The Parable of the Net (Matt. 24.47-50)

The Parable of the Net (Matt. 13.47-50)

This parable is most easily misunderstood. First of all, what are the common interpretations for it? They are as follows:

(1) The net is the gospel, the sea is the world, the fishermen are the preachers of the gospel, the good and bad fishes are the good and bad people who are mixed together in the church.

(2) The sea is the Gentile world, the fishermen are the preachers of the gospel who rescue the unsaved from the world and get them into the boat of the church. The good are to be gathered into vessels, but the bad are to be cast away. Hence just to be in the boat is not enough.

The above two interpretations were the most popular ones in the medieval centuries.

However, this parable has two special features: (1) that the men are angels (to say that the men are preachers of the gospel is to contradict the explanation given by the Lord, else He would have stated otherwise); and (2) that the time for drawing the net is the end of the world. Considering these two features, it becomes evident that the above two interpretations are faulty.

The errors in these interpretations are as follows: (a) the fishermen are not preachers of the gospel, since the drawers of the net are the very ones who cast the net; (b) “cast” in the original is in the past tense: “was cast”; (c) the drawing of the net is at the end of the world and thus occurs only once, but the drawing of the gospel net today happens every day at any time; (d) the drawing is once and for all; (e) if the sea stands for the Gentiles, would not the church be composed only of Gentiles and none of the Jews? (and yet Romans 9.24 plainly states that there will be Jews); (f) as to the way of judgment, tares are bound into bundles for burning, but the fishes are selected one by one—bad fishes are therefore not limited only to false believers; (g) “when it [the net] was filled”—yet when is the gospel filled? (h) what does “the beach” represent? (i) the preachers of the gospel have no right to choose; (j) what is “gathered” is the gathering “of every kind” and not just fishes; (k) because obviously a gospel net would be drawn daily, can we at all say that every day is the end of the world? (l) who can decide to throw away the bad fishes?—certainly not men; (m) the Lord simply declared that we shall be fishers of men, but never did He describe a saved person as being caught in a net; and (n) the selection is done in the net—yet the gospel of grace accepts, never judges, people.

A comparison between the parable of the net and the parable of the tares yields this interesting contrast: The parable of the tares speaks of the beginning when men slept, whereas the parable of the net speaks of the end, that is, the fullness of time. Thus the parable of the net is placed at the conclusion of the series of parables.

v.47 “Again”—This shows that there is new light, hence this parable is different from the parable of the tares.

“Sea”—On the earth three fourths of its surface is sea (representing, as we have said, the Gentiles—see Daniel 7.2-3 and Is. 60.5) and one-fourth is land (again representing, as we have said, the Jews). As the land is different from the sea, so the children of Israel are a people who “dwelleth alone” and are not “reckoned among the nations” (Num. 23. 9).

“Net, that was cast into the sea”—“Net” here is the gospel of judgment (see Rev. 14.6-13). “The end of the world” is the Great Tribulation. The angel shall proclaim the eternal gospel at the time of the Great Tribulation. It is therefore a gospel of judgment. The angel casts the net, that is to say, the angel proclaims the eternal gospel to the nations (which include both the believing and the unbelieving): “Fear God, and give Him glory; for the hour of His judgment is come” (Rev. 14.7).

“Gathered of every kind” means all the Gentiles (cf. Ez. 47.10).

vv.48-50 “When it was filled”—When the eternal gospel is adequately proclaimed and the time is up.

“Drew up on the beach”—This speaks of judgment. The word of God gathers them, and everyone is compelled to leave his original habitation.

“Sat down” has two meanings: (1) having authority (1 Kings 1.13,20; Matt. 5.1 with 7.29; Matt. 20.21); and (2) judgment (Ex. 18.13, John 19.13). Who sits down in Revelation 4? The 24 archangels.

“Sever the wicked from among the righteous”—This is a severing according to the rule laid down in Leviticus 11.9-13ff.

“The furnace of fire” —See Ezekiel 22.18-22 (cf. Is. 31.5-6, 8-9; Mal. 3.18,4.1; Is. 30.33; 66.20,23-24).

“The beach” is the border area between the sea and the land, which is to say, in the midst of the Gentiles and Jews.

Matthew 13.47-49 is similar to Matthew 25.31-36. The sheep are the good fishes and the goats are the bad fishes. The nations that fear God and treat kindly the pious Jews and Christians shall be those to be found in the millennial kingdom.

v.51 “Have ye understood all these things?”—The Lord asks this question because in speaking the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven He wants the disciples to understand thoroughly, whereas He wishes the blasphemers to be totally lost in not understanding His words (see Matt. 13.11-16). So that this question concludes the words found earlier in verses 11-16 of this chapter.

v.52 “Every scribe”—One who is familiar with the Old Testament. From this we are assured that the kingdom of heaven is not the Messianic kingdom, otherwise the scribe would have already been in the kingdom of heaven. A scribe to be made a disciple means a scribe who will have accepted the teaching of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven (which points to the Christian faith today).

“A householder” is the scribe. A house has its boundary. The boundary is not the open air but is the chambers of a house (see S.S.1.4).

“Things new and old”—Old is the Old Testament and new is the New Testament. When we speak, we bring out of our treasure both the Old and the New Testaments.