THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN 11

TEXT: MATTHEW 13: 47-50

⁴⁷ “Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. 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.⁴⁹ this is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous ⁵⁰ and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Jesus made another parable to explain the kingdom of heaven. In his illustration he attributed the kingdom of God to a net that is being let down into the lake and caught all kind of fish. This simply means that the call to salvation is for all and sundry, God wants everyone to be saved through the redemption that came from His son Jesus.

To explain the parable; the net signifies the call to salvation by our lord Jesus Christ, the lake is the world and the fish represents people in the world. The net of salvation has been let down into the world by our lord Jesus by giving out the great commission which says “go and make disciples of all nation.” The net has caught all kind of fish (both genuine and “make believe” believers).

Like the fishermen did by sorting out the fish in the net, the good fish were kept and the bad ones were thrown away, consequently at the end of the age, the angels will come to separate the true believers from the hypocrites. Gone are the days when nobody wanted to be called a Christian, now Christianity is like fashion. Everybody wants to be called a “Christian” even though they have no relationship with Christ! People around you may not know your true colour, but God cannot be deceived He knows who are His (2 Timothy 2:19). Pastors are like the fishermen who use their nets to catch fish, they gather souls to Christ. The fishing net gather fish indiscriminately, it catches fish of every kind. Pastors preach the word of God, they evangelise and bring all sort of people to Christ (both genuinely saved and yet to be saved). The phrase “WHEN THE NET IS FULL” means the end time; when the Lord will separate the faithful and the righteous from sinners and the wicked. The good fish (faithful believers) will rise to everlasting life, while the bad fish (sinners) will be thrown to everlasting damnation as the scripture tells us in Revelation 22:12. The church is a mixture of mixed multitude consisting of faithful and unfaithful believers, but you can make a difference by living up to the standard of the kingdom so that you can enjoy eternal life. LIVE RIGHT TODAY!

THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN (1)

TEXT: MATTHEW 13:44-46

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasures hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought the field. Again the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls, when he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it”

 (Matthew 13:44-46).

Treasures are wealth or riches accumulated especially in form of precious metals, money, jewels or plate. Pearl is something of a great worth. The finest quality natural pearls have been highly valued as gemstones and objects of beauty for many centuries, and because of this, the word pearl has become a metaphor for something VERY RARE, fine, admirable, and valuable (www.en.wikipedia.org ).

In the parable, Jesus likened the kingdom of heaven to two valuable things, TREASURES and PEARLS. Jesus used this illustration to show how valuable the kingdom of God is. The parable described the kingdom of God as treasures hidden in a field, and the man that found the hidden treasures in the field went and sold ALL that he had to buy the field. A merchant that was looking for fine pearls sold ALL he had to buy the fine pearls that he had been looking for.

The explanation to this parable is that nothing can be as valuable as the kingdom of God. All the assets and the wealth of this world, that is causing people to run helter skelter is not worth comparing to the treasures in the kingdom of heaven.

In fact, the kingdom of heaven is worth forsaken ALL for! It is better to lose all the things that you count as “valuables” so that you would have access to the kingdom of heaven, because wealth and other worldly pleasures if not gotten rid of can debar your access to the kingdom of God. Apostle Paul said in Philippians 3:7 that whatever was to his profit he now considers loss for the sake of Christ. In other words, Apostle Paul forsook all he had to be able to gain access to the kingdom of God. Don’t just be amassing wealth that would cause you to lose focus on the kingdom of God. The kingdom of heaven is of an inestimable value, no treasures can be compared with it. When the merchant found the pearl of great value, he stopped looking for pearls. Eternal life, our inheritance in Christ, and other blessing of redemption amount to the pearls which when found, makes other searching unnecessary. The value of the kingdom of heaven supersedes the whole world and everything in it. Therefore, deny yourself of all the desires of the flesh, let nothing prevent you from obtaining this valuable possession.