Again, the kingdom of the heavens is like a seine which has been cast into the sea, and which has gathered together of every kind,
The seventh and last parable of Matthew 13 changes the picture. Fields and seeds give way to the sea, and sowing gives way to fishing. Two questions press hardest. What is the net? And why does it take in fish of every kind, not only good ones?
The Greek word for this net is not the usual one. It appears only in this verse, and it means fishing on a far bigger scale.
Amphiblestron occurs only in Matthew 4:18 and means a casting net. It was thrown around the object, which is where the term came from. The more usual word is diktuon... But the sagene (in Matthew 13:47 only), from sattein, to pack or load, was a dragnet or seine, on a larger scale.
A dragnet is not aimed at one fish. It sweeps everything in its path.
The net stands for the message that goes out, and the sea for the restless mass of humanity it is thrown into.
In this last parable the kingdom is presented as it is in its effects and purpose in the eye of God. It is His purpose to gather out of the world a people for Himself, and the means He uses is pictured as a net cast into the sea. The net is clearly the preaching of the cross of Christ — to the Jews a stumbling block, to the Greeks foolishness... The sea is the symbol of the inhabitants of the earth in a state of tumult and lawlessness. And that is very much the state of the world... Within the Christian world you find not only the greatest good on earth, but also the greatest wickedness. There are real and false disciples of Christ.
Another reading takes the sea as the nations — the peoples outside Israel.
If the sea speaks of the nations, then the fish speak of the people in them. In God's purposes, the kingdom of heaven has to do not only with Israel and the church, but with the Gentile nations too.
The net does not screen what enters it. So the catch is mixed. That marks a real difference from the earlier parable of the weeds sown among the wheat.
This is like the parable of the wheat and weeds. In both cases angels do the untangling at the end of the age... But there is also a clear difference. In the earlier parable the wicked are in the world as the result of Satan's sowing. Here "the word of the kingdom" goes out among the nations like a net, and people of all kinds profess to receive it.
"Every kind" is not the same as everyone.
This parable does not assume a work of grace in every soul gathered into the net. Yet the net only gathers a small portion of the fish in the sea. How foolish then to think the whole world will be converted, when a scripture as plain as this says otherwise!
When the net is full, someone must sort the catch. Who does that work?
Who are "they"? We never find the angels gathering the good. They always separate the wicked for judgment. The fishers were men, like the servants in the first parable... The angels' business is always with the wicked; the servants' with the good.
This shapes the work of anyone serving God now.
The Christian worker is busy with the good. He is an agent of the grace that saved him. He leaves the worthless aside for those angels who excel in might... There is no question of a good fish turning worthless or of the worthless rising to good.
Some take the net as the gospel going out today. Others place it at the close of the age.
This is not the gospel net, as it is often called. After the one pearl is taken up, the end of the age begins. This parable falls into the completion of the age. The dragnet is let into the sea, which represents the nations. The parable refers to the preaching of the everlasting gospel as it will take place during the great tribulation (Revelation 14:6-7)... All this cannot refer to the present time nor to the church, but to the time when the kingdom is about to be set up.
- Net. A seine is a wide dragnet, and the word appears only here in the New Testament. It pictures a message thrown out on a scale that catches everything.
- Sea. The water stands for a world in turmoil. The fish are people from the nations, not Israel or the church alone.
- Every kind. People of all sorts profess to receive the word of the kingdom. So the catch holds real and false disciples side by side.
- Not all. The net takes a portion of the sea, never the whole of it — which rules out the idea that the world will all be converted.
- Two hands. Servants gather the good into vessels; angels deal with the wicked. Commentators differ: does the net picture preaching today, or the close of the age?
which, when it has been filled, having drawn up on the shore and sat down, they gathered the good into vessels and cast the worthless out.
A net dragged through the sea catches whatever is in its path. The sorting comes later, on the shore — who does it, what they want, and what happens to what they reject.
The verse never names the people who draw the net and sit down to sort. One commentator answers it from what angels do elsewhere in Scripture. They are always given the opposite job.
Who are "they"? We never find angels gathering the good. They always separate the wicked for judgment. The fishermen were men, like the servants in the first parable. … The angels' business is always with the wicked; the servants' business is with the good. Separating the wicked from among the just is not the fishermen's work at all. And throwing the bad away is not the same thing as the furnace of fire.
The net brings in a mixed catch. Both kinds wear the Christian name, and one writer says telling them apart is a solemn responsibility.
The net has gathered in both good and bad. The good fish are those who have humbly admitted their guilt and ruin, and the Saviour's precious blood has cleansed them from their sins. The bad are those — and how many! — who "profess and call themselves Christians," but have no love for the Saviour's person and no living faith in the gospel. Mistakes in discernment are all too possible. Even so, everyone to whom Christ is more than a mere name carries a solemn responsibility to tell the good from the bad, in godly fear — keeping company with the one and avoiding the other.
So where does the mixture come from?
In the net the mixture came from the work of man. The kinds of fish were distinct, no doubt, but a single labour gathered them all into the net — and that labour was man's, the fishermen's. This is not here a work of the enemy, but the imperfect work of man.
Notice the order. The good go into something. The bad are only thrown out. One action is the aim of the work; the other only clears the way for it.
The fishermen are taken up with the good: they put them into vessels. The bad they only reject and set aside. What is the fisherman after? What does he care about? The good fish. To have them as he wants and intends, he must reject the others along the way. But he does that only so that he may have the good. Beyond that, he has nothing to do with the bad. They are not his concern. They are only in his way: the net was not cast for them. He gathers the good into vessels. Where they go after that is not his business either: his work is to catch them and gather them into vessels apart.
The verse ends their work not with the haul but with the storing. One writer sees in that the shape of serving Christ near the end.
Putting the good into vessels is the closing act of the fishermen. The Holy Spirit gives them the ability to tell the good from the bad. This wisdom was not withheld before. From the beginning, receiving souls into the Church is putting the good into vessels. But the energy of the Holy Spirit in the fishermen makes care for the "good" the mark of the close. Some travel about proclaiming the name of Jesus, then leave those who may have been converted to go wherever they like. They may be doing only what they have power for. But they are not the fishermen who give character to the kingdom of heaven at the close.
The verse puts the good into more than one container, or vessel.
The vessels would represent companies of saints, with nothing in them that points to different sects.
The fishermen do not pick the moment. And other hands handle what comes after.
The fishermen will draw the gospel net to shore when it is full. No one but God knows how soon that will happen, though everything around us suggests the end of the age is near. The fishermen simply throw the bad fish out of the net. They were not the fish they were looking for. And angelic power, not human hands, will deal out God's judgement on those who falsely claim the Christian name.
- Net — the imperfect work of man makes the mixture inside it, not an enemy sowing at night.
- Sorters — "they" are men, like the servants in the first parable. Angels never gather the good.
- Good — those who own their guilt and are cleansed by the Saviour's blood. The bad wear the Christian name with no living faith.
- Vessels — the good are the whole aim. The bad are set aside only so the good can be kept. The vessels picture companies of saints, not rival sects.
- Furnace — being thrown out of the net is not yet the fire; angels, not men, carry out that judgement.