The Kingdom of Heaven

Originally posted by @rajk999
Here is what is bunk. Jesus and all the Apostles state clearly that evil Christians will be destroyed. You say they will enter the Kingdom in stages ... STAGES. They will enter. Jesus say they will be cast out.

You are the bunk-head that swallows these false doctrines promoted by false teachers.

You win the booby prize Rajk, for being the most ignorant pretend follower of Jesus in the history of the church age.

Runner up, ThinkOfOne.

Originally posted by @secondson
You win the booby prize Rajk, for being the most ignorant pretend follower of Jesus in the history of the church age.

Runner up, ThinkOfOne.

All talk and no substance. When you disagree the decent thing to do is to provide supporting references and explanations. You are like a donkey braying on the sidelines.. go learn some bible doctrines.

Originally posted by @apathist
I've asked before: why does god want our souls? The bible calls us sheep; the bible calls us fish. Clearly we are just a resource.

Hey humans, come over to heaven for, um, dinner! Stop by!

The kingdom of heaven is within

Originally posted by @karoly-aczel
The kingdom of heaven is within

In divegeester’s case, that means the kingdom of heaven is five gallons of ale.

The parable of the dragnet concerns Christ judgment of the Gentiles (Matt. 13:47=50) living on the earth at the time of the great tribulation. It teaches the same matter as the teaching of Matthew 25:31-46

The good fish of the dragnet parable are the same as the sheep of judgment from the throne of glory.

The bad fish of the dragnet parable are the same as the goats of the judgment from the throne of glory.

Both teachings are not about the church but about the nations living on the earth through the great tribulation whom Christ will judge.

Some will be transferred from the previous age into the age of the millennial kingdom - the good fish and the sheep. And some will be judged by the eternal punishment for following the Antichrist - the bad fish and the goats.

Again the good fish in 13:47-50 correspond to the sheep in 25:31-46.

Again the bad fish in 13:47-50 correspond to the goats in 25:31-46.

One might well ask then where is the Christian church if the good fish are not Christians and the sheep are not Christians?

The church in chapter 13 is seen in the previous parable of the pearl of a great price brought up out of the sea (13:45-46).

So I will start there with the parable about Christ selling all that He had to obtain the church.

"Again, the kingdom of the heavens is like a merchant seeking fine pearls. And finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it." (Matt. 13:45,46)

The merchant is Jesus Christ who was seeking the church for His kingdom. After finding the church in Matt. 16:18 and in Matt. 18:12, Jesus went to the cross of Calvary and sold all that He had and bought the church for the kingdom.

This purchased treasure of a pearl is the church. And she is distinct from the saved Gentiles who are mercifully transferred from the time of the great tribulation into the next age of the millennial kingdom as seen in both the parable of the dragnet in the sea (13:47-50) with its good and bad fishes and the prophecy of the Son of Man separating the sheep and the goats in Matt. 25:31-46.

The pearl is produced at the bottom of the sea. The sea represents the world filled with death. It requires a living oyster to produce a pearl.

Christ as the oyster was wounded by our sins in His death for us. Like the oyster which is wounded by some foreign particle like sand, it secrets around that offending and wounding object a life element from itself. And that secretion changes the object into a pearl.

The wounding object is the sinner. And Jesus poured out His life for the sinner on His cross. As the oyster changes the little rock into a pearl so Christ changes the sinner into a treasure of a precious pearl. Jesus secrets His life out and around the believing sinner and constitutes that person a member of His church.

Jesus came for us as to the bottom of the sea of death to redeem us for His kingdom. Corporately that purchased entity is His church which He sold everything for on His cross to buy.

"Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among whom the Holy Spirit has placed you as overseers to shepherd the church of God, which He obtained through His own blood." (Acts 20:28)

It is helpful to see now two parables together. As one relates to the kingdom of the heavens more pertaining to Israel and the other pertaining to the church.

"The kingdom of the heavens is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid, and in his joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

Again, the kingdom of the heavens is like a merchant seeking fine pearls; and finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it." (Matt. 13:44-46)

In both parables the buyer is Jesus Christ.
Christ is the man who bought the field in verse 44.
And Christ is the merchant who bought the pearl in verses 45,46.

The buying man and the buying merchant stand for Christ who sold all that He had to:

1.) purchase back the God created earth for the kingdom of the heavens,

2.) purchased the church from out from among the dead sea of the world under the curse because of Satan.

Christ redeemed sinners out from the curse of the law. He paid a price of all that He was and all that He had to buy the offenders out from under the penalty of the law of God.

"Christ has redeemed us out of the curse of the law, having become a curse on our behalf, because it is written, Cursed is every one hanging on a tree." (Gal. 3:13)

When the Son of God bore the wrath of God on behalf of sinners, becoming a curse, He sold all that He had to buy both the usurped earth created by God and the church from among the world's sinners for His kingdom on the earth.

He sold all that He had for us readers.
He died to buy us back from the legitimate penalty of the law of God.

Originally posted by @rajk999
Where does the Bible say God wants our souls.
God wants righteous people in His Kingdom.

lol Ironic couplet there.

Christians have no corner on morality, so drop that act. Your god wants pliable souls, souls that obey.

I think rag-n-bone man is complaining about original sin here.

YouTube

He's talking to your myth god and dismissing it! Good fun.

If one can see that two parables of Christ dying to sell all that He had to buy the field and to buy the pearl we can now come to the parable of the end of the age judgment of those alive on earth at the time of His coming.

"Again, the kingdom of the heavens is like a net cast into the sea and gathering from every species.

Which when it was filled, they brought onto the shore, and sat down and collected the good into vessels, but the foul they cast out. (13:47,48)

Now Jesus gives His own interpretation to His own parable.

"So it will be at the consummation of the age: the angels will go forth and separate the evil from the midst of the righteous,

and will cast them into the furnace of fire. In that place there will be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth." (vs. 49,50)

This parable corresponds to the same event prophesied in the judgment of Christ in the Holy Land to the nations surviving through the great tribulation. Here the good fish correspond to the sheep there. And the bad fish correspond to the goats there.

The handlers of the net are no gospel preachers but the angels. The brothers of Christ in Matthew 25:31-46 are neither the sheep or the goats but a THIRD group against whom Jesus decides HOW they were treated by either the goats or the sheep.

As they (sheep or goats) treated or ill-treated these the least of His brothers, they are rewarded or punished.

The good fish are the Gentile nations' people who treated well the suffering persecuted brothers of Christ down to the least of them in the great tribulation.

The bad fish are the Gentile nations' people who assisted the suffering persecuted brothers of Christ down to the least of them in the great tribulation.

Not gospel preachers from the church, but the angels of heaven go through the dragnet pulled up from the sea, to determine the good from the bad.

The bad fish go to eternal punishment.
The goats go to eternal punishment.

The good fish are preserved to be transferred into the next age to be ruled over by the sons of God. The correspond to the sheep who inherit the kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world. They are to be ruled over by the sons of God (the Lord's brothers down to the least of them).

Originally posted by @sonship
Do you think Rajk999 has a good understanding of the parable of the dragnet cast into the sea? [b] (Matt. 13:47-50) [/b]

Here’s the thing in Romans we are told there’s no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus, and Jesus in John said that those that don’t believe in Him are condemned already. All of us are sinners, but Jesus came to save the lost. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life no comes to the Father except through Him. If we do not go to Him making Him our Lord and Savior we will not receive His Spirit thus not be able to do the works He has for us, and not belong to Him.

Originally posted by @kellyjay
Here’s the thing in Romans we are told there’s no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus, and Jesus in John said that those that don’t believe in Him are condemned already. All of us are sinners, but Jesus came to save the lost. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life no comes to the Father except through Him. If we do not go to Him making Him our Lord and ...[text shortened]... ll not receive His Spirit thus not be able to do the works He has for us, and not belong to Him.

Yet Jesus calls the righteous into the Kingdom.
Those who do good works are the sheep who get eternal life
Jesus welcomes those who follows his commandments into the Kingdom

Those who continue with sin are cast out of the Kingdom.
Those who profess to know him and call him Lord Lord are burned and destroyed.

Where is your mouth worshiping doctrine now?

James says : What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? (James 2:14 KJV)

Originally posted by @rajk999

The parable of the dragnet is not about the preaching of the gospel of grace throughout the church age.

1.) The net of the gospel is drawn in every time the gospel is preached. This net in this parable is drawn in one time at the end of the age, once and for all.

" a net cast into the sea and gathering from every species, which when it was filled, they brought unto the shore ... So it will be at the consummation of the age: the angels will go forth and separate the evil from the midst of the righteous."

2.) The ones who draw the net to shore were the ones who cast the net into the sea. And they are angels not humans.

" ... a net cast into the sea and gathering from every species, which, when it was filled, THEY brought into the shore, and sat down and collected the good into vessels, but the foul they cast out."

The ones doing both activities are ANGELS,

"So it will be at the consummation of the age: the ANGELS will go forth ad separate the evil from the midst of the righteous, ..."

3.) If the sea represents the Gentile world then to be brought into the boat would be good enough to mean sinners responding to the gospel were saved. But after the boat brings the filled net to shore the separation of good and bad fish takes place.

Believers and unbelievers are not in the church.
But they are together in the world.
They are often together in Christiandom. But Christiandom or Christianity as a degraded religion is not the church.

4.) If the sea represents the Gentile world then the parable would be teaching that only Gentiles are in the church. But the church consists of Jews and Gentiles made into "one new man". We could not say that no Jews were in the Christian church brought about by the preaching of the Christian gospel.

Romans 9:24 say those called in the church are of Jews and Gentiles.

"Even us, whom He has also called not only from among the Jews but also from among the Gentiles." (Rom. 9:24)

5.) The preachers of the Gospel have no right to select who and who not is to be saved. So the casters of the net who drag it to shore for examination cannot be human Gospel preachers. This is related to #2.

6.) The Lord Jesus said His disciples would be "fishers of men". He did not describe believers as being caught in a net.

7.) If we say that the preachers gather people of every kind into a church then we must interpret that those same preachers decide who to discard into hell and who to save. This is not done by humans. Only the angels of God can do that (See Matt. 13:41).

8.) It is hard to say that the Gospel net is filled. It seems never to be filled. But this net is filled.

" .. a net cast into the sea and gathering from every species, which when it was filled, they brought onto the shore, ..."

9.) In a similar parable of the wheat and the tares the tares are gathered to be burned in bundles. But the bad fish are selected one by one. The bad fish are not limited to false believers.

10.) If the sea stands for the Gentile world the shore or the land probably means the Holy Land. This would reinforce that in the Holy Land in Matthew 25:31-46 Christ separates the sheep and the goats which is the same as separating the good fish and the bad fish.

A great judgment is to take place in the valley of Jehoshaphat according according to Joel 3:12.

"Let the nations rouse themselves and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat.

For there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations." (Joel 3:12)

Originally posted by @rajk999
Yet Jesus calls the righteous into the Kingdom.
Those who do good works are the sheep who get eternal life
Jesus welcomes those who follows his commandments into the Kingdom

Those who continue with sin are cast out of the Kingdom.
Those who profess to know him and call him Lord Lord are burned and destroyed.

Where is your mouth worshiping doctrine ...[text shortened]... en, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? (James 2:14 KJV)[/b]

You should actually read the scripture you are referring to because you are not quoting it properly.