In Matthew 13, Jesus gives us six pictures: “The kingdom of heaven is like…” Jesus taught with imagination and creativity! Today, let’s look at the first and last of the “The kingdom of heaven is like…” parables:

• The Parable of the Weeds (verses 24 – 30)
• The Parable of the Net (verses 47 – 48)

Both come with the same explicit explanation:

…so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear. (Matthew 13.40 – 43, ESV)

So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 13.49 – 50, ESV)

The two parables and their explanation remind me of a verse near the end of the story:

Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” (Revelation 21.1 – 4, NIV)

“There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away” clearly implies that until the old order passes away, there will be death and mourning and crying and pain. Likewise, the stories of the weeds and the bad fish remind us that there will be “sin, law-breakers, and evil” until the end of the age when they will be removed.

In the meantime, we live, perhaps, in an environment hostile to our faith. Unlike some other world religions whose adherents use force to create an environment that supports their way of life, Jesus is not commissioning us to do that but warning us that good and evil co-exist.

Good and evil live together. An Air Force friend of mine used to say, “Why would you expect your fellow fighter pilots to behave like Christians when they’re not?” Our job is to be salt and light in the midst of sin, law-breakers, and evil – not wonder why these things don’t go away.

In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5.16, NIV)

Our people must also learn to engage in good deeds to meet pressing needs, so that they will not be unfruitful. (Titus 3.14, NASB)

Do all things without grumbling or disputing; so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world… (Philippians 2.14, 15, NASB)