John 21:1-14: “Jesus Appears
To Seven Disciples As They Are Fishing At The
By
1.
INTRO:
1.1.
In our last study we looked at verses 19-30 of chapter 20.
1.1.1.
In that study, we looked at Jesus’ various appearances
to His disciples after He had risen from the dead.
1.1.2.
We saw how that the sheer number of post-resurrection
witnesses recorded in the New Testament, including the more than 500 of whom
Paul wrote to the Corinthians about, provides a huge amount of evidence that
the gospel accounts of Jesus’ resurrection can be trusted. Paul indicated that these witnesses were
still around and could be interviewed.
1.1.3.
We saw also how that the fact that the first people to
witness and proclaim the fact that Jesus raised from the dead were women gives
credence to the accounts because normally women were never called upon to give
testimony in any type of legal type proceeding.
Had the resurrection accounts been made up they never would have used
women as the first witnesses.
1.2.
In our study today, we are going to look at verses
1-14 of chapter 21 of the book of John.
1.2.1.
This study concerns Jesus’ appearing to seven of the
disciples at the Sea of Tiberias where they have gone fishing and have had a
rough night of fishing, having caught nothing.
We will see how that these disciples have looked back on their previous
life before Christ and returned to their previous career as fisherman.
1.2.1.1.We will talk
about walking in the flesh verses the Spirit for the disciples make this
decision to return to fishing on their own.
1.2.1.2.We will look
at how we Christians can become discouraged and how that this can lead to our
walking in the flesh.
1.2.2.
Jesus will appear on the shoreline perhaps a hundred
yards away and tell them to throw their net on the right side of the boat and
that they will make a big catch.
1.2.3.
When the disciples throw the net on the right side of
the boat they indeed do make a great catch of fish. Catching these fish at Jesus’ command then
causes the disciples to realize that it is in fact Jesus who is the one on the
beach.
1.2.4.
The disciples then hurry and meet up with Jesus who
cooks fish for them. In our next study,
we will see that Jesus restores Peter to Himself (Peter had denied Jesus three
times) and calls Peter to be leader of the entire group of disciples.
2.
VS
21:1-3 - “After these things Jesus manifested
Himself again to the disciples at the
2.1.
This last chapter of the gospel of John has been
thought by many to be appended to the end of the gospel since John seemed to
end the book after the previous chapter.
We can easily see though that this chapter was inspired by God and
written by the apostle John, and that it is a very inspiring and encouraging
portion of the gospel.
2.2.
In Matt.
28:10, Jesus had told the women to tell the disciples to go into Galilee and
that He would meet with them there, and in Matt. 28:7 and Mark 16:7 the angels
at the tomb told the women that the disciples were to go to Galilee where Jesus
would meet them. Now we find that
Galilee is exactly where seven of these disciples are at, the
2.3.
John tells
us here that in this story Jesus ‘manifested’ Himself. The Greek word “phanerao” translated
as ‘manifested’ indicates that Jesus was making Himself known,
visible, or realized through this incident.
In other words this story was “more than just an appearance” it
was “an unveiling” in some sense.
2.4.
John in his gospel never refers to the apostles as by
the name of apostle, instead he calls them the disciples.
2.5.
John seems to speak of this experience as being given to
the disciples (apostles), yet the group itself is a representative group of
seven. Simon Peter, “doubting”
Thomas, Nathanael, James and John the sons of Zebedee, and two unnamed
disciples are the representative group.
2.6.
Notice that before Jesus’ appeared to Thomas that he
wasn’t even with the disciples who were gathered on that first evening after
Jesus’ resurrection, however now after Jesus has appeared to Thomas he is
listed second in this list of disciples.
This indicates that Thomas now had his faith strengthened and was one of
the more zealous and involved of all of the disciples.
2.7.
It is interesting to note that all throughout this
chapter, Peter’s pre-Christian name is used for him. This is reminiscent of how in the book of
Genesis in the Old Testament,
2.8.
In this story, Peter goes back to the profession which
he had before Christ called him to be His disciple. Peter stumbled badly in denying the Lord, and
that experience of failure seemed to take away his zeal to follow the
Lord. Peter had told Jesus the night
before Christ was betrayed, that though all of the other disciples fell away,
he would not. However, he denied the
Lord three times.
2.9.
Really, it appears that in spite of the Lord appearing
to the disciples on Sunday two subsequent weeks and re-commissioning them as
His ambassadors to go out into the world with the gospel, that at least seven
of these disciples are rebelling against that commissioning and at least
temporarily going back to their previous profession of fishing. Maybe the disciples though were trying to be
responsible. Perhaps they had assessed
their situation and realized that they didn’t have any money and thus they felt
that they should not attempt to put the Lord to the test to provide for them
deciding instead to at least do some work and try to raise some of their own
financial support. But, it appears that
there is more to the disciples going fishing than just their trying to be
responsible.
2.10.
This story reveals that Peter no longer had the same
self-confidence and strength in his own resolve that he displayed
previously. It seems as though out of
boredom that Peter decides to go fishing.
2.11.
This
incident pictures what happens to us as Christ’s disciples when we make
decisions regarding our life in the flesh rather than by praying and seeking
God’s will for us in those decisions.
The result is always futility, strife and heavenly discipline instead of
the abundance of fruit, or in this case fish, that the Lord can provide in our
life when we are prayerful and led of the Spirit.
2.12.
When a
person becomes a Christian, the Lord regenerates their heart, mind, will and
spirit making them completely new creatures and giving them new life in the
Holy Spirit (see 2 Cor. 5:17). However,
the Lord leaves the remnant of the old sinful nature within the person, and
this nature is referred to in the scriptures by various names such as: “the old man,” “the old nature,”
or “the flesh.” The Christian in
this life is in a lifelong battle that involves submitting Himself to the Lord
and denying the sinful temptations and desires of that old nature, choosing
instead to give in to the life in the Holy Spirit which is a life of being
victorious over sin. Paul writes about
the following about this struggle for Christians in Galatians
5:16-17, “16 But I say, walk by the
Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. 17 For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the
Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that
you may not do the things that you please.”
2.13.
As
Christians we must come to realize that we can never please God by walking in the
flesh (or old nature), nor that there is anything worthwhile in living our life
even for one second in this old life.
New Testament admonitions are very clear concerning this, as seen for
instance in Romans 8:6-8, “6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set
on the Spirit is life and peace, 7 because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God;
for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to
do so, 8 and
those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”
2.13.1.The fleshly
mind is “death” while the spiritual mind is “life and peace.”
2.13.2.The fleshly
mind is “hostile toward God” (opposed to and at war with God) while by
logical inference the spiritual mind is at peace with God (a peace treaty has
been entered into with God and therefore we have peace—Rom. 5:1).
2.13.3.The fleshly
mind is “not subject to the law of God” (thinking only of self and
selfishly serving the lusts of the flesh, not thinking of or serving the Lord)
while by logical inference the spiritual mind is able to keep God’s law as it
is empowered and influenced by the Holy Spirit.
2.13.4.The fleshly
mind is “not even able to” be subject to the law of God (completely
incapable of a single thought that aligns with true holiness and righteousness)
while by logical inference the spiritual mind is able to subject itself to the
law of God and in fact this person is continually putting to death the sinful
deeds and thoughts of the fleshly nature.
2.13.5.Those who
are living in the fleshly mind “cannot please God” (the wrath of God is
slowly but consistently building towards this person) while by logical
inference those living their life in the spiritual mind will be living their
life in such a way that God is pleased and honored by their life as also the
fruits of the Spirit are expressed through their life (love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control—Gal. 5:22-23).
2.14.
After I first came to
know the Lord I soon lapsed into backsliding and this lasted for over a
year. During that time I went back to
living sinfully as I had before coming to Christ and life was just one party
after another, however now I knew that what I was doing was dead wrong. Because of this conflict within my conscience
I was absolutely miserable living in a life of sin. I was in a situation of diminishing returns
as far as fleshly sins was concerned. I
had to go farther and farther into sin in order to enjoy what I was doing and
satisfaction was always eluding me. One
day I realized that there were two doors that were in front of me. One door led to death and the other door led
to life. Going through one door was to
continue to live my life in the flesh and be miserable and more and more
self-destructive, one day to possibly end up in the fires of hell after this
life. The other door led to a life that
was filled with God’s love, with blessing, and with peace and contentment, and
one day to know with absolute certainty that I would pass from this life
directly into the loving and joy filled presence of Jesus and the angels and a
life free from all pain, tears, and sadness.
My friend are you also standing before two doors? If so, which one do you think it would be
wise for you to walk through?
2.15.
Victory over the sinful
nature in our life comes by following Paul’s exhortations in Romans 6:11-12
which tell us to moment by moment reckon (believe it to be true and act upon
it) ourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus, and then refuse to
allow sin to reign or have control over us:
“11 Even so
consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so
that you obey its lusts.”
2.16.
As I
consider what was going on in the disciples’ lives at this point that led
them to take up their former vocation of
fishing, I think that they must have been highly discouraged at this point in
their life, and that this must have factored in their looking back to the old
life and returning to fishing.
2.17.
Even
though the disciples had received the Holy Spirit and been regenerated just
prior to this, they still probably wondered what Jesus was doing and probably
also had become somewhat disillusioned with ministry due to their failure to
both understand Jesus’ words as well as their lack of consistency and
perseverance in following Jesus which was revealed when they all abandoned
Jesus and went their own way when Jesus was arrested and then crucified. This discouragement in the disciples’ lives
is perhaps underlying their decisions here in walking in the flesh and going
back to their former professions.
2.17.1.The Devil, according to legend, once
advertised his tools for sale at public auction. When the prospective buyers
assembled, there was one oddly-shaped tool which was labeled “Not for sale.”
Asked to explain why this was, the devil answered, “I can spare my other
tools, but I cannot spare this one. It is the most useful implement that I
have. It is called Discouragement, and with it I can work my way into hearts
otherwise inaccessible. When I get this tool into a man’s heart, the way is
open to plant anything there I may desire.”
2.17.2.Discouragement and depression affects
the vast majority of people at least for a portion of their life, and when it
hits it has a huge crippling effect upon them.
God’s servants are not immune from the experience of depression and in
fact many of the lives of those used most greatly by the Lord battled extreme
depression at times:
2.17.2.1.In the book
of 2 Corinthians, the apostle Paul wrote much about his own struggle with
depression. The Greek word translated comfort or encouragement is a key word in that book as Paul encouraged the
Corinthians in how God works through difficult and depressing times and can
provide relief. The Greek word means “called
to one’s side to help.” The Bible Exposition Commentary writes the
following about Paul and his writing of this book of 2 Corinthians, “Discouragement is no respecter of persons. In fact,
discouragement seems to attack the successful far more than the unsuccessful;
for the higher we climb, the farther down we can fall. We are not surprised
then when we read that the great Apostle Paul was “pressed out of measure” and
“despaired even of life” (2 Cor. 1:8). Great as he was in character and
ministry, Paul was human just like the rest of us.”
2.17.2.2.Many years
ago a young midwestern lawyer suffered such deep depression that his friends
thought it wise to keep all knives and razors from him. During this time he
wrote, “I am now the most miserable man living. Whether I shall ever be
better, I cannot tell. I awfully forebode I shall not.” He was wrong.
He did recover and went on to become one of
2.17.2.3.Charles Spurgeon
the great English preacher of a century and a half ago struggled greatly with
physical ailments and thus depression throughout his ministry and once stated
in one of his sermons, “I am the
subject of depressions of spirit so fearful that I hope none of you ever get to
such extremes of wretchedness as I go to.”
2.18.
To have victory over discouragement, we Christians
need to keep our eyes on Jesus as well as hold on to the promises of God we
have from the scriptures, including:
2.18.1.The confidence we have of eternal life
when we pass from this life or the Lord returns (1 John 5:11-13).
2.18.2.The promise that all things are working together for
those who love God and are called according to His purpose (Rom. 8:28).
2.18.3.The promise that if we seek the Lord first and His
righteousness that all that we need will be provided for us (Matt. 6:33).
2.18.4.Isaiah was told to encourage God’s
people with the following words concerning the hope we have when the Lord sends
His Messiah and sets up His kingdom on the earth: Isaiah 35:1-9, “1 The wilderness and the desert will be glad, And the
Arabah will rejoice and blossom; Like the crocus 2 It will blossom profusely And rejoice with rejoicing and
shout of joy. The glory of
2.18.5.Galatians 6:9, “9 Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we
will reap if we do not grow weary.”
2.18.6.Hebrews 12:3, “3 For consider Him who has endured such hostility by
sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”
2.19.
Jesus wants to enter into the struggles that we
Christians have, just as He entered into Peter’s and the disciples’ struggle of
not catching any fish. When we have
tried to fight our battles in the flesh, and that has produced nothing but
frustration and futility, we ought to invite the Lord to help us in and through
our struggles.
2.20.
Further, we Christians ought to learn not to beat our
heads against the wall in struggling in the strength of our flesh. We ought to humble ourselves and just
outright admit that we need the Lord to help us through each and every struggle
in our work, family life, and friendships.
Jesus wants to enter into our struggles with us so that He can show us
which side of the boat to catch our fish!
3.
VS
21:4-6 - “But when the day was now breaking, Jesus
stood on the beach; yet the disciples
did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus
therefore said to them, ‘Children, you do not have any fish do you?’ They answered Him, ‘No’. And He said to them, ‘Cast the net on the
right-hand side of the boat, and you will find a catch’. They cast
therefore, and then they were not able to haul it in because of the great
number of fish.” - Jesus stood
on the shore as the sun came up and asked them if they had any fish, when they
tell Him no, He tells them to throw their net on the right side of the boat and
that they will find a catch
3.1.
The disciples were about a hundred yards from the
land, so they were not able to tell that Jesus had appeared to them on the
land.
3.2.
To throw the net on the right side of the boat as Jesus
commanded the disciples obviously went against all of the training that these
fishermen had received in this business.
So, it is interesting that the disciples tried the suggestion of Jesus,
who to them was a complete stranger, and throw their net on the right side of
the boat.
3.3.
Perhaps after trying their luck all night long, the
disciples were actually willing to try anyone’s suggestion as to how to catch
some fish, no matter how ridiculous it may have seemed.
3.4.
Jesus’ deity is revealed in this incident for He knew
where to throw this net to catch this big load of fish.
3.5.
No matter how many times we Christians have failed in
our own efforts to follow the Lord, we ought to try living this Christian life
one more time, only this time do it the Lord’s way.
3.6.
If we Christians will do God’s will God’s way, we will
never lack God’s blessing, as Ian Thomas has written. The only times we fail trying to do God’s
will is when we are trying to do it our own way.
3.7.
It is so much easier to not resist the Lord’s will in
our life, for the way of a sinner and a backslider is very hard. Jeremiah wrote the following about this in
Jer. 2:19, “Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings
shall reprove thee.”
4.
VS
21:7-8 - “That disciple therefore whom Jesus loved
said to Peter, ‘It is the Lord’. And so
when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put his outer garment on (for
he was stripped for work ), and threw
himself into the sea. But the other
disciples came in the little boat, for they were not far from the land, but
about one hundred yards away, dragging the net full of fish.” - John (the
disciple whom Jesus loved) said to Peter, “It is the Lord,” and at that Peter
put on his outer garment and threw himself into the sea, while the other disciples
came to Jesus in the boat
4.1.
The apostle John’s eye sight did not suddenly improve
and then he realized that it was Jesus standing upon the land who had recommended that they throw
the net on the right side of the boat.
He knew intuitively through the Holy Spirit that it must be another one
of Jesus’ manifestations of Himself that had occurred.
4.2.
John certainly thought back to when Jesus had
performed this same miracle on the day that Peter, Andrew, himself, and his
brother John were called initially to leave their career fishing and come and
follow Jesus. Luke tells us the story
about the first miraculous catch of fish for the disciples performed by Jesus
as He was calling Simon and Andrew, and James and John, in Luke 5:4-11, “4
When He had finished speaking, He
said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let
down your nets for a catch.” 5 Simon answered and said, “Master, we worked hard all
night and caught nothing, but I will do as You say and let down the
nets.” 6 When they
had done this, they enclosed a great quantity of fish, and their nets began to
break; 7 so they
signaled to their partners in the other boat for them to come and help them.
And they came and filled both of the boats, so that they began to sink. 8 But when Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at
Jesus’ feet, saying, “Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!” 9 For amazement had seized him and all his companions
because of the catch of fish which they had taken; 10 and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee,
who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do
not fear, from now on you will be catching men.” 11 When they had brought their boats to land, they left
everything and followed Him.” The disciples had been called initially to
put down their nets and follow Jesus and He would make them fishers of men, and
that after initially having Jesus provide for them a miraculous catch of
fish. Now, they had brought in another
miraculous catch of fish as Jesus was re-commissioning them to go out and be
fishers of men.
4.3.
The normally impetuous Peter at least puts on some
clothes and then swims to shore as fast as he can in order to see Jesus. The rest of the disciples row the boat with
the big haul of fish to the shore.
5.
VS
21:9-11 - “And so when they got out upon the land,
they saw a charcoal fire already laid, and fish placed on it, and bread. Jesus said to them, ‘Bring some of the fish
which you have now caught’. Simon Peter
went up, and drew the net to land, full of large fish, a hundred and
fifty-three; and although there were so
many, the net was not torn.” - When the
disciples get to shore they see a charcoal fire and fish already placed on it
and bread, and Jesus asked the disciples to bring some of the fish that they
had now caught
5.1.
It appears that this is the last miracle performed by
Jesus. He evidently miraculously creates
fish and then has them already cooking on the charcoal fire when the disciples
and their boat came to land.
5.2.
The disciples had been walking in the flesh and as a
result they ended up being hungry,
tired, and frustrated after a night of futility working in a profession they
were not called to work any more in, and yet in spite of their condition and
how they got their Jesus seeing their bodily need for food provides this
wonderful meal of fish for them. The
grace of God is truly amazing and wonderful!
5.3.
Jesus now gives the disciples a second command. He tells them to bring some of the fish which
they have cooked and add that to the fish which Jesus was cooking. He allows and actually bids them to
participate in this meal, through their labors of catching fish. The being commanded to put some of their fish
on the grill with His perhaps symbolizes the fact that Jesus’ disciples are
intended to share in the bounty of God’s work, live off the ministry in other
words.
5.4.
This commanded action to put some of their fish on the
fire is unusual and perhaps also explained by the fact that the disciple’s
relationship to Jesus and to the
5.5.
There may be some symbolism here also in this net not
tearing. In the first miracle of
multiplying the fish to the disciples (see Luke 5:4-11 above), Jesus was
calling the disciples to leave their profession as fishermen and come and
follow Him and become a fisher of men.
Here as Jesus is re-commissioning the disciples to send them out to be
fishers of men the net does not tear.
6.
VS
21:12-13 - “Jesus said to them, ‘Come and have breakfast’. None of the disciples ventured to question
Him, ‘Who are You?’ knowing that it was
the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread,
and gave them, and the fish likewise.” - Jesus invites the disciples to eat breakfast
with Him and none of them ask Him who He is for they know who He is
6.1.
In this manifestation of Himself, Jesus again is
serving the disciples. This time He
cooks them breakfast.
6.2.
Notice that this in this story we see the first time
in any meal with Jesus that He does not first give thanks to the Father in
prayer for the meal. Jesus in the state
of His humility before His resurrection gave thanks to the Father before meals,
but this evidently means that in His glory He does not do so. In His glory as God the Son, Jesus’ intention
here is merely to bless the disciples with this meal.
6.3.
None of the disciples dared to question Jesus about
whether or not He was the Lord, as they knew that it was the Lord, and they
feared His rebuke.
7.
VS
21:14 - “This is now the third time that Jesus was manifested to the
disciples, after He was raised from the dead.” - John tells us that this was the third time
that Jesus manifested Himself to His disciples after raising from the dead
7.1.
There are more than three appearances of Jesus during
the period of time that has elapsed since Jesus has risen from the dead, so we
must consider how John has concluded that this was the third time that Jesus
manifested Himself to the disciples.
This is the third time that John has recorded in his gospel that Jesus
appeared to His disciples, that is what John is telling us.
7.2.
It is probable that John is referring to times when
Jesus appeared to the group as a whole.
If that is the case, then He appeared one week after the
resurrection. Then, He appeared to them
a week later to reveal Himself to Thomas.
Then, this manifestation is a representative manifestation since only
seven disciples are present.
8.
CONCLUSIONS:
8.1.
Walk in
the Spirit not in the flesh, and do not make decisions on your own but look to
the Lord in prayer and seek His will in all of the decisions that you make.
8.2.
Don’t let
discouragement keep you from continuing to serve the Lord and being the person
that He wants you to be.
8.3.
When you
feel discouraged remember the promises of God and ask the Lord to meet you in
the midst of your trial and circumstances.