Bible stories : 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.
This parable is similar to the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares (Matthew 13:36-43). Both parables concern an end-times sorting, aided by angels, when believers will be separated from unbelievers once and for all.
Our Lord would have us consider the consummation of all things, when the great net shall at last be drawn to shore, when there shall be no more sea, no ebb and flow, especially no mingling of bad and good in an obscure and confusing element; but decision and separation, a deliberate sitting down to see what has been made of this world by us all, and a summing up on that eternal shore of all gains and results, and every man’s aim made manifest by his end.
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 additional information with the The Parable Of The Net video on YouTube.
Looking at fish in a net, you see many that are not swimming freely, but caught in the meshes and dragged on. Many have this interpreted by their own experience. They feel daily the pressure of the net; their position is not altogether of their own choosing, and now they discharge its duties because they must, not because they would. Such a condition may be sinful or sinless. If the duties required of you be sinful, then have you not recognized the detriment to your own soul? Do you not reflect that what was good when first entangled may be landed broken, bruised, and useless? But if the duties required of you are not violations of God’s Law or offences to your own conscience, then rest satisfied with them, till God shows you a way of escape.