PARABLE OF THE NET…                                   The Parable of the Net                                               MAT 13:47  “Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was             let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish.             MAT  13:48  When  it was full, the fishermen pulled it  up  on  the             shore.  Then they sat down and collected the good fish  in  baskets,             but threw the bad away.             MAT 13:49  This is how it will be at the end of the age. The  angels             will come and separate the wicked from the righteous             MAT  13:50  and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there  will             be weeping and gnashing of teeth.             This  is not the “Gospel net”, as it is often called. After the  one             pearl  is  taken up, the end of the age begins. This  parable  falls             into the completion of the age. The net is let into the sea,  which,             as  we have seen before, represents the nations, the  Gentiles.  The             parable  refers to the preaching of the “everlasting gospel”  as  it             will take place during the Great Tribulation (Revelation 14:6-7).             REV 14:6  Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had  the             eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earthto  every             nation, tribe, language and people.             REV  14:7  He said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give  him  glory,             because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made  the             heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water.”             The  separating of the good and bad is done by the angels. All  this             cannot refer to the present time nor to the Church, but to the  time             when the Kingdom is about to be set up. Then angels will be used, as             is  so  clearly seen in the book of Revelation. The wicked  will  be             cast into the furnace of fire, and the righteous will remain in  the             earth  for the millennial kingdom. It is the same “end of  the  age”             described in Matthew 24:3-35…             MAT 24:3  As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples             came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen,             and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”                                 Signs of the End of the Age                               –             MAT 24:4  Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you.             MAT  24:5  For  many  will come in my name,  claiming,  #39;I  am  the             Christ,#39; and will deceive many.             MAT  24:6  You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see  to  it             that  you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the  end  is             still to come.             MAT  24:7  Nation  will rise against nation,  and  kingdom  against             kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.             MAT 24:8  All these are the beginning of birth pains.             MAT 24:9  “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put  to             death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me.             MAT 24:10  At that time many will turn away from the faith and  will             betray and hate each other,             MAT  24:11  and many false prophets will appear  and  deceive  many             people.             MAT  24:12  Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of  most             will grow cold,             MAT 24:13  but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.             MAT  24:14  And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached  in  the             whole  world  as a testimony to all nations, and then the  end  will             come.             MAT  24:15  “So  when  you see standing  in  the  holy  place  #39;the             abomination  that causes desolation,#39; spoken of through the  prophet             Daniellet the reader understand             MAT 24:16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.             MAT  24:17  Let  no one on the roof of his house go  down  to  take             anything out of the house.             MAT 24:18  Let no one in the field go back to get his cloak.             MAT 24:19  How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant  women             and nursing mothers!             MAT 24:20  Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on             the Sabbath.             MAT 24:21  For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the             beginning of the world until nowand never to be equaled again.             MAT  24:22  If  those days had not been cut  short,  no  one  would             survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.             MAT  24:23  At that time if anyone says to you, #39;Look, here  is  the             Christ!#39; or, #39;There he is!#39; do not believe it.             MAT  24:24  For false Christs and false prophets  will  appear  and             perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the electif  that             were possible.             MAT 24:25  See, I have told you ahead of time.             MAT  24:26  “So  if  anyone tells you, #39;There he  is,  out  in  the             desert,#39; do not go out; or, #39;Here he is, in the inner rooms,#39; do not             believe it.             MAT 24:27  For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even             in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.             MAT  24:28  Wherever there is a carcass, there  the  vultures  will             gather.             MAT  24:29  “Immediately after the distress of those days “#39;the  sun             will  be darkened, and the moon will not give its light;  the  stars             will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.#39;             MAT  24:30  “At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear  in             the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will  see             the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great             glory.             MAT 24:31  And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and             they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of  the             heavens to the other.             MAT 24:32  “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as  its             twigs  get tender and its leaves come out, you know that  summer  is             near.             MAT 24:33  Even so, when you see all these things, you know that  it             is near, right at the door.             MAT 24:34  I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly  not             pass away until all these things have happened.             MAT 24:35  Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will  never             pass away.             PARABLE OF THE LEAVEN…                             The Parable of the Leaven (Yeast)                             –             MAT  13:33  He  told them still another parable:  “The  kingdom  of             heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount             of flour until it worked all through the dough.”             This fourth parable has been a battleground for commentators.  There             is  no  need  for confusion if the authority of  the  Scriptures  is             recognized and allowed to interpret the parable. The popular concep-             tion-that the leaven is the Gospel of Christ, and that this Gospel             is  to pervade and permeate the world until the world is  saved-is             without scriptural basis. Not only does such an interpretation place             our Lord in the position of contradicting all His other parables  by             the  use  of this one, but it also destroys the whole Bible  as  the             source  of  authority  in the matter of its  own  understanding  and             interpretation.             Now,  comparing  spiritual things with spiritual, it is  found  that             leaven  is  never once used in the Word of God except as a  type  of             corruption.  In connection with the first Passover, Israel was  com-             manded to put away leaven out of their houses (Exodus 12:15).             EXO  12:15  For seven days you are to eat bread made without  yeast.             On the first day remove the yeast from your houses, for whoever eats             anything  with  yeast in it from the first day through  the  seventh             must be cut off from Israel.             In Leviticus 2:11, the Law provided that no meal offering should  be             made with leaven.             LEV 2:11  “#39;Every grain offering you bring to the LORD must be  made             without  yeast,  for you are not to burn any yeast or  honey  in  an             offering made to the LORD by fire.             In  Leviticus 6:17, in the law of the meal offering, it is  written,             “it must not be baked with yeast….it is most holy”.             LEV 6:17  It must not be baked with yeast; I have given it as  their             share of the offerings made to me by fire. Like the sin offering and             the guilt offering, it is most holy.             The  two wave loaves of the Pentecostal offering  (Leviticus  23:17)             were  baked with leaven because they typified the Church of God  and             signified that we are accepted in the Beloved despite our indwelling             evil nature, for He was made sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21).             LEV  23:17  From wherever you live, bring two loaves made  of  two-             tenths of an ephah of fine flour, baked with yeast, as a wave offer-             ing of firstfruits to the LORD.             2CO  5:21  God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that  in             him we might become the righteousness of God.             In  His  personal ministry our Lord often used leaven as a  type  of             evil.  At  one time His disciples forgot to take a supply  of  bread             with them.             Jesus told to them…             MAT  16:6  “Be  careful,” Jesus said to them.  “Be  on  your  guard             against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”             MAT  16:7  They discussed this among themselves and  said,  “It  is             because we didn#39;t bring any bread.”             But Jesus explained His words…             MAT  16:12  Then they understood that he was not  telling  them  to             guard  against the yeast used in bread, but against the teaching  of             the Pharisees and Sadducees.             In Luke 12:1 the Lord Jesus said to His disciples, “Be on your guard             against the “yeast” of the Parisees, which is “hypocrisy”.                                 LUK 12:1  Meanwhile, when a crowd of many thousands had gathered, so             that they were trampling on one another, Jesus began to speak  first             to his disciples, saying: “Be on your guard against the yeast of the             Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.             And  in Mark 8:15 He also warned them against the leaven  of  Herod,             evidently meaning lust for worldly power.             MAR 8:15  “Be careful,” Jesus warned them. “Watch out for the  yeast             of the Pharisees and that of Herod.”             Leaven,  then,  is  a figure of corruption. Now, who  is  the  woman             hiding  the leaven in the meal? It is significant that this  is  the             only mention of a woman in the seven parables of the chapter. She is             easily  recognized  as the false professing  church,  corrupting  by             false  doctrine and sinful conduct, the food of the children,  which             is  the  Word of God. Hiding the leaven in the meal, she  leaves  it             there,  and the corrupting process continues until the true food  is             all  gone,  being  utterly  lost  in  the  repulsive  and  poisonous             mass-the whole lump leavened.             It was against this awful danger that Paul later warned the Galatian             churches,  which  were receiving the Judaizing  teachers.  With  the             Lord#39;s parable of the leaven in mind, he wrote…             GAL  5:7  You were running a good race. Who cut in on you  and  kept             you from obeying the truth?             GAL  5:8  That kind of persuasion does not come from  the  one  who             calls you.             GAL 5:9  “A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.”             GAL  5:10  I am confident in the Lord that you will take  no  other             view. The one who is throwing you into confusion will pay the penal-             ty, whoever he may be.             And  again when the Corinthian church was indulging in sinful  prac-             tices, the apostle wrote…             1CO  5:1  It is actually reported that there is  sexual  immorality             among  you, and of a kind that does not occur even among  pagans:  A             man has his father#39;s wife.             1CO  5:2  And you are proud! Shouldn#39;t you rather have  been  filled             with grief and have put out of your fellowship the man who did this?             1CO  5:3  Even though I am not physically present, I am with you  in             spirit. And I have already passed judgment on the one who did  this,             just as if I were present.             1CO 5:4  When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus and  I             am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present,             1CO 5:5  hand this man over to Satan, so that the sinful nature  may             be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord.             1CO  5:6  Your boasting is not good. Don#39;t you know that  a  little             yeast works through the whole batch of dough?             1CO 5:7  Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch  with-             out  yeastas  you really are. For Christ, our Passover  lamb,  has             been sacrificed.             1CO 5:8  Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast,             the  yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread  without  yeast,             the bread of sincerity and truth.             And  so  it is seen that in Scripture language  leaven  never  means             anything  good, and it “always” stands for evil and corruption.  The             ones to whom our Lord spoke were Jews, and they certainly understood             what  was meant by leaven. No Jew would ever dream that leaven  used             in  illustrating  some power or process could  stand  for  something             good; leaven to the Jews “always” meant evil.             And  now  the question of the three measures of meal and  what  they             represent.  The accepted but faulty teaching is that the Lord  means             corrupted  humanity by it. However, this is as impossible as  it  is             for  leaven  to be something good. Where does the  meal  come  from?             Surely  any child can answer that-the meal comes from the “wheat”.             Tares, the type for evil, never yield fine, wholesome meal;  meal is             the product of the good seed only.             Good,  nutritious,  and pure as it is, it can  never  represent  the             unregenerated mass of humanity. But there is still greater evidence.             Three measures of meal “stand for Christ in type”, the corn of wheat             and  the  bread of life; when Abraham comforted  the  Lord  (Genesis             18:1-8)  it  was by three measures of meal and a  calf,  typical  of             Christ, His person and His work. He is good, pure, holy,  undefiled,             as well as that which He has given, His Word. It is therefore  folly             to  twist Scripture language around and make the three  measures  of             meal mean corruption when meal always denotes purity.             GEN 18:1  The LORD appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre             while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of  the             day.             GEN 18:2  Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby.  When             he  saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet  them             and bowed low to the ground.             GEN 18:3  He said, “If I have found favor in your eyes, my lord,  do             not pass your servant by.             GEN  18:4  Let a little water be brought, and then you may all  wash             your feet and rest under this tree.             GEN  18:5  Let me get you something to eat, so you can be  refreshed             and  then go on your waynow that you have come to  your  servant.”             “Very well,” they answered, “do as you say.”             GEN  18:6  So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah.  “Quick,”  he             said,  “get  three seahs of fine flour and knead it  and  bake  some             bread.”             GEN 18:7  Then he ran to the herd and ed a choice, tender calf             and gave it to a servant, who hurried to prepare it.             GEN 18:8  He then brought some curds and milk and the calf that  had             been  prepared, and set these before them. While they ate, he  stood             near them under a tree.             PARABLE OF THE MUSTARD SEED…                               The Parable of the Mustard Seed                             –             MAT  13:31  He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven  is             like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field.             MAT 13:32  Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when  it             grows,  it  is the largest of garden plants and becomes a  tree,  so             that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches.”             Here  we have the outward development of the kingdom of heaven as it             grows  and outspreads in an unnatural way, and becomes the  roosting             place  of the birds of heaven. The almost universal comment on  this             mustard seed and its miraculous growth, as it is termed, is that  it             fully s the expansion of the Church, and the birds of  heaven             are  interpreted as meaning peoples and nations who find shelter  in             the Church. Growing and still growing, the mustard seed reaches over             the entire earth, its branches spread out wider and wider, and  soon             (so they tell us) the tree will have covered the earth as the waters             cover the deep.             If the Lord had meant His Church by this mustard seed, which becomes             a tree and a roosting place for birds, then this parable would be in             flagrant contradiction with what He and the Holy Spirit teach  else-             where  concerning  the  Church in the earth, the  mission,  and  the             future  of the Church, and the greatest clash of teaching  would  be             the result.             For instance, in His prayer our Lord says concerning His own,  those             who  are  one as the Father and Son are one…”They are not  of  the             world any more than I am of the world” (John 17:14).             JOH 17:14  I have given them your word and the world has hated them,             for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world.             The  Church,