As we read these prophecies it is abundantly manifested that the gathering of the

nations is to be expected at the time of the end. Matt. 25: shows that the nations who

have well treated the "brethren" of the King shall enter into the kingdom, while the

nations who have ill-treated the Jew are an offence, and are gathered out of that kingdom.

Matt. 25: is national.  As nations they enter the kingdom, or as nations they are

debarred. It is quite contrary to the teaching of the passage to make the kind acts of the

nations a basis for "doing all things unto the Lord," for these nations did not consciously

do what they did to Israel for Christ's sake at all; they only learn that when they stand

before His throne.

The peculiar time of Israel's trouble, which is coming, will be a great temptation to all

the nations to take advantage of the helplessness of this down-trodden people, but the

Lord will reward that nation which acts kindly to His people. "Come ye blessed of My

Father, inherit the kingdom"; "the righteous into age-abiding life" (Matt. xxv.34, 46) is

typified in the parable by the putting of the good fish into the vessels. "For every one

that is left of all the nations that came against Jerusalem, shall even go up from year to

year to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles"

(Zech. 14: 16).

These are the good fish of the parable. The nations who are thus blessed will have a

blessed portion in the kingdom; many, however, will forfeit their place when Satan is

unbound at the end. Israel's pre-eminent position in the kingdom is emphasized in the

parable of the Tares, for of them it adds, "Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun

in the kingdom of their Father." Thus, at the end of the age there will be two siftings and

two gatherings in connection with the kingdom. First from Israel itself (as indicated in

the "Tares"), He shall thoroughly purge His floor--hypocrites and sons of the wicked

one, those who say they are Jews and are not, but who are of the synagogue of Satan

(Rev. 3: 9)--and then from the nations round about as already seen in the quotations

from the Prophets and Matt. 25:

These parables show us that great care is necessary in reading the Word that we do not

overlook the divisions that are made among various classes in the kingdom. We have the

"Treasure," Israel, as distinct from the nations. We have the "One Pearl," the Remnant,

as distinct from the nation. We have the good and bad fish, the division made among the

nations themselves.

Evil shall not always reign. That kingdom so long looked for will come, and then

shall begin the final step towards the goal--"A new heaven and a new earth, wherein

dwelleth righteousness."