[Biblemat] A>Mullet Fishing (Kent Heaton)

[Kent Heaton]

Mullet Fishing

(Kent Heaton)

 

Smoked mullet is a delicacy that is a most enjoyable experience for the palate. On a few occasions, I have accompanied the experts of mullet harvesting to the Gulf waters to bring back a hearty catch of these delectable species. Casting nets far out to entrap them and bringing them to boat, we haul the load onboard. It is then we separate everything that is included in the net, throwing what we do not want back into the water. The fishermen of Galilee experienced the same type of harvest. Peter, Andrew, James and John were fishermen that left their nets to follow Jesus (Matthew 4:18-22)

Net fishing was a familiar scene and on one occasion, Jesus used it as a parable to teach His disciples. "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea, and gathering fish of every kind; and when it was filled, they drew it up on the beach; and they sat down and gathered the good fish into containers, but the bad they threw away. So it will be at the end of the age; the angels will come forth and take out the wicked from among the righteous, and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth" (Matthew 13:47-50).

The story is striking. Jesus does not let His disciples forget that in all of His teaching of love, compassion and mercy - the judgment of His Father awaits all men. This is an important truth the Lord does not want to be lost on His hearers. The Hebrew writer says, "Inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment" (Hebrews 9:27). Paul declared on Mars Hill, "Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead" (Acts 17:30-31).

Likened to the drawing of nets full of things that are good and bad, all men will be drawn to the judgment bar of the Lord and separated as "the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats" (Matthew 25:32). Jesus preached salvation but some of the most fearful and dreaded accounts of the punishment of the wicked come from His lips. How can we miss the value of His lesson to remind us of the great and notable day of the Lord when in the final moments of God's scheme of redemption is completed. All men who have ever lived, living now or will live preceding the coming of the Son of God will stand before the judgment bar of God (Romans 14:11). 

Jesus declares the truth of a place of punishment. The "furnace of fire" is a real place (Matthew 13:42; Revelation 20:10-15; 21:8). This will be a place of "weeping and gnashing of teeth" (Matthew 8:12; 22:13; Luke 13:28). This will be at the end of the age or the end of time. "But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat" (2 Peter 3:10-12). 

Mullet fishing is an enjoyable time. The final mullet fishing will not be so enjoyable for most people (Matthew 7:13,14). Live for the Lord each day so that when harvest time comes you will be found as the saved among men. 



Kent Heaton
207 NE Fourth Avenue
Trenton, Florida 32693
(H) 352-463-6916 (O) 3793
(C) 352-283-3889
www.trentonchurchofchrist.com
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If we ever forget that we are one nation
under God, then we will be a nation
gone under. (Ronald Reagan)
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