W. R. Craig
The kingdom—the church—is compared to a great fish net.
Again, 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. So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth (Matt. 13:47-50).
When the net was drawn upon the beach, they sat down and divided the catch into good and bad, and the bad were cast away. “So shall it be in the end of the world.” How? The angels shall come and sever the wicked from the righteous. The wicked shall be cast into the fire. The comparison is in the “separation” of the wicked from the righteous. It is not of the”catching” of every kind, as we are so often told, but in the separation of the good from the bad who are “already in the kingdom” at the end of the world. A child of God may act as to be cast out of the net—the kingdom. The lesson in this parable is the careful separation of the good from the bad among members of the church in judgment.
