CULTWATCH Devotional

47 Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake [the Lake of Galilee] and caught all kinds of fish.
48 When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away.
49 This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous
50 and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

This parable is only found in Matthew’s gospel and like the preceding parable of the wheat and the weeds it is similar in its message. The parable describes the kingdom of God, and its instrument upon earth the Church, as a mixed company with both “good” and “bad”, or “righteous” and “wicked”, intermingled, and emphasizes their final separation by “angels”. Both the parables of the weeds and the net describe the fate of the wicked in symbolic but terrible language. Perhaps the story of the net is the last of a series of seven parables because it focuses on “the close and consummation of the age” (Amplified Bible) and God’s judgment in the future.

Fishing was an important industry on the Lake of Galilee. Many of the disciples, like Peter and his brother Andrew, were fishermen and would be familiar with this scene from their daily work. In this way Jesus’ use of fishing as an illustration effectively communicated spiritual truth. The net in this parable was probably a drag net or a trawling net with floats at its top and weights at the bottom. It would encompass not only many varieties of fish but also useless shells, driftwood and rocks. Those fish considered to be unclean, according to Leviticus 11:9-12 those without fins or scales could not be eaten, or those unfit for eating were thrown away.

The setting of the seine net portrayed the “fishing for men” (Matthew 4:19) that Jesus had called the disciples to do i.e. fish for the souls of people or bring them to faith in God. The world is like a vast sea, and people are likened to fish. Preaching the gospel is like casting a large net into the sea. The large dragnet, or sweep-net, was either dragged between two boats or set by one boat and dragged to the shore by ropes. This type of net that included everything in it and allowed nothing to escape, points to the inclusiveness of the gospel.

The story mentions “all kinds of fish” in the net, which may indicate the international mission of the Church. Jesus preached to simple peasants, the powerful leaders of the establishment, and to people with good and bad reputations i.e. fish “of all kinds”. The main point of the parable is the indiscriminate mixture of good and bad fish caught in the net. The gospel catch will always be varied. God tolerates the coexistence of good and evil in the Church and only the judgment day will distinguish between the genuine and the false.

A brief interpretation immediately follows the parable. In the present age there will be a large harvest from the sea but it will be a mixed catch that will be sorted “at the end of the age”. There are only two kinds of fish: “good” or “bad”. As with the weeds, it is not the leaders of the church that make the separation. Angels will make a final separation of the “righteous” from the “wicked” when Jesus returns to establish his kingdom on earth (25:30). The parable of the wheat and the weeds also teaches the mixture of the “good” with the “bad” in the kingdom of God and we humans are not to attempt such a separation now.

It is impossible for us to be sure of the genuineness of those who claim to be members of God’s kingdom. Angels who are more qualified than we are will be the agents of judgment. Such a separation is the Master’s business: “The Lord knows those who are his.” (2 Timothy 2:19). Judgment is God’s work, not ours. God has determined the time of separation. The harvest must be allowed to ripen. The last opportunity for repentance must be given.

The meaning of this parable is similar to that of the parable of the weeds. The focus of both these parables is the Day of Judgment. Compare the almost identical words in verses 49–50 with verses 40–42: “The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Jesus used symbolic language to describe our human destiny of either heaven or hell. The useless fish that are thrown away, correspond to the weeds, or the “wicked” that are thrown into the “fiery furnace”, and portray hell; whereas the “righteous” who “shine like the sun” correspond to the “good fish in baskets” and the “wheat”, and portray heaven.

There is no avoiding this coming judgment and final separation: the righteous experience life and blessing while the evil experience destruction. “Weeping and gnashing of teeth” symbolizes the intense distress, suffering, and remorse of people when they recognize that they have been eternally rejected and cut off from God, and are powerless to alter their position. The symbol of the “fiery furnace” represents the “eternal fire” and condemnation of hell (Matthew 25:41). It is the awful “eternal punishment” that is the alternative to the enjoyment of “eternal life.” (Matthew 25:46) Jesus taught that hell is a place of unrelieved punishment, misery and torment for soul and body.

God will determine the eternal destiny of every person who has ever lived. In John 5:28-29 Jesus spoke of the resurrection of everyone: “Those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned.” This does not imply salvation is based on good deeds and damnation is based on bad deeds. Salvation is by faith in Christ while damnation results from a rejection of Jesus Christ (John 3:36).

The professing Church has in it both false and true believers. The “wicked” includes all professing followers of Christ who are nominal believers and lack a saving faith in Christ. They are in the Church but not of it and they are Christians in name only. They are like those hearers of the Word mentioned in the parable of the sower with a hard heart, a shallow faith, and a love of worldly pleasures.

This parable encourages faithful work in God’s kingdom. The present business of disciples is to catch fish of every kind, not to judge them. This is the day of grace when the lost may be saved. We are to present the claims of Christ, warn sinners, and welcome them into the kingdom. The story is a call to faith and commitment; it is a call to action.

When an evangelist or missionary casts his net into the sea of mankind he brings in not only those who are genuinely converted but also those who only profess to be. The Kingdom gathers all sorts of people, the respectable and the unrespectable. Those who proclaim Christ should not be selective in their ministries but welcome all who come to Christ. As in another parable, the servants of Christ “gathered all the people they could find both good and bad.” (Matthew 22:10). It is our responsibility to proclaim the gospel without discrimination to all who will come to Christ, and not to judge or separate them. We should bring as many as we can into the kingdom and let God sort them out.

The exclusive idea of the Church says it should be only for the godly few, the totally committed believers, a faithful minority, a spiritual elite, or “holy remnant” that deserve fellowship with God, as opposed to a less committed majority of unspiritual or carnal believers. This view usually results in a legalistic type of self-righteous man-made “holiness” that characterized the Pharisees. It may also result in isolation and an eccentric lifestyle in a Christian ghetto or even a “Christian cult.”

On the other hand, the inclusive view of the Church says that we should not try to establish a pure community of the “holy” and the “godly” for who is to decide who is 100% committed to Christ and who is not? Such a decision invites the sins of hypercriticism and judgmentalism: “Don’t pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults-unless you want the same treatment.” (The Message Matthew 7:1).

The Church exists for those who are sick and need healing and its membership should be open to everyone. In Jesus Christ the gospel invitation is unconditional and open to all. When the Pharisees questioned Jesus eating with sinners and tax collectors, he rebuked their complacent self-righteousness: “It is not the healthy who need a doctor [Ironically the Pharisees were most in need of one], but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, [Or those who think they are] but sinners.” (Mark 2:17)

“If the Church were a place for perfect people there would be no members at all. What really matters is not so much where a man is as the direction in which he is facing. The Church must remain a mixture but if she is acting as the physician of Christ, and if the people in her are facing in the right direction, facing Christ, then the fact that she is a mixture is her glory and not her condemnation.”[1]

Lord, given a final separation between the wicked and the righteous, help me to develop a more urgent prayer life for the lost. Help me to spread the net of salvation in this age of grace. Amen.

[1]William Barclay, And Jesus Said, Page 48, The Church of Scotland Youth Committee, Edinburgh, 1962.

THE PARABLE OF THE FISHING NET (Matthew 13:47-50)