The Great Net

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth”(Mat.13:47-50). Like the parable of the ten virgins, to understand this parable we must first realize what “the kingdom of heaven,” or “the kingdom of God,” is. And we only have one scripture that clearly defines this for us: “For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but [is] righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost" (Rom. 14:17). So in every parable where Jesus says, "The kingdom of heaven [or God] is like” he is actually saying that having the holy Ghost in your life is like such and such, etc. So these parables only apply to people who have been born of God’s Spirit, because they are the only ones who are in the kingdom of God, or the body of Christ. So then the meaning of this parable becomes immediately evident, and clearly sobering. The sea represents everyone in the world, and the net is equivalent to the body of Christ, and the Spirit baptism is the only way anyone gets into the kingdom of God or the one body of Christ (Jn. 3:5; I Cor. 12:13).

The analogy in this parable is that not everyone in the world receives the holy Ghost, even as not all the fish in the sea are going to be taken in a net that has been cast into the sea. Jesus makes it crystal clear in this parable that not all of those who have been born of the Spirit into the kingdom of God, are going to be saved. But rather those who continue in holiness and following after the Spirit, these alone will inherit eternal life (Heb. 12:14; Rom. 8:4; Rom. 11:19-22; Eph. 5:3-7). Those who “endure unto the end” will be “gathered… into vessels,” which means they will receive glorified bodies at the first resurrection when the Lord comes back from heaven (Mat. 24:12,13; Philip. 3:21; I Jn. 3:2,3). Those who are in the kingdom of God that do not continue following after the Spirit in true holiness till the end, are represented in the parable by the ‘bad’ fish that are ‘cast away.’ There is no mistaking the sobering admonition of Jesus, that the disobedient in the kingdom will in the end be cast into “the lake of fire that burns with fire and brimstone: which is the second death" (Rev. 21:8). That leaves us only with these similar sobering admonitions from the apostle Peter: "Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness" (II Pet. 3:17). And again, "And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man’s work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear" (I Pet. 1:17). Amen.