The Great Gospel Net

In this Parable, although there is a parallel with the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares, we do see other truths being set forth by Jesus for our understanding as Christian people. Here the emphasis is not so much about the work of the Lord Himself in His spiritual work of salvation by means of the working of the Holy Spirit, as much as it is about the work of ministers and the responsibility of all other Christians who are preaching and sharing the gospel. The real truth that the Lord Jesus would have us to understand better in this Parable is –

1st – What is Jesus comparing the kingdom of heaven to here? It is like the casting of a great fishing net. And the net represents the preaching of the gospel of Christ.
2nd – What does the sea and the fish of every kind in this sea represent? The sea is the picture of the sinful world that we live in, and the sinful people who live in it are pictured here for us as fish of every kind who are fished out by the gospel.
3rd – What will take place when the net is full? They will draw it to shore, and sit down and gather the good fish into vessels, but they will thrown away the bad.
4th – At the end of the age, the angels will come forth and separate the wicked from among the just.
5th – They will cast them into the furnace of fire where there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

So, today, I will take up some things related to the first of these points, and I will try to help you understand better what the word pictures of this Parable mean, and how this applies to us.