Matthew 13:47

[mel85]

 International Version

“Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish

 

Does net here means, Gospel?

[Starise]

The kingdom of heaven is God doing His will and Us if we are believers also doing His will. The net symbolizes going for the catch and the many kinds of fish represent the many kinds of men the fisherman catches. The fisherman is the Lord, but He may use us to do the fishing. 

At the end the Lord will gather all of those who chose to follow Him, so that there will be people (fish) from all over the world. This is the fulfillment of the Abramic covenent that God would multiply Him as the stars of the sky. Through Abraham came Christ who birthed salvation to all men.

[Deborah_]

Fishing can be a fruitless occupation, whether you’re using a net or a line. After hours of working or waiting, you may catch nothing at all - or what you do catch may not be what you want. It may not even be a fish; unfortunately our rivers and seas are so full of rubbish now, that a fisherman’s catch may consist largely of plastic debris!

Galilean fishermen in the first century didn’t have to contend with plastic waste, but they were used to throwing away a large proportion of their catch because it was unsuitable for human consumption in one way or another. And when Jesus’ disciples started “fishing for people” they would find it a similar experience - because not all those who make an initial response to the Gospel (and not even all those who get as far as joining a church) will actually turn out to be genuine Christians.

To some extent we can weed out the people who obviously don’t belong; but even so, it’s inevitable that our churches will have a mixed membership. Only God knows who is truly ‘in’ and who is ‘out’ - and He won’t remove the ‘bad fish’ until the Day of Judgement. “Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart.” (I Corinthians 4:5)

In the meantime, we need to remember that church membership is not a guarantee of eternal life. Even in an apparently well-established congregation, there may well be some individuals who do not believe - and so the preaching of the Gospel shouldn’t be confined to “outreach” events.

There is also an implied warning to anyone who thinks that merely attending church will count in their favour on Judgement Day. The one criterion for entering the Kingdom is faith in Jesus; without it, you are an unbeliever… and you will suffer the fate of the unbeliever.

[Starise]

I would frequently be on the fruitless or I should say fishless end on a long day after having tried every bait and lure in my arsenal. I feel that way often about some of those I am around. If my job was to catch them, what’s miserable outcome! Yet I am reminded of those tired fishermen the Lord told to throw their nets one last time after a long and fishless night. That’s when the bounty came, when the Lord led the expedition. 
So maybe this is a lesson to us all that the Lord brings the bounty sometimes in spite of us. Oh how I long for it.

Yes there will be those who creep in secretly and seem to fit in when they are really wolves. I believe I’ve spotted a few of them but await the Lord’s reckoning,

[AdHoc]

5 hours ago, mel85 said:

 International Version

“Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish

 

Does net here means, Gospel?

In Matthew 13, our Lord Jesus told 7 Parables. All of them concern "The Kingdom of Heaven". The Kingdom is different to the Church. The Kingdom of Heaven is when Jesus returns and subjugates the Nations under a rule that enforces what is enforced in Heaven. In Chapter 6:10 you can see what the kingdom is. It is when God's way of doing things is enforced as the daily norm. From Adam to Abraham one type of person lived on earth - "THE NATIONS". Then, starting with Isaac, a new Nation was formed - "THE NATION OF ISRAEL". Then, from the moment Jesus breathed the Holy Spirit into His disciples on resurrection day, a new Company of men was formed - "THE NEW MAN" commonly called "THE CHURCH".

In Matthew 13 and Matthew 24 and 25, our Lord Jesus told His disciples what would be the fate of these THREE peoples - (i) THE NATION (born to Adam), (ii) THE NATION OF ISRAEL (born to Jacob), and (iii) the very special People who were born to the Holy Spirit - THE CHURCH.

The first four parables were spoken from a boat on the sea to a mixed crowd. These four parables concern how the Church would develop in this age. You see, the King has, in this age, only the Church were He has authority among men. Israel and the Gentiles, or "THE NATIONS" do not recognize Jesus as their King. So the first four parables show the progression of the Church. Then our Lord Jesus goes into a house where there are three things - (i) Jesus the King, (ii) the disciples who will be kings one day, and (iii) the truth of Jesus' teaching. The House must be the church because the Holy Spirit says in 1st Timothy 3:15

... that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth

And in the House where the disciples learned the truth, our Lord Jesus tells them how the age ends for The Church (the man who gave everything for the field), how it ends for Israel (pearls in New Jerusalem) and how it ends for THE NATIONS. Once it is pointed out you can see how closely this parable of the Drag-net is to the narrative of the "Sheep and the Goats" in Matthew 25:31-46. In the typology of the net we have three nets in scripture:
1. When Jesus came He came only for Israel. The initial thrust of the disciples was ONLY to the lost of Israel. they rejected the gospel. This is depicted by the net THAT BROKE (Lk.5:6) The Jews "broke out of the gospel".

2. Then, in John 21 the risen Lord will go to the Gentiles. A net is cast by Christ's disciples and the net did not break. 153 fish are caught - the same number as the number of Gentiles in Solomon's Kingdom in 2nd Chronicles 2:17, multiplied by 1,000. This shows the Church taken from the Gentiles under the Greater King than Solomon - Jesus

3. The net in Matthew 13:47 is a different kind of net - a "DRAGNET". A Dragnet drags on the river or sea bed and no living creature can escape. The sea is a Type of the Nations. This time it is not disciples who fish for men, but the angels. They are gatherd and not one escapes judgment. Here in Matthew 13 the are divided into the "good and the bad". In Matthew 25, the same happens. It is a judgment of "ALL NATIONS" (Matt.25:31-32). They are separated into sheep and goats. They are judge on how they treated the Lord's brethren in the Great Tribulation.

The meaning of Matthew 13 is the progress of Christ's Kingdom during the Church age. It is fraught with opposition. Matthew Chapter 12 shows Israel's rejection of their Messiah. Chapter 13 shows the problems with the growth of the Lord's Kingdom in this age. All must pay a price at judgment. None will escape.

[Tristen]

On 2/2/2024 at 2:45 AM, mel85 said:

 International Version

“Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish

 

Does net here means, Gospel?

I think you could fairly infer that the "net" might be referring to the "Gospel" - in the sense that the "Gospel" is essentially an invitation to enter into "the kingdom of heaven".

However, I don't think one could make that inference dogmatically - since 'using the Gospel as a net' is not the point of this particular parable.