New Testament : The Parable Of The Net? The parable of the net is another simple story. However, it is very important. We should understand what it teaches us. Fishermen (men who catch fish) put a net in the water. They catch all kinds of fish, good and bad. At last they pull the net to the shore, and separate the fish. They keep the good ones but they throw away the bad ones. Jesus says that it will be like that at the end of the age. *Angels will separate the *righteous people from the wicked people. Jesus says that there will be severe punishment for the wicked people.
Just as the net was cast into the sea drawing many fish, the gospel message is spread into the world, drawing many people to it. Just as the net gathered all types of fish, regardless of their value, so the gospel attracts many people who neither repent nor desire to follow Christ. Just as the fish could not be sorted until the net was pulled ashore, so false believers masquerading as true Christians will not be made known until the end of the age.
This parable, the last of the series, directs our thoughts to the completion of the kingdom. “So shall it be in the end of the world;” this is the starting point of the interpretation. We are to consider what part the kingdom of heaven is to play then; when other kingdoms have played their parts; when. things are being settled for eternity according to their value to God. It makes no practical difference in the application of the parable whether you make the net the Church, or simply the progress of all things towards eternity.
These “bad fish,” or false believers, can be likened to the rocky soil and thorny soil in Matthew 13:5-7 and to the tares in verse 40. They claim to have a relationship with Jesus, saying “Lord, Lord” (Matthew 7:22), and Jesus’ reply will be “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!” (verse 23). The sobering main point of the parable can be stated thus: “A day of reckoning will come in which God will separate the true believers from mere pretenders, and those found to be false will be cast into hell.” Discover even more details on the The Parable Of The Net video on YouTube.
Do not toss and struggle in the net, but quietly set yourself to make the most of the condition you have unfortunately fallen into. It may be your duty to continue in a position it was not originally your duty to enter. Just because it seems in many points unsuitable, it may call out deeper qualities within you – a patience that would otherwise have been undeveloped in you, a knowledge of man and of God that enlarges and matures your spirit. By very strange influences and means are we passing onwards, and we would often fain escape from the gentle compulsion by which God draws us to our end and bliss; and therefore must we bear in mind that however entangled and tied up we are and prevented. from our own ways and directions, this present is, after all, only the drawing of the net, and not the time of our use. We are pressing to a shore where there is room and time enough for the fulfilment of every human purpose and exercise of every faculty.