Parable #18 — Matthew 13:47-51…Parable of the Fishing Net

47 “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a fishing net that was thrown into the water and caught fish of every kind. 48 When the net was full, they dragged it up onto the shore, sat down, and sorted the good fish into crates, but threw the bad ones away. 49 That is the way it will be at the end of the world. The angels will come and separate the wicked people from the righteous, 50 throwing the wicked into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 51 Do you understand all these things?” “Yes,” they said, “we do.”……God judges righteously…The gospel is like a drag net.…We draw the net of the gospel while God is the one who sorts the catch.

Four Kingdom of Heaven Parables

6. There are two types of fishing nets:

A casting net that catches only the fish it is thrown over and …A drag net that catches everything.

Which net did Jesus refer to in Matthew 13:47?

What about when he spoke of “fishers of men” (Matt 4:18-19)?

7. What did the fishermen do with all the fish (Matt 13:48)?

How will this be like what the angels do at the end of the age?

(Matthew, 13:49, 25:31-32, 34, 41)

8. Jesus already told a similar parable about good and bad people coexisting (#12, Wheat and weeds, Matt 13:24-30).

What’s the difference in the message?

9. How is the kingdom of heaven like the fishing net in this parable?

10. We don’t like to hear about hell. Many preachers these days don’t evenmention it. Some Christian radio stations have banned messages about it.

Cartoonists mock it. Which prophet or person in the Bible spoke more about hell than anyone else?

11. How would you describe hell?

12. Jesus asked his disciples if they understood the eight kingdom of heavenparables.

Do you? If you understand them, what did Jesus say you are to do?

Four Kingdom of Heaven Parables

Why did Jesus teach the parable of the dragnet?…This parable talks about the separation of good and evil, when He already talked about that separation in the parable of the wheat and the weeds. …One reason He taught it was because the parable of the wheat and the weeds emphasizes the coexistence of good and evil, not the separation of good and evil.

Another reason Jesus had for teaching the parable of the dragnet was because of His compassion for men. …He wanted to warn them about hell.

He said, Matt 25:13…“So you, too, must keep watch! For you do not know the day or hour of my return.” .

Jesus cautioned people not to take their sins lightly because inevitably they would be accountable before God.

Hebrews 4:13

13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes, and he is the one to whom we are accountable.

The Kingdom of heaven is like a net.

That net moves through the world unseen.

 

The world is a vast sea, and men, in their natural state, are like the fishes. Preaching the gospel is casting a net into this sea, to catch something out of it, for His glory has the sovereignty of this sea.

Hypocrites and true Christians shall be parted: miserable will the condition of those be that shall then be cast away.

 

When the net touches the back of a fish, the creature simply swims a little further ahead of it, enjoying what appears to be lasting freedom.

Men move about in this world imagining themselves to be free, fulfilling their own desires, with little knowledge that the net of judgment is coming closer and closer.

Each time men are touched by the net, they move a little further along. Eventually they will find themselves hitting the part of the net in front of them. They will make a wild dash to escape, yet find them totally surrounded by the net.

Finally, they will be dragged onto the shore, flapping as they enter death.

Men may not see God moving in the world, but He is moving. When they aretouched by the gospel of Jesus Christ, or become scared by the threat of judgment, they dart away into the freedom they think is ahead of them. But sooner or later, they will find they are still caught in the net that is moving them toward judgment.

The Kingdom will ultimately engulf all men, and God will separate them with His angels.

Hell is a place of unrelieved torment and horrible misery for both body and soul. Some people think that hell will only be experienced by the innerconsciousness.

But hell will be experienced by the body, too.

Transcendent,eternal bodies are going to be given to the damned; they will suffer in those bodies forever.

The unrelieved torment in hell will be experienced by different people in varying degrees.

Hell will be horrible for everyone there, but some people will suffer more than others. Hell will be endless and everlasting.

 

Jesus trained the disciples to be laborers in the harvest and warn men about the coming judgment.

 

Parable #19Matthew 13:52…52 Then he added, “Every teacher of religious law who becomes a disciple in the Kingdom of Heaven is like a homeowner who brings from his storeroom new gems of truth as well as old.”

He says here that the disciples are now like a householder who dispenses supplies from his storehouse to meet peoples’ needs. If someone needed clothing, food, or care, the householder gave it to him.

The householder was also wise enough to dispense both old and new things, so that the old things didn’t ultimately become useless. He was a wise steward of everything he possessed.

The disciples are now householders with a storehouse filled with both old and new things. In other words, they knew the Old Testament and knew about the mysteries of the Kingdom. They could not only teach about the Old Testament and Jewish tradition; they could dispense the new mysteries of the Kingdom. They now knew more than the Jewish scribes. All that the scribes knew was the Old Testament. But the disciples had knowledge of both old and new things in perfect balance. God had called and trained them, and now wanted them to spread their knowledge.

Today, We are to proclaim the same message that the disciples were toproclaim: The people of the world are destined for hell unless they accept the gift of life from God through Jesus.

As for Matthew 13:33, “yeast” or “leaven” does not always have to represent “sin,” which is merely one type of “leaven.”

In general, leaven is something that starts out small or localized and then spreads throughout the medium in which it is contained.

Therefore, the Kingdom of heaven (or of God) is like leaven, it began with upright and honourable men, in and around the area now known as Israel. …Through their faith and great works, this Kingdom has spread throughout all the world and is within those who are believers in God and the Messiah, Jesus. …When He returns from heaven, His Kingdom will not only fill but it willdominate the entire world.…The first and last parables in Matthew 13 are key parables. The first, the Parable of the Sower, introduces and anticipates the whole series of parables, and the last, the Parable of the Householder (Matthew 13:51-52), concludes and reflects on them. When Jesus finishes giving the first seven parables, He asks His disciples, “Have you understood these things?” They reply, “Yes.” Their understanding allows Jesus to give one more illustration to reveal their responsibility as scribes being instructed on the subject of the Kingdom of Heaven.

As for Matthew 13:52, it speaks first about the teacher of the Law. We can equate the Law with the Torah. …Now, let’s use Paul as an example. He was well-versed in the ancient Torah, and he also was instructed (by divine revelation) about the Kingdom of heaven, symbolized by Jesus.

The Torah is an old treasure, and the Kingdom of heaven—which will spread throughout the earth and will be in control of everything when Jesus returns—is a new treasure. …In essence, the old treasure (Torah, Law, or Instruction) taught about the coming Messiah, while the new treasure teaches about the Messiah, Yeshua (Jesus), who has come and who will set up His Kingdom of heaven on the earth. …Most Christians have “tossed out” a great many teachings of the Torah, unaware that, by and large, it teaches about all aspects of the coming Messiah.

Jesus did not abolish the Law (Torah) or what was taught by the Prophets; rather, He fulfilled them …Matthew 5:17…17 “Don’t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose.

He obeyed every rule and regulation of the Torah (including keeping the seventh day of the week as the Sabbath). …He even affirmed that not the smallest bit of the Law/Torah would disappear or stop being in effect until the present earth and heavens disappear (5:18), and is believed to take place at the end of the Millennium (Revelation 20:11, 21:1).

It is said that Christendom as a whole—which claims to “follow Jesus’ example”—is careless in having abandoned most of the teachings (old treasures) of the Torah. There are several Bible teachers today who are well-versed in the Torah and who show how the treasures of old (contained in the Torah) must be combined with the new treasures (about Jesus and His heavenly Kingdom) to give us a full, rich, complete picture of what God wants us to know.

People who do this are examples of “the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old”

Parable #19Matthew 13:52…52 Then he added, “Every teacher of religious law who becomes a disciple in the Kingdom of Heaven is like a homeowner who brings from his storeroom new gems of truth as well as old.”

In this eighth and last parable of this chapter, Jesus educates His disciples in their roles as students, teachers, and leaders.

The householder represents the true minister doing the work of feeding the household of faith. …Our Savior shows that a minister of God’s household has a truly rich, inspired storehouse of essential spiritual treasures from which he can draw to perform his duties.

Jesus kindly asked them whether they had understood these things. 51 Do you understand all these things?” If not, he was still willing to teach them. He told them that it was their duty to make proper use of this knowledge, then Hewent on to give them another parable.

Every teacher or scribe in the kingdom of heaven – That is, every man that is acquainted with the gospel or with the truth.……What is the function of a scribe? 

A “scribe” in the first century had an important position in the Jewish community. Almost five centuries earlier, Ezra the priest had been the exemplary scribe (Ezra 7:6), trained and skilled in the Law of Moses, which God had given Israel. …He read the law before all who could hear with understanding on the Feast of Trumpets, helping the people to comprehend it (Nehemiah 8:2-8). In this, we see the function of a scribe—and similarly, the function of what we call a “minister” of God. A minister is a man who dedicates his life to studying God’s written Word so he can explain and illustrate the Bible’s laws, statutes, and principles to help people live God’s abundant way of life.

The word translated instructed is from a Greek word meaning “to make a disciple” or “to become a pupil.” Verse 52 could easily read, “. . . every scribe who has been trained for the Kingdom of God is like a master of a house.” In this light, we see the scribe as a student who has been taught and is continuing to be taught. Not only is he a teacher, but he is also learning at the same time. He must continue to learn so that he can continue to teach.

Jesus left an example of sending out His disciples after teaching them to preach the Kingdom of God (Matthew 10:5-7 28:19-20). In this way, the gospel is spread around the world and God’s flock is fed.

What is the householder’s responsibility?

The scribe is compared to “a householder.” The Greek word translated householder means “the master of the house.” “Master” implies great authority as well as responsibility over his house. The master of the house has the final say in deciding what is best for his household.

In terms of leading the church, the minister of God has been commissioned as an authoritative teacher of Holy Scripture …I Corinthians 4:1. …This parable suggests that God has granted His ministers authority to explain His Word, calling them “masters of the house.” A minister is thus a student, a teacher, and a leader. Paul expresses in Ephesians 4:7-13 Christ’s view that the ministry is His gift to the church, and that He gives it to them to do the work of preaching the gospel, equipping the saints, and helping to bring people to evaluate the fullness of Christ. The house owner does these things, Christ says, by bringing “out of his treasure things new and old.”

As the disciples had said that they had understood the truth, Jesus said that it should not be wasted. They should bring it out and not hesitate , like a house owner bringing out from his store room a treasury of gems of truth, what had been kept there to be used at any time when needed.

Bring it out –when the need is there such as sickness, or calamity, or when his family may need it, or for needs of the poor .

The word “treasury“ here means a place of safe keeping, not just for money , but anything necessary for his family’s comfort. It is the same as “treasury” or a place of “deposit.”…The word treasure in verse 52 means something slightly different than it does in verse 44 in the Parable of the Hidden Treasure, where it implies gems and other precious things. In verse 52, it means a placefor treasure, not the treasure itself. …In other words, Jesus refers to “a treasure house,” “a treasury,” “a storehouse,” or “a storeroom” where a person would keep necessary items like food, clothing, supplies, and family valuables for safekeeping. …In context, then, the minister is to use what he has learned and experienced for the benefit of his spiritual family—he is to use as resources all the things he has stored away from his study of God’s truth and his know-how in living God’s way to lead and provide for his flock.…What is the new and the old that comes out of the treasure?.…New and old–Latest or new things as well as things that had been there for a while or older things.…The “new and old” refers to food stored in a storeroom. The master of the house is in charge of ensuring that his storeroom contains everything needed to feed his family. …A prudent householder balances serving his oldest store with the new. In this sense, seeing the value in the old, he wisely serves his family old store as well as the fresh “off-the-vine” food, mixing them in balance so that neither is wasted.…Jesus wants His ministers to teach their spiritual families by carefully balancing the teaching of the Old and the New Testaments…Matthew 5:17-19…17 “Don’t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose. 18 I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not even the smallest detail of God’s law will disappear until its purpose is achieved.19 So if you ignore the least commandment and teach others to do the same, you will be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But anyone who obeys God’s laws and teaches them will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.…Acts 26:22-23…22 But God has protected me right up to this present time so I can testify to everyone, from the least to the greatest. I teach nothing except what the prophets and Moses said would happen— 23 that the Messiah would suffer and be the first to rise from the dead, and in this way announce God’s light to Jews and Gentiles alike.”…It does not mean that the old is thrown away or is wrong. In the parables, Jesus did a similar thing by taking the old understanding of God’s Kingdom and focusing new light on it to expand the people’s understanding of its character and future course.

Ministers of Christ may not grasp and understand all the wisdom of God, but having received His instruction and sufficiently understood His message, they are commissioned to make use of this spiritually rich treasure to enrich others (Galatians 6:10). Taught by Jesus Christ and inspired in understanding His Word, ministers are to reflect that knowledge to their spiritual families, their fellow members of the church.

Jesus said you –meaning His disciples – should be the truth whether it’s old or whether it’s new whatever you have learnt as my followers don’t keep it for yourself , but bring it out whenever there’s a need for it so that others can benefit from it.…Every preacher should be properly instructed. …For three years Jesus gave instructions to the disciplesfor them to preach and bring the good news, and that theyshould firstly understand the gospel themselves,and that they should at all times defend it, and that they should communicate it to others. …Studying the Scripture, learning from it.…When a minister keeps it for himself it is ultimately of no value to him; but all teaching and learning that will enable a person to better understand the Bible and communicate its truths is valuable, and should, wherever possible , be encouraged and passed on.

A minister should be like the father of a family – distributing to the church as it needs; and out of his treasures bring out truth to help the weak, to explain to the ignorant, and to look for and guide those who are in danger of straying away.…We read in:…2 Timothy 2:1…Timothy, my dear son, be strong through the grace that God gives you in Christ Jesus. 2 You have heard me teach things that have been confirmed by many reliable witnesses. Now teach these truths to other trustworthy people who will be able to pass them on to others.…2 Timothy 3:14-17…14 But you must remain faithful to the things you have been taught. You know they are true, for you know you can trust those who taught you. 15 You have been taught the holy Scriptures from childhood, and they have given you the wisdom to receive the salvation that comes by trusting in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. 17 God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.