Intro to Matt. 13:47-52 "Judgment and Proclamation"

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/6/2022 9:30 AM

 

My Worship Time                          Focus:  Intro to Matt. 13:47-52 “Judgment and Proclamation”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  Matthew 13:47-52

 

            Message of the verses:  “47 "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea, and gathering fish of every kind; 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. 49 “So it will be at the end of the age; the angels will come forth and take out the wicked from among the righteous, 50 and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 51 “Have you understood all these things?" They *said to Him, "Yes." 52 And Jesus said to them, "Therefore every scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a head of a household, who brings out of his treasure things new and old."

 

            This will be a much shorter SD than the one I did yesterday as we begin to look at some more parables from this wonderful 13^th chapter of Matthew.  Just to remind you that in the 12^th chapter of Matthew some of the Pharisees committed what is called “The Unpardonable Sin,” and in doing so Jesus stopped His preaching like He had been preaching before He was told that His power to do miracles came from Satan.  It is as if He had given up on the nation of Israel, or at least had set them aside, which is still going on today as God has set Israel aside but He will never totally give up on them.  If one reads Romans chapters 9-11 they will better understand what is happening to Israel during what is called the church age.  In reading those chapters we can see that it was possible that Paul may have drenched the parchment with his tears in writing what he wrote.

 

            John MacArthur writes the following as he begins his commentary on the 13^th chapter of Matthew verses 47-52 in the 36^th chapter of his second of four commentaries on Matthew. 

 

            “The last two of the eight parables on the kingdom found in Matthew 13 illustrate the separation and judgment of unbelievers and the preaching and teaching of God’s ministers.  The first gives a warning, and the second gives a call to proclaim that warning to a condemned world.”

 

            We will now begin to look at “The Parable of the Dragnet—Judgment” in Matthew 13:47-50.

 

 “47 "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea, and gathering fish of every kind; 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. 49 “So it will be at the end of the age; the angels will come forth and take out the wicked from among the righteous, 50 and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

 

            We will only look at the short introduction to this parable in our SD for today and then in our next SD, Lord willing we will begin to break it down into different sections.

 

            We have learned that in the previous parables that Jesus illustrated the nature of the kingdom, the power and influence of the kingdom, and the personal appropriation of the kingdom.  He will now focus again (see verse 42) on the judgment that is connected with the kingdom.  You may remember that when we began to look at the parables that we learned that in the kingdom age that both the righteous and the unrighteous will live together in the kingdom age, and this will last until the judgment takes place which is described in the section that we are looking at now.

 

            Now the parable of the dragnet is a frightening warning about what happened to the wicked when they are separated from the righteous in the last days, days that I do believe are not that far off from happening, making it very necessary to get the word of salvation out.  We see here Jesus is giving a vivid picture of judgment, a brief explanation of the principle of judgment, and a sobering warning about the peril of judgment, something that for sure is not pleasant for Him to talk about but necessary. 

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I trust that as I read over the warnings that Jesus gives in these last parables that it will give me a strong desire to tell others how they will not have to face these judgments in the future.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord to light a fire in my heart so that I can get the word out to those who do not know Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord.

 

5/6/2022 9:57 AM