CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE DAILY DEVOTIONAL ON YOUTUBE
Matthew 13:47-50
Jesus uses yet another parable to explain the kingdom of heaven. In this parable Jesus uses a dragnet (a fishing net that is thrown into the sea, and as it sinks, being spread out like a blanket with weights around the edges, collects fish as it is pulled back to the surface of the sea. As it is pulled back up to the surface, the edges are pulled together by the drawstring, collecting the fish. Once the fish are in the boat, the fishermen can separate the edible fish from the undesirable fish that are cast out of the boat. Jesus compares this to the angels which He will send to gather the people of the world to Him at the end of the age. Jesus declares what will happen to the wicked people at the end of the age in Matthew 13:49-50 (NKJV) “So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come forth, separate the wicked from among the just, and cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.” Once again, we see Jesus describing the outcome of the wicked; “There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 13:50). I reiterate the fact that this is not a scare tactic to get people to believe, repent, and receive salvation in Christ Jesus, but that it is simply the truth. Jesus, through His mission and sending from His Heavenly Father is only allowed by His divine nature to tell the truth. How do I know this? In John 14:6 Jesus declares (HCSB), “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
This is an example of how it will be at the end of the age.
We like to think of the end of the age as when we will all be gathered to heaven to live in God’s presence for eternity, but there is another reality that Jesus is teaching in this parable. This reality is that the wicked will be separated from the good and thrown into the “furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 13:50, NKJV). Jesus wants His hearers to understand that everyone is not simply taken to heaven because we have done something good in our lives. We learn in John 1:9-13 (ESV), “The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” Jesus is the light that opens our eyes to see and our ears to hear. Believing in Jesus is the way to realization and understanding of God’s Word – He is the way, the truth, and the life that is the way to God to spend eternity in His love and glory.
Dear LORD,
There are some things about the end of the age that are quite scary to us and we don’t like to think of the possibility that we could be thrown out of heaven and into the furnace of fire where there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Please give us understanding of this passage and the parables that Jesus teaches us about Your kingdom of heaven so that we would see with our eyes and hear with our ears of the good news of salvation in Christ Jesus – the Savior of the world. And then help us LORD to act on this knowledge and ask in humble sincerity, for Your forgiveness – in Christ. In Jesus name I pray, amen.