THE 8 MIRACLE-SIGNS IN JOHN . . . No.8
NO SONS John 21:1-14
The preceding 7 SEMEION add up to this miracle
There were (7) out of the (11) disciples chosen by God to witness this ‘miracle’ . . . in fact be a part of it! They had KNOWLEDGE & TESTIMONY that Jesus had been raised from the dead. They, like us, are thus thrilled but have failed to believe that ‘He overcame death for us’ to the point where ‘resurrection life’ is for us while we still walk upon this earth.
There must have been a cry in their hearts to experience such life as they saw He had. They knew Jesus was alive from the dead, but that knowledge didn’t DO anything for them; it didn’t change their vision and expectation. So they were a little disappointed especially now that Jesus had not showed Himself again. They could only recall, ‘The things that I do, ye shall do also and greater. . .’ In the realm where we are not yet operating in the 100-fold experience of faith — or we are not hearing the Lord as clearly as we would like, it is quite easy to fall back onto DOING SOMETHING instead of RESTING in Him!
For many of us, we are active and efficient people and find it hard to ‘be still and know that the Lord, He is God’. Peter was in that clan and voices his frustration, ‘I’m going fishing’. That was at least something HE COULD DO! It sparked the same feeling in the others . . . so all (7) get in their ships centering their minds and their bodies on a different subject. Their efforts produced NOTHING even in an area where some of them were skilled! The darkness of the night depicting their ignorance of the wrong choice of action.
A NEW DAY …
In the morning — the beginning of a NEW DAY — with enlightenment dawning upon their circumstances, the resurrected Christ was there! In the daybreak Jesus was there on the shore but was not recognized!
Jesus speaks, ‘Have you any food?’ A corporate voice declares that they hadn’t caught anything (not even a wee crab!). Their net had been hauled into the ship in frustration and probably disgust! Jesus was on ‘higher ground’ than they were as the beach or land is always higher than the water! From where He was (in heaven while on the earth!) He had a clearer vision than those disciples in their (fellow)ship. Jesus speaks and it comes over clearly as a command, ‘Put the net in on the starboard side’.
The disciples heard the voice of authority and obeyed without question, dropping the net overboard . . . AND the net was immediately filled with fish. Out of the whole fish population of the Sea of Tiberias, just (153) fish HEARD HIS VOICE. The effect was that they came to the net and laid down their lives irreversibly. It is noted that these (153) were GREAT FISH . . . fully mature!
John, because of the word from Jesus and the effect upon him of that word, recognized the Lord and declared who He was. Peter’s love was demonstrated — he grabbed his coat (‘guilty-conscience’) and quickly covered his flesh! Such magnificent timing by God . . . they were 200 cubits from the shore. ‘200’ in scripture means ‘insufficient with what you have’. Truly without the pertinent word for the moment from Jesus Christ, we too are 200 cubits from where He would have us be . . . where He is on higher (resurrection) ground.
Please note that the disciples did not put these ‘153’ fish into their ship!!! — they brought them to higher ground where Christ was. Jesus already had some ‘fish’ for this occasion . . . no wonder considering that He was the greatest ‘Fisherman of men’!
Now why does the record say so specifically that there were (153) fish — no more — no less! It was a precise count (I wonder if these fishermen were in the habit of counting their catch? In the O.T. there is a Hebrew phrase ‘beni ha elohim’ — translated ‘the sons of God’ —and this phrase has a value of 153. (If you are not familiar with numbers in scripture, refer to ‘re-think’ No.43 and also No.30 looks at ‘153’ in more detail). Out of all the ‘Christian fish’ in God’s sea, there was only 153 who heard the voice of Jesus at that specific and important time. These fish were mature (that was why the record declares that they were great fish) . . . they were overcomers seeing that they hadn’t been caught by the nets of traditional bondage . . . they immediately responded and came to the net which is to the word of the kingdom. (Even the Greek word for ‘the net’ has a value of 8x153).
This same net-word has been placed before us saints many times as we have struggled in the darkness (=ignorance) of the fact that Jesus is on higher ground calling to us with the vision and enabling for us to become a part of that ‘153’ fish company of sons! We are at the beginning of a ‘new day’; God’s timing for the coming together of His firstfruit sons into one expression of Himself.
At the voice of the Lord, lives become fully surrendered, brought to higher ground (thinking) where the resurrected Christ is waiting to clean us some more, add a touch of fire, so that we can be meat in the Master’s hand to feed the hungry. There were a total of (8) dining together — a new beginning (8) manifesting resurrection life (8). It was also the third time Jesus had revealed Himself to them. We have met the resurrected Christ in our Salvation-Passover experience, then in our ‘baptism in the Spirit’- Pentecost, the down-payment of the fullness of His enabling power, and now this is the third feast that we experience, namely Tabernacles — the fullness of the Spirit (God), the harvest of the Seed - Christ Jesus sown in our earth. (Every seed brings forth after its kind).
It is the purpose of God to bring His 153 - mature sons as the first wave of His endtime plan. By passing through His gentle but firm hands, they will be brought to corporate full stature of Christ and the effect of such a work will be that they will do the things that Jesus did — seeing that they will have the same power. Wave upon wave - we’ll see the next order coming into that fullness until every man in his own order completes His plan.
The SEVEN stepping stones shown to us in these miracle-signs, will be traversed as Christ reveals the lack and supplies the need in each one of us . . . Firstly, God provides NEW WINE — revelation and understanding of Himself (John 2:1-11): He then gives us and the whole ‘house’ the TRUE HOPE — of being fully like Him here on earth (John 4:43-54): next God reassures us that He does have a NEW CORPORATE MAN to operate through (John 5:1-9,12): He provides relevant FOOD from His word to feed the hungry and enable them, to grow up into Him (John 6:1-14): God then gives such assurance of His abiding, indwelling PRESENCE — of being the God within (John 6:15-21): He then gives us the ability to BELIEVE the CLEAR VISION of what He is doing as He takes us forward (John 9:1-14, 38-end): God now reveals that resurrection-life is within our grasp as we press into Him (John 11:1-16): . . . all these processings add up to MATURE SONS OF GOD, the harvest of what God planted of Himself in the earth.
EACH STEP IS A MIRACLE IN OUR LIVES AND IS A SIGN THAT WILL KEEP US POINTED TOWARDS THIS DESIRED END. §
RAY & SHEILA KNIGHT
3417 ELLIOTT ROAD
WEST KELOWNA BC V4T 1P1