Matthew 13:49

As the Gospel, and the Gospel church state may be said to be, when all the ends of the preaching of the word are answered; when all are called by the one, and into the other, that were designed to be called; when the fulness of the Gentiles shall be brought in, and all Israel shall be saved. They drew to the shore; which will be done, when the end of the world comes; then will an end be put to the Gospel ministry, the net will be drawn to shore; the preaching of the Gospel will cease, and no more use be made of it: and sat down; the ministers of the word having done their work, enter into the joy of their Lord, and rest from their labours: and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away; as fishermen used to do; though this last office seems, by the application of the parable, to be what will be performed by angels; who, as many as they find to have a good work of grace wrought and finished in their souls, they will gather into Christ's barn, into the everlasting habitations, the mansions in Christ's Father's house, he is gone to prepare: but as for the bad, who shall appear to be destitute of the grace of God, and righteousness of Christ, notwithstanding their profession of religion, they shall be rejected, as good for nothing, and shall be cast into the lake which burns with fire and brimstone. Matthew 13:49 Ver. 49. So shall it be at the end of the world,....

13:44-52 Here are four parables. 1. That of the treasure hid in the field. Many slight the gospel, because they look only upon the surface of the field. But all who search the Scriptures, so as in them to find Christ and eternal life, Joh 5:39, will discover such treasure in this field as makes it unspeakably valuable; they make it their own upon any terms. Though nothing can be given as a price for this salvation, yet much must be given up for the sake of it. 2. All the children of men are busy; one would be rich, another would be honourable, another would be learned; but most are deceived, and take up with counterfeits for pearls. Jesus Christ is a Pearl of great price; in having him, we have enough to make us happy here and for ever. A man may buy gold too dear, but not this Pearl of great price. When the convinced sinner sees Christ as the gracious Saviour, all things else become worthless to his thoughts. 3. 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 who has the sovereignty of this sea. Hypocrites and true Christians shall be parted: miserable is the condition of those that shall then be cast away. 4. A skilful, faithful minister of the gospel, is a scribe, well versed in the things of the gospel, and able to teach them.

Christ compares him to a good householder, who brings forth fruits of last year's growth and this year's gathering, abundance and variety, to entertain his friends. Old experiences and new observations, all have their use. Our place is at Christ's feet, and we must daily learn old lessons over again, and new ones also.

So shall it be at the end of the world,.... As the fisherman, when he has drawn his net to shore, picks out the good fish, and puts them into proper vessels, and casts the dead, putrid, and useless fish away; so, at the close of time, in the last day, the angels shall come forth out of heaven, from the presence of God and Christ, and by his orders, as the judge of all the earth, and sever the wicked from the just; with whom they have had not only civil conversation, but have been joined in a Gospel church state; but now these ungodly shall not stand in judgment with them; nor these sinners, these hypocrites, in the congregation of the righteous: the one will be set at Christ's right hand, the other at his left; the one will go into life eternal, and the other into everlasting punishment; and their separation from one another will be for ever.

49. So shall it be at the end of the world, &c.—(See on [1294]Mt 13:42). We have said that each of these two parables holds forth the same truth under a slight diversity of aspect. What is that diversity? First, the bad, in the former parable, are represented as vile seed sown among the wheat by the enemy of souls; in the latter, as foul fish drawn forth out of the great sea of human beings by the Gospel net itself. Both are important truths—that the Gospel draws within its pale, and into the communion of the visible Church, multitudes who are Christians only in name; and that the injury thus done to the Church on earth is to be traced to the wicked one. But further, while the former parable gives chief prominence to the present mixture of good and bad, in the latter, the prominence is given to the future separation of the two classes.

Matthew 13:49 . Πονηροὺς , the wicked ) and unrighteous.— ἐκ μέδου , from the midst ) The wicked, although they are more in number, are not accounted of any value;[643] cf. Matthew 13:30 .— ΤῶΝ ΔΙΚΑΊΩΝ , of the righteous ) and good.[644] [643] Cf. Gnomon on ch. Matthew 3:12 . in voc. ἄχυρον .—(I. B.) [644] Matthew 13:50 . Εἰς τὴν κάμινον τοῦ πυρὸς , into the furnace of fire ) O what wretched beings are they who are tormented in that fire!—V. g.

The kingdom of heaven is like unto a net ... - This parable does not differ in meaning from that of the tares. The gospel is compared to a net dragging along on the bottom of a lake, and collecting all - good and bad. The gospel may be expected to do the same; but in the end of the world, when the net "is drawn in," the bad will be separated from the good; the one will be cast away, and the other saved. Our Saviour never fails to keep before our minds the great truth that there is to be a day of judgment, and that there will be a separation of the good and the evil. He came to preach salvation; and it is a remarkable fact, also, that the most fearful accounts of hell and of the sufferings of the damned, in the Scriptures, are from his lips. How does this agree with the representations of those who say that all will be saved?

Verse 49. - So shall it be at (in, Revised Version) the end of the world ( cf. vers. 39, 40, notes): the angels shall come forth (ver. 41), and sever . Taking them completely away ( ἀφοριοῦσιν ). The wicked ( τοὺς πονηρούς ); Matthew 7:18 and Matthew 6:13, notes. As compared with σαπρός (ver. 48), it refers more directly to the moral character. Our Lord has here left the imagery of the parable. From among the just; the righteous (Revised Version); ver. 43, note. Matthew 13:49

## PARALLEL IX. The Gospel and Church of God having taken many sinners, or all being brought in, that are to be taken by this spiritual net, Christ will, as it were, at the last day draw it to shore, and then he will sever the good from the bad, the sheep from the goats, the sincere ones from hypocrites; and the one shall be saved, and the other thrown away, viz., be damned. "Again the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net that is cast into the sea, that taketh of all sorts, which when it is full, men draw it to land, and gather the good into vessels, and cast the bad away; so shall it be at the end of the world; the angels shall go forth, and separate the bad from the good, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire; there shall he wailing and gnashing of teeth," Matthew 13:47-50 . PARABLE I. A fisherman has one Net prepared to take small fishes, and another to take great ones. DISPARITY I. The Gospel, or word of God, is but one and the same Net; which takes the great and small metaphorical fishes. PARABLE II. A Net many times proves defective, and comes to he broken, and by that means the fisherman loses his draught of fishes. DISPARITY II. There is no deceit in the word, the Gospel Net is never faulty; nor is it from thence so

"For the kingdom of Heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind; which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away." [1856] And wherein doth this differ from the parable of the tares? For there too the one are saved, the other perish; but there, for choosing of wicked doctrines; and those before this again, for not giving heed to His sayings, but these for wickedness of life; who are the most wretched of all, having attained to His knowledge, and being caught, but not even so capable of being saved. Yet surely He saith elsewhere, that the shepherd Himself separates them, but here He saith the angels do this; and so with respect to the tares. How then is it? At one time He discourses to them in a way more suited to their dullness, at another time in a higher strain. And this parable He interprets without so much as being asked, but of His own motion He explained it by one part of it, and increased their awe. For lest, on being told, "They cast the bad away," thou shouldest suppose that ruin to be without danger; by His interpretation He signified the punishment, saying, "They will cast them into the furnace." And He declared the gnashing of teeth, and the anguish, that it is unspeakable. Seest thou how many are the ways of destruction? By the rock, by the thorns, by the wayside, by the tares, by the net. Not without reason therefore did He say, "Broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go away by it." [1861] 4. Having then uttered all this, and concluded His discourse in a tone to cause fear, and signified that these are the majority of cases (for He dwelt more on them). He saith, "Have ye understood all these things? They say unto Him, Yea, Lord." [1862] Then because they understood, He again praises them, saying,