24:3-4 As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be THE SIGN OF YOUR COMING AND OF THE END OF THE AGE?” Jesus answered and said to them, “See to it that no one misleads you,”}}

Then in the remainder of Chapter 24 Jesus describes the great judgement on the world we know as the Tribulation and this chapter matches so perfectly the events of Revelation chapter 6, the start of the Tribulation.

The end of the age is when human history/government has run its course and the new age of Messiah’s rule will come when He reigns for 1 000 years – {{Revelation 20:4 “I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given to them, and I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of the testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshipped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark upon their forehead and upon their hand, and they came to life AND REIGNED WITH CHRIST FOR A THOUSAND YEARS. This is the first resurrection.”}}. In context, see Revelation 20:1-8.

Therefore the end of the age is when human government as we know it will end. Jesus comes to reign and He will be King over the whole earth – {{Zechariah 14:9 “And THE LORD WILL BE KING OVER ALL THE EARTH; in that day the LORD will be the only one, and His name the only one.”}}

{{Zechariah 14:16 “Then it will come about that any who are left of all the nations that went against Jerusalem will go up from year to year TO WORSHIP THE KING, the LORD of hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Booths.”}}

The age comes to its end when Jesus returns. This is known as The Second Coming, or Second Advent, or His Coming in Glory. Therefore the parable of the Dragnet will happen just after the Second Coming. That is the correct setting for the parable. It is the final reaping of the harvest that began with the seed being sown by the Sower in the first parable. I will develop this more later on.

[3]. DISSECTING THE VERSES OF THE PARABLE

We are going to take this parable verse by verse for a thorough understanding, but keep in mind what the true setting will be.

[B]. Verse 47 – THE DRAGNET FOR FISHING

{{Matthew 13:47 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea and gathering fish of every kind,”}}

I used to use a cast net for catching bait, and we know of the great seine nets used by giant trawlers that stretch for many kilometres, but what is the dragnet used here? A dragnet is a net that’s drawn across the bottom of a body of water and scoops up everything.

There is an incident in the scriptures with the disciples – {{Luke 5:2-7 “and He saw two boats lying at the edge of the lake but the fishermen had gotten out of them and were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little way from the land, and He sat down and began teaching the multitudes from the boat. When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch,” and Simon answered and said, “Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing, BUT AT YOUR BIDDING I will let down the nets.” When they had done this, they enclosed a great quantity of fish and their nets began to break, and they signalled to their partners in the other boat for them to come to help them, and they came and filled both of the boats so that they began to sink.”}}

This right at the start of Jesus’ ministry. What did Jesus know about fishing? He was a carpenter. Simon was the skilled fisherman. Here we see obedience trumping human reason, and that is how it must be. The disciples would learn through the next three years what obedience was, and the power of the divine Creator who lived and walked with them.

In this incident the nets were let down for a catch but this is not a dragnet. The dragnet sweeps across the sea bottom to catch everything. That is the purpose of the parable – nothing would be missed or overlooked. The dragnet was to be purposeful.

That was to be the last serious “commercial” fishing the disciples would do as Jesus informed them – {{Luke 5:10 and so also James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Jesus said to Simon, “Do not fear, FROM NOW ON YOU WILL BE CATCHING MEN,”}}

As I have said already this parable has its setting at the end of the age. Two verses we will do in detail later on are these – Matthew 25:31-32 - but these verses are the result of the dragnet. At the Second Coming not one on the earth will be missed. All will be gathered AND SORTED! God’s dragnet misses NONE.

The sowing has been done over 2000 years originating from the good Seed of Jesus the Sower, and now comes the reaping. Do you recall THE PARABLE OF THE TARES? The good word was sown but the devil and his agents came along in their underhanded sneaky way and sowed tares (darnel, false wheat). The servants wanted to rip out the tares but were prevented. Jesus said both would grow until the harvest and then the tares will be taken away to leave the righteous. That is exactly what the Dragnet Parable says too. More on this in the next verse.

[C]. Verse 48 – THE DRAGNET’S CONTENTS ARE SORTED

{{Matthew 13:48 “and when it was filled they drew it up on the beach, and they sat down and gathered the GOOD FISH into containers but THE BAD they threw away.”}}

All is gathered, but there were two great separations. One was for the GOOD and the other is for the BAD.

In the bible it is so clear that there is not a spotted grouping between the black and white. There are only two groupings. There are only two sides. There are only two ways – the way of the wicked and the way of the righteous. There are only two genders – male and female and cursed be those who try to distort and mutilate gender and marriage. There are only two destinations – heaven and hell, but these will become The New Jerusalem and the lake of fire. There are only two sides regarding Jesus Christ – either with Him or against Him (Luke 11:23). There are only two eternal states – in Christ or not in Christ. There are only two positions of the mind – obedience or disobedience.

In our verse here (48) there are only two groups, the good and the bad, not part good or part bad. The good are gathered to be kept, but the bad are thrown away.

In verse 48 it clearly states that the bad are the wicked and it is these who are thrown away. We must be careful here. The throwing away does not mean discarded to waste away to nothing in decay or annihilation. It means REJECTION and then judgement. {{Hebrews 9:27 “Inasmuch as it is appointed FOR MEN TO DIE once and after this comes judgment,”}}

The false doctrine of Seventh Day Adventists which they call “soul sleep” is that God does not punish the wicked in hell but they become as nothing. Puff, and are no more whatever. The Old Testament and New Testament are so clear about eternal punishment.

I have written a message on SermonCentral called CONSEQUENCES – WE DON’T AVOID THEM. The whole universe is full of consequences. Every action has a consequence; every person has a consequence. Consequences merit judgement, and Jesus is so clear that the judgement of the wicked is NOT soul sleep. {{Mark 9:43-44 “If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled, than having your two hands, to go into hell, into the UNQUENCHABLE FIRE, where THEIR WORM DOES NOT DIE, and the fire is not quenched.”}}

A fair question to be asked is, “Who are the righteous (the good fish – the wheat) and who are the wicked (the bad – the tares)?” There is nothing in this parable to indicate that, but the biblical references are multitudinous as to the righteous and the wicked. We have no doubt about it. Just this one verse is yet another proving the division – {{Psalm 1:6 “for the LORD knows the way of THE RIGHTEOUS, but the way of THE WICKED will perish.”}}

[D]. Verse 49 – THE SEPARATION AT THE END OF THE AGE

{{Matthew 13:49 “SO IT WILL BE AT THE END OF THE AGE. The ANGELS shall come forth and TAKE OUT THE WICKED FROM AMONG THE RIGHTEOUS,”}}

This verse begins with “SO” and that is a conclusion from verse 48. What verses 47 and 48 are saying, is what happens in verse 49. We are going to break this down.

The time of reaping (harvesting) has come and the angels are the reapers on mission for the KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS who has just come from heaven to stand on the Mount of Olives – {{Revelation 19:16 On His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”}}. {{Zechariah 14:4 “And in that day HIS FEET WILL STAND ON THE MOUNT OF OLIVES, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south.”}}

This reaping will happen at the END OF THE AGE as verse 9 says. This end of the age is the exact thing the disciples asked about here – {{Matthew 24:3 As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of YOUR COMING and of THE END OF THE AGE?”}}. That question was asking about the Second Coming, and when the age ends. Well, they are the same thing. Messiah’s Second Coming will bring an end to this current age before His Kingdom is set up and messiah is King over the whole world.

Consider these verses – {{Matthew 24:29-30 “but immediately AFTER THE TRIBULATION of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light and the stars will fall from the sky and the powers of the heavens will be shaken, and then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory.”}}

{{Matthew 24:31 “HE WILL SEND FORTH HIS ANGELS with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.”}}

Matthew 13:49 says the wicked are taken from among the righteous, and Matthew 24:31 says the elect are gathered. There is no difference here. This is the Dragnet, the great separation. The wicked are separated from the righteous (and vice-versa).

In Matthew 24 Jesus has been teaching about the Tribulation, and nothing in Matthew 24 from verse 3 to the end is related to the Church. This is much misunderstood. The disciples asked in Matthew 24 about the end of the age, and the Jews knew exactly what that meant. It means when the Messiah comes to set up His kingdom. That is so clearly taught in so many of the Old Testament prophets.

Do you remember just before the Ascension 40 days after the Resurrection, on that very day, the disciples asked this? {{Acts 1:6 When they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, “Lord, is it at this time You are RESTORING THE KINGDOM TO ISRAEL?”}}. The Kingdom WILL BE RESTORED in the Lord’s time. It was not for the disciples to know the TIMING – {{Acts 1:7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority,”}}

The end of the age will be the end of man’s governmental rule, and the rule of the Messiah will be set up. The whole description of the Tribulation in Matthew 24 is for the world for 7 years, but Jesus is our Deliverer from that wrath to come, so Christians have no part in the Tribulation for they have been raptured 7 years before the Second Coming, and come back with the Lord when He comes, after the Marriage Supper of the Lamb IN HEAVEN, where the Church has been waiting. (Revelation 19:6-9). Verses saying Christians will not be in the Tribulation – 1 Thessalonians 1:10; 1 Thessalonians 5:9; Revelation 3:10). PLUS Noah was lifted up out of (before) the judgment that came on the world.

That is enough for one message so I will finish here and next time in Part 2 we will look at further material for this verse - Matthew 13:49. The rest of the verse is a bit long for this Part 1.