Jesus appeared again to his disciples and now we will see what happened this time...
John 21 (cont.)
2 There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas called Didymus, and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two other of his disciples.
3 Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a fishing. They say unto him, We also go with thee. They went forth, and entered into a ship immediately; and that night they caught nothing.
By this verse we see that only (7) of the disciples were present... Maybe, just maybe the Lord had a lesson for the ones present there at this particular time, who knows.. Anyway we see the ONE WHO DENIED HIM was there, the ONE WHO DOUBTED HIM, THE TWO SONS OF THUNDER (ck. Mark 3:17), NATHANAEL WHO WONDERED if any good thing could come out of Nazareth,
(CK. John 1:46-51),
"45 Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.
"46 And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see."
And a couple of others. Even though Peter saw the Lord twice so far, I am sure he is still pretty down about a lot of things since he spent the last few hours of Jesus' life denying him... You know, I use to fish for fish but when I started fishing for men, the fishing for fish kinda went UNHOOKED, the desire wasn't there any more... That is, when I really found out what it meant and was like to fish for those lost within mankind for the kingdom of God's sake...
John 21 (cont.)
4 But when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore: but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus.
5 Then Jesus saith unto them, Children, have ye any meat? They answered him, No.
6 And he said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes.
It is like the Lord will ask us even though he knows our state of mind, being... Here he asks do we have meat, food and we tell him that we have all we need then he will go on and let us do our thing BUT if we admit that we have a need then he will meet it as we look to him and obey him and they did just that...
John 21 (cont.)
7 Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved saith unto Peter, It is the Lord. Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girt his fisher's coat unto him, (for he was naked,) and did cast himself into the sea.
8 And the other disciples came in a little ship; (for they were not far from land, but as it were two hundred cubits,) dragging the net with fishes.
9 As soon then as they were come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid thereon, and bread.
10 Jesus saith unto them, Bring of the fish which ye have now caught.
11 Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land full of great fishes, an hundred and fifty and three: and for all there were so many, yet was not the net broken.
God wants to give us more than we need at times so we will be used to help others in need...
John 21 (cont.)
12 Jesus saith unto them, Come and dine. And none of the disciples durst ask him, Who art thou? knowing that it was the Lord.
In Rev. 3:20,
"Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me."
Even though this verse is addressed to believers, we can use it in regards to unbelievers since the Lord is calling all to come to him so they can join him at his table in spiritual food and fellowship...
Cf Matt. 11:28-30
"28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
There is a wedding feast coming up in the near future and he wants all there...
John 21 (cont.)
13 Jesus then cometh, and taketh bread, and giveth them, and fish likewise.
14 This is now the third time that Jesus showed himself to his disciples, after that he was risen from the dead.
Peter denied Jesus THREE times and now we see that this is the THIRD time that Jesus appeared to them since his resurrection... On the THIRD time or visit, Jesus is going to deal with Peter and Peter only... Jesus is about to ask Peter a question and he does it THREE times, Peter was asked a different question by Jesus' enemies and he was asked the same question THREE times and the same response came out of Peter's lips all THREE times just as the same response came out of Peter's lips to Jesus all THREE times to another question... Using our sanctified imagination again... "Peter is thinking, 'Hummm, this is the THIRD time since Jesus rose from the dead that he has appeared to us and I denied him THREE times shortly before he was NOT seen anymore by human eyes.. Peter told the ones that asked him that I did not know this Jesus of Nazareth... and he got foul mouthed by the third time he was asked. Now let's look at the three questions by Jesus...
John 21 (cont.)
15 So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs.
16 He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep.
17 He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.
The three questions and the three answers based on love... I am pretty sure that most have heard this story and how the Greek makes it so much clearer, but does it???
The MAIN point is that Jesus asked Peter the third time so the other two times had to mean the same thing as his third time SINCE he asked Peter the THIRD time his question, "Lovest thou me?" I also showed you that agapao and philo are used interchangeably in the word of God with the same meanings in the two above illustrations speaking of the same subject, the seats in the synagogues.
Let's look at a couple and see how the Greek words are used.
Going to Matt. 23
6 And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues,
The Greek word for "love" in that verse is "phileo" supposedly showing a brotherly love or a fond love for something. Let's look at one more for now.
Also Luke 11
43 Woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye love the uppermost seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the markets.
The word "love" here is "agapao" in the Greek and that is supposedly the "God kind" of love, a strong unconditional love. This should be enough to show you the ones who play Greek and Hebrew word games are messing with your mind or theirs, so to speak. It is strange to read some of Strong's comments to get around the truth or lies of their definitions.
John 21 (cont.)
18 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not.
19 This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me.
Peter is to be crucified for the faith. He was a coward but not so in the near future. He would be filled with the Spirit of God, walking in God's power, God's courage, God's wisdom... (Cf. Acts 1:8) We as Christians might be crucified for the faith or experience some other type of death in the near future but whether we are or not, ALL Christians are called to walk the crucified walk as we see in...
Cf Gal. 2
"20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me."
John 21 (cont.)
20 Then Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following; which also leaned on his breast at supper, and said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee?
21 Peter seeing him saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do?
22 Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me.
We seem preoccupied with WHAT another Christian is doing and not WHAT God has called us to do. Focus on what God has called you to do NOT what he has called another to do.
John 21 (cont.)
23 Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die: yet Jesus said not unto him, He shall not die; but, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?
24 This is the disciple which testifieth of these things, and wrote these things: and we know that his testimony is true.
And because of that the rumors start flying... It was no different back then regarding the rumors. It is the same today... We see too consumed with what others are doing for God, how they are doing it, when they are doing it and why they are doing it. We need to get into the ring and fight the fight that he has called us into. By the way, if you are walking in Jesus it will be a fight...
John 21 (cont.)
25 And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen.
We are still writing books, magazines, articles, teachings on Jesus and on his life based on the bible and we haven't made much more than a dent. What if he did give us about ten times the amount to read? Would that supposedly make us better Christians? We are not even applying what little bit he has given us in the bible. I say, "...little bit..." It is a little bit compared to the tons of reading material that the Roman Catholics, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, 7th Day Adventists and other cults use and they are coming out with more inspired material every week or month and some of them are coming out with more inspired material almost daily. Spooky!