“The Parable of the Dragnet”

(Matthew 13:47-50)

If I was to ask you what the most important event since the creation of the world was, is or will be --
besides, of course, the coming of Jesus Christ into the world to save us from our sins --, what would you say?
Would you say it was the Flood? Or the calling of Abraham? Or the Exodus from the Egypt? The day of
Pentecost? Or the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD? Now these things are certainly very important, but there is
still one event which is more important than them all, one which has not happened yet, and one which Christ says
that all of us should keep continually before our eyes and minds. Can you guess what that event is? It is His Second
Coming and the final judgment that will take place when He comes. This is something which directly affects all of
us and which should influence absolutely everything we do. The Bible says that every man, woman and child who
has ever lived, who is living now, or who are yet to come into this world, will stand before Him on that day and will
either be admitted into heaven or be cast away forever into hell. Can you think of anything more important than
that? Can you think of anything in the world that we should be preparing for more earnestly? If you believe the
Bible is true, I can’t imagine what it could be.
But yet knowing how important that day is, what are we doing to get ready for it? Are we thinking through
the things that we do everyday, to make sure that we’re doing what we should and avoiding what we shouldn’t do?
Are we thinking through our work, our study, our recreation, our relationships with our neighbors in light of that
day? When we spend time with our children, are we using that opportunity to prepare them for it? Are we using the
Lord’s Day as we should to prepare our souls for that day? These are the things we should be thinking about daily.
The Lord has warned us ahead of time that it is coming, so that we might prepare ourselves for it.
I pointed out to you last week in this chapter that Jesus used a special structure to emphasize certain things
that He wanted us to know. He spoke three pairs of parables, each of which emphasized a particular truth
concerning His kingdom. The Mustard Seed and the Leaven emphasized for us the great and universal influence
that His kingdom will one day have in this world. The Hidden Treasure and the Pearl of Great Price emphasized the
value that one must place on the kingdom, and what all must be willing to give up, if they are ever to enter into it.
But the parable of the Wheat and the Tares and the parable that we are looking at this morning, the parable of the
Dragnet, emphasize for us that there will be a final conclusion to the kingdom. All who are in it will one day be
judged and then delivered to one of two final destinations: heaven or hell. This is what I want for us to focus on
this morning: There is coming a time when everyone in the world will be judged and forever separated: Some
will enter into eternal bliss, while others will enter into eternal torment.
Jesus now uses another parable or analogy to tell us what the kingdom is like: it is like a dragnet which
fishermen cast into the sea, which gathers fish of every kind; and when it is full, it is brought up onto the shore,
where the fish are sorted out, the good being stored in containers and the bad being thrown away. This image was
common enough in their day. It is the same method that James, John and Peter used when they were fishing. This is
what they were doing when Jesus first called them. Remember, how they had fished all night and caught nothing.
But at Jesus’insistence, they went out to the deep water one more time to let down their nets, and suddenly found
their nets so full that they were ready to break (Luke 5:4-11). But of course, this is the first step. After the fish are
caught, they still need to be separated. Not all of them are going to be worth keeping. The good are put into
containers, either to be sold or to be eaten later. But the bad are thrown away, because they are worthless.
Jesus says the same thing is going to happen when He returns. At the end of the age, that is, when God’s
purposes for His kingdom are fulfilled, when the last of God’s elect will have been converted, God is going to gather
everyone together for judgment: every man, woman and child who has ever lived. When that time comes, Jesus
will get up from His throne in heaven and descend to the earth. The first thing He will do is raise all the dead. Paul
writes, “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the
trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first” (1 Thes. 4:16). At the same time, all of the dead who are not
in Christ will also be raised. Jesus says, in John 5:28-29, “Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all
who are in the tombs shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of
life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.” Notice that there are not two resurrections,
as many believe, but only one. The reason there is only one is because there is only one final judgment. But what
about those who are still alive? They don’t need to be raised, but they do need to be gathered together. Paul
continues in 1 Thessalonians 4:17, “Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the
clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord.”
Now from our passage, the question might arise, Are the angels involved in this raising of the dead and
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translating of the living? After all, Jesus tells us here that at the end of the age “the angels shall come forth, and take
the wicked out from among the righteous” (Matt. 13:49). It is possible that they are. Jesus tells us in the parable of
the Rich Man and Lazarus that when Lazarus died, “He was carried away by the angels to Abraham's bosom” (Luke
16:22). Whether this means that everyone who dies is conveyed by the angels to the place where they will wait for
the judgment is not clear. But it is clear that they will be involved in disposing of the wicked after the judgment.
We’ll see this in a few minutes.
The Bible says that after the dead are raised, and the living are all caught up, they will all be gathered to
one place, to the place of Christ’s judgement. Paul writes, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of
Christ” (2 Cor. 5:10). Jesus says, in Matthew 25:31-33, “But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the
angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. And all the nations will be gathered before Him; and He
will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep
on His right, and the goats on the left.” And John writes in Revelation 20:11-12, “And I saw a great white throne
and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I
saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne.” They all stand before Him to be judged.
But what is it that the Judge will be looking for on that day? What is the evidence that will either vindicate
or acquit them, that will render them either guilty or not guilty? Certainly, it will be everything they have ever done.
Every thought they have ever thought. Every word they have ever spoken. Every deed they have ever done. Even
every intention behind every deed will also be weighted in the balance. But of all these things, that which the Bible
places the greatest weight on more than anything else, are those things which they will have done. Paul writes, “For
we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body,
according to what he has done, whether good or bad” (2 Cor. 5:10). In the Sheep and Goat Judgment, the only
difference that is found between these two groups is what they did and didn’t do. And in the Great White Throne
Judgment, which is the same as the Sheep and Goat Judgment, after John writes that he saw “the dead, the great and
the small, standing before the throne,” he then writes, “And books were opened; and another book was opened,
which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to
their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in
them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds” (Rev. 20:12-13). Paul writes in Romans 2,
that God, on the day of His judgment, “will render to every man according to his deeds: to those who by
perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life; but to those who are selfishly
ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation” (vv. 6-8). This doesn’t mean
that a man is saved by his works. Nor does it mean that his thoughts, his words, or his intentions are unimportant
and won’t be considered. But it does mean that everyone who is truly born again through faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ, will be so transformed by His Spirit, that when his life is put on trial the evidence of his works will show that
he truly is a child of God.
But now after the judgment comes the final separation. This is when the angels will come forth and take all
of the goats and cast them into the lake of fire, while the righteous remain with the Lord and enter into eternal life.
Jesus will say to the goats, “Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the
devil and his angels” (Matt. 25:41). John writes, “And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he
was thrown into the lake of fire” (Rev. 20:15). Jesus tells us in our passage, “So it will be at the end of the age; the
angels shall come forth, and take out the wicked from among the righteous, and will cast them into the furnace of
fire” (Matt. 13:49-50). What will this furnace be like? Will it be something some men might be able to tolerate,
maybe the strongest of them? No. Jesus says, “There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (v. 50). The pain
will be so excruciating that their tears will never stop, and their teeth will be forever clenched and grinding as they
try to hold onto their sanity. The net will one day be cast, gathering in all in God’s kingdom. None will escape.
The judgment will take place. The righteous will enter into everlasting happiness and will reign with Christ forever
and ever. But the wicked will be cast by the angels into the furnace of fire, where they will burn forever in never
ending agony.
Now as I said at the beginning, since our Lord has told us that this is the way things are going to be, what
should we do to get ready?
First, we should consider why it is that many will be cast into that furnace of fire on that day. The answer
is because of their sin. Sin is the cause, therefore we should do everything we can to avoid sin and to get rid of the
guilt of our sin. If you went to a hospital and found that many of the patients there were suffering from some
agonizing disease that they all contracted in the same place, wouldn’t you do everything you could to avoid that
place? If you went to a prison and asked the inmates what it was that caused them to commit the terrible crimes they
did, so that now they were suffering in prison, and they all gave the same answer, wouldn’t you do everything you
could to avoid that thing, whatever it was? If you were to go to hell, to the furnace of fire, and ask the people there
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how they ended up in such horrible agony, and they all pointed to the same thing, wouldn’t you do whatever was
necessary to avoid it? The Bible tells us that sin is the cause. But seeing that it is, What are we doing to avoid it?
There is really only one thing we can do. If we haven’t repented of our sins and turned to Christ, we must do so
now. No one will ever be saved in any other way. Jesus and Jesus alone is the way to God. If you haven’t turned
from your sins and trusted in Christ, you need to do so now. If you don’t take God’s only way of escape, then when
the day of judgment comes, an angel will take hold of you after the judgment and throw you into the fiery furnace,
from which you will never escape.
But second, we should also consider what it is that Jesus will be looking for in our lives on that day and
make sure that we have done it. What will He be looking for? As we have seen, He will be looking for our good
works. What is it, after all, that shows that we have genuine and saving faith? James writes, “Show me your faith
without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works” (2:18), “For just as the body without the spirit is
dead, so also faith without works is dead” (v. 26). Why did God recreate us in Christ in the first place? Paul writes,
“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works” (Eph. 2:10). How can we really show Christ
that we love Him? He says, “He who has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me” (John 14:21).
“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments” (v. 15). It is by keeping the commandments, which is the same
thing as doing good works. But how can we do these good works? Jesus says, “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the
branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the
vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do
nothing” (John 15:4-5). Do want your life to be filled with works of mercy and compassion? Do you want to pass
the awful scrutiny of Christ on that day and hear the words, “Well done good and faithful servant” (Matt. 25:23)?
Then take hold of Him by faith. Abide in Him. Look to Him to fill you with His Spirit. Walk all day in His
presence, according to His Word. Pray without ceasing. To spend much time with Christ is to be more like Christ.
To spend little time with Christ is to be less like Him. How do you want to be found on the day of judgment? Do
you want to be found in Christ? Do you want to be found like Christ? Strive by God’s grace to be in Him and like
Him now, and on that day, that is how He will find you. Amen.