The Fisherman and the Net
Bob Yandian
Matthew 13:47: (ESV) Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind.
When Jesus returns to the earth to set up His kingdom, we know He will bring back the Church and meet up with the redeemed of Israel and the saved of all nations. But what about the sinners who have rejected Him during that time? What will He do with them? How will He handle them?
Jesus will deal with all of the unsaved and saved nations as a fisherman does who has brought to shore all kinds of fish in his net. A fisherman does not try to select the types of fish he wants and then attempt to only catch those kinds. He brings all the fish to shore and keeps what he wants and throws away what he does not want.
When Jesus comes back, all will say they are believers. Many will even say, “We have cast out devils in Your name and done many wonderful works” (Matthew 7:22-23). Yet, Jesus will tell them, “Depart from Me, I never knew you.” Only Jesus will know the good fish from the bad, the wheat from the tares, and the believers from the unbelievers.
Once Jesus identifies the saved from the unsaved, angels will help Him divide them up for judgment. They will protect the redeemed of all nations from the wrath of God about to come on all the world’s population. The saved will be brought into the thousand-year reign of Jesus on the earth and the unsaved will be cast into hell and eventually the Lake of Fire.
John the Baptist spoke so precisely of this day when he told the crowd in Matthew 3:11-12 (NKJV), “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but He who comes after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you (believers) with the Holy Spirit and (unbelievers) with fire: His winnowing fan (fork) is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
The floor is the earth. The wheat (believers) and chaff (unbelievers) will be separated on that day just like the farmer separated the useable from the unuseable. The harvest was brought into a place where the wind blew. Wheat and chaff were gathered together and separated at one time. A winnowing fork was used to throw the wheat and chaff into the air. The wheat and chaff looked a lot alike. The wind would blow the chaff away because it was lighter, but the wheat would come back down because of its weight. After enough tossing into the air, all that would be left would be wheat. The chaff was burned and the wheat gathered into the garner. On the day of Jesus’ Second Coming, the chaff (sinner) will be cast into hell for eternity. The wheat, the believers of all nations, will be placed into the garner, the millennial reign of Jesus. All sinners, Satan, demons, fallen angels, and religion will be removed from the earth. All that will remain will be the redeemed from the Tribulation, the Church, saved Israel, and Jesus Christ Himself!
