After God’s great harvest, you will be judged. Are you a follower of Jesus? Are you found in union with him or away from him?
God wants you more than Uncle Sam ever could. He wants you to commit to his Son. Then you will have a safe outcome at final judgment. You will be welcome into his eternal kingdom.
Before we begin the exegesis …..
Quick definition of a parable:
Literally, the word parable (parabolē in Greek) combines para– (pronounced pah-rah) and means “alongside” and bolē (pronounced boh-lay) which means “put” or even “throw”). Therefore, a parable puts two or more images or ideas alongside each other to produce a new truth. […] The Shorter Lexicon says that the Greek word parabolē can sometimes be translated as “symbol,” “type,” “figure,” and “illustration,” the latter term being virtually synonymous with parable.
For more information on what a parable is and its purposes, click on this link:
The translation is mine. If you would like to see other translations, click here:
If you don’t read Greek, ignore the left column.
I often quote scholars in print because I learn many things from them. They form a community of teachers I respect (1 Cor. 12:28), though I don’t agree with everything they write. But they do ensure I do not go astray. There is safety in numbers (for me at least).
Now let’s begin.
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Parable of the Net (Matt. 13:47-50) |
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| 47 Πάλιν ὁμοία ἐστὶν ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν σαγήνῃ βληθείσῃ εἰς τὴν θάλασσαν καὶ ἐκ παντὸς γένους συναγαγούσῃ· 48 ἣν ὅτε ἐπληρώθη ἀναβιβάσαντες ἐπὶ τὸν αἰγιαλὸν καὶ καθίσαντες συνέλεξαν τὰ καλὰ εἰς ἄγγη, τὰ δὲ σαπρὰ ἔξω ἔβαλον. 49 οὕτως ἔσται ἐν τῇ συντελείᾳ τοῦ αἰῶνος· ἐξελεύσονται οἱ ἄγγελοι καὶ ἀφοριοῦσιν τοὺς πονηροὺς ἐκ μέσου τῶν δικαίων 50 καὶ βαλοῦσιν αὐτοὺς εἰς τὴν κάμινον τοῦ πυρός· ἐκεῖ ἔσται ὁ κλαυθμὸς καὶ ὁ βρυγμὸς τῶν ὀδόντων. | 47 Again the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet thrown into the lake and gathers all kinds of things. 48 When it is full, they haul it up on to the beach and sit and gather the good ones into containers, and they threw the bad things outside. 49 It shall be like this at the close of the age. The angels shall go forth and separate the evil people from the middle of the righteous people. 50 And they shall throw them into the fiery oven. In that place there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. |
Let take it verse by verse.
47:
This is another sobering parable, designed to reach ordinary people who understood fishing by the Lake of Galilee.
48:
The dragnet is pulled between two boats, or it is dragged to shore by long ropes, after it was put in place by a boat. The fishermen tossed aside the unkosher fish and kept the kosher ones. Keener points out there were twenty-four species of fish, and many were unclean and therefore inedible (p. 392). The net did not distinguish between the two kinds, so the fishermen had to sort them out.
49:
“close of the age”: The final harvest is the end of the age. The Greek word which I translate “close” is the noun sunteleia (pronounced soon-teh-lay-ah or pronounced sin-teh-lay-ah), and it is used in Matthew’s Gospel five times (13:39, 40, 49; 24:3; 28:20 and once in Heb. 9:26). It has taken on a specialized sense of a brand new age that closes out one age and begins the Messianic Age. This word will play a key role in my interpretation of the Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24.
Matt 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21 (and 17) in Parallel Columns Are Finally Clear
Matthew 24:4-35 Predicts Destruction of Jerusalem and Temple
Matthew 24:36 to 25:46–From Second Coming to New Messianic Age
The fuller exegesis has now been moved to this post:
What Jesus Really Taught about End Times
50:
Application: The kingdom call goes out to the whole world. Many people join it. But, as noted in Matthew 13:41, people who seem to be in the kingdom actually cause sin and practice lawlessness. Angels will make the preliminary determination, guided by God.
Recall verses from Matthew 7:21-23. A big separation is coming.
21 Not everyone saying to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one doing the will of my Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name? And in your name expel demons? And in your name do many miracles?” 23 And then I’ll declare to them, “I never knew you! Depart from me, you practitioners of lawlessness!” (Matt. 7:21-23)
The key parallel between these verses are the practitioners or workers of lawlessness.
Let’s all live repentant, surrendered lives so we find ourselves on the right side. Luke 9:23 says to pick up our cross daily, which to me speaks of a daily surrender to Jesus. Practitioners of lawlessness are the opposite of those who are righteous—that’s behavioral righteousness. Behaving righteously is important to distinguish true kingdom citizens and false ones who practice lawlessness.
“in that place”: The Greek says ekei (pronounced eh-kay), which means “there” or “that place.” Unfortunately most translation don’t pick up on the ambiguity of their translations: “There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Here it is more awkwardly but accurate: “The weeping and the gnashing will be there.” The standard translation (“there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth)” makes “there” into the wrong kind of adverb, or at least it is not clear in English. The clearer translation is as I have it.
So where is “that place”? Matthew uses the metaphor of a fiery oven. It is verses like this one that prompt nonliteral interpretations of darkness (8:12) and fire (v. 42).
Peter writes of corrupt people who infiltrate the churches:
These people are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them. (2 Pe. 2:17)
Charismatic theologian J. Rodman Williams (d. 2008) says fire and darkness are just metaphors, which cannot be taken literally, for separation from God and punishment. Read the excerpt, above. It should be noted that Jesus says nothing about the oven lasting for eternity here.
“weeping and gnashing”: Keener says that weeping means mourning over damnation, and gnashing of teeth may indicate anger or a strong emotion similar to it. Carson says weeping may indicate suffering, and gnashing indicates despair, and Osborne agrees. In any case, existence in punishment is unhappy and produces despair and even anger. Perhaps the gnashing can also mean cursing in anger. (See these verses for gnashing: Acts 7:54; Job 16:9; Pss. 34:16; 36:12; 112:10; Lam. 2:16). Since weeping indicates remorse, it is not quite accurate to claim that hell is locked from the inside as if people want to be there, though maybe only the enraged do want this.
It is best to avoid such punishment, whatever it entails, by putting your faith in Christ and staying in union with him.
Please read a three-part series:
1. Hell and Punishment: Eternal, Conscious Torment
2. Hell and Punishment: Terminal Punishment
3. Hell and Punishment: Universalism
GrowApp for Matthew 13:47-50
A. How do you ensure that angels will keep you at final judgment?
B. How can you be assured that you are maintaining your connection to Jesus?
SOURCES
At this link you will find the bibliography at the very bottom:
Dr. Jim's Essential Bible Teaching 