A Christian’s Fishing Net
Why didn’t Jesus Christ, who was a minister of the Gospel go into the temple and be joined to the existing ministry and priests officiating to the people? Instead, Jesus went to the Sea of Galilee and the first men He commanded to follow Him were fishermen.
Matthew 4:18, And when Jesus walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew His brother, casting nets into the sea: for they were fishers. 19, And He said unto them, “Come ye after Me and I will make ye become fishers of men.
Why didn’t John the Baptist, who in the Book of Malachi, is called Elijah, the forerunner of Christ, born into a family of Levitical priests, go to the temple, put on his priestly robe, and be joined with the religious leaders? We read:
Matthew 3:3, For this is he that was spoken of by the Prophet Isaiah, saying, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness,” ‘ prepare ye the way of the Lord, and make His paths straight.’
This activity we read about Jesus and John could be thought of as not building up of the existing religion of their day but establishing something new. After all, if the promised seed we read about in Genesis 3:15 didn’t refer to Jesus, then to whom did it refer to? And if John the Baptist didn’t join himself to the religious leaders in the temple, why not? And if the Prophet mentioned by Moses in the Book of Deuteronomy 18:15, was not Jesus Christ, who was that Prophet? The answer can only be that they both, Jesus as the promised seed and John, as a voice crying in the wilderness, were to bring men as well as women out of the existing religious practices of their day and into the reality of the Kingdom of God, which Moses and the law could never do.
The Rejection of Jesus Christ
John 1:1, He came unto His own, and His own received Him not.
During Jesus’s ministry, it was the religious leaders, serving under the authority of the Caesars, who didn’t understand the prophesy of the virgin birth, or of Jesus being born in Bethlehem. They even accused Him of being a son born of fornication.
John 8:41, “Ye do the deeds of your father.” They said unto him, “We be not born of fornication; We have one Father even God.”
It seems that the religious leaders didn’t understand any of the scriptures concerning Jesus.
John 8:43, ” Why do ye not understand My speech? Even because ye cannot hear My word.”
Jesus is the Word of God, Revelation 19:13. The religious leaders had the Old Testament scrolls, but as Jesus said to them, they couldn’t understand or put together what was taught in the scriptures,. How can we not make the same mistake as they did? The Prophet Isaiah gives us the answer.
Line Upon Line,Precept Upon Precept
Jesus said that man should live out of every word that proceeded out of the mouth of God, Matthew 4:4. Jesus is called the Word of God in Revelation 19:13. However, there are two meanings for the word Word in the scriptures. The first is the Logos word, and the second is the Rhema word. The Prophet Isaiah mentions both in his writings.
Isaiah 28:9, Whom shall He teach knowledge? And whom shall He make to understand doctrine? Them that are weaned from the milk and drawn from the breasts. 10, For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line, here a little and there a little.
The Logos Word
<———–> Logos word.
Rhema v Word 
The Logos Word is the written word, the Bible, that is in our hands, and it is written as words forming lines across the page. This is the line upon line concept. It is the entirety of the Bible in written form and can be read line after line after line. Some of the lines need clarification to be understood properly. Even though the scriptures were written thousands of years ago, God can and does speak to us even today through His Rhema word, the utterances of God spoken to us through the spirit in man, Job 38:2; Zechariah 12:1; 1st Corinthians 2:11.
Rhema Word
The Rhema word is sometimes called the instant word, and in the Book of Isaiah, he uses the word precept. Here is one example of the Rhema word being used.
Matthew 16:15, He saieth unto them, “But whom say ye that I am?” 16, And Simon Peter answered and said, “Thou are the Son of the living God.”
The answer Peter gives cannot be found anywhere in the line upon line principle. Peter is given the word out of the mouth of God by instant revelation through the spirit.
.Matthew 16:17, And Jesus answered and said, “Blessed are thou, Simon Bar-Jonas; For flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father which is in heaven.”
Everyone can have the same Bible, the line upon line in their hands, but not everyone will receive the same Rhema word. The human body is made up of three parts, spirit, soul, and body, 1st Thessalonians 5:23. Because God is Spirit, John 4:24, this is the only way we can contact Him, through our human spirit.
Matthew 7:7, “Ask, and it shall be given unto you; seek and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened to you: 8, For everyone that asketh received; and he that seeked findeth; and to him that knocked it shall be opened.”
When we utilize our spirit in asking, seeking, and knocking, we put into action both, the Logos Word and God answering through the Rhema word.
Romans 8:14, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons, (and daughters) of God.”
The line upon line are all the words read horizontally in the Bible, and the precepts upon precepts are all vertical lines which come down from above. When these horizontal and vertical lines are in place, they form a fishing net.
Colossians 3:1, “If ye be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above on the right hand of God. 2, Set your affection on the things above, not on the things of the earth.”
We have the written word, the Logos, our bible in our hands, but now, because of Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection, we have the Rhema word also, the instant word, His spoken utterances, when we ask, seek, and knock, because Christ has ascended to His Father’s Throne.
James 1:17, Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
When all the horizontal lines intersect with the vertical lines which come down from above, we have a fishing net that is made up of tiny crosses. The line upon line is easy enough to understand but what about the word precept? The word precept in Webster’s Dictionary means to admonish; to teach, and comes from a root word 4687; and 6680; in the Hebrew Dictionary and means an injection, to enjoin, send a message, a commandment.
Christ, Mending Their Nets
Matthew 4:24, And going on from thence, He saw other two brethren, James, the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father mending their nets; and He called them.
Any good fisherman will never use faulty or damaged fishing nets to catch fish, or for that matter to catch men. The language here, fishing for men, is for the making a transition from the old Judean religion back to the promises given to Abraham, Genesis 17:7. This transition would be leaving behind the old covenant and bringing in better promises with a new covenant, Hebrews 8:7-13. To catch men, we need the knowledge and doctrine Isaiah wrote about. The Word of God, the Logos as well as the Rhema word will supply us with a perfect fishing net. The disciples had a net that needed mending which could only be repaired by Jesus Christ. But why use fishermen?
There is a Lot of Fish in the Sea
Revelations 17:15, and he said unto me, “The waters that you see where the whore sitteth are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.
All men are God’s children. He loves them all, even though the whore has deceived many, meaning the division within many churches. In God’s language, the oceans are filled with all kinds of fish/people. He needs disciples who will work to have a good fishing net, with no holes to fish for them. The lines are all horizontal lines and the precepts are all vertical lines. Christ, as the Logos and His Father as the Rhema word will give us a perfect net.
John 5:15, The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus that had made him whole. 16, And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay Him, because He had done these things on the sabbath day. 17, But Jesus answered them, “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.”
The religious leaders didn’t have a proper fishing net, so when Jesus came on the scene they didn’t recognize Him. Jesus during His ministry, had all the lines and precepts in place so of course multitudes followed Him. He was the word of God. He was a literal fishing net that needed not to be repaired. He knew how, where, and when to fish.