Matthew 13: 47-50 The Parable of the Dragnet
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet that was cast into the sea and gathered some of every kind, which, when it was full, they drew to shore; and they sat down and gathered the good into vessels, but threw the bad away. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come forth, separate the wicked from among the just,and cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”
Jesus is probably walking along the seashore as he is talking with his disciples. As the crowd watches, local fishermen are sorting out the fish they have caught during the night. While some fish are highly desirable, there are other fish that are simply trash fish and are considered inedible. The fishermen are gathering up the good fish to sell while they are throwing the trash fish into a pile to be discarded. Jesus is using the normal activities of these fishermen as a teaching moment.
Jesus tells us that at the end of the age, God will sort out the righteous from the unrighteous, condemning the wicked to eternal damnation. We might ask why a holy and just God would condemn the wicked, but think about it. If God is truly holy and just, how can He possibly tolerate wickedness? And can truly wicked people tolerate God in His righteousness and holiness?
God by His very nature requires people to be righteous; however, the entire universe tilts on the axis of free will. God does not condemn anybody to hell, but people condemn themselves by their bad choices. But what about good people? How good must we be to meet God’s standards? Ah, there’s the problem! No matter how good we are, we can never be good enough because none of us is perfect.
The Message version of Romans 3:9-20 tells us, “There’s nobody living right, not even one,
nobody who knows the score, nobody alert for God. They’ve all taken the wrong turn;
they’ve all wandered down blind alleys. No one’s living right; I can’t find a single one.
Their throats are gaping graves, their tongues slick as mudslides. Every word they speak is tinged with poison. They open their mouths and pollute the air. They race for the honor of sinner-of-the-year, litter the land with heartbreak and ruin, don’t know the first thing about living with others. They never give God the time of day.”
But if this is the case for the entire human race, how will anyone ever be considered as righteous? This is where God has stepped in to deliver us from ourselves and from our sin. Again, The Message says, “But in our time something new has been added. What Moses and the prophets witnessed to all those years has happened. The God-setting-things-right that we read about has become Jesus-setting-things-right for us. And not only for us, but for everyone who believes in him. For there is no difference between us and them in this. Since we’ve compiled this long and sorry record as sinners (both us and them) and proved that we are utterly incapable of living the glorious lives God wills for us, God did it for us. Out of sheer generosity he put us in right standing with himself. A pure gift. He got us out of the mess we’re in and restored us to where he always wanted us to be. And he did it by means of Jesus Christ.
God sacrificed Jesus on the altar of the world to clear that world of sin. Having faith in him sets us in the clear. God decided on this course of action in full view of the public—to set the world in the clear with himself through the sacrifice of Jesus, finally taking care of the sins he had so patiently endured. This is not only clear, but it’s now—this is current history! God sets things right. He also makes it possible for us to live in his rightness.” Romans 3:21-26
Jesus Christ has become the ultimate blood sacrifice for the sins of the world; however, we must choose to believe in Jesus or turn away from him. When we turn away from Jesus, we are saying in effect that we think we are good enough to make it on our own. Such thinking is not only completely wrong but will damn us for eternity. Acts 4:12 tells us that “There is salvation in no one else! Under all heaven there is no other name (apart from the Name of Jesus) for men to call upon to save them.”
An old Gospel song says, “He paid a debt he did not owe. I owed a debt I could not pay. I needed someone to wash my sins away.” Christians call Jesus their Savior because he has sacrificed himself to save them from their sins and from eternal damnation.
The one thing that is different about our situation from that of the fish in the net is that if we believe in Jesus Christ, we are certain of being kept as “good fish.” If we trust in our own goodness, we are doomed.
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, help all who read these words to choose to follow Jesus and to accept him as Savior. In the mighty and preious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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